(MC POV)
There was the crack of thunder which shouldn't have been possible since we were in space. Then again, I don't know how we're talking here either so let's not think about that too much.
There's so many questions I want to ask, like the fact that Cai Hong is seeing this woman as her 'mother'. Was that through some kind of mind control or was she really Cai Hong's mother?
The woman paused whatever she was doing to look up at Lian Li, my disciple currently caught in Cai Hong's hand. I assumed Lian Li had tried to rush here using her Lightning but Cai Hong had snatched her up before she could get to me.
"CAI HONG! LET GO OF ME!!!" Lian Li screeched, lightning sparking off her body and bathing her in a golden light.
"I'm sorry… Big sister Lian Li… But Mother had ordered me to stop you… I can't go against Mother…"
"Disheartening isn't it?" The woman in front of me smiled. "Everything comes to an End. Everything. Even them."
If only I could move, I might be able to do something… But right now, I couldn't even speak at all.
She reached up and placed her hand on my cheek like a lover would, smiling at me, "I know this seems cruel of me, but you will come to understand once you've returned to being who you really are."
The only thing I could do was glare back at her.
Before she could continue what she wanted to do, a bolt of lightning cackled just short of her before fizzling out of existence.
"DON'T TOUCH MY MASTER!!!" Lian Li screamed, tossing another bolt of lightning at the woman.
The lightning fizzled out of existence before reaching the woman again but that did not deter Lian Li from throwing another one.
Cai Hong didn't stop Lian Li from doing any of that, either she saw no need to or she's taken her order quite literally since the women didn't tell the dragon to protect her and simply to keep them away.
The woman turned back to regard Lian Li, ignoring the Diving Lightning she had tried to throw at her again.
"This is curious. You saw your End, did you not? And yet you insist on doing this? Why?"
Lian Li continued to struggle to break free from Cai Hong's grasp, "Like as if I would let my death deter me from saving Master! Master is my everything! I will not let someone like you take Him away from me!"
Oh… I er… Didn't know you thought of me that way, Lian Li. Even I can get embarrassed too, you know?
Unexpectedly, the woman seemed to take offense at her words.
She teleported in front of Lian Li and grabbed her by the neck, pulling her down to face her.
"Arrogant little thing. You think your place is a given? No, it's not. The only reason you get to stay there is because I let you. You are nothing. You do not deserve to be in your position, none of you do."
She shoved Lian Li back but the defiance in my disciple's face remained, Lian Li even tried to spit at her but the spit also disappeared before it hit the woman.
I noticed Cai Hong flinch a little as though she was the one that was hit.
The woman scowled at her action, "As much as I would like to applaud your audaciousness in front of me but even my patience has its limits. I shall put an End to your resistance here."
She snapped her fingers and Lian Li froze up just like I did, her face stuck in a permanent scowl.
The white haired woman turned back to face me, most likely to proceed with what she had planned.
But it was like the Universe was conspiring against her since Manami teleported in front of me with the rest of my disciples at that very moment.
"Stay away from Master, you bitch," Manami growled, all her decorum thrown out the window.
The woman sighed, "Hindrances even now… Maybe I should just End everything and be done with it. I don't really need any of you to exist if I can just create another scenario similar to this one, even if it may be a little bit more troublesome."
"The ramblings of the deluded. We will not hand Master to you as long as we exist," Kiyomi declared.
Well, this isn't good, I know for a fact how strong the white haired woman was. Even if all of us banded together and went all out on her, she could get rid of us with a snap of her fingers.
But, like Lian Li, I wasn't going to just simply let that happen.
Since my Techniques were locked, I used the only other option I had, imbuing my body with the power of Origin.
But even after imbuing myself with that power, I realised I still couldn't move. She did not bind me in place physically so there was nothing for me to unbind myself from.
I was at a loss on what to do when a weird thought came into my mind to tell me exactly what I needed to do to break free.
Since I didn't have much of a choice, I decided to trust that thought and used the Origin energy like how it told me to: to create a new Origin where I was resisting against the white haired woman.
Surprisingly, it worked and I could move again.
If the woman was surprised by the fact that I broke free, she did not show it.
Doing the same thing to Lian Li, I managed to rip her bindings away as well and bring her to our side, my golden haired disciple immediately adopting a fighting position as well.
The white haired woman merely watched everything unfold impassionately, as though all of this was of no consequence to her.
The dragon Cai Hong looked visibly conflicted and I remembered how she had looked at me before obeying the woman so I tried my luck on her too.
"Cai Hong," I called out, prompting the dragon to turn its attention to me. "Come here and don't listen to your mother."
Apparently my words take precedence over that woman's for Cai Hong as the dragon had brightened up and immediately leapt over to our side, transforming back into her usual, cute form.
But instead of preparing to fight, Cai Hong had latched on to me and started snuggling me.
"Papa! Papa!" She cried, hugging my leg.
So cute.
As much as I want to gush over the cute little dragon, we still aren't in the clear yet since that woman was still floating in front of us.
But this confirms one thing for me, there was actually no need for us to fight at all.
She had immobilised me not to stop me from attacking or running away, but to stop me from speaking.
Despite how strong she was, she was obviously not trying to kill us either because she didn't want to or because she couldn't.
I turned to the white haired woman, "Could I ask that we talk this out without any more forms of violence? I think it's a better idea if all of us understood each other, don't you think so?"
She sighed, "As vexing as this may be, I cannot disagree… Very well, let us talk."
Oh? I didn't actually think she would listen to me. Now I'm really wondering what exactly am I and who exactly she is?
