Vira crumpled to the ground in a heap, with her wretched screams echoing all throughout thepound.
From the sides, Corax and the remaining C+ rank thugs remained frozen in a mix of confusion and fear.
They had the same expectations as Vira, for Alex''s weird invisible me to just bounce right off her barrier just as his other Crimson red mes had done.
But they, just like Vira, had been dead wrong.
The invisible me was no longer in sight, but that was because it had already entered Vira''s body.
This was clear from the fact that she was still screaming on the ground and screaming like she was slowly being shredded to pieces.
But while the others were frozen in fear due to the fact that Alex had somehow bypassed her barrier, they were also very confused.
… where were the shy mes and damage to Vira at then…?
From their view, the situation had be very awkward, the area was silent other than Vira writhing on the ground in what looked like immense pain.
However, that was about all there was to it.
She was either an astoundingly good actor and was faking it all, or something was seriously wrong with this situation, which only made them further confused.
However, this was because they had no understanding of the situation — if they knew what had really happened, they would probably be shaking in as much fear as Vira was right now…
The soul fire, as its name suggested, ignored any barriers, or any physical material objects entirely, only locking onto one thing.
Vira''s soul.
It didn''t burn her skin or flesh, it burned her from within, searing her spirit — her life force.
Corax staggered backwards, momentarily speechless.
He was the first toe to a basic understanding of what had happened.
Horrified by what had happened to his business partner, his instincts screamed at him to run.
''This kid… is a monster! I can''t face him, I need to leave this ce!''
But it only took a moment of rity for him to realise that the only route of escape was behind Alex and Mira…
Corax took a deep breath to steady his nerves as he darted his gaze between the remaining C+ rank thugs with his face contorted with a mix of fury and fear.
Alex''s gaze fixed on Vira, who continued to writhe on the floor, but Corax knew this focus wouldn''tst long.
He would only get one chance to escape.
"Don''t just stand there!"
Corax''s voice cracked with urgency as he bellowed.
There was a desperation in his voice his men had never heard before.
"Attack him! All of you! Unless you''d rather die by my hand than his!"
The C+ rank thugs were already rattled by Vira''s torment, and they shared uneasy nces between each other.
They understood Corax''smand for what it was.
A death sentence.
But Corax''s threat wasn''t idle, and in their desperation, each thug took a shaky step forward in preparation to attack together.
"Go!"
Forcing them forward with another furious shout, Corax took out his de, casting onest, nervous look at Alex.
He didn''t n on taking part in this suicidal assault.
He''d give them just enough time to keep Alex upied — then he''d slip around and take out Mira, the ''weak link'' of the two of them, hoping to give himself just the slightest chance of escape, even if itsted just a moment.
That one chance was all that he was looking for.
"Harrghh!"
The C+ rank thugs charged, lunging at Alex with everything they had.
All sorts of powers surged between them — bursts of useless mes, torrents of electricity, weird shadow energies, all aiming for him.
But as they closed in, Alex''s gaze snapped up with a silent, threatening intensity in his eyes.
In just that instant, the air thickened.
Without hesitation, Alex met their attacks head on, swinging Virtue''s Edge in the most effortlessly terrifying way the C+ ranks could have envisioned.
He blocked, he parried, with his Phoenix mes spreading to each and every thug it came into contact with, gradually reducing the number of thugs still attacking him one by one.
Until it eventually became zero.
Meanwhile, Corax slunk away to the edge of the room with his eyes trained on Mira the whole time.
His teeth were grinding as he looked on with a furious gaze.
Experience new stories on empire
''Those useless mongrels! They could have at leaststed 10 seconds longer!''
His mind was reeling with all sorts of raging intensity as he cursed the C+ ranks to hell and back for being so useless in the fight.
However, with nothing left to lose, he decided to carry on with his scheme.
Mira was hardly paying any attention to him at all — just what he hoped for.
With a smirk, he gripped the handle of his de and moved to deliver a surprise strike on her.
He crept forward, keeping his gaze locked on Mira the whole time.
Closer…
Closer…
But just as he prepared to lunge, Mira''s head tilted slightly.
''She knew!''
Her lips curved into a small, mocking smile as she spun around to face him, locking eyes with the man.
"Oh Corax…"
She spoke in a voice dripping with amusement.
"Did you really think you were that sneaky?"
The smirk vanished from Corax''s face, reced with panic.
He lunged anyway, slicing through the air towards Mira''s neck in hopes that she wouldn''t be able to react in time.
But, he underestimated her.
Mira was fast.
Faster than even himself!
In one fluid motion, she tilted her body slightly to the side, with her own de shing with a mysterious silver light as she brought it down in a deadly arc toward Corax''s exposed side.
He tried to twist away, but it was toote.
Mira''s de hit into his side, cutting incredibly deep, and he stumbled backwards with shock and horror stered all over his face.
Blood pooled underneath him.
Alex watched from the side, surprised.
''She can deal with Higher lifeforms now?''n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om