Chapter 158: A Girl Who Became A Star

Encased in a ball of fire, trapped with a demon who wanted nothing more than to snuff their lives out.

It wasn’t how they expected their fight to begin.

Thomas had been excited to go on a murder spree, but he was part of one of the groups that were ordered to go out later, once the invading force had been at least weakened. He felt that the plan was a little too cautious, with everything that was still hidden in the base, but orders were orders.

Still, when he finally was able to breathe and get to his job immediately upon arrival, there was the woman who nearly killed him last time.

The one who had made their entrance earlier was very loud and abrupt.

When he first heard the voice, he instantly began complaining.

Of course she ain’t dead.

It should be impossible; everyone who had been stabbed, and theoretically, if someone did survive, they would be permanently crippled.

But from the planet-wide announcement and the fact that all four anti-invasion cannons got destroyed in a single attack. She certainly wasn’t crippled and was seemingly stronger than before.

His coms lit up like a firework, of course, it did when she bloody announced his name into the base. He replied back, all saying yeah, ‘looks like the same bitch’ and hung up.

Did she repeat what happened last time? Used a battery for an attack?

Such a thing did happen, but not on the absurd level of mana that was demonstrated this or last time. No one could handle that much without their body collapsing.

Well, we have to hope we don’t run into her first.

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“You got to be fuckin’ kidding me,” Thomas swore; the bomb that had been handed to him was much larger than he anticipated.

“Oh?” I questioned, “Does my appearance confuse you that much?” My voice had completely swapped back to my normal tone; I hoped they remembered.

The robot had no noticeable reaction; it was still dealing with me short-circuiting its body with [Disruptive Starlight].

Thomas' verbal complaining was obvious, but I was checking his emotions with my soul pressure; there was a deep anger and annoyance.

Espr, can you just tell me the other’s name?

(“ Zeye Landea ”)

Thank you.

Zeye was stuck in deep contemplation, but there was a fear within him.

It was one thing facing my wondrous self, but it was another realising I was just a woman who they were supposed to have murdered years ago.

I continued from my early recap. “That’s rude. Little lady… Well, best we test these puppies out, right? Nah. So? Is it working? Leaving it. Won’t the first one who died on this ship today… Those with hate in their eyes ain’t worth taking.”

Just so they wouldn’t be making the wrong conclusion if that was even possible.

“I do have to agree with your opinion.” I said, “The ones with hate in their eyes are really not worth taking.”

None of them responded immediately.

Really? How boring.

I asked them, mocking the group who I knew full well couldn’t escape. “So what is your great plan to get out of this situation?”

“Man. This sucks.” Thomas replied, striking up a conversation. “How time flies, huh?” I could tell he was just trying to stall time as he figured out a method to escape, but I was fine with that.

“It really does, over six years, has it not? Since the beginning.” I laughed as I slowly increased the temperature of the area.

The threat of the temperature was enough to stir Zeye into action, using various water magic to try and douse the fire while also shooting me.

Thomas said, “Yeah, people change a lot.”

“And some people have to build a girlfriend since they couldn’t get one.”

“Why does everyone say that?” He sighed.

“The better question is. Do you fuck the robot?”

“Kelet, she is insulting you.”

“Occupied.” The robot replied in an even more robotic tone.

He turned his head to look at the robot.

“Well, it would be foolish if I didn’t take precautions since that happened last time?”

“Do you know how long it took to get her rebuilt?” He complained, “After you melted her?”

“I’m quite happy you did rebuild, since it means I can do it all again.”

“Sigh… you are really making me work for this.” The number of his clones increased, and he joined in on the shooting efforts.

Attacking from all angles really wasn’t working, though, from their perspective, it wasn't the worst of strategies. Since people usually run out of mana eventually. Unfortunately for them, I wasn't most people, and while I was losing energy faster than it was being regenerated, that would be fixed the moment I activated my horns.

Thomas was trying to be sneaky with his clone usage. With so many, the idea would certainly be that it was hard to track each one since each was a threat in normal situations. It could be his plan after all, since he had an idea of how good my tracking was based on our last encounter. So with over a dozen clones shooting at me, one was on its own mission.

Unbeknownst to him, I had a clear eye on each one of his clones, even the ones that thought they were invisible as they examined the wall.

With a small click of my fingers, an explosion of fire engulfed that clone.

“Oh? Was something there?” I asked, acting as if I did something by accident.

“Likely not.” Thomas' voice spoke from separate clones. “You should be careful. Uncontrolled sneezing can be bad for one's health.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

It is simple, but the joy I am feeling watching them squirm is well making up for it.

I thought about my revenge for a long time. Of course, my main revenge was killing every Dominous Hood insect I came across, but I needed to do something special for Thomas and friends.

