Chapter 438: A Paragon [Part 2]
The Emperor's feet continued to blaze viciously, each step he took closer to Black Mamba scorched the ground to its very depths.
Black Mamba scrambled a bit on the ground like a wretched beggar, struggling to stand up, but its movements were marked by haste imbued with fear.
The creature staggered back shabbily upon successfully getting up, its face fixed on the Emperor's malevolent expression.
There was no shred of mercy in those eyes. In that moment, Black Mamba learned what true fear was.
Its body froze and cowered under the intense pressure, registering in its mind that there was no way it was going to survive this.
However, the creature's response was unexpected. Instead of submitting to the fear that resonated even within its soul, the creature slowly straightened its back and glared back into the Emperor's eyes.
This was not just a glare; it was the same malevolent glare that the Emperor was exerting. Something was ominously similar about both their glares.
The Emperor himself could tell, but it didn't seem to change anything. Whether or not this creature before him had gained the resolve to stand beneath his searing pressure, there was only one certainty that existed right now:
Death-Black Mamba's.
Suddenly, the Emperor's eyes widened, then creased into a frown as he slowly mumbled, "How?"
Black Mamba's feet, in the next moment after mirroring the Emperor's bloodthirsty glare, flared up in dark flames, almost as terrifying as the Emperor's.
The flames intensified and began to scorch the ground, but the molten magma was not as pronounced as the trails left by the Emperor's sweltering legs.
The Emperor narrowed his eyes for a bit, and time seemed to stop, giving space for movement as the Emperor took another step.
What looked like a single step linked into a blitzing blur that exploded with crimson aura. Black Mamba, about to move at that point, suddenly froze, its face pale and eyes trembling. At that moment, it learned something new-pain.
The creature had no idea how it had happened. Its body was probably created to be insanely hard and malleable.
Malleable in the sense that its ratio of defense could be proportional to the strength of the assault. The creature inherently knew this and didn't seem to care about blocking attacks during their initial exchange.
However, when things got serious and fear began to register into its void soul, it began to dodge, making hasty judgments to run away from an attack rather than take it head-on.
Which was what it had wanted to do before the Emperor performed what seemed like a miracle: moving before actually moving.
The Emperor's brows creased as he saw no blood.
"As I suspected, you are a strange being..." he deadpanned, then added, "Well, it means nothing. You should have listened to me. You're an adversary I would have loved to battle when you had realized your peak."
He shook his head and clicked his tongue pitifully, "You have thrown your life away."
He pulled his hand out of the creature's body, spread his fingers, and lunged them forward. He stopped midway through his attack and strangely pulled his hand back with a slight frown.
The blaze on his legs reduced, as did the patches of blackness around his body-they peeled off and crumbled into the air before touching the ground.
He grimaced, almost gritting his teeth as he turned his head halfway to take a clear look at the person behind him.
"You... You didn't die."
Northern, with a straight face, nodded, "It'd take more than a single punch to kill a resilient survivalist like me."
"Ho ho?" The Emperor sounded amused. His expression changed a little as he turned away from Black Mamba to Northern.
"I'm sure that punch must have burrowed through your belly, if anything..." he paused to examine Northern, who was clad in dark metallic armor, from head to toe.
To the Emperor, Northern seemed perfectly fine, like he had received no blow.
The white-haired boy raised his hand in an attempt to make himself as approachable as possible, quickly saying, "I am not your enemy, nor do I want to fight you."
The Emperor's expression did not move an inch, despite Northern's peace proclamation. Instead, he glanced back at Black Mamba and then focused on Northern again, asking, "What is your relation with this... thing?"
Northern looked at Black Mamba, who had a gaping hole in its belly.
'Damn, he did a number on my boy...' He tried to keep a rational expression without letting any of his thoughts show as he answered the Emperor.
"While I wouldn't call him my minion, he's sort of something that my talent ability allows me to be able to do."
"Do you take me for a fool? Talent ability? You don't even have a soul core. Miraculously, you seem to be advancing in soul rank like every other Drifter, but you are just an empty shell."
His statement caused Northern's expression to change immediately. A grim frown broke out on Northern's face.
Such words, spoken in their barest form, were like spears piercing through his heart.
Northern had actually forgotten that he was not like every other person. If it wasn't for the system, he wouldn't even have powers right now.
When he awakened, he had no soul core, and therefore no talent.
But the system came, he absorbed his father's talent by chance, and his journey began from there.
He had no reason to feel like he was a powerless nobody because the truth was that he had unlimited potential when compared to every single Drifter with a soul core.
He might be weak now, but even without trying, he was bound to stand at the peak of the
world.
Northern's brow was seriously furrowed together; the statement that came out of the Emperor's mouth carried so much disdain.
Obviously, this man-beast was looking down on him.
And after everything he had been through, suffered, and endured to get to this point, Northern didn't think he wanted to be looked down on again, ever in his life.
He looked down at the only thing his eyes could see.
'I was really not interested in flame-type abilities, but it looks like there's a uniqueness to his. Plus, the ability of a Paragon is bound to be very sweet.'
Northern licked his lips.
'I might not be able to whoop his ass, but using his own ability, I'll show him I'm no slouch.'
[Do you want to copy talent, Nsair's Ember (S-rank) for 2,000 talent fragments?] Northern didn't actually think he wanted to spend so much on just one single talent. He wanted to diversify, to share the amount of talent fragments he had to copy different talents. And honestly, he was looking at one certain person's talent, the Tower Sage.
That barrier thing that the guy had pulled-Northern liked it.
But he wasn't exactly in the mental state to have copied it. He had just seen his birth mother and didn't even know if the system gave a notification to copy or not. He wasn't sure.
But now that he thought about it, he really wanted it and the many more things that the Tower Sage could probably do.
But right now, all of that did not really matter much because he was going to make this man right here eat his words.
Both of them stood opposite each other. Simultaneously, a couple of things were happening
around them.
The two princes were watching from around the corner, observing what exactly was going on.
Raven was long gone, in the wrecked embrace of the harbor, while Annette and the others were plummeting their way toward the harbor as well.
As they got closer to the wall, soldiers began to gather around to defend their city.
But their fine and sharp swords were no match for the savagery and brutality that the Drifters
had gone through in the wilderness.
With vicious cries and boorish efforts, they plunged forward in reckless abandon, tearing through the soldiers to get to the ships, their faces full of madness and desperation.
To these lot, it was this or nothing.
Guillever stood above the wall of the palace, with binoculars in his hands. He fitted his eyes
through them to see exactly what had caused the Emperor's thrashing to stop.
And there it was-Northern was standing in front of the Emperor. Immediately, the binoculars fell from his hands, and his eyes widened in shock.
"Is he mad? Standing in front of the Emperor like that? Does he have a death wish?" He was so
surprised he didn't know he was voicing his thoughts out loud.
He frowned and jumped down from the wall.
The palace wall was half as tall as the main empire wall, and yet Guillever let himself free-
fall. Just as he was about to touch the ground, his body came to an abrupt stop.
A second later, he landed on the ground and shot forward like a thunderbolt.