CHAPTER 50: | THE MINIATURE WORLD OF THE FIRST SEGMENT | 6
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My eyes locked with hers, meticulously scanning her facial expressions.
However, she simply and blatantly pulled a chair from thin air, setting it down before casually seating herself with her legs crossed.
Whoosh! Creak!
She waited patiently, chin creased, her eyes alight with an almost predatory interest in my form.
"So, care to explain why you're leering at such a beautiful lady as me?"
Her soft voice held an undeniable allure.
Cough!
I cleared my throat, a faint smile widening on my face.
"You... you're not from this place."
For a moment, she seemed dumbfounded.
She fiddled with the strands of her hair, a confused smile playing on her lips.
Her enchanting voice echoed, soft and mesmerizing, truly like that of an enchantress who could ensnare any man.
"What do you mean? I've always been here since birth."
I merely smiled at her response, spreading my arms wide in a gesture of challenge.
"Why lie when you're clearly an outsider, Miss?"
My crimson eyes met her amethyst gaze.
She remained silent, her expression hardening, a palpable intent to silence me radiating from her.
Yet, she knew that wouldn't be possible without incurring a significant injury.
Sigh!
With a sigh, she finally raised her hands in the air, a gesture of mock surrender.
Swish.
"Well, you've got me... So what would you do to a defenseless woman right now?"
Her voice turned erotic as she subtly posed, dramatically revealing the provocative curves of her body.
Her eyes took on a dangerous, shimmering sheen of pink.
Flash!
A blinding pink light erupted from her, then just as swiftly, she coughed a bucket of blood.
Thwmp!
Countless eyes, crimson and glowing, protruded from my very skin, fixing an intense glare upon her.
'Gaze of the Fallen,' enhanced by the passive 'Gaze of the Fallen Omniscient,' rendered her attempt to charm me utterly futile.
As the myriad of crimson irises bore down on her, a palpable, crushing pressure left my body.
Gurgle! Drip! Drip!
Blood gushed from her mouth as she coughed violently.
More blood streamed from her seven orifices, and tears of blood dripped from her eyelids.
Her breath came in frantic, painful gasps, her hands reaching out to me in silent agony.
"Stop, stop! Okay, okay, I'll talk! Please stop!"
'Gaze of the Fallen' deactivated, and Celeste gasped for breath with agonizing difficulty.
Zshhh!
My form distorted, flickering out of reality for a split second before reappearing inches away from her.
Forcefully grabbing her chin, I demanded.
"Now tell me, who are you?"
She bit her lip until it bled, but she looked directly into my eyes without any trace of fear.
"My name is Celeste, and I am the daughter of Astria!"
Her gaze was defiant, even as she continued to bite her lip.
I nodded at her answer, a flicker of satisfaction in my expression.
She had revealed her name and her mother's, yet carefully withheld information about her presence here.
"Good to know that one of her children is still alive."
Unlike the crude crabmen, the creations of Astria I had encountered before, this one named Celeste, was a more humanoid variant.
She looked undeniably human, yet she was not.
Astria had clearly explained her ability, she could create a new variant of a given race if she devoured and analyzed its components, allowing her to tweak it and forge a more 'perfect' variant.
Looking at Celeste scream.
"What did you do to my mother?!"
I placed my index finger gently against her lips.
Shhh!
"Nothing happened at all. In fact, Astria, my lovely mother, told me about this dungeon, sister."
Celeste gave me a dubious gaze at first, but slowly, a grudging acceptance flickered in her eyes after witnessing my strength.
"Well, you've sufficiently proven yourself worthy of being Mother's child, so I won't doubt you, my lovely brother."
Of course, that was a blatant lie.
I was not her younger brother, I had killed her siblings and, in a twisted way, raped her mother.
Though it wasn't exactly rape, since she had thrown herself at me quite blatantly.
I offered a slight smile, then extended my hand to her.
Grunt!
She took it, rising with evident difficulty.
"Sister, I heard from Mother that all of you had died, but I didn't believe her, so I delved into this dungeon to find you."
Celeste shook her head, walking slowly, stumbling with each step.
I assisted her, supporting her weight.
Her voice echoed, soft yet enchanting, as she pointed towards a massive mountain range looming in the distance.
"That enormous mountain leads to the next segment of the dungeon, and a dragon is the guardian that faithfully guards that place."
She then smiled bitterly.
"And killing all the overseers of this floor, the Crimson Werewolf that leads all the wolves and werewolves of this miniature world, the High Chieftains that lead all the Titans..."
Celeste groaned in pain, forcing herself to continue.
"Then the White Nightmare that leads all the white tigers, then the... King of the Skies that leads all the griffins and wyverns... and lastly..."
Cough! Cough! Splurt
Celeste coughed violently, blood gushing from her mouth.
With a weak flick of her hand, a house, like that of a hobbit house, appeared before us, shimmering into existence from the humid air.
Whoooom!
Slowly, she walked towards the door, muttering some words as it creaked open.
Creak!
She smiled faintly, but another violent cough wracked her body.
"Come in."
Her voice was weak, her legs wobbling precariously.
Before she could crash to the floor, I caught her.
"Haaa, these women are truly troublesome, a pair of mother and daughter."
Celeste lost her consciousness, resting in my arms, whispering even in her sleep.
"Mother... where are you..."
Snap! Whoosh!
Closing the door and flicking my hand, the illusion I had copied from her mana signature earlier devoured the house once more, making it vanish from sight.
Slowly, I searched the house for a while, finally finding her bedroom with its king-sized bed.
I gently laid her down.
Celeste's hand instinctively grabbed mine, and she mumbled in her sleep.
"Mother, why can't you leave?"
Haaaa.
Really, this girl is quite troublesome.
But perhaps this is my way of atoning for what I did to Astria.
Hours passed.
I stripped Celeste bare, then rummaged through her wardrobe, changing her into clean clothes.
I placed a cool, soaked towel on her forehead to reduce her fever.
Memories flooded my mind, memories of when I was Alister Von Fai, not the Harbinger, but the humble Alister.
"I had moments like this in the past... and she took care of me... but now my memories of her have begun to fade..."
Silence shrouded the room as I gazed out the window with a profound calmness, deep in thought.
"My existence can only hold for a few months at its limit before I will vanish, replaced by a new me... so I must lay a solid foundation...."
This was for the better...
I gazed at the hologram shimmering before me and sighed.
"Life is truly full of surprises..."