Book 5 Chapter 1.1 - Darkness and Hope
Persephone ran as fast as she could, trees whistling as they passed by her side. She continuously jumped about. With a forceful step on a tree, her slender, straight, and long legs burst forth with shocking power, increasing her speed once again, sending her body whistling through the forest like a bullet that left a gun barrel. Behind her, ancient trees continuously swayed about, some even collapsing under a groan. One could see just how great the force her legs were exerting was.
Persephone's mouth was currently biting down on a lock of dark gray hair, her forehead covered in fine beads of sweat. She seemed a bit worried and anxious, but the look in her eyes was still resolute. Her current speed was already close to the limit of seven levels of speed, but compared to her true peak state, it was still much slower.
Not far from behind Persephone, a dust gray dragon was currently rushing over, sweeping through everything in its path. From time to time, heaven reaching ancient trees would collapse under the gray dragon. It power and momentum was truly shocking.
The distance between Persephone and the gray dragon was pulled closer bit by bit. Even though Persephone was already doing everything she could, she was still powerless in reversing this situation. However, she clenched her teeth, frantically stirring on the strength left inside her body to crazily sprint forward. The wind that slammed into her face felt like sharp blades, the leaves that occasionally fluttered past cutting off a few strands of her hair.
Waves of sharp whistling sounds sounded from within the forest. O'Brien who was wrapped under blue-colored flames shot over with inconceivable speed like a dazzling comet, smashing diagonally into the dust dragon! The wind made his dark gray short hair fly straight behind him. There wasn't a trace of immaturity to be seen on his face, only a calm and collected appearance that ignored life and death.
"O'Brien!!" Persephone suddenly turned around, crying out in panic. However, the moment she turned around, the blue-colored comet already smashed into the dust dragon, and then a world-shaking explosion erupted!
Smoke and dust surged. Several strands of blue-colored radiance shot out from within, spilling outwards, but it would be smothered under the smoke and dust soon after.
Persephone bit down fiercely on her lips, blood gushing outwards. She suddenly increased speed, rushing away, not looking back again.
Inside the smoke and dust, O'Brien who was surrounded by blue light continuously spun about around Eileen, bombarding her continuously with berserk and rough energy, with no time at all to condense any proper magic ability. Eileen floated at the center of the dust dragon, several dozen specks of energy radiance continuously flying about around her. These beautiful specks of brilliance all contained terrifying energy, every single one of them capable of stirring forth crazy energy storms, spinning about Eileen, destroying all of the energy O'Brien sent blasting over.
More than ten thin tentacles, each close to a meter in length, reached out from each of Eileen's arms. They brandished about in the air, every single tentacle releasing a faint energy brilliance. From the distance, it looked as if she produced two beautiful energy light wings. Under this tanglement, Eileen finally gave up on Persephone, instead now focusing on O'Brien. Following a forward movement from the wings of light, O'Brien immediately released a groan, dropping from the sky.
The dust dragon in the forest gradually disappeared. Eileen dispersed all of the energy around her, dropping down next to O'Brien's side. She reached out her hand to wipe away the blood and dust covering O'Brien's face, giving him a serious look. Blood continuously flowed out from the corner of O'Brien's lips. He suddenly began to cough violently, each cough releasing a clump of blood from his throat. Meanwhile, his face was quickly losing color as well, becoming deathly pale. He recklessly overdrafted all of the energy in his body, which already inflicted tremendous damage onto his body, and now, he suffered a heavy blow from Eileen's overwhelming energy attacks. The current O'Brien was already wandering about on the brink of death.
When the coughing calmed down slightly. O'Brien looked towards Eileen and calmly said, "Do your worst."
Eileen didn't respond, instead carefully wiping at O'Brien's face, removing the continuously surging blood. O'Brien's gray-green eyes were extremely pure, and there was even a faint smile resting on his face, seemingly not worried about his impending death in the slightest. He was completely calm, to the extent where his pale skin even released a faintly discernible gentle radiance. Eileen's eyes moved downwards, seeing that O'Brien was still tightly clenching the 'Revelation' book in his hands. The edges of the book had been burnt under the clash of energy, but the contents should still be more or less preserved.
"Is this the source of his tenacity and power?" Eileen thought to herself. However, she immediately rejected this thought. There wasn't any reason behind her doing so, just her intuition.
She suddenly laughed, a trace of naughtiness flashed past her large eyes. "I reckon that you definitely wish to discuss some kind of condition with me, but in reality, you don't intend on agreeing to anything, just wishing to stall for as much time as you can so Persephone can run a bit further, right?"
O'Brien's smile suddenly went rigid.
However, he was only momentarily stunned. Then, he revealed a calm and unhurried smile again, saying, "Haha, it seems like I was still seen through. I knew that it wasn't that easy to deceive you. However, it is of no difference, I've already done everything I could. Older sis' luck has always been quite good, and I believe this time should be no exception, only… sigh, there are still so many things I never had time to do, so the thought left me feeling a bit of regret."
Eileen sat by O'Brien's side, helping him wipe away the blood at the corner of his lips again in an extremely careful manner, not fearing that Persephone would run far into the distance at all. The current her looked extremely beautiful, stylish, gentle, and calm, no longer exhibiting the austere and imposing manner from when she split the earth and snapped trees with a turn of her hand.
"Perhaps you'll still have the chance to do those things, so there's no need to feel regret so quickly. I believe that there really are some conditions that can be discussed between us. I can tell you my trump card. I can sense the energy I placed in Persephone's body, which is to say, no matter how far she runs, I can still sense the direction she is in. Meanwhile, you also know that your older sister's current abilities have already declined to about seven levels, and with this type of power, completely eliminating the energy I left behind will take at least a week of time. With her current speed that is less than even seven levels, even if she gets a half hour head start, it'll take me less than a day to catch up to her. That is why your act of stalling for time is actually useless." Eileen said.
O'Brien listened quietly, his face not revealing expressions. However, Eileen's next sentence immediately caused his face to change. "I believe she will give birth soon."
After a moment of hesitation, O'Brien released a heavy sigh. "You won. Just say it, what do you want?"
Eileen looked straight into O'Brien's eyes, directly and bluntly saying, "I want you."