Age of Adepts

How could the mysterious girl ever give them a second chance after what had just happened?

The girl had constantly limited her use of the powers of Fate. That was because all of that energy was the nutrition she needed for her future rise to dominance!

If everything had gone as planned and she had been able to exterminate all the candidates without a problem, the reserves of power would have been enough to help her break through the threshold of Fourth Grade. However, if she used too much of the power now, she might miss the chance of entering Fourth Grade by just a little bit. Falling short would be a massive blow to her.

The difference between a Third Grade and Fourth Grade in the World of Adepts was like a vast chasm! As far apart as the earth and the sky!

If this happened to her, she would be distraught.

These three cockroaches had managed to force her to draw upon the powers of Fate to defend herself. Her heart bled, even as she overwhelmed them with her abilities.

However, as upset as she was, she didn’t want to taste that humiliation of being beaten up without being able to retaliate!

A stream of power flowed out of her hands and turned into horrifying effects that plagued the three witches. The girl once again brought them to their knees with minimal effort.

And this time, she killed Sofia without any hesitation.

Alice looked at Sofia’s intensely burning body, then dragged herself to the weakened Snowlotus. She gently placed Snowlotus’ head on her legs. Even this gentle action caused Snowlotus to cough up even more blood.

”Say your final farewells!” Rainbow lights flashed around the mysterious girl. She slowly floated towards the two girls as she spoke, ”I’ll take utmost care in killing you. You three bastards caused me to exhaust so much of my power of Fate. I’ll take my time to squeeze out every last drop of fate from your bodies.”

Faced with the girl’s threats, Alice bent her body and brought her head to Snowlotus’ ears. She sent a mental message to communicate with her ally, ”Can you still put up an ice barrier?”

Snowlotus’ voice was weak but determined, ”Of course. But do we still have a chance of victory?”

”Don’t worry about that. Just do as I say. When I give you the order, you must erect a defensive barrier with all you have!”

The private exchange between the two witches drew the girl’s attention. For some reason, even though these low-grade witches were weak and fragile, they gave her a sense of jeopardy.

The mysterious girl made up her mind. It didn’t matter if she had to use even more of the powers of Fate; she needed to exterminate these two people as quickly as possible.

The girl hovered in the sky as the powers of Fate surged around her and disappeared. She opened her mouth, and a single word that had been accumulating power was about to be spoken.

A weak but gentle voice counted down between Alice and Snowlotus.

Three.

Two.

One.

An unexpected change happened in the hall when Alice counted to one.

Space started to tremble as a massive and mighty flame giant stepped out of nowhere.

The Infernal Tyrant!

It had finally been freed of its banishment and had returned from the external dimension!

The girl instantly realized her negligence when she saw the Tyrant’s giant body!

The Tyrant had only been banished, not destroyed. Of course, it would return here once the duration of banishment was over. That said, as long as she was able to kill the summoner, the summoned creature would have disappeared as well. All witches knew this fact by heart.

It was the excessive confidence of the mysterious girl that caused her to ignore this fact. She had never believed Alice could survive until the time the Tyrant returned from the other plane. Consequently, she had never thought of this scenario as a possibility.

Her heart skipped a beat when she saw the Infernal Tyrant and the unnatural swells of flame energies all over its body.

This isn’t good. The brat is intending to…

The sudden turn of events left no time for the girl to think. The Infernal Tyrant had been ordered to self-destruct at the very same moment it emerged in the hall. A miniature sun blew up under the girl’s furious and shocked gaze.

There were no shockwaves blasts of wind. The entire room merely filled with a frightening and blinding crimson light. The temperature of the air continued to rise rapidly. It soon reached an unbearable level of heat.

Violent and ruthless fire elementium permeated the room. The blazing flames had ignited everything that could burn.

The sky was burning, the earth was burning; even space was burning brightly.

The intensely radiating heat caused the floor of the arcane hall to melt. Thick smoke rose into the air. Even the magic resistant bricks couldn’t stand the terrifying radiation from the blazing fires, not to mention flesh and blood. The blood stains and gore left behind from the bloody battle started to carbonize and disintegrate until nothing was left.

Red flames had started eating away at the mysterious girl’s hair and the edges of her robe, despite her protection by the powers of Fate. The air was scalding hot. Just the single act of inhaling would even cause the alveolus of your respiratory system to catch fire.

