"Generations have known their names in my world. Only we couldn't do anything before a response from your side." The Empress said while starting to step sideways like a lioness on a hunt.
"Then you should rejoice that your message didn't reach any Pope before me." Sylvester reciprocated by matching her actions. "All the Popes before me were controlled by 'them'. Even if they had learned about you, they would have been more interested in finding a way to send their armies here—to conquer."
The Empress hummed, "I didn't know this."
"You don't look too different from humans," Sylvester commented before she could jump towards him to attack. "Your eyes, lips, hair, even the body matches a regular human."
She grunted and leaped forward like a tigress. Her movement was faster than a Grand Wizard. Her arms aimed to slam her fighting bo staff at Sylvester. "Hence the armor!"
'Not as fast as I expected.' Sylvester frowned and didn't even use his spear. With only his left palm, he grasped the staff and tried to shake it loose from her grip.
The Empress defied gravity, seemingly stepping into the air as she ascended higher. With a swift turn, she inverted herself, flying towards Sylvester's exposed back. Freeing the bo staff from her grasp, she descended with precision, shouting, "Here!"
It wasn't for Sylvester.
Bam!
The stick vanished from Sylvester's hands and reappeared in hers as if it had teleported. With a rapid and forceful move, she executed a stabbing strike aimed at his back. The impact was potent, pushing Sylvester away, yet it strangely felt like nothing more than a tickle.
Unfazed, he quickly regained his stance, ready for the continued battle. "Have you reached the peak of power in this world?"
"Ha!" She jumped towards him again, making quick strides as if gliding on the ground. The scene around them also changed somehow. The dome turned into open, rocky grounds and a sky.
Sylvester ducked at her quick swing and swiped a kick at her feet.
She jumped again like an acrobat, creating some distance between them while spinning the bo staff above her head. It went faster and faster, eventually raising a storm of dirt that came from the changed scenery.
"Tricks." Sylvester started walking towards her, sensing something amiss.
The Empress created a tornado of dust around her, growing bigger as she spun the bo staff even more. Then she began moving towards Sylvester too, faster than him and reaching him in one quick motion.
Clank!
The tornado had countless blades in it. They spun and struck Sylvester's clothes and face. However, no cuts appeared anywhere on him, only sparks and sounds. The tornado grew faster after that, but Sylvester remained standing as if the attack didn't even faze him.
Thud!
Sylvester placed his arm above his head, stopping the sneak strike from the Empress. "So that bo staff lets you teleport? But how fast can you go?"
Finally, Sylvester decided to start attacking her. The Spear of Infinity clasped in his palms firmly. Quick stabs came a second after, faster than one could see. His hands moved like a machine, and even the afterimage of the spear's head vanished.
The air whistled due to his speed. But the move had only begun as the Empress tried to step back.
Ting! Ting!
Sylvester activated the spear, extending it. Keeping the stabs flying at her, the spear reached her on its own. She tried to stop him, but to her dismay, his stabs pushed her back.
"I'll start moving then," Sylvester replied monotonously and pushed forward. His feet made heavy steps, digging into the dirt each time. He didn't even break a sweat, as it was one of the most basic moves.
The Empress remained tight-lipped the whole time, seemingly struggling against Sylvester's simple attacks. He hadn't even started using his powers yet.
But just then, she used her powers. A black mist came out of her body and started spreading everywhere. It glimmered with little sparks of white lightning in it. Farther and wider, the faint black mist eventually covered all of the area around them.
Woosh!
She disappeared.
Bam!
A stabbing and somewhat painful sensation suddenly struck Sylvester from behind. But there was nobody behind him.
Bam!
The same stab came from the side now.
Bam!
From above this time.
He couldn't find the Empress in any direction. The black mist remained there too, but it didn't block his vision at all. In fact, the more attacks he faced, the more it sparked.
Bam!
She moved so fast that even his senses couldn't zero in on her presence. But Sylvester didn't panic and tried to feel the air. The magic of creation and destruction was the base of everything. He tried to sense the energies around him, especially the mist.
