Chapter 23: Super-Tier Magic, Meteor Shower of Heavenly Fire
The terrifying force pulling at her magic, draining her strength, filled Candice with a primal terror. Her face paled, her body trembling as she watched Qin Chu, knowing he was the source of this unsettling power.
“Lord Horus!” she cried out, her voice a desperate plea.
She didn’t dare pull away, to break free from his grasp. Would she even be able to escape his control? And what if her resistance angered him?
In her mind, fueled by her assumptions about his power, Horus was an insurmountable being, capable of crushing her with a flick of his wrist.
She could only plead for mercy, hoping he would spare her.
Her cry startled Qin Chu, pulling him out of his power-drunk reverie.
He mentally cursed, releasing his hold on Devourer.
Candice gasped, her lungs burning, her face pale and slick with sweat. She was terrified, her body still trembling from the shock.
Matras, the once formidable Yin-Yang Demon, lay on the floor, reduced to a withered husk.
Its eyes and mouth were sunken, its skin stretched tautly over its bones, all traces of its former power devoured by Qin Chu.
Without the magical energy that had bound them together, the two halves of its body separated with a sickening crack, revealing the hollow cavity within.
Its internal organs were gone, replaced by a mass of tangled, grayish-black tendrils, resembling a clump of matted hair.
The Yin-Yang Demon’s true form, a grotesque parody of life, with a bulbous, octopus-like head from which sprouted countless thin, worm-like appendages.
Imagine the horsehair worm, but longer, thicker, and far more numerous, writhing and pulsating in a tangled mass.
Though he had encountered this creature before, Qin Chu still felt a wave of revulsion.
It was truly disgusting.
He had heard rumors that these creatures, when fried with flour, were surprisingly palatable.
He had never been tempted to try.
The Yin-Yang Demon used these hair-like appendages to control its host bodies, piercing their brains, their limbs, their very essence.
In a way, they were more parasites than Demons.
Once their host bodies were destroyed, their true forms, weak and vulnerable, were easily dispatched. Even a child could crush them.
Unable to bear the sight of its writhing form any longer, Qin Chu stomped on its head, crushing it with a sickening crunch.
A spray of viscous fluid splattered across the floor.
A faint, high-pitched squealing filled the air as the worm-like appendages twitched and spasmed.
Even after its death, they would continue to writhe for hours before finally succumbing.
“Disgusting creatures, aren’t they, Miss Candice?” Qin Chu asked, his voice light and conversational.
Candice’s lips trembled, her cheeks flushing. She knew he had drained some of her power, a subtle warning, a demonstration of his control.
The greatest fear, she realized, was the fear of the unknown.
And that was precisely how she felt about Horus.
He stood before her, seemingly ordinary, yet his power, the depths of his knowledge, were unfathomable.
She hadn’t killed Matras outright, choosing instead to subdue it, to offer it to Horus, hoping to witness his methods, to gain a better understanding of his abilities.
She had never doubted his strength, but she had been curious about its nature, its limits.
And now, having witnessed him drain a Demon of its life force, leaving behind a withered husk, she was even more intrigued.
His power was unlike anything she had ever encountered.
But instead of clarifying things, it had only deepened the mystery surrounding him.
An overwhelming urge to unravel his secrets, to understand him, to delve into the depths of his being, consumed her.
But he had already drained some of her magic, a subtle reminder of his dominance.
He had seen through her, she realized. Her curiosity, her desire to probe, had been met with a swift and unmistakable punishment.
She pushed down the urge to question him further, her survival instinct overriding her curiosity.
“Yes,” she replied, forcing a smile. “Quite disgusting.”
“I apologize for… accidentally draining some of your magic,” Qin Chu said, his voice laced with feigned regret.
Devourer was a powerful Ability, its effects intoxicating. The sensation of absorbing another being’s essence, of growing stronger with each stolen drop of power, was addictive. Even he, with his iron will, had been momentarily lost in the thrill of it all, his control slipping as he continued to drain Matras, inadvertently siphoning some of Candice’s magic as well.
Thankfully, she hadn’t retaliated in her panic. His carefully constructed facade would have crumbled.
Candice, her fear receding, relaxed slightly. “It was my fault, Lord Horus,” she said quickly. “I was careless.”
Qin Chu blinked, confused. He had been the one who lost control, hadn’t he?
But he wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth.
“While that might be true,” he said, his voice taking on a magnanimous tone, “I did drain your magic. I should… compensate you.”
“Fetch me some paper.”
Candice, her fear replaced by a newfound sense of purpose, her loyalty solidifying, hurried to comply.
Qin Chu sat at the bar, his brow furrowed in thought. He picked up the quill pen, his hand moving swiftly across the paper.
He filled four pages with intricate symbols and diagrams.
He blew on the ink, then handed the pages to Candice.
She took them hesitantly, her eyes widening as she scanned the first page.
Her hand, her entire body, trembled. Her breath hitched in her throat, her chest rising and falling rapidly.
Her lavender hair swayed as her body shook, her cheeks flushed with a feverish heat.
Tears welled up in her amethyst eyes, her expression a mixture of awe and disbelief.
He had written something… incredible.
“S-Super-tier magic,” she stammered, her voice barely audible.
“Meteor Shower of Heavenly Fire…”
“This is… for me?”
Leave a Reply