Chapter 67: [Chapter 67 ● Totality Of The Hollow Tempest!]

Soon, the red mist cleared and they came into a wide clearing, at the center of which was a fifty-meters-tall tree with a ten-meters-wide trunk, and on its center was a red gem. However, Aezaleon’s attention wasn’t on that, but on the dead headless skeletal remains of a woman at the base of this tree.

He looked up, only to see her soul sitting on the tree’s branch and gazing back at him. His eyes narrowing as the spectral figure stared into his very core.

"Calamities?"

Aezaleon’s lips curled.

The same word!

The same question!

The same tone!

The same curiosity!

And the same gaze—of interest and intrigue.

Aezaleon couldn’t help but find it hilarious and amusing at the same time. He glanced at Clementine, who shared the same sentiments.

"Guess we should always expect this question every time we meet an outsider’s dead soul here, huh?" She noted with an amused giggle, her tone dripping with quiet irony.

"Or anywhere else for that matter," Aezaleon completed her words.

Refocusing, he observed the dead soul more keenly. The woman was an Elf. A gorgeous one at that, like any other, with waist-long, flowing silver-white hair. She possessed deep and beautiful sapphire blue eyes, a perfect face, and an hourglass figure with faultless curves.

A tall woman, she also bore the defining characteristic of any elf: the long ears!

They twitched. Her eyes opened wide as she heard them speak.

Anastasia came to know that the ones who stood before her were intelligent calamities, not the savage ones who would occasionally wander here, attracted by the energy from the Pyreveil. Those mindless beasts she had always killed, because that was the normal order of things.

She didn’t think much about it.

However, now her body trembled, feeling a dread so deep when she remembered what she had been taught about these beings during her younger days.

Still, it was gone as soon as it came. She was already dead, so there was nothing left to fear.

What could they even do?

She sneered and got down from the tree, landing not far from them. Her every action and every expression was observed by the four, but they did not act. They stood like silent judges watching a scripted play, merely observing and letting the events flow naturally.

Nevertheless, with her senses, Anastasia already knew that the four before her were a threat to her very existence. Because as a mortal soul, normally it should’ve been impossible for her to maintain her consciousness in the material world after her death and resist the pull from the reincarnation cycle.

She was only capable of doing that because of her unending and abyssal negative emotions fueling her soul and Will, alongside the constant energy she consumed from the rank five resource: Pyreveil.

Because of its rank, the material resource obviously provided metaphysical spiritual energy too, despite not being a soul-type object.

If the calamities took it away, then she would die for sure—and for real this time—since her emotions alone won’t be able to fuel her existence on the material plane.

With such a conclusion, her expression turned pure emotionless. "If you abhorrent calamities have also come here for this resource, then you’d have to go through me to get it!" She declared, her voice low and utterly cold. "I don’t care if you’re sentient or not; I would slaughter you!" Her eyes narrowed, eyeing the four with a pure, dense, and unconcealed killing intent.

She was ready, with her spectral greatsword already materialized in her hand. Even if she had to die, she wouldn’t die without fighting for her life!

As a current spiritual entity, at least she had the advantage over the soul. She was a spiritual ascension rank three when alive and even now maintained the same rank. As long as the calamities were of a lower rank than her, then she would completely annihilate their souls.

If they were the same rank, she was perfectly capable of damaging at least one of their souls to the point of no return.

Even if she knew it was futile, even if she fell, she won’t be going down alone.

"What are you saying, woman? I didn’t come for that Pyreveil," Aezaleon tilted his head, his voice flat. "I came for you!" He spoke evenly in an obvious tone. He had no interest in whatever this resource was, at least not as much as he was interested in his own ability.

"Huh?!"

Anastasia blinked. Initially confused, the realization soon dawned on her. Her gaze squinted even further, her face turning entirely wrathful. "So you have come to consume me, you wretched abomination. Do you think I’d let you?" She pointed her greatsword directly at him, her head inclined in absolute defiance and hate.

"Oh?"

He raised his brow, his lips curling further. "With how weak you are, can you even stop me?" he taunted, intentionally choosing not to immediately diffuse the misunderstanding.

"So be it." Anastasia wasn’t one for more pointless chitchat. She shot forward.

BOOOM!

Coming to a sudden stop right before him, the earth cracked under her weight.

CRACK! SWING!

She executed a precise move to behead him in one single strike.

CLANG! 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Clementine flickered the sword away. Literally, she gave the incoming greatsword a casual flick with her middle finger and it shot back, leaving the elf’s firm grip and hitting the massive tree behind, embedding itself deeply into the wood.

"What an ill-mannered little elf you are~!" Clementine mocked with a playful purr.

Anastasia immediately distanced herself. Changing her direction with a mastered precision, she turned and launched a powerful kick towards Clementine’s head.

This time, it was Aphryne!

She merely glanced at the female elf, not even turning her head, and activated her ability—[Totality of the Hollow Tempest]. A wave of darkwind erupted from her—fast, noiseless, and completely imperceptible—locking the elf completely in place.

The moment she withdrew her glance, the female elf got thrown backward.

SHOOT! CRACK!

Anastasia crashed heavily into the tree behind, her vision blanking for a moment as the impact created a cloud of dust. It happened so quickly that her mind did not even understand what just occurred or how it happened.

—[Aphryne had utilized her ability using her spiritual energy; the reason why it affected Anastasia—a Spiritual Entity! Someone who was not physical anymore].

"Don’t provoke your own death, elf, when we have not come for it," Aphryne warned calmly, her calm voice cutting through the settling debris.

She waved her hand, clearing the dust, which made the disheveled image of the once dignified elf visible.

She was already back on her feet, both shocked by the massive disparity between them and confused about the words spoken. Had she truly misunderstood them?

’No! Of course, they are calamities.’ Anastasia clenched her jaws and refocused on the unbothered four.

Those gazes of utter amusement and curiosity looked at her as though she were a fool or a mere object. She knew exactly where she stood, and she understood what her current situation meant.

"What is the point of lying? That man clearly stated that he came for me," she questioned in deep disdain. "Don’t tell me he had come to violate my soul or something?" She mocked, her lip curling in disgust. "Ah, considering who he is, I can’t deny this possibility either."