Chapter 137: Sage vs Nuwa

As soon as he said the name, a reaction occurred that he was completely not expecting.

​The Ouroborus; now Nuwa, started glowing like a l glow stick. Sage and Zero, who were about to start another round of fighting, paused and looked over.

​Though the glow coming from Nuwa was not blinding, it had a weird feel about it, as if it was actively drawing them in.

​Sage felt it the most, as if there was some form of connection between them that went far beyond their shared bond as Night’s summons.

​It had jumped from a simple connection to some bullshit destiny nonsense that made no sense.

​It only lasted for a few moments, disappearing as soon as the glow faded, making her think she was hallucinating. Still, she ran toward Night and quickly informed him of what she had just experienced.

​Night looked stunned. He was about to chalk up the abrupt light show from Nuwa to something unique about it being a Cosmic Beast, but from the way Sage described it, it sounded like something else entirely.

​Before he could ask [Dream] to confirm if his guess was true.

[Dream] spoke up. "It is exactly as you think. Unlike Sage, Nuwa caused a reaction to the name, which was supposed to be a myth. And this reaction, in turn, caused a reaction within Sage. Their destinies, which originally only had a direct connection to you, have fundamentally changed."

​"How so?" Night asked.

​"They are now connected to each other in a mysterious way, and only time will tell what that entails," [Dream] explained.

​"Is it something bad?" Night asked. He had thought his Natural Calamity Physique had finally given him a break after everything that had just happened, but it seemed he was foolish to think it would stop just because he thought he’d had enough.

​"I am not sure," [Dream] mused, "but I am certain of one thing: both Sage and Nuwa are a lot stronger than they were before, and nothing physical in them has changed to cause this. Which is incredibly puzzling, because I know of only one way it can happen, but it should be impossible since your System is locked."

​Night thought for a moment, rapidly shifting thought his memories he reached a conclusion and guessed what she was getting at. "A Title? Did they get a Title because I gave Nuwa a name related to a mythical character?"

​[Dream] sounded surprised at him guessing it so effortlessly. "Yes, a Title is the only logical way to explain their sudden increase in raw power."

​Night looked at Sage and Nuwa. After some thought, he said, "Can you both fight each other once? I want to check something..."

​Sage nodded immediately without any hesitation. But Nuwa looked at him with a betrayed expression on its scaly face. It seemed it was not too fond of fighting.

​Night realized he was not being very considerate, but just when he was about to tell Nuwa it was okay to back down, the snake slithered over and stood confidently in front of Sage.

​Nuwa coiled up its body, raised its hood, and hissed at Sage.

​Sage clutched her bamboo staff and got ready.

​Night and Zero backed away. Seeing that both of them were ready, Night instructed, "No lethal attacks and no targeting vitals. This is a spar to check your new strengths."

​Nuwa hissed in acknowledgment, while Sage nodded in firm agreement.

​"Three, two, one... START!" Night shouted.

​As soon as he said start, Nuwa disappeared from their vision as if it didn’t even exist.

​Sage, having already seen this move before, was fully prepared. Gripping her fur using her free hand, she pulled out a handful of hairs and blew sharply at them.

​Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof!

​The training hall was instantly filled with clones of Sage, each clone carrying an identical bamboo staff.

​Night was dumbfounded when he did a quick scan with his Nightmare Domain. "Thirty clones, and all of them look entirely real."

​"She has excellent control," [Dream] praised.

​The thirty-one Sages, one real and thirty clones, didn’t just stand there; all of them slammed their staffs into the training hall floor in unison.

​Thud.

​Just when Night thought it was simply her way of hyping herself up, he saw a thick white fog spread from the staffs. In seconds, the entire training hall was covered in a dense, cloud-like substance.

​Though his physical eyesight was blocked, his Domain allowed him to see everything crystal clear.

​He saw the Sages all jump randomly, rapidly switching positions without any discernible strategy or calculation.

​And it paid off. One clone that was awfully close to the real Sage suddenly burst like a party balloon. Nuwa had finally struck. It seemed Nuwa realized the battlefield was no longer favorable to it and had to act fast.

​As for why Night knew exactly where the real Sage was? He could distinguish the original effortlessly thanks to his Domain, but it seemed Nuwa didn’t have a cheat like that.

​Nuwa didn’t stop moving. Sage immediately tried to take advantage of the opening and return a hit, only to strike empty air.

​Nuwa was already far away by then. But all the Sages didn’t give up; they wildly swung their bamboo staffs at random.