Raging fires surged out of the center of the Tyrant’s self-destruction and quickly ravaged everything around it. Neither Alice nor the mysterious girl was spared from the destruction.

A thick block of ice kept Alice and Snowlotus frozen and protected from the fire. Snowlotus’ ice powers were continuously reinforcing it. However, a short moment later, the radiation reached the ice block. The terrifying crackling of ice and fire clashing rang out in the room!

…………

Outside the Tower.

Greem raised his head in surprise.

The other witches of the various branches also looked up in horror.

The peaceful and silent Tower of Fate had abruptly started quaking. Two massive cracks that went all the way along the walls of the Tower had appeared. Savage fire elementium leaked out from within. Even the skies were burning red from the flames.

The Infernal Tyrant!

Greem gasped.

The others might not have known what had happened in the Tower, but Greem knew very well what was going on.

The Infernal Tyrant had self-destructed!

Some extraordinary trouble must have cropped up in the Tower of Fate. Otherwise, Alice would never have chosen to have the Tyrant destroy itself. Greem couldn’t even care for the loss of his most powerful golem. A feeling of endless concern and worry arose in his heart.

The situation must have gone out of control!

…………

Within the arcane hall.

The messy battlefield had now been reduced to a field of blazing flames.

Any substance without magical protection had been incinerated and transformed into viscous lava. There were only a few piles of rocks that remained untouched. Alice and Snowlotus barely found a place of shelter upon one such group of stones. They were still enduring the heat and the streams of fire with all they had.

If it weren’t for the remnants of the ice block keeping them cool, they would have died from just the heat in the air.

They looked around for any signs of the mysterious girl. Just then, the lava in front of them split apart, and an utterly charred figure walked towards them with determined steps.

Dammit! I knew this wouldn’t be enough!

Fueled by her hatred and anger, Snowlotus forced herself to get up. She still wanted to resist. However, with the single word ’Death’ from the opponent’s mouth, she collapsed to the ground and slipped into the pool of magma.

Alice straightened her body amidst the strange sounds of sizzling meat and the pungent smell of burning flesh. A charred hand grabbed her throat right as she stood up.

Alice’s body was tiny. The girl picked Alice up and suspended her in the air. Her hands and feet flailed in an attempt to free herself from the enemy’s grasp.

”Well done… very well done. All that’s left is the two of us,” A scalding breath of air came out of the charred girl’s mouth, ”I won’t let you die. I will burn your body and preserve your soul. I will turn you into a doll of fate and make you suffer endless lifetimes of cruel torture. I won’t let you die just like this.”

Alice could only let out gasps and chokes with her throat being gripped by the enemy.

”What is it? Is there something you want to say before you part with this body of yours?” The mysterious girl was enraged. She might die of the bottled-up rage if she wasn’t able to take out her resentment and hatred on her enemy.

The girl loosened her grip to listen to Alice’s final cries before her death.

Alice swiftly grabbed the girl’s wrists. A smile flashed on her face of utter fear and despair.

”Thanks for letting me touch your body. Goodbye!”

A mysterious surge of spatial energy coursed through the defenseless Alice. It instantly enveloped the mysterious girl before she could do anything.

She still had the power to resist?

The mysterious girl, disfigured from the explosion, was startled. The remaining powers of Fate in her body rapidly turned into an impenetrable defense. The girl was relieved when the defensive barrier finally formed.

This barrier hadn’t collapsed, even when all three of them had attacked her. How could this little brat harm her through the protection of this barrier?

Even before she could finish the thought, her vision blurred. Everything before her eyes changed.

The skies that had been burnt bright red, the endless stretch of desolate land, the tall Tower of Fate behind her, and the Northern Witches looking curiously at her…

Dammit, this was outside the Tower!

The mysterious girl let out an ear-piercing screech when she understood what had happened. She immediately turned and lurched towards the Tower.

But it was too late.

A vast and omnipotent will filled with a sense of antiquity locked onto her position. The next moment, all the powers of Fate in her body converted into a frightening flame that engulfed her body.

The gentle power of Fate that had been her servant and soldier was now the cause of her death. It rapidly turned into the most unforgiving bandit in the world, burning every piece of flesh on her body. She broke down into a cluster of pure energy essence while consumed with fear and regret. The energy then slowly floated back into the Tower of Fate.

Greem and the other witches looked at each other, confused. None of them understood what had just happened.

The Witch of Fate selection this time was weird!