Chapter 145 The powerful empress
Chapter 145 The powerful empress
In another part of the dark city, Sota and Lea continued their battle.
Within the territory blanketed by thick clouds, Sota—hidden behind Lea—kept capturing her with black, tentacle-like appendages. Because Sota could merge with the clouds, he was able to vanish and reappear at will, expertly utilizing his ability to launch attacks on Lea from multiple directions.
With a massive fist, he managed to strike Lea, sending her crashing into the ground.
"You are beginning to annoy me, Flame Dragon!"
The Flame Dragon attacked, but Sota merely laughed, catching its jaws. Once the dragon bit down on the cloud, it impacted a nearby building, causing an explosion.
"Hahaha, who exactly are you attacking there?" Sota mocked as he reappeared behind Lea.
Feeling his presence, Lea immediately used her black tendrils to strike, but Sota’s body was like mist, dissipating into nothingness upon contact.
"Are you just going to hide in the clouds? Fight me fairly!" Lea complained.
"Hahahaha, a fair fight? I’ve been fighting you fairly this whole time," Sota replied.
Lea did not agree, especially since Sota had done nothing but hide within the clouds to launch his assaults.
"Do you have no honor? Show me your true body!" Lea demanded.
Sota was surprised, and he felt a hint of admiration. "I can’t believe you figured out that you weren’t fighting my original body."
"Ha! I am the Empress of this empire; there is nothing I do not know."
Lea smirked, thinking that if she had been facing Sota's real body, she would have long since subjected him to her succubus powers. No one could withstand her spell, and anyone who stared into her eyes would fall under her control.
However, she found it difficult to pinpoint his true form because she couldn't sense any presence other than his weapon. "I’ve been wondering for a while now... there’s nothing here but clouds. Is he controlling them from a distance?"
She pondered this; even if he were far away, she should have sensed his presence through her spell, but she realized Sota must have had tricks to conceal himself.
Suddenly, giant fists appeared behind her once more, pummeling her until she grew weak and finally collapsed.
The black tendrils behind Lea vanished, and she lay wounded. "This... this cannot be."
"Hahaha, is this all you have? I thought you were strong. The rumors that you are the second-strongest in the empire must be wrong," Sota boasted.
A giant hand grabbed Lea and lifted her into the sky. Meanwhile, Sota’s body appeared on the roof of a nearby building.
"Did you know I can do this as well?" he said, holding an energy ball made of electricity.
"Ball of Lightning!"
He threw the orb at Lea, electrocuting her body.
"Ahhhh!!" Lea screamed.
"Hahahaha, take some more!" He continued bombarding her with lightning orbs, clearly enjoying her suffering.
Lea was helpless to dodge, unable to break free from the giant hand's grip.
"Hahaha, what now, my dear Empress? Have you surrendered yet?"
Lea bowed her head, weakened by her injuries. "Please... stop," she whispered.
Sota laughed at her pathetic state, continuing to insult her. "Useless. Even if you beg, you won't be saved. The heavens have ordained your death, along with your empire. You will die here, and your emperor cannot help you," Sota declared, laughing like a demon.
Suddenly, Sota went quiet when he felt Lance’s presence vanish from the area.
"What? Wait—why did Master Lance’s presence just disappear?"
He immediately looked toward the west, where a black magic circle could be seen in the sky in the distance.
"Impossible... even the Archangel’s presence is gone. Could the Dark Lord have defeated him?"
Shock and intense fear washed over his face. He could not believe that their leader could be defeated, especially since they had the heavens on their side.
"The leader cannot be defeated. It’s impossible," he muttered, trembling.
Suddenly, Lea began to laugh. "Hahaha, so he actually did it?"
"What?"
Sota sensed a powerful presence behind him and spun around. He was shocked to see Lea sitting on top of a building, a floating black crystal enveloped in dark energy beside her. This relic was a weapon capable of creating dark magic spells, illusions, and curses, radiating a sinister energy that instilled fear and negative emotions in all creatures nearby.
