Chapter 194: She’s so cool

The Silver Lotus Elder staggered back, his boots slipping on the scorched cobblestones as sheer, instinctual terror seized his soul.

The sight of the raging black flames wrapping around Eurenia’s body caused his heart to skip a violent beat.

The oppressive, cold malice radiating from those pitch-black embers was unlike anything he had ever encountered in his centuries of cultivation.

Deep within his bones, a primal voice warned him that a single touch of those dark flames would consume his skin, his flesh, and his soul, reducing him to nothingness in a fraction of a second.

He was terrified to step anywhere near her.

Yet, as the dark flames spread, smothering the light of the moon, the old man knew there was no path of retreat.

This strange woman had made her intent absolute: she was here to take his life.

Running was impossible against a Peak-Enlightened Stage Martial General of her speed.

If he wished to survive the night, he had to go all out—consequences be damned.

The Silver Lotus Elder’s face contorted into a hideous, desperate frown.

He forced his trembling arms up, weaving a singular, ancient hand sign with blinding speed.

THOOM!

The temperature in the air skyrocketed to a suffocating level.

The sky above Kaelos City split open as a apocalyptic rain of white-hot, solar flames descended from every single direction, turning the entire district into a sea of absolute destruction.

A thick trickle of dark blood burst from the Elder’s nostrils, followed by a heavy cough that spattered crimson onto his pale-gold robes.

This was a forbidden sect art—a forbidden technique that forced the caster to channel the primordial essence of nature’s fire directly through his own soul core.

Using it cost decades of his lifespan and fractured his soul, but the Elder’s eyes burned with an unhinged, insane bloodlust.

He didn’t care about the damage to his body anymore.

He was desperate to win, desperate to butcher the arrogant bitch who had brought him to the brink of ruin.

"DIE! DIE! BURN TO ASH, YOU ACCURSED DEMON!" the Elder shrieked, his voice hoarse and raw.

Yet, despite the catastrophic rain of solar fire obliterating the stone buildings, melting iron gates, and reducing entire streets to liquid glass...

Eurenia stood completely unshaken in the center of the storm.

In fact, the falling fire didn’t even touch her.

The blinding meteors of flame passed through her body or dissolved into thin air the instant they entered a three-foot radius of her skin, leaving her pitch-black armament completely unscathed.

"HOW??!" the Silver Lotus Elder screamed, his eyes bulging out of his head as he clawed at his bleeding throat. "WHAT IS GOING ON?! WHY AREN’T YOU BURNING...?! WHY CAN’T MY FLAMES TOUCH YOU?!"

Eurenia tilted her head, her black-flame-clad longsword resting casually at her side.

Her emerald eyes glowed through the dark visor with cold, terrifying amusement.

"Do you really want to know?" Eurenia asked softly.

The Elder blinked, his mind reeling—

SWOOSH!

Before his eyelids could even open again, Eurenia vanished.

She materialized directly in front of him, her shadow blotting out his sight.

Before the old man could react or channel a defensive barrier, a cold, armored hand shot forward, locking around his face like a steel claw.

BOOM!

Eurenia slammed the Elder’s head straight through the stone facade of a burning three-story manor, dragging his body through the foundation before hurling him deep into the collapsing interior.

Without pausing, she raised her left hand, unleashing a roaring torrent of pitch-black flames directly into the structural gap.

AAAAAAAAAGH! GODS ABOVE, STOP! IT BURNS! IT BURNS MY SOUL!

The agonizing, blood-curdling screams of the Silver Lotus Elder echoed vastly across the ruined district, bouncing off the burning walls.

Eurenia stood outside, listening to the desperate shrieks with a cold, immensely satisfied smile touching her lips.

"GRAAAAH!"

Driven beyond the brink of madness by the excruciating pain, the Silver Lotus Elder erupted from the burning building in a frenzy of pure rage.

He charged at Eurenia with hyper-speed, his remaining mana flaring in a desperate, final suicidal burst.

He appeared right before her, reaching out his trembling, bloodied hand and clamping his fingers firmly over Eurenia’s face.

"DIE WITH ME!" the Elder roared, trying with every fiber of his soul to detonate his mana core and ignite his solar fire directly against her brain.

Eurenia didn’t even flinch.

She didn’t swat his hand away, nor did she attempt to dodge.

She simply stood there, waiting.

The Elder gritted his teeth, screaming until his lungs nearly burst as he tried to trigger the explosion—but nothing happened.

Not a single spark of fire materialized.

His mana vanished into a void the second it left his palms.

That was the exact moment the Silver Lotus Elder realized just how deep his hopeless mess truly was.

Eurenia had walked through his apocalyptic rain of fire completely unhurt, not because her armor was thick, but because she had activated her second primordial active skill:

Active Skill: Turn Null

A supreme defensive domain that absolute-nullified every form of mana, physical force, or elemental attack directed against her person.

The moment his forbidden flames had touched her aura, their concept had been completely erased from existence.

Despair—absolute, soul-crushing despair—flooded the old man’s eyes.

Upon realizing the terrifying strangeness of her power, the Silver Lotus Elder frantically ripped his hand away, stumbling backward in a desperate attempt to flee into the shadows.

Eurenia casually swung her longsword in a wide, effortless arc.

SCHLICK!

A clean crescent of black wind severed the air.

"AGGGHH!"

The Silver Lotus Elder’s entire right arm flew into the air, spraying a geyser of crimson blood across the cobblestones before landing in the dirt with a sickening splat.

The proud, immortal Elder of the Glorious Mythical Sect collapsed onto his knees.

He clutched his bleeding shoulder, tears and blood mixing on his dirty, pale face as he openly wept in pain.

"P-Please... have mercy..." the Elder sobbed, completely broken, his pride shattered into dust as he looked up at her. "I... I have vast wealth... secret cultivation manuals... I can give you everything... spare my life... please..."

Eurenia watched the sobbing, pathetic man before her, her emerald eyes entirely void of emotion.

She stood firmly, completely unfazed by his pathetic begging.

Slowly, the pitch-black flames around her body began to recede, flowing back into her chest.

Her dark armor dissolved, revealing her true form as the illusionary spell faded.

Thick, dark crimson fur erupted across her skin.

Her ears shifted into high, sleek wolf ears, and a long, magnificent crimson tail unfolded behind her.

Her teeth sharpened into dangerous, predatory fangs as she reverted fully into her true beastman form—a majestic, terrifying crimson-furred wolf-woman.

The Silver Lotus Elder froze, staring at her true form in absolute, paralyzing shock.

The realization that he—a grand cultivator of the supreme human sect—had been utterly dismantled, humiliated, and brought to his knees by a "filthy beast" struck his soul like a thunderbolt.

The pathetic begging in his eyes vanished, replaced by an ugly, venomous hatred.

"YOU... YOU FILTHY BEASTLY SCUM!" the Elder spat, his face twisting into an demonic mask of rage as blood spilled from his lips.

"A DIRTY ANIMAL! A SUBHUMAN CUR! YOU DARE TRAMPLE UPON MY HEAVENLY PATH?! CURSE YOU! CURSE YOUR ENTIRE RACE! THE GLORIOUS MYTHICAL SECT WILL HUNT EVERY LAST ONE OF YOUR KIND AND SLAY THEM LIKE DOGS—"

Eurenia didn’t offer him a single word in response.

Her expression remained cold, still, and unbothered by his hollow, bitter abuses.

She simply stepped forward.

SWISH—

With a single, fluid, effortless swing of her longsword, a line of silver light flashed through the night air.

The tirade abruptly ceased.

The Silver Lotus Elder’s head slid cleanly off his shoulders, tumbling onto the blood-soaked cobblestones, his eyes forever wide with bitter, impotent hatred.

The headless corpse of the sect Elder collapsed forward into the dirt, pooling blood into the shattered stone.

He had died by the hand of the very beastman he hated to his absolute core.

High above the ruined intersection, sitting casually at the edge of a high clock tower rooftop, Alisa kicked her legs against the open air.

She rested her chin in her hands, looking down at the towering crimson wolf-woman standing victorious amidst the corpses, and couldn’t help but let out a wicked, delighted grin.

"Damn..." Alisa giggled softly into the quiet night wind.

"...she’s so cool."