There was childlike joy in planning out all the ways to harm him, but in the end, I decided that the decision would happen when I met him again.

The very slow realisation of their hopelessness was a sight to behold. While Thomas tried to find a method to escape, Zeye was trying to communicate with those outside the dome.

“Having trouble communicating with people? I know it would be juicy information with everyone I had told you.” I laughed. “Come on, Zeye, did you think I would make it that easy?”

They stared, completely bewildered by what was happening.

“I said I took precautions.” The heat dramatically increased. I had a shield over me as well, but it was more to just protect my armour than my body. I would rather my armour not melt in my own trap.

The heat began turning up at a faster rate, and the ground was beginning to bubble.

“I wonder how tough your armour is?”

He snapped back like a child, “Better than yours.”

“Correct, my last batch got destroyed thanks to you, so now I am wearing scraps. Thanks for that.”

“You're welcome!” I could see him eyeing the black arrow in his hand; he hadn’t used it yet, and unlike last time, I was much closer to him and there were fewer obstacles in the way; however, I had survived it twice. There had to be the fear that even if he tried to use his trump card, nothing substantial would come from it.

Oh, cute, panicking, slowly, but surely, a little bit more each time.

After a few more minutes of heat rising–I was taking it truly nice and slow; I wanted a properly cooked meal after all–they had decided to swap plans.

Thomas’s armour shone a dark black, and his body vanished. Last time he used this, he was able to appear and disappear in various places. It was an ability I knew he held, but he hadn’t used before this moment for some reason.

“I said, I took precautions.” I could see him completely this time; my soul pressure hadn’t lost him for a moment, and when he tried to phase through my wall. My [Disruptive Starlight] intensified and sent him flying back, and his body became injured from the attempt.

He coughed a few more times; the pain could be heard in each one. “Couldn’t you take less precautions?”

“Why would I do that?” I smiled. “But I am glad you are still in the joking mood! That means you still have plenty of fight left, which is amazing~! Since I have plenty myself

.”

I could feel his doubt; ‘she must be lying' was likely what he thought, as I was spending a lot of power to block his attacks, but then I did in our previous fight.

Explosions, various element storms, debuffs that drained my strength, and mental assaults that were meant to make me feel pain. So many methods to try and make me crack and break, and it was wonderful.

Then, the robot Kelet regained enough function to fight.

I could hear the engine within her roar as magical energy burst out from her back.

Zeye snapped a metal stick, and his power skyrocketed.

Then a blue diagram appeared across the ground, weakening me further.

A gambit, I see.

The robot flew into the air and, with all its remaining energy, fired a contracted beam of energy towards me that I blocked with my shields, but the attack didn’t stop as the energy kept pushing down.

A second diagram appeared below me, and Zeye had split into three; one was firing a large railgun at me, and the other two charged in glowing with an extreme amount of energy, ready to explode.

Everything was slamming towards me; shields that, layer by layer, they cracked and shattered; and the Thomas clones that were shooting then all suddenly disappeared.

Thomas jumped through the attacks in his half-vanished state and appeared behind me with the arrow being plunged down.

‘Enough mana had to have been used up; even then, the arrow should break through the shields.’

The arrow cracked through the barrier and stabbed into my back. It stung. The attack from the robot was deflected off a remaining shield as her energy supply depleted.

I made no sound, and nothing changed in our surroundings.

…Ah, I am so happy you did that…

“I wonder…” I could feel the fear coming from his soul. “Did you really think that would work on the third try?”

I purposely allowed the opportunity to happen because I know of the consequences. The arrow did hurt, but that was it. It hurt but wasn’t strong enough to do any damage. Not to mention my true essence was still partly contained in my domain, so even if I somehow had another meltdown, I could save myself–though the prerequisites for that were much different now. This was still very much my body and soul, but a part of it did exist elsewhere.

I could die while in this form, but to truly die required a bit more than destroying my body.

He tried to escape, but my Starlight construct already strangled him and threw him to the ground; hundreds of needles of Starlight stuck him to the ground.

His friends couldn’t help him. Zeye collapsed on the ground while they were trying to kill with that final attack. I stabbed him and the robot with a sharp, superheated pillar of Starlight.

I grabbed the arrow and, with his body, slammed into the ground. “I suppose a treat is in order?”

The arrow was still in complete working condition.

I hope you enjoy~!

I pushed the arrow through his armour and into his chest. I could hear the sound of blood filling up his lungs, but his high level would keep him alive for a moment, for as long as he kept his level.

His energy was rapidly leaving his body. “Fuck–”

“Fuck you too.” I ripped the arrow out, and my fire spread across the whole area and began to melt him alive.

His body could no longer scream, so I just went to enjoy the sight, as I could feel his soul doing the screaming instead.

And so I patiently waited as everything melted away.