The Noble Lady of Lust

Chapter 246: Escape(2)

It was logical that they would activate a barrier like this in case of intrusion. It had taken her half a minute, from breaking the window to reaching the wall, so it was only natural that, with enough communication, they would manage to set it off.

But she didn’t think too much about it; nothing had yet come out of her expectations. Some (like Elena) might call her a paranoid person, but Seraphina wanted to believe that being well prepared was critical, and she had already anticipated that something like this would happen.

She only had a few seconds before they caught up with her, so she acted fast.

She quickly went down to Kiel. he looked dizzy and didn’t even understand what was happening; the good thing was that the protection of the artifact given by that, woman was very strong and nothing had happened to him.

Seraphina, on the other hand, quickly, and with her gloves imbued with energy, activated another technique of her art:

Art of Lust, Second Stance: Ardent Pulse of Desire

With a downward stroke of her hand, in the shape of a spear, she cut the barrier, leaving a vertical opening. However, it was not wide enough for anyone to get through.

”Qetesh”

Without hesitation, she thrust both hands into the narrow opening and, with all her strength, began to pry it open. Something like this was normally impossible without the right method.

But her gloves now imbued with her legacy weapon, she could make contact with anything she wished, with Qetesh’s help.

She was interfering with the barrier structure, however roughly and unorthodoxly.

”Open up!!, damned barrier!”

It was a far, far stronger barrier than Seraphina had thought, and she was using her full strength at the moment.

CRACK!!!

Finally, the barrier gave way, and for an instant, Seraphina managed to breach that mighty defense, though she barely had time to celebrate.

Whack!

”Fuck, you’re persistent,”

The same nine-star subject she had hit earlier reached her position, almost catching her off guard, and barely dodged that dangerous and heavy axe.

Earlier, when performing maneuvers, Seraphina noticed that he had immediately joined her pursuers.

But he didn’t seem particularly fast; neither he nor the wind mage were, and, despite his range, they was falling behind... or so she thought.

Suddenly, though, he was there. She supposed he had an art that allowed him to cover that weakness, or an skill that made him faster.

But, quickly, she saw that he was surrounded by what appeared to be gusts of wind that increased his speed.

And she knew it was a joint collaboration between her two biggest obstacles.

She looked over to where Kiel was and noticed that he was now out of reach, as she had dodged to the other side and the warrior was standing between them. There was nothing left for her to do but face him.

”Surrender, girl, and obediently let yourself be caught”

”...”

Seraphina didn’t respond; this was no time to talk or have useless chatter, she was focused on quickly figuring out how to get out of this situation.

Looking closely at her opponent, she noticed that she had a bad complexion.

After all, although her previous attack was not lethal, the Fifth Stance had managed to pierce her skin enough to allow the destructive storm to seep into her body.

Were it not for his decent defense, his organs would have been liquefied and his existence erased. Still, the damage had to be considerable.

Besides, Seraphina’s gloves had a poisonous factor, which simple recovery spells could not easily fix.

And, despite everything, the guy got up and joined the chase tenaciously. He was someone who would see his job through to the end.

But, unfortunately for him, Seraphina didn’t have time to consider him a worthy adversary to take her time with and have a fair fight.

”Art of Radiance, First Stance: Dawning Strike”

The warrior, who had been affected by that technique before, stood firmly and covered his eyes instinctively upon hearing it, but because of that he did not notice that the blinding light he expected did not come.

Bang!!!

”Uugggh...?!!!”

What was activated was not the Art of Radiance; although uttering it aloud helped her to potentiate it, it was not an absolute activator.

Although her voice pronounced it was a posture of the Art of Radiance, what Seraphian actually performed was the Third Posture of the Art of Lust.

It was a dirty trick, but to start a life and death battle, honor and respect do not exist.

A powerful blow impacted squarely on his stomach. It was his weak point, and she wasn’t going to waste the opportunity.

While not as destructive as the Fifth Stance, the Third was more penetrating and strong enough to open a path through his already weakened body, allowing her to lodge her hand inside.

But Seraphina did not stop there; before the warrior could react, she exclaimed...

”Noxaris Floreat”

Bringing her affinity for darkness to full play, along with her affinity for runes, in an instant she cast a powerful spell that create spikes of shadow sprouting from her own fist.

The dark magic began to devour the warrior’s insides. Several thorns emerged in all directions, piercing his flesh and shredding his organs. The warrior died quickly, unable to say anything more.

After verifying that he was indeed dead, Seraphina pulled out her hand and ran quickly to Kiel, who was barely recovering from his intense dizziness.

”Don’t give up, boy. We’re halfway there..., She picked him up and hoisted him back onto her shoulders, securing him with one hand.

Just before the hole in the barrier closed again, because of the self-repair function, Seraphina, along with Kiel, went through it.

Bang!, bommm!, clank!.

A hail of attacks rained down on her... but the self-repaired barrier itself protected them.

”Art of Radiance, Fourth Stance: Refraction Nodes.”

Wasting no time, she began to create platforms to maneuver in the air. her lair was only a minute away at her current speed. Just one more minute and she would be out.

But just when she thought the barrier would cover her for a few seconds until her enemies deactivated it, a shiver ran down the back of her neck.

If there was one thing she had specifically dedicated herself to developing during the times she fled with Elena to train in the forest, it was survival instinct.

She knew from memories, whether it was Seraphina’s body or her soul or a combination of both, she knew they possessed great instincts.

