CHAPTER 566: THE POWER OF PRESERVATION

Kim’s eyes gradually opened. She found herself lying on the root outcropping, where Vishnu once sat. Confusion glinted in her grayish-green eyes as she glanced down at herself.

"Uh... What?" she mumbled while wiggling her newfound toes on her slender, tanned legs.

She wasn’t half-snake anymore, which after living and moving two years on her tail felt extremely weird and uncomfortable. Luckily, the special dress she wore was long enough to reach her mid-thigh, so she didn’t accidentally flash the entire planet.

With slow movements, she sat up and tried standing. Her legs began trembling as she stood unsure, like a newborn foal. After a few seconds, she lost her balance and planted her face right in the muddy ground.

A small giggle echoed through the air, and Kim instantly recognized its owner. Her annoyed gaze stared at the nearest tree, which only increased Bea’s laughter.

"Yeah! Hilarious, I know... Dammit, I didn’t expect to grow legs again!" she said with a self-deprecatory laugh, then tried climbing back to her feet only to fall again.

However, while both she and Bea had fun, Faith continued observing all of Kim’s opponents. Sadly, it seemed Vishnu’s little trick drew everyone to Kim’s exact position, and since her legs didn’t function properly, she had no chance of escape.

"They last of the fighters will arrive soon," whispered Faith. "There are six of them, coming from all around you. I suggest you find out how to use your new power fast, otherwise you can still lose this match!"

Kim’s demeanor changed drastically. She stopped trying to stand and instead sat cross-legged in the center of the small clearing. Her chest rose and fell as she took deep breaths and focused her mind.

She felt a new power course through her veins, much greater than anything she’d ever felt before. With curiosity and a bit of hesitation, she tapped into it.

Suddenly, a sticky sensation passed across her entire body, similar to the feeling of Vishnu’s power.

Upon glancing down at herself, Kim saw no difference then before, yet the sensation persisted. She wasn’t certain what this power did, but her time had already run out...

"They’re here!" said Faith, causing Kim’s eyes to snap towards the first person who burst into the clearing.

It was a demon with a giant sword and a perpetually angry expression. The moment her eyes landed on Kim, he roared and flew towards her sitting form.

Kim saw all her movements in slow motion, yet she didn’t have time to summon her own weapons. A moment passed, and the massive greatsword stabbed through her chest. However... it didn’t hurt...

The enormous pain that should’ve spread through her body never came, and when the demon pulled out her weapon, her body and even her clothes stayed undamaged.

"What?!" the demon’s deep rumbling voice echoed through the clearing as two more fighters arrived.

They seemed unsure who the real enemy was, but since the demon actually had a weapon, she was the one they attacked.

The demon exchanged a few blows before Kim eventually recovered from the shock of nearly dying. Her strange powers continued coursing through her body, but their exact use was still a mystery to her.

Her legs stayed useless, making her unable to fight using her usual methods. However, in a moment of epiphany, she discovered a new way to win this battle!

Kim’s eyes glowed for a moment, just as a halberd beheaded the demon. Her angry head flew away, yet her body stayed standing... and continued to move!

The greatsword of hers stabbed through her first surprised opponent, then bisected the second, creating two cleanly cut, bloody halves.

The demon seemed just as confused by her state as her enemies, but she had no time to ponder. Three more enemies arrived in the clearing, angels nonetheless. The creatures demons despised the most.

They weren’t certain why the demon stayed alive without her head, or how it could see, but she gave them no quarter. Her greatsword moved once again, trying to slash through all three enemies at once.

Their pristine white feathered wings beat the air, propelling them backward. One stayed facing the demon, while the other two flanked the massive headless creature. The one facing her held a curved longsword, while the other two used long spears.

They all attacked like clockwork, first the one in the center drew the demon’s attention, then the other two closed in with slight differences in tempo.

The demon’s greatsword tried to behead the angel at the center, but as he jumped back, the demon’s movements changed... It was a faint!

Somewhere far away, the creature’s head chuckled, while its body carried the momentum of her initial slash and intercepted the spear on the right.