Clank!
He effectively started blocking her strikes as well. Running on pure instincts, he moved his spear with his hands faster than the blink of an eye.
'Aha! The mist is the base… she's teleporting, but much faster and repeatedly.' Sylvester realized her trick. The little sparks were proof that her control over space magic wasn't perfect yet. The sparks were minute collisions of the spatial energies with the space they occupied by default.
"Let's see if you can block me as well." Sylvester crouched his feet a little and kicked the ground.
Boom!
He vanished as well, so fast that the Empress had to stop teleporting, as she had no target anymore.
Woosh!
A gust of wind disturbed the mist.
"Behind you." Sylvester punched first and announced later. A fist to her liver, or where he believed it'd be, if she were human.
Thud!
He used a lot of strength, throwing the Empress so hard she physically flew sideways and landed roughly on her crouching feet. The hood also fell back, revealing her moon-like white face and the similarly white hair. Her yellow eyes narrowed, with her cat-like irises contracting.
Bam!
"How?!" she questioned, trying her best to find out how Sylvester was moving. "How are you teleporting? There are no spatial disturbances."
"Haha!" Sylvester's laughter echoed from all around, sometimes from right beside her ear, and at times from far in the distance.
Boom!
"Aaargh!"
For the first time, the Empress felt pain. A punch landed right on the left side of her jaw, throwing her onto a rock like a ragdoll.
Boom!
"Gah!" She felt a kick stomping her belly, leaving her gasping for air as only her saliva burst out of her lips with a cough. Her brows frowned in panic, and she tried to stand up quickly.
"I'm not teleporting," Sylvester announced.
Thud!
She felt a punch on her right this time, and it was so powerful that she didn't even get thrown away. Her body simply fell to the left, her head slamming onto the ground of hard red stones.
"Ugh!" She groaned and bled even—red, of course; From her lips, from her temples. Her clothes were now dirty, and her staff fell away from her grasp.
Finally, Sylvester appeared in front of her, looking down at her face like she was an insect. His eyes expressed anger, and his brows furrowed. He was no longer neutral. Possibly a decade had been stolen from him in his endeavor, and he wanted straight answers.
"I wasn't teleporting. I'm simply moving faster than you can imagine." He revealed and crouched down, making her feel fear for the first time as she crawled backwards until she couldn't anymore, hindered by a boulder.
Bam!
Sylvester punched her face with no mercy. He could heal her at any moment later. "You're pathetically weak, 'Empress'."
Bam!
He punched her face again and again, using both his hands.
Bam!
It ruptured her skin and made her bleed heavily. But he didn't break her jaw, since he needed answers. "Who are you? The Demon Empress couldn't have been this weak!"
"I am the Empress!"
Sylvester's gaze turned furious, and he didn't stop to speak this time. A long and painful flurry of punches landed on her face, her shoulder, and her chest. She gasped, groaned, and bled profusely. Her eyes swelled up, and her pretty face turned hideous. He couldn't afford to show mercy to a woman—
anyone being smart against him was an enemy. This was the world of enemies.
"You will only speak the truth!" He roared at her face. "I can smell that fear, don't make me turn that into the scent of death. If you waste any more of my time, I'll destroy your whole world before it can wage a war against mine."
Just one barely open eye was left that she could see with. Her body couldn't move. It failed to respond to her orders. "I… I am not lying. I am the Empress… the new Empress… I took the throne ten years ago."
"If that's the case." Sylvester pressed one knee on her belly, and one hand grabbed her forehead in his palm. His other hand raised the spear and held its tip right under her chin, ready to pass through her skull.
"N-No…" She groaned a few words. "Y-You're too powerful—"
"I know!" Sylvester pressed the spear's tip harder. "Now answer me, how did you know my other name?"
"W-What… Aaah!"
The spear entered her chin half an inch.
"Why did Zama'tar call me Johnathan?"
Thank you for reading the book. Gifts and GT votes are highly appreciated.