And that was something that helped her alternate self to get out alive on many occasions.

She herself understood when she practiced in the forest, how tangible and real these ’instincts’ were, which also helped her a lot.

Now, her instincts warned her that, if she didn’t do something, she would be seconds away from death.

She stopped dead in tracks, slowing all her momentum, and instead of bouncing off the platform, she used it as a firm support. These structures worked at her will.

In an instant, she readied her stance for whatever was to come; she knew it was too late to dodge and she had to give it her all.

”ART OF LUST, FOURTH STANCE: ERUPTING EMBRACE”

For the first time since she started, she shouted loudly his art of lust and put the maximum amount of mana she could into circulation.

All her instincts told her that she had to meet the next attack with all his power.

Thud!

Just before the impact, she managed to catch the source of the danger: it was a metal arrow, and when it entered the flow of her art....

”Ughhh!!!...”

It was difficult to handle, as it had a momentum and inertia that made it complicated to absorb, even with her art working at its maximum.

For the first time, Seraphina felt that her powerful Art was not up to the task of performing a counterattack.

”gghhh!!!”

Still, she did not give up. She gritted her teeth and resisted, feeling that she was absorbing more of the impact, though it wasn’t enough.

She had absorbed some of the attack, but the power was so vast that she couldn’t contain it completely. The arrow kept advancing, almost pushing her backwards, defying her control.

Even with some of the impact being absorbed, it threatened to break her firm stance. The Art of Lust, so far infallible, did not seem to be enough to absorb and redirect the magnitude of that attack.

She decided to change her tactics; she had to accept that she could not handle that attack, but her will was stronger than ever.

She tried to use every part of her body to its fullest potential, while circulating her art and pushing it beyond its limit.

’If I can’t absorb it completely, I can at least redirect it...’

With a quick maneuver, she positioned herself in such a way that she stepped to the side of the arrow’s path; without releasing it, she put all her strength along with the newly absorbed one that was up to the edge, into turning the arrow’s direction.

In an arcing motion, she concentrated all the force to get the arrow to turn around.

she spun on herself, harnessing the full power of the arrow. With a precise and brutal movement, the channeled energy released the projectile in the direction she wanted to go.

The arrow was returned with the same momentum with which it had arrived, and even with greater force.

The projectile flew straight towards the pursuing group.

For a moment, Seraphina thought that the barrier had been deactivated. However, when she saw it, it was still active. She wondered how the attack had managed to get through it without breaking it.

But then, she saw the arrow go through it as if it didn’t exist and impact directly against the Group, coincidence or not the Arrow was aimed at the wind mage who was the most powerful of the Group.

With the momentum ut was carrying, the arrow should have killed him instantly. However, something inexplicable happened.

The arrow went through him as if he was just an illusion and continued on its way until it disappeared from sight.

”....”

Seraphina was at a loss, for a moment, to understand what had just happened. The arrow was real when she held it in her hands; it could not have been more tangible and lethal.

Seraphina understood that this world held too many mysteries. Even her alternate self could not comprehend them all.

But, in this case, the experience she had gained from inherited memories allowed her to understand it instantly. It was a skill or a blessing and she knew whose him could be.

”Oculus Fines”

Seraphina enhanced her vision senses and used the Eyes of Lust to read the situation in greater detail. Then, at the other end of the residence, she saw him.

It was Eryk.

Seraphina had initiated a siege just to get rid of him, and yet, there he was, as had suspected, her doppelgänger. she was targeted when she saw him come out of the wall.

The siege battle was still ongoing and explosions could still be heard, as well as seeing the barriers of the city shake, from time to time the number one, looked through the empty dooppelganger she left, the situation and the battle was booming, but the lord still sent one of his best resources to follow her.

It wasn’t that she didn’t understand the situation. After all, Kiel was someone important. But she had thought that the invasion would take priority for the lord.

Without giving her time to think Eryk aimed at her with a bow almost as big as he was. And fired.

From his position to where Seraphina was, the arrow took barely half a second to reach. She barely had time to react. The projectile went through the barrier as if it didn’t exist.

Seraphina instantly understood the possibility that it was a blessing from the God of the Hunt. An skill that only hurt its target.

This time, she was prepared. And she dodged. Luckily, this time the arrow didn’t seem as powerful as the first.

Seraphina’s escape had become complicated. She was still close to the wall of the residence, and turning her back to the enemy would be dangerous.

Eryk did not seem capable of continuous attacks, but at least every two seconds a powerful arrow was heading towards her.

fwooosh!!

Quickly, she dodged the third and watched as the city’s shield finally came apart.

Now, with the barrier down, she became an even more exposed target for the fifty-plus guards surrounding her, including a nine metamophosis mage.

Not only that. Although they were trying to remain hidden, Seraphina could see through her enhanced eyes several silhouettes approaching at high speed from Eryk’s direction.

Their speed was among the best in the seventh metamorphosis, and some were even reaching eighth and ninth. The situation was even worse than she imagined, and she was slowly being surrounded.

To make matters worse, she only had one hand free because she was holding Kiel, so she decided to get rid of him.

She grabbed him and, as if him were a spear.

”Hey, wait! What are you going to do? You promised me that-!”

”Art of Radiance, Third Stance: Sanctified Piercer”

And without any hesitation, and even using u art she threw it like a projectile

”AAAAAAAHHH!!!....!”