Infinite wealth In A New World-Chapter 363: What Is This?!!!
[The Star Nation — Secret Auction Hall.]
"Ok everyone!! We have a winner... 50 billion galaxy crystals!!!" Jovial yelled, his masked gaze sweeping over the crowd with a mix of amusement and predatory satisfaction.
"Yes!! I won it!! With this, I will never grow old and die! I will be forever young!!" An old woman screamed. Her face was a map of deep wrinkles and desperation, her eyes wide with the frantic hope of a terminal patient. She clutched her hands to her chest, already imagining the life-stealing ring on her finger.
Sunny watched her with cold detachment before shifting his gaze to the host. ’The moment the third auction item is bought, we will start,’ he whispered into his earpiece, his voice barely a breath.
"Ok everyone!! This is faster than I thought," Jovial said, spreading his arms wide as if to embrace the entire room. "Let’s welcome the third item on stage."
The heavy velvet curtains at the side of the stage parted. A beautiful young lady, bound in heavy, celestial-suppressing chains, was led toward the center. Her silver hair hung in tangled mats, and her eyes—once bright with royal fire—were now lifeless and blank.
The hall went silent. Sunny felt a jolt of pure shock, his composure shattering for a split second.
"Impossible," he muttered, a deep frown carving into his face.
"Who wants her!!" Jovial yelled, the skull mask making his voice echo with a macabre cheer. "The starting bid for the only Princess of the Star Nation is 50 Billion! She is 20 years old, and also a virgin! Anyone who has her will be protected by me—even the Star Nation won’t be able to touch you!!"
Jovial pointed a gloved finger at Casey. "Start bidding!!! Any bid added must be above 10 Billion!!"
"70 billion!!" a man yelled from the front row, his voice cracking with greed.
’What is going on? Something isn’t right here...’ Sunny tapped his earpiece urgently. "Go and check the Star Nation castle. I want to know what’s happening there!" he hissed in a low voice.
His eyes remained locked on Casey. ’I know Matilda like the back of my hand... She might be evil and ruthless, but she would never abandon her only daughter. Something must be off.’ He scanned the room, looking for a trap.
’Even if the Blood Queen took control, she still couldn’t accept this. Which means she doesn’t know, or she is dead. I will have to wait for their report.’
___
[The Star Nation — Royal Castle.]
"What the fuck."
Nioh landed on the jagged edge of the castle’s defense wall. He stared down at the wreckage below—shattered towers, scorched earth, and a haunting silence.
He, Star, and Jinx leaped down from the wall, their boots splashing as they landed on the castle grounds. To their surprise, the entire courtyard was submerged in a shallow pool of water.
"What is this?" Star asked in mild confusion, watching the ripples of her footsteps.
"This is strange." Jinx squatted down, pressing a finger into the liquid. "Even under this hot sun, it’s still cold... freezing, actually."
"Such cold waters don’t just appear, not when there wasn’t a single rain yesterday," Nioh noted, his hand on his sword as he walked toward the main doors.
"Yeah." Star looked around the desolate perimeter. "Where are the guards? There isn’t a single soul around."
Jinx closed her eyes, letting her dragon-kin senses expand. A pulse of energy rippled out from her. "There are three people inside the hall."
"Three...? Let’s go."
Nioh leaped into the air, with the two women following close behind. They landed silently on a stone ledge near a high window and peered inside.
"Huh?!"
The trio froze. Below them, Matilda was on her knees, gasping for air. She was covered in blood, her right hand severed at the wrist. A nun knelt beside her, her hands glowing with a soft light as she desperately tried to knit the Queen’s injuries back together. The floor around them was a graveyard of elite castle guards, and deaths.
Standing before them was a nightmare—a ghostly figure with a face like a blank marble slab. It had no mouth, no eyes, and no nose. It was a shifting phantom of pale energy, clutching a massive, curved scythe.
"What the hell is that?" Jinx whispered, her blood running cold.
"My goodness... we are in the city and we didn’t feel a thing. Not even the sound of a battle. What the hell is happening here?" Nioh whispered back.
Star’s gaze drifted to the mangled remains of Gabriel. She swallowed hard. "Come on, we need to go back now," she thought, sensing a power that defied logic.
"Where is the weapon!" the spirit figure demanded, the voice seemingly vibrating from the air itself as it pointed the scythe at Matilda.
"Weapon? Do you think I kept that with me?" Matilda asked with a bloody smile. "I don’t know what you are, Leonardo, but you won’t have it!" She spat a glob of blood at the figure, but it simply phased through his form.
’Leonardo?!!!’
The three observers were horrified. ’Isn’t Leonardo the First Elder of the immortal council?’ Jinx thought, her mind racing.
’Why is he asking about the Star Nation’s secret weapon? I am so confused.’
"What happened? Why is he like this?" Nioh whispered.
"Ok, Matilda. I will have to kill you." Leonardo raised his scythe high, the blade glowing with a sickly light.
"Not when I am still here!!"
Mitsubishi stopped her healing spell and smashed her palms against the stone floor. Spirit energy erupted in a blinding white circle. "Forever Teleportation Forbidden Art!!" she yelled.
"No!!!" Leonardo screamed, his voice a distorted howl. But before he could strike, the space beneath the two women shattered like glass. They fell into the rift, and it snapped shut instantly.
"Come on, we don’t even have to attack. The Star Nation has already collapsed," Nioh said, turning to the others. "We need to get out of here and inform the King."
"Where do you think you’re going?"
The trio froze. Leonardo’s blank face turned slowly toward their window.
"Shit!!"
SWISH!!!
The entire castle wing exploded outward. In a terrifying display of power, the stones and debris flew through the air in absolute silence. There was no roar of fire, no crash of falling masonry—just a void where sound should have been.
"Is this some kind of sound-cloaking skill?!" Jinx yelled as she tumbled through the air, landing in a crouch and looking up at the ruins.
"Don’t tell me he survived that," Nioh said in shock, staring into the settling dust.
"You fools really think you can escape?" Leonardo walked out from the rubble, stepping through solid rock as if it were mist.
"What have you become, Elder Leonardo?!!" Nioh yelled, summoning his sword.
"I have seen the light, and the light has given me strength."
BOOOOOM!!!
A shockwave of unknown energy burst from him. It swept past Nioh and Star, tossing massive boulders aside like autumn leaves.
"What energy is this?" Star yelled, struggling to stay upright.
"It is completely foreign!! It’s also not Spirit energy," Nioh realized, his eyes wide. "We need to retract!! This guy’s strength is far beyond ours!!"
"I don’t think there is any time for that," Jinx said, stepping forward. Her jaw was set in a hard line. "If he is stronger than us, we won’t be able to escape. We will just fight him. Multi-Clones!!"
She pointed a finger at Leonardo. "Take him down!!"
Hundreds of identical Jinxes materialized in a whirlwind of spirit energies, lunging at the phantom with daggers drawn.
"Die!!!" the lead clone screamed, plunging her blade into Leonardo’s chest.
"...?!!"
To their horror, the weapon passed through him as if he were made of smoke. The clone stumbled right through his body.
"This?" Jinx was flabbergasted.
"Useless!!"
Leonardo swung his scythe in a wide horizontal arc, the blade whistling through the air. Every single clone in its path shattered instantly.
BOOOM X159
"HUH?!!"
"Impossible," Jinx gasped. "Killing my clones should result in a backlash equal to half my strength stat... how come such a high amount of damage didn’t even leave a scratch on him?!"
"I am reborn, I am invincible, I am eternal... No attack known to man can injure me!" Leonardo yelled, raising his scythe toward the heavens. "All of you will only bow at my feet!!!"
BOOOOOM!!!
A crushing weight of invisible pressure descended from the sky. It slammed into the trio, driving them into the wet ground.
"This... I can’t move!" Star choked out. Even with her God-rank cultivation, her bones felt like they were about to snap.
"I can’t believe there is someone who can make me feel so powerless!" Jinx gritted her teeth, her fists clenching until her knuckles turned white.
"So powerful!! I can’t even breathe," Nioh gasped. He forced his mind to work, activating his Cosmic Brain to send a high-priority distress signal to Sunny.
"Today, no one is allowed to leave here alive," Leonardo declared. "I will use your three