Chapter 71: You naughty kids really are stubborn, huh
The warehouse was fairly spacious. Large enough to house several magical machines once used to produce the high-quality bread eaten by nobles.
Several support pillars stood scattered throughout the space, along with large, heavy circular iron beams.
The once-silent warehouse began to tremble, faintly lit by the dim green glow of the lantern hanging from Bell’s staff.
The man with the dagger stared sharply at Bell, his body dissolving into the shadows, vanishing as if he’d never been there at all.
The very next instant, he suddenly reappeared behind Bell. The air shifted, growing heavier, revealing the man’s form melting swiftly out of the shadows, slashing with his dagger.
The dagger whistled through the air, aimed directly at Bell’s throat, leaving a faint, curving trail of green light behind it.
Whistle—!!
Jingle—!
Slash—!
The low sound of the chain from Bell’s manifested stigmata rang out as she slipped away from the attack.
A gust of wind shot right past her face.
"So impatient," she smirked, raising her lantern staff. The chain then extended, along with the lantern itself.
Streaks of faint green light trailed behind it, the air and faint ambient glow trembling around them.
Then, growing longer and longer, it curled around the man’s body, trying to snare and bind him. But he dodged quickly, his body dissolving back into shadow.
Whoosh—!!
Behind her, Bell spun around, finding the furious woman hurling a twisted spiral of water straight at her, her face contorted with rage.
"Die! Die! Die!"
The water spiral spun wildly, tearing through the surrounding air, splashing violently, soaking the cold floor everywhere the attack passed.
Bell didn’t look the least bit interested. Her body moved with an unnaturally fluid grace. She leapt, spinning and rolling through the air, dodging the attack entirely.
Boom—!!
The attack tore through the building’s wall, sending a powerful tremor through the space, knocking loose several iron beams that crashed down with a deafening clatter.
"Gotcha—!"
At the same moment, Bell noticed the man reappearing across from her, striking directly at her blind spot. The dagger swung down in a cutting arc, aimed to crush Bell’s skull.
Unfortunately, what the man thought was her moment of vulnerability meant nothing at all to Bell. Her staff touched the ground, creating a sharp thud as she used it as leverage, dropping her head downward.
In an instant, her whole body flipped upside down, head low and feet raised high. The man stared at her, stunned, his attack failing yet again, and he didn’t get the chance to react before he suddenly felt something coming down from above his head.
He glanced up and found Bell’s leg shooting toward him.
Strike—!
Bam—!
"Kgah...!"
The man jolted, his head slamming hard into the floor, cracking it apart in a spiderweb pattern.
Blood seeped from the gash on his head, but that alone wouldn’t be enough to kill him.
Especially since Bell realized she couldn’t actually kill the man right now—not while the woman was still around. Standing there with dozens of frozen droplets of water shaped into sharp ice spikes, forged with a heavy dose of Soul Essence.
Whoosh—!! Whoosh—!!
One by one, those ice spikes shot forward, charging straight at Bell without a shred of mercy. Bell dodged with acrobatic grace, each attack she avoided tearing through walls and floors, showing off just how powerful the strikes really were, the ice punching straight through walls and freezing whatever it hit.
Jingle—!
Bam—!!
Bell smashed one of the spikes with her lantern, shattering it. Then she surged forward, running with swift, agile movements.
Her body moved in ways strange enough to make the Black Genesis woman wince, firing off her ice spikes carelessly, each one easily dodged.
"Damn it!"
Watching the woman’s face twist with frustration, Bell let out a smirk along with a short breath. Her chain extended, and she flung her lantern straight at the woman.
Whistle—!
Boom—!!
"Ugh...!"
The woman dodged by riding a pillar of water that lifted her body upward, right up near the ceiling. Bell’s dodged attack slammed into one of the support pillars, shattering it with a terrifying crack.
Dust billowed upward.
And right then, the air around them turned even colder as water mist began pouring down from the ceiling, as if it were raining.
The water dripped down, soaking the floor. Bell didn’t let a single drop touch her body, dodging by raising her lantern and swinging it. Every droplet heading her way got swept aside by an artificial gust of wind, incredibly fierce.
And then—
Freeze—!!
The water mist froze anything it touched. The air around them this time genuinely turned frigid, as though Bell had found herself somewhere in a cold region, though a milder version of one.
Right then, the man had already regained consciousness. Shadows churned around him, and the very next moment, Bell realized she’d been swallowed whole by a giant shadow, forming a dome around the entire warehouse.
The next instant...
Gash—!
"....?"
Bell instinctively ducked her head the moment she heard the whistle of wind, sensing something slicing through the air right above her—that had been the wind itself, sliced apart.
She hesitated for a moment, then spun her staff, extending the chain, letting out a sharp jingling sound as Bell swung it around her own body.
Right then, the floor beneath her feet had completely frozen over into ice, making it impossible for her to make full use of her usual speed and agility.
"You’re already dead!"
She heard the man’s voice, laughing hysterically. Her entire field of vision had gone dark—she couldn’t see anything except the faint glow still visible from her own lantern.
Bell blinked a few times, tilting her head, then a smirk crossed her face.
"You naughty kids really are stubborn, huh."
Whistle—!!
Of course, there was a reason someone at the Awakened tier shouldn’t ever fight someone at the Luminous tier, even with two of them combined.
Yeah, ten Awakened fighters still wouldn’t be enough—so what chance did just two of them have?
For a moment, the air around them fell into complete, hollow silence. The man and woman were nowhere to be seen, but they surely felt the shift in the atmosphere surrounding Bell.
The next instant, her dimly glowing lantern dimmed further still, until it barely gave off any light at all.
The dome of shadow the man had created simply vanished. And along with it, there was no light left at all.
No light meant no shadows to make use of. No light also meant nothing could be seen at all.
In short, everything went dark. Not the kind of darkness created by shadow, but darkness born from total, absolute blackness itself.
"H-huh?!"
"What is this? I can’t see anything."
Both Black Genesis members looked utterly bewildered. Meanwhile, the only one who could still see in there was Bell, her pupils glinting a faint red, a lazy smile curling across her face.
Jingle—!!
The sound of a chain, one they both recognized as Bell’s weapon, rang out, making both of them turn warily toward that direction. But then...
Jingle...!
Jingle! Jingle! Jingle! Jingle!
Suddenly, the sound of that chain rang out from everywhere at once, from nearly every direction, leaving both of them completely lost as to where Bell actually was.
The answer?
It was incredibly simple—Bell hadn’t moved at exactly the right speed, and she hadn’t moved at all, either.
What had actually happened was simple. It was just her chain, extended, filling the entire space of the building, and the very next instant...
***