"Impossible! How did you get there?" Sota asked.
Looking at the giant hand, he realized that one of the Irish soldiers was now held by his weapon instead of the Empress. "How did you manage to escape my trap?"
"Escape? Wrong. Your weapon never caught me to begin with. What you were fighting earlier was just an illusion I created," Lea replied.
"An illusion? What do you mean?"
She explained that the "enemy" Sota had been attacking was merely an Irish soldier whose appearance she had altered and controlled.
"Controlled? It’s impossible that I didn't know I was facing a fake!" he exclaimed.
She laughed, noting that he had no way of noticing, especially since he couldn't see the magic circle she had placed on the soldier. Sota lacked awareness and sensitivity toward magic circles because he had shrouded the entire area in clouds to hide his own tracks.
"Just like me, you couldn't see much inside the clouds, and you never suspected that there was a magic circle placed around you," she added.
"So, you cast a spell to change a soldier's body and controlled it?"
Lea admitted that she used that technique to gauge an opponent's abilities before engaging them directly. She realized that dealing with Sota wasn't complicated, especially since he never noticed that the body he was holding was weak and defenseless.
"You were too arrogant with your ability and your weapon. That is why, from the very start of our battle, you didn't notice that you had already been outplayed and defeated," Lea answered.
Sota tried to laugh, but his fear was evident. He boasted that it was impossible to defeat him, especially since physical attacks didn't work on him. " You cant defeat me. "
" Hahaha, are you sure about that? "
Lea just smiled, explaining that she didn't need physical attacks to win. As a Prime Demon skilled in spells and curses, she revealed that Sota had fallen into her trap from the very beginning.
"The only thing I needed to do was force you out of your hiding spot."
Lea released a massive burst of dark energy, shocking Sota. "
So powerful... her dark energy is extraordinary, " he whispered to himself.
Her wings expanded as she slowly rose into the air. With a single upward sweep of her hand, she dispersed the clouds above, revealing the sky once more.
"I’ll let you in on a secret. The Emperor is not currently the strongest in this place. The creature standing before you is."
Lea looked up and flew toward the small, floating crystal. Her speed was so great that Sota’s eyes could barely follow her.
"Ah, so that’s where you were," Lea said with a smile, gathering immense dark energy in her hand.
"Wait, what are you planning?" Sota broke into a cold sweat.
Sota was stunned to see Lea nearing the crystal—the location of his true body—and immediately leaped to intercept her.
"Damn you, you can't touch that!" Sota screamed, flying toward her in desperation.
"Bye-bye," she said with a smile.
Before Sota could reach her, she unleashed a ten-meter-wide burst of black energy, completely obliterating the crystal. The attack created a powerful force that sent everything flying.
WOOOSSSHHH!
"Nooooo!!!!!!" Sota screamed.
Before the fake sora even reached her, his cloud-form vanished, swept away by the wind. Following his destruction, the thick clouds covering the area dissipated, leaving behind nothing but the ashes of the crystal.
"Finally, my job is done."
Lea yawned after the battle. "His ability to use clouds as a weapon and hide his body was very effective, but that was also the reason he lost."
She reasoned that even when his real body wasn't there, he had used the fake body to see through the clouds. He never noticed that from the very beginning, he hadn't been fighting Lea. He lacked the magical sensitivity to realize he was being deceived.
"He was strong, but it's a good thing he wasn't smart."
The area fell silent for a moment as Lea considered her next move. She looked west and saw the black magic circle, where Daniel and Lance had been fighting, slowly fading.
"It seems he succeeded, too."
She scanned other parts of the town and felt several powerful presences. She wondered who she should visit first.
"Who should I go to? Wait, the gluttonous girl is in that direction. Azula is strong; surely it's easy for her to defeat her opponent."
She thought that since it was nearby, it would be easier to go there than to head east. "It wouldn't be bad to go and check on her. This is also my chance to defeat her."
Exuding a formidable aura, she flew rapidly away from the area.