​Sage looked comical as she repeatedly attacked the empty air, while Nuwa had learned its lesson and improvised its next attack.

​Puff.

​Another one of Sage’s clones burst as the fight grew incredibly intense.

​Nuwa picked up the pace, and every five seconds, another clone would burst. Just when Night thought the battle had reached a stalemate, he heard an unnatural sound that left him feeling slightly dizzy.

Nuwa had used some form of sound based soul attack.

​The same thing happened to Sage, though it was much more intense for her. Her main body and her remaining clones paused and wobbled on their feet as if they were drunk.

​Nuwa, who had been paying attention to all the bodies, immediately picked up the faint difference in one of them.

​Zooooom! Smash!

​Sage was lifted cleanly off the ground when the attack reached her. Though Nuwa’s body was small, the raw physical strength behind its attack told a very different story.

​Sage, who was already back to her senses, tried to jump into the air to recover, but she failed.

Nuwa, who had perfectly predicted her next move, sprung into the air as its tail came crashing down heavily at Sage.

​Sage blocked it, hurriedly reducing her staff’s size to minimize the rebound from the attack. Her staff now looking more like a water bottle.

​Though Sage had lost another clash, she expertly managed to use the attack’s momentum to create a safe distance between them.

​Realizing the fight was a lot harder than she had originally anticipated, Sage extended her free hand and opened her palm.

​At first, Night thought it was a weird taunt from her monkey culture, but he was proven wrong in the very next moment.

​Over Sage’s open hand, a glowing yellow ball was forming. It looked awfully similar to a destructive move Alze-beus had used frequently. [Yellow Bomb].

​Night was stunned, while Nuwa suddenly felt mortal danger. In a panic, it coiled its body in mid-air, resembling a smiley sponge ball as it fell onto the floor, awkwardly bouncing away from Sage.

​The white clouds shrouding them were bathed in a bright yellow light as the glowing ball in Sage’s hand grew rapidly. Beside Night, Zero shivered a little as the terrifying attack took shape.

​But before Sage could fully form it, a hand held her wrist, causing the attack to instantly disperse. Looking up, she saw Night staring at her intensely as he slowly loosened his grip.

​Sage felt deeply puzzled under his heavy gaze; she looked like a child who had just been caught stealing sweets in the middle of the night.

​Not knowing what she had done wrong, her furry tail swished randomly, clearly showing her inner confusion.

​Night quickly withdrew his gaze when he realized Sage was getting uncomfortable.

Since he was in his own home, he was not currently wearing his bone sunglasses, and he had forgotten how intimidating his pupilless eyes actually were.

​He smiled warmly at her and gave her gentle head pats. It worked like magic, as Sage immediately started making comfortable purring sounds.

​Nuwa and Zero reached them just as the thick white clouds in the training hall finally started dispersing.

​"I think I have seen enough," Night said with a bright smile. "I think if that went on any longer, this entire hall would have disappeared," he joked.

​Nuwa looked at Sage, who was happily receiving head pats, whined softly, and awkwardly brought its own head closer as well.

​Night looked at this and realized he had two hands anyway, so he gave Nuwa head pats as well. Under the soothing touch, Nuwa soon melted, looking like a pile of overcooked noodles.

​Zero looked at this and immediately felt a heavy wave of jealousy wash over her. Her mind was half-filled with thoughts of kicking Sage and Nuwa far away, replacing them, and receiving the head pats she so rightfully deserved. The other half was filled with anxious thoughts like:

​Am I worthy?

Will my Liege’s hands become dirty by touching my lowly body?

Well, at least I am better than mundane beasts like them...

Yes... I should ask my Liege to see if I have any damages on my beautiful carapace.

But will he think I am just seeking attention and be disgusted by it?

​Night looked over at Zero, wondering if she felt left out, but he saw her standing calm and composed, looking at everything coolly like a true queen.

​Night nodded mentally. As expected of an Ice Hopper Queen. Mature and full of grace.

​If only he knew the calm and composed Queen was actually having an anxiety-filled internal battle of her own, he would have dropped everything and hugged her tightly before it got worse.

Alas... if only he could read minds.

​Night cleared his throat awkwardly and finally pulled his hands back from the very unwilling Nuwa and Sage.

​Night forcefully stopped himself, even though he really just felt like playing with his friends. But he knew disaster wouldn’t just wait around for him...

​"I have to cultivate."