Chapter 37: Who Weaves the Thread of Fate

  Felix Faustus narrowly avoided Septima's air-shaking attacks. These attacks were so bestial and wild that, despite his higher cultivation level, they caused his neck to be drenched in cold sweat. What's worse, one of them had grazed his shoulder earlier, and now the young man had the impression that... his arm was broken in that spot!

  'This is all some damn mockery...' he thought, gritting his teeth.

  Sometimes you'd hear stories about some immense talent being able to fight someone at a higher level and draw, or wound them by stealth.

  But something like this?

  'I'm the one with the higher level here, and a recognized talent at that, yet I'm balancing on the edge of death!' he fumed, dodging blows by fractions of a millimeter.

  'Her aura isn't higher than 4 marks, yet ever since her eyes lit up, her strength is more like the late Foundation Stabilization level...'

  Seeing the gravity of the situation he was in, he decided he had to take a risk before a stray blow ended his existence.

  Dodging another attack, he gritted his teeth and made a quick hand gesture, after which a glowing circle appeared on the ground around them. Then... he took a step forward and went on the attack himself!

  'Come on!' he thought in desperation.

  Septima frowned and retreated slightly as the circle radiated a strange energy. She wanted to jump outside the glowing area, but Felix's kicks and strikes prevented her.

  'Just a little longer...' the young adept repeated to himself, attacking frantically.

  The energy in the circle seemed to be accumulating for a blast, and he miraculously kept the she-devil from escaping the blast radius. A second later, the energy... shot upwards like a geyser, but it still missed Septima!

  The girl breathed a sigh of relief, only to catch a movement out of the corner of her eye, cutting through the space beside her at lightning speed. Then, a massive weight struck her from above, slamming her into the stone floor!

  This was the true purpose of Felix's earlier attack—to allow him to land a surprise blow that would decide the fate of the battle! Striking from his ambush, he used all his strength, yet he still watched Septima below carefully.

  'I don't feel an aura from her anymore...'

  Frowning, he waved his hand, and another circle pulsed with energy around the she-devil. A moment later, its light intensified before firing, but... the girl had vanished! She had accumulated all her energy, betting on a surprise attack, but Felix had foreseen it!

  "Just leave me alone!" he hissed, launching a preemptive kick at her ribs.

  Septima looked him in the eyes, surprised, and wavered for a moment.

  Unfortunately, her endurance surpassed his wildest expectations, and she didn't retreat a single step!

  Instead, she attacked the surprised adept and, with a powerful blow to his jaw, knocked him unconscious.

  "Ha... ha..." Septima breathed heavily, looking at her knocked-out opponent. The fight, though short, had definitely surprised her. Her typical indifference was gone from her gaze.

  'How could this pathetic dimension produce someone like him?' she thought, looking at Felix with conflicted feelings.

  But this was not the time for such considerations. She had to finish the job. As she leaped into the air to secure herself against the adept waking up with a powerful blow... the fire burning in her eyes suddenly went out!

  "Damn it!" was all she hissed, before falling powerlessly into the abyss.

  Justinian, who had just appeared on the scene, watched it all with wide eyes.

  The energy, whose echo had permeated the corridors carved into the rock, was now present here in its full glory. Its sheer amount made it hard for the boy to draw a breath.

  'And they fought in these conditions?'

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  It was clear to him that most of the energy belonged to Septima.

  The adept of Maleficius had been on another level from everyone else from the very beginning, but this time the pure scale of her power was mind-boggling.

  'This is insane...' he shook his head, checking the condition of Felix, who was lying on the ground.

  He had seen him train before and knew his strength firsthand. Here, however, that strength was nothing against the devastating power emanating from the strange she-devil.

  'Broken jaw and arm. Other than that, I think he's okay.'

  But a more pressing matter remained. From over the edge, he could hear curses and the sound of scraping rock. There was no doubt as to whom they belonged.

  The boy was about to take a step in that direction when he suddenly hesitated.

  'Is this really the right choice?'

  He had seen with his own eyes how powerful this she-devil was. If she decided to attack him, he could very well die here today. But that wasn't the main reason he stopped.

  'Maleficius appeared in the 66th hellish dimension shortly before the attack on my kingdom...'

  This coincidence had been circling in his memory ever since he heard about it.

  'On top of that, the Orange Prince knew about the attack when neither Boruta nor the others had heard anything about it.'

  From all the information he had gathered, the Mountain of Darkness seemed to be connected to the day that destroyed his life.

  Septima's immense power also added to his doubts. After all, Ignatius, who was at the Foundation Stabilization level, had said there was someone in the tomb only slightly weaker than him.

  'What if she was the cultivator who helped the bandits?'

  The problem was, he didn't have enough evidence to be sure.

  His deliberations were interrupted by the sounds of increasingly desperate scraping against the rock. He had to decide now if he wanted to help her.

  Finally, clenching his fists, he made a decision.

  The she-devil desperately tried to stop her fall on the cliff face, but it was no use. All her power from moments ago had vanished, and now she was fighting to survive.

  "DAMN IT!" she screamed in helplessness as the successive layers of the cliff didn't just fail to stop her but were actually... melting from the aura emanating from her!

  Septima saw this and knew that the sealing spells Maleficius had placed on her were beginning to weaken.

  'If this continues, even my form...' she thought bitterly.

  Despite her best intentions, however, there was nothing more she could do. Just as she had lost all hope, something completely unexpected happened. From the cliff above, the man she had faced months ago during the games looked down at her.

  In his hand, he held the symbol of Greedius, which he had undoubtedly gained through her clash with the talented young devil. He was smiling mockingly, as if this pathetic act gave him superiority over her.

  'Enjoy it while you can...' she smiled with resignation. '...soon enough, you won't be laughing.'

  Meanwhile, the rock she was desperately clinging to began to crumble under the influence of her environment-destroying power. Septima gritted her teeth, but all that was left was to prepare for death.

  It was then that something unexpected happened.

  "Try to hold on!" shouted the still mockingly smiling man. Then, to her shock and terror, he jumped onto the rapidly disintegrating rock and, completely ignoring her destructive aura... with a swift motion, threw her quickly to the top!

  What the she-devil couldn't have known was that unlike devils, who smile to mock an opponent, Justinian, who was helping her, was happy for a different reason. He had a sincere smile on his face, born from helping someone in need.

  "What do you th—" she began, but the boy interrupted her.

  "'Thank you' would be fine," he said, pleased with himself.

  Septima looked at him, confused, and increasingly irritated by the unfolding circus. She gritted her teeth, ready to fight, but quickly realized she had no chance of winning in her current state.

  She had to get out of competition, no matter how annoying it was.

  As she started dissolving into thin air, she took a look at young human one last time and commented on the preceeding events unequivocally:

  "You're just a fool."

  With that, an irritated Justinian (due to her ingratitude) and an unconscious Felix were left inside the tunnel.

  The situation also came to a resolution in the corridor where Aldona Borowiak and Belisara had been fighting. Thanks to their unexpected cooperation, the adepts had managed to defeat the two devils and could now focus on acquiring the symbol.

  "Don't think this is going to be the rule now," Aldona said, extending a hand to the fallen Belisara.

  Despite her cold front, she was quite surprised not only by her actions but also by the feelings that now accompanied them. She didn't have to help this she-devil, and from the point of view of their rivalry, it would have been better if she hadn't.

  It seemed, however, that the time spent with Justinian had changed her, and the devilish customs no longer appealed to her as much as they once did.

  Belisara, a little surprised, took her hand and smiled as Aldona helped her up.

  "Well, now we have t—" Borowiak began, already planning their next move. She noticed, however, that her voice sounded strangely distant and as if... she didn't have full control over her movements.

  Unable to form a clear thought, she realized she had fallen to the ground, and the hand she was using to brace herself from a full collapse was pooling in blood.

  "W-what?" she managed to whisper before losing consciousness.

  A dagger, which Belisara had pulled from her sleeve when Aldona helped her up, was embedded in her back. Now she looked at the lying she-devil with boredom in her eyes.

  'Stupid child.'

  Then, looking around the area and making sure no one was there, she took out two small spheres from her pocket, which contained magical smoke.

  This was standard equipment on the devils' mountains, often used to create an escape route and quite difficult to disperse.

  'Who would have thought that sufficiently strong prey would offer itself up?'

  Belisara shattered the spheres, making the entire corridor completely opaque with smoke, and even if someone appeared, they wouldn't be able to see what was happening inside.

  Next, she removed the glove from her right hand to reveal small mouths underneath, hiding large, crooked teeth. Soon, with that very hand, she began to devour the unconscious Aldona. Thus died young heiress of Borowiak family.