1319 Gentleman
When Reina came to her senses, she was about to call the woman who she and Daphne worked under.
Zara, the leader of punishment order, peak rank 8 and was once hailed to be a true genius. But after the war 500 years ago, she stopped making any progress.
Daphne and Reina regressed after the war and decided to go seperate ways from Zara. They hadn't contacted her ever since. The reason was obvious.
'If I have to ask that woman for help, it'll be undoing of everything I've done so far.' Reina struggled between her own stand and the safety of the prince she wholeheartedly served.
Thankfully, before she could suffer further into making a decision, a hand tapped on her shoulder.
"Huek!" Reina flinched and turned around with a jump, her face losing all color and her eyes shivering in fear.
'Who? Who can just sneak behind without me even noticing?'
Her mind was faster than her eyes and was flooding her with scary thoughts.
The one standing in front of her was a familiar young man. Handsome, young and confident.
"You…are the ruler of the trib—civilization," Reina's words were filled with more confusion than certainty.
She said what she knew but that if that was true, there's no way this man would be standing like this in front of her.
The maid tried to sense his power. But like throwing a pebble into an ocean, her senses just sank into an unknown void when they reached him.
'Wh-What was that?'
Her path was that of a <Death Spirit> — the polar to < Life Spirit >. But <Death Spirit> awakeners also had a nickname <Enslaver>.
It's because they could 'infiltrate' into any being with 'death essence'. Like a virus infiltrating a healthy cell, the death essence would infiltrate the life essence of a 'living' being.
Rather than just killing the creature, it corrupts and corrodes—fundamentally changing the target from within.
So, she was very sensitive to the life essence of the creatures. That's why, she couldn't understand why she felt him to be so…young.
Less than a century? Less than half a century? Less than a quarter century?
'No, no, no. Something is wrong! My powers aren't working!' Reina instinctively reached out her hand and aimed it at Varian.
Varian titled his head in response and gave off a harmless smile. "I'm not going to kill you. That's not my job. But please surrender without resistance or I might inflict pain on you. I am gentleman but I'm not known for being gentle."
"You're at least a rank 7 or even a rank 8!" Reina's voice trembled and she looked at him with a fear that didn't match her usual disposition.
"I'm not, I promise. I'm your friendly neigh—"
"This is all your plan, isn't it? The death of princess Azalea, arrival of envoys, discovery of space cracks, the Zions and now, this disappearance of envoys…I am your latest target."
The more she spoke, the more Reina's voice cracked. She realized that even if half of what she said were true, then this man would be a terror that they should've avoided.
It wasn't just she who realized it. Even Varian rubbed his chin with a serious expression. "Now that you put it, I do look like an evil minded conspiracy villain, damn!"
He punched his palm with an excited smile. "Do you have any feedback for me? Places where I can improve? The next targets should have a better experience, right?"
Reina almost vomitted blood at those words. "Y-You saidistic bastard! Do you realize what you're saying?! You evil cowar—"
"Woah, woah, woah!" Varian held up his hand. "I wouldn't go that far if I were you. Like I said, I'm a gentleman, but I'm not known for being gentle. So, please close your mouth and knock yourself out. Or I'll have to do it."
This was ridiculous! Even though she regressed to rank 7, she shouldn't be this helpless.
"I'll expose your evil plan to the world! Prepare for destruction of your entire race! Prepare for a painful end!" Reina's fingers flashed with a red light.
Three humanoids appeared in between Varian and Reina.
With terrific muscular bodies that resembled sculpted statues, two were ten-foot tall while the third was twelve.
Crack!
The humanoids stepped forward forcefully and the capital planet of Centaurus began to shake violently.
Crack!
Earthquakes at unprecedented intensity began to rip the planet, destroying buildings and damaging entire cities.
Crack!
Even as the defensive formations on the planet activated, visible cracks appeared on the entire planet, like an egg shell that's cracked.
'Fucking hell…' Varian frowned.
All the three of them were in <Paragon Body> path. So, unlike other paths who could've used other means, they fought fist to fist.
The 12-feet one was a mid rank 7 while the two 10-foot one were low rank 7s.
He could win them both but during that time Reina could not only escape but also send all the messages she shouldn't.
"It'd have been a problem if I had only one path," Varian smirked and his aura shot up, the low rank 6s mixed into a rank 7.
Reina who was about to escape felt a sudden diziness strike her. Then, her fingers that were moving to activate the emergency escape seemed awfully slow.
'Why…the world is so…fast?'
Her attacked soul couldn't even identify that her time flow was being changed.
The space behind her fluctuated and Reina's death powers took over, creating a barrier of death essence enveloping her.
"If I do this the traditional way, it'll take up too much time." Varian muttered and his fingers flashed with a brilliant white light. As his fingers approached the barrier, it parted itself allowing him to reach her.
Varian's index finger reached Reina's forehead and tapped on it.
"Shoo!"
The soul attack went right from his finger directly into her body, striking her soul with the most efficiency.
The maid's eyes rolled up and she fainted at his feet. The three humanoids roared and jumped at Varian.
The man opened a space portal and jumped in with Reina. The simple minded creatures jumped in to follow him, as intended.
