Chapter 1442: Beauty and Power
Splash!
It happened in an instant.
A figure had blown past Rex, swift as a phantom, leaving only a lingering presence in its wake.
His instincts flared, and as he turned, his pupils dilated at the sight before him.
At the center of the lake, a woman emerged.
First, her head breached the calm surface of the lake, crowned in hair split into two halves—one a deep, mesmerizing emerald, the other a shadowy black. A mask concealed most of her face, but her beautiful eyes remained exposed—one gleaming emerald, the other a pale, ghostly gold.
Cold and unreadable, they held an almost divine indifference.
Power radiated from her like an unshackled storm.
Just the sheer pressure of her presence sent a tremor through the air.
As the water cascaded down her form, highlighting her divine grace with its spotlights, the rest of her body was revealed. She was equipped in a steel light plate, polished to a dark silvery gleam, adorned with a crest of a winged star shield coiled by a dragon, pulsing with emerald light.
Behind her, an ethereal black cloak billowed.
Its edges dissolving into emerald energy, fluttering as if alive.
Rex was quite sure that her cloak was her Soul Artifact considering that it was intense with life energy.
Overall, she embodied the perfect fusion of elegance and dominance—a female knight draped in sheer majesty, which was layered above an untouchable beauty sculpted by power. Her very presence spoke of an extraordinary background, one that set her apart from the ordinary since birth.
Out of pure instinct, Rex used the System to scan her.
However, as soon as he did that—a very sharp pain stabbed his mind.
<Notice: Be advised, the target is too strong for the user to see her full stats window>
<Attempting to scan the target again will harm the user>
Rex was caught off guard when he saw the notification as he grabbed ahold of his throbbing head.
I forgot about this.
Upon emerging from the water, an emerald light expanded throughout the lake.
As it covered the entire lake, she stood on the water's surface as if it were solid.
"Leave the premise," the woman said when she made eye contact with Rex, confused as to why someone was here—when everyone practically knew about the current situation. "It's dangerous, go back inside the bubble or you'll get in the way"
Despite her indifference and poise, Rex's eyes squinted as he saw blood drizzling down her forehead.
She was trying to hide it but it was clear that she was hurt.
However, as soon as Rex heard what she said, his eyes flared open completely.
He came to realize that the arcs of darkness from earlier, it wasn't an attack meant for him.
Instead, it was a clash residue, which mean this woman was fighting something incredible.
Not that this was any of my concern though, I'll go back inside until the coast is clear again.
For once, he wasn't the one who would need to clean up the mess and it somehow made him feel weird.
Just as he thought of that and was about to leave, his ears perked up.
"Rex! It's coming!" Linthia shouted from above.
Having a better vision as a Seeker, she could fly above and became a sentry to help Rex.
But her shout only helped so much as when Rex turned to the other side, his pupils dilated as a powerful torrent of flame shot at him at incredible speed. Seeing this, the woman quickly moved. Her speed was a blur as she reached Rex in an instant and used her cloak to cover both of them.
Swoosh!!
Under her cloak's protection, the torrent of blue flame wasn't able to touch them.
In a flash, the woman protected Rex—she was so close that Rex's nose was filled with her scent.
Rex's sensitive nose picked up a hauntingly serene aroma, like the first breath of winter air, it was clean, distant, and impossibly refined—leaving an impression of quiet, unshakable grace. Just one sniff alone forced Rex to brand the scent into his mind, she was magical.
Once it receded, the woman took down the cloak and gazed at the incoming Voidal Monster.
Roar!!
As it got close enough, Rex could see that it was a massive black snake with scales that made it resemble a dragon. It was slithering fast and had its maw opened wide, blue fangs poked out as it wanted to swallow the woman and Rex with one bite.
Before the snake could reach them, the woman's hands glowed with a powerful royal green life energy.
She made a sweeping gesture, slapping the snake away without making physical contact.
It was thrashed to the side from the slap.
"Get your friend and leave," the woman commanded. "It's a Voidal Prince, I'm only stalling it an-"
Bam!!
Before she could finish her sentence, the snake's tail whipped her violently.
A heartbeat later, she recovered, rising into the air as her presence grew even heavier than before.
Her brows dipped in sharp annoyance, a flicker of anger shadowing her masked feature.
Rumble!
Just then, the air around her trembled as her cloak fluttered hard, surging with an overwhelming force of life energy. The sheer intensity of it made the ground quake once again but this time stronger, the very air crackling under its weight as her body turned into a brilliant source of light.
HISS!!
Across from her, the snake hissed—unafraid of the woman's display of strength.
But she remained unmoved.
Rex has seen a Voidal Pawn and a Voidal Knight so a Voidal Prince must be a stronger version.
He didn't know exactly where the Voidal Prince stands but it was certainly strong.
So to think that the woman didn't seem to be that worried was quite surprising, it was akin to him facing a pseudo-tenth-rank realm mutated animal or entity. He could lose, his enemy could harm him, but he had fought so many times that fighting one became normal.
Then, the woman's glowing eyes flared powerfully.
Swoosh!
A single pulse of energy erupted from her, detonating outward like a celestial ring.
In an instant, the choking black haze was wiped from existence, dissipating across a mile-wide radius.
Rex stared at her, stunned.
He came here to complete the mission but stumbled across a high-level battle instead.
She could even disperse the Black Rift as if it was nothing, this woman… how strong is she?
Clearly, the woman wasn't an ordinary warrior.
No, she was a powerhouse—perhaps an Eternal Spirit or even higher, a Divine Spirit.
Perhaps, she was at the rank that Rex wanted to achieve, the Divine Spirit rank—the rank he must achieve if he wanted to attract the Spirit Emperor's attention. Snapping out of his daze, Rex signaled to Linthia to go back to the bubble.
Upon seeing this, she nodded her head and flapped her wings away.
On the other hand, Rex also ran back to the bubble—but instead of going inside, he turned to watch the battle from a safe distance instead. In order to compare himself to the powerhouses of the Spirit Realm, he needs to watch this battle.
Roar!!
Responding to the threat the woman was exuding, the dragon snake moved.
Its body thrummed with raw power and its scales shimmered—as energy surged and coalesced into a jagged dorsal fin along its spine. As soon as the dorsal fin formed, its already vicious and suppressing aura exploded, doubling in intensity.
Almost instantly, Rex could feel the air grow thicker—it became harder for him to breathe.
"Is it activating its Spirit Genesis?" Rex mumbled inwardly, remembering that Andreas mentioned that they should run from the Giga Skull Crusher before it used its Spirit Genesis—which means that even Voidal Monsters could use Spirit Genesis. "If it's really a Spirit Genesis, that woman would be in a lot of trouble"
Moving swiftly without hesitation, the dragon snake coiled its serpentine body in a spiraling tower.
It rose to the woman who hovered above, untouched and unmoved.
Her cloak billowed unnaturally, lengthening as it absorbed more and more life energy,
Growing so long that its edges nearly brushed the ground.
She was a storm gathering, her stillness more terrifying than any motion.
Recognizing the threat more by the second, the dragon snake struck, its massive body constricting hard around her as dark water erupted from nowhere, swirling in a vortex that mirrored its movements. As someone who came from the Mortal Realm, he could see that the dragon snake has a water affinity.
But for some reason, Rex could feel that this was different.
It was not an ordinary elemental control.
As opposed to being commanded, the black water responded to the creature's assault instead.
Almost like a piece of equipment that amplified a spell.
Swoosh!
Creating a massive column of towering water, the vortex swallowed the woman whole, her form utterly obscured but her emerald glow was still piercing through the inky darkness. Rex could see it all from a distance, the clearance of the Black Rift gave him a VIP spot to watch the battle.
Roar!!
Then, the dragon snake roared again, and the vortex surged skyward.
Rex looked up at the clear night sky—and frowned when he saw three more dragon snakes descend, their bodies woven entirely of black water, spiraling down in a deadly dance. If he thought that the woman was already in trouble, his belief was reinforced twofold.
Just the sheer scale of the attack was staggering.
Like the main dragon snake, the other dragon snakes coiled around the vortex and tightened their grip.
It was clear that they were trying to drown and crush the woman.
However, as the pressure reached its peak, the emerald light flared brighter, blinding.
In the next second, the vortex exploded, shattering the water dragon snakes—into black droplets that rained down like shards of night. And there she stood, her cloak swirling with renewed energy—as her eyes drowned in emerald light.
"Spirit Genesis: Starfall…"
Upon her chant, her cloak shattered into dozens of stars that spread across an area.
At the center of the enclosure was the dragon snake, roaring as its Spirit Genesis was overpowered.
Rex watched as the woman looked down at the dragon snake like a Goddess, her gaze was filled with superiority. In the next second, her body shot into one of the gleaming emerald stars, disappearing from her spot completely.
But as Rex continued to watch, something happened.
He was anticipating what the woman's Spirit Genesis would be—but as he was watching her closely, the world suddenly began to spin—his mind was struck by a mental whirlwind out of nowhere, and it didn't take too long for him to pass out.
An unknown amount of time passed and when Rex opened his eyes, he was on his knees.
Blinking his eyes a couple of times, his eyes widened.
Instinctively, Rex stood up and looked around—only to find out that he was still within the Black Rift. Enjoy exclusive content from My Virtual Library Empire
What happened? Did I pass out? If I did, how come Linthia didn't bring me into the bubble?
Considering that Linthia was probably waiting for him inside—the bubble, if he had taken too long, she should have gone out to check and found him unconscious. She would certainly do that so the fact that he was still here meant one thing.
"I must've passed out only for a moment," He mused as he shifted his gaze ahead.
Rex saw that the battle had already reached its conclusion with the woman the last one standing.
She slowly descended to the ground as her aura began to sway and disappear.
Seeing this, Rex couldn't help but feel the timing of him passing out was very convenient for the woman.
He missed what she was capable of entirely and that was quite suspicious.
She must've done something.
As soon as he thought of that, his suspicion was confirmed when the woman instantly turned to him.
Just this deliberate gesture alone shows that she knew that Rex was watching her.