She then turned her weapon backward while stepping closer. The blade passed by the demon’s shoulder and stopped the spear approaching from behind, while she used the pommel to punch the angel in the face, breaking her skull, killing her instantly.

The longsword wielding angel jumped up and tried stabbing the demon from above. A deadly attack, which was unavoidable, since the other spear-wielder continued pushing his weapon, trying to impale his enemy.

A moment passed, and the longsword stabbed through the demon’s neck hole, right into her heart. A fountain of blood spurted from the new wound, yet the zombie-like creature continued to move.

Her head roared a few dozen meters away, while her body let go of her greatsword with one hand. It grasped the surprised angel’s spear and pulled the being’s head right onto the tip of her sword.

Above her, the last angel pulled out his sword, and cut off the demon’s arms. However, before they could’ve separated, Kim’s eyes glowed once more. The wound disappeared, and the arms stayed attached.

The angel’s gaze finally met Kim’s, but just as he realized the real culprit behind his friends’ death, the demon grabbed his neck.

With a simple squeeze, he destroyed the angel’s trachea, then she pulled his entire spinal cord out of his body with ribcage and head still attached.

The demon’s entire body dripped with blood as she dropped the spine and turned towards Kim. She grabbed her previously dropped greatsword, and rushed towards the patiently waiting woman.

She managed a single step before Kim smiled and said, "Thanks for the assistance!"

As her words echoed in the clearing, she snapped her fingers and, a moment later, the demon’s headless body fell over, dead. The force, which kept her alive disappeared, and finally, Kim breathed a sigh of relief.

"What an unexpected and exciting match! Ladies, gentlemen and everything in-between, I think we’ve a new viewer record on our hands!..." said the female announcer, but Kim had already stopped paying attention.

With a lot of struggle, she climbed to her feet and used a conveniently placed stick to help her walk. A minute later she stood on the platform to bring her below the arena.

The sound of cheers felt like a distant world as the elevator descended and she leaned against the walls. Her trembling leg was about to give out when the elevator stopped, and she fell into a pair of tender hands.

She glanced at the hands holding her. They were green, and one had a familiar ring on its finger.

Kim chuckled with joy and turned around quickly to face her fiancé. However, she soon made a horrible discovery.

Sam’s hands straightened her body, so Kim stood at her full height... She didn’t even reach Sam’s shoulders...

"No!... Not again!..." she shouted in anger, while looking up at the tall goblin, who could barely hold his laughter.

For a goblin, Sam was actually quite tall, reaching nearly 1,9 meter height. Kim, on the other hand, found herself back at her original height, which was somewhere around 1,6 meters.

Someone chuckled behind Sam. Actually, multiple people were laughing... Astrid, Yvonne, Will and Sarah seemed to find Kim’s new height hilarious. It also didn’t help that when she pouted from annoyance, she looked like a teenage girl...

Strangely, Lucy wasn’t laughing. In fact, she looked angry...

"You little thief!" she said, putting emphasis on the ’little’. "How dare you break my viewer record! You know how hard I worked to achieve it?"

Kim just snorted and laughed as her friends began teasing Lucy. They also didn’t forget about Kim though, and for the next few days, her height was the butt of many jokes.

Not that she cared, though. Kim just enjoyed spending time with her friends while the matches continued.

A few hours after Kim’s match, began the last battle of the day. It was Yannick’s time to fight.

He stood near the elevator. Yvonne and the others already said their good lucks, leaving him alone with his thoughts. He didn’t have any lover or spouse, like the others, which he didn’t mind.

Yannick never was one to care about relationships. He occasionally participated in carnal activities, but never had a girlfriend or boyfriend.

The idea of loving someone romantically sent an uncomfortable shiver down his spine. It’s just wasn’t something he would ever enjoy, most times, even just touching other people, like hugs and handshakes, filled him with discomfort.

Maybe it was because of his powers. Without his eyesight, he relied solely on void sense, which revealed exactly how a person’s insides and outsides looked. For his sense, clothes weren’t an obstacle.

If you sensed everyone within a few kilometer proximity naked every day, you’d probably get desensitized too.

Either way, it didn’t matter. For Yannick, his current life was perfect, and he didn’t want it to change... Not like fate left a choice...