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“Now, be good, and off with you.” Ferti’nier leaned in and pinched Zurnalin on her cheeks. “Heheh, so nice and soft…” She said with a lascivious smile.

“…Your Holiness… what are you…” Zurnalin instantly turned red.

In the past, it was her that was always badgering Mo Ke to have a kid with her. This time, it was Mo Ke, piloted by Ferti’nier, who was on the offensive. How the tables have turned…

“They are here…” Ferti’nier suddenly announced. She had planned to… introduce herself to Jezsere next, but time wasn’t on her side this time. With a spread of her wings, she took the air and yelled, “you guys leave first! I’ll hold them back!”

Having said that, she flew off without waiting for a reply.

“Your Holiness…” Zurnalin watched the figure of Ferti’nier disappear into the distance, helpless to stop her from leaving. It was then that she finally realised how strange this whole situation was. Half muttering to herself in confusion, “why does Her Holiness seem like such a different person after a short stroll?”

“That’s Mistress Ferti’nier.” Regine, who had previously been silent, suddenly interjected herself into the conversation.

“Mistress Ferti’nier?”

Clearly, no one here knew about this new mistress.

However, Regine wasn’t fazed at all as she coolly explained, “Master’s circumstances are unique. His body holds two souls within it. Ferti’nier is Master’s big sister, the other soul living in Master’s body.”

“So this Mistress Ferti’nier shares control of Master’s body as well?” Jezsere asked out of curiosity.

Regine shook her head. “I’m not sure… But Mistress Ferti’nier is a very powerful figure, her judgement shouldn’t be wrong.”

“Then we will retreat for now.” Even though she wasn’t willing to admit it, Zurnalin knew what was the right move to take now. If Ferti’nier was as powerful as Regine claimed, she must have had her reasons for telling them to retreat.

Jezsere climbed onto Mo Ning once more with the aid of Jill, arms still hugging Ann who was still in a shell-shocked state. She could still feel the little girl shivering in her arms, and she wanted to lean in and comfort her. However, the ground suddenly quaked and a shockwave blasted towards them, shaking the surrounding foliage in the process…

“They’ve seemed to have started fighting… Such a strong attack… Her Holiness actually hid such a strong power within herself?” That shockwave might have only lasted a split second, but Zurnalin knew better than anyone else that she couldn’t produce such force. How strong was that opponent facing off against Ferti’nier? Perhaps now wasn’t the time to be asking such questions. Retreating took priority.

Zurnalin shook her head before firmly declaring, “let’s go!”

“Sister Mo Ning, let’s go as well. I’m sure Master will return soon.” Said Jezsere, as she continued comforting the girl in her arms. “Don’t be afraid, Ann, we’ll get you to safety right away.”

“Mhm…” Ann did her best to stifle her tears before nodding. She instinctively leaned in closer to Jezsere and started snuggling against her chest. Every bit like an abandoned kitten, Jezsere couldn’t help but want to hug her even tighter at that point.

However, outside of Ann, there was no present who knew why Ann was so scared; just before leaving, Ferti’nier looked at her directly one last time, flashing her a knowing smile…

Back where Ferti’nier was…

A Swordsman, roughly thirty years of age and dressed in blue and white, stood upright on the ground, eyes glued to Ferti’nier. His black hair was braided neatly into a single ponytail and his aura made it clear that he wasn’t just any old fighter. His face lacked any expression on the surface, but if one were to look closely, a smile could be spotted hiding underneath that cool demeanor. A rather approachable-looking fellow. This was Nicole’s teacher, the branch leader of Azure’s Demon Hunters’ Guild, Aques Lumen.

“Nicole’s sword…” He placed his hand on his sheath immediately, eyes sharp as a hawk, as if he was secretly honing his sword energy. “Where’s my student?”

“Oh, don’t worry. She’s fine.” Ferti’nier looked down upon the man from her lofty heights, lips curled into a mischievous smile. “Rather, let’s talk about you. You seem to be her teacher, that something something branch leader. What a joke. A Demon Hunter using the power of a Devil…”

“…” Aques Lumen’s eyes went wide. Clearly, he hadn’t expected his little secret to be revealed right away. However, just because he lost some face, he wasn’t about to panic either. In the first place, he wasn’t such a fastidious person. “There’s no such thing as good or evil when it comes to power. The person is the one who is evil, not the power.”

“Hah. That’s an interesting answer. I’m sure my little brother would agree with that.” Ferti’nier cracked her neck a little, her eyes sparkling as if she was raring to go. “How about we have some fun together? It has been a while since I had some fresh air, after all.”

“I had the same idea myself!”

The fact that Ferti’nier had Nicole’s sword with her was deeply unsettling. There wasn’t much to say at this point, he merely drew his sword and sent a wave of sword energy slicing towards Ferti’nier.

Unfazed, she swung her fire and ice sword, sending a wave of sword energy crashing into the oncoming attack. Both waves were of equal power and ended up cancelling each other. No one got the better of the other, but it was clear Ferti’nier was the stronger one. After all, her sword wave was sent out later than his. Not only that, she had to calculate the attack’s trajectory and rough strength in order to achieve such a perfect cancellation. While it might have sounded simple, it was anything but in reality. In fact, it was nearly impossible, like a bullet colliding into another bullet that was fired earlier.

Having blocked that attack, Ferti’nier immediately swung the fire and ice sword once more. Under her precise control, she fired a massive ball of flames that promptly exploded into a shower of fire that covered a vast, hundred meter radius!

Mirror Waters Sword Arts: Sword Draw!

Aques Lumen entered a typical sword drawing stance for a second before unsheathing his sword at lightspeed, firing off a gigantic wave of sword energy right at the center point of that fiery rain. In that one move, he not only cleared the sky, he even forced Ferti’nier to dodge out of the way.

Yet while he might have successfully defended himself, the resulting sparks still landed on the foliage around him. It wasn’t long before his surroundings were engulfed in flames that voraciously spread to surrounding areas as well.

Right this very instant, Aques Lumen found himself in a sea of fire before he could even react!

Even with Mo Ke’s lacking Star-tier, Ferti’nier was still a Devil King. Against an Aques Lumen that wasn’t even being serious, crossing a couple of blows wasn’t a problem at all.

A wave of her left hand later, the surrounding flames miraculously started flying towards Ferti’nier. They began coalescing into a humanoid form, creating a Peak Seven-star Fire Elemental in no time at all!

Naturally, Ferti’nier could have skipped all that hassle and just summoned a Fire Elemental using her mana, but she was still hampered by Mo Ke’s strength. Trying to summon a Seven-star with his body would expend a significant portion of his mana. Therefore she chose to use his mana conservatively, seeing as she still hadn’t had enough fun yet. By firing off a fire attack, she knew that her opponent would inadvertently help her spread it when he tried to defend himself. And with so many plants around him, the spread would be rapid.

With so much natural fire energy to use, she merely required a core for the fire to coalesce around.

“Go.” She commanded curtly. Being linked to her will, the Fire Elemental could instinctively understand her will. It descended from the skies like a blazing sun, opening up first with a powerful punch to Aques Lumen!

Mirror Waters Sword Arts: Ice Lotus!

Aques Lumen stowed his sword quickly, then drew it an instant later towards the Fire Elemental. As his sword flashed upwards, a crystalline lotus bloomed outwards, covering the sky in an instant!

The moment the icy lotus touched the Fire Elemental, its limbs began to seize up. The flames around it immediately froze into a block of ice, without ever giving off any steam. The Fire Elemental had now turned into an ice sculpture!

At the same time as he fired off that ability, he leapt backwards, avoiding that ice sculpture as it came crashing into the ground with a deafening explosion. So strong was the shockwave that even Zurnalin heard the impact from where she was…

“Interesting. Seems like I have to get a little serious myself.” Seeing her Fire Elemental defeated so easily, Ferti’nier wasn’t affected in the least bit. On the contrary, she still smiled in that same teasing manner. “Come then, let’s see what else you have hiding!”

Having said that, she started flapping her wings. A shadow burst forth from its feathery ends, blanketing the skies and the earth at the same time. In just the blink of an eye, a hundred meter radius around Ferti’nier had undergone a drastic change. Yet this change wasn’t something that affected the physical surroundings directly. Instead, it was the laws of the world that seemed to change within this region.

As long as it was within this hundred meter area, Ferti’nier could now affect the laws of the world itself! This was what was known as an Overlord’s Territory.

“A Territory?!” Aques Lumen already knew that his opponent wasn’t an easy one. Yet he would have never expected her to be able to extend such a large Territory. Normal Overlords had a Territory of around twenty meters. Stronger ones had fifty. Aques Lumen himself was a new Overlord, having just entered this tier due to some special circumstances. At this point, the gap in their strengths was so wide, there wasn’t even a point in fighting any longer. Ferti’nier could just stomp all over him with her Territory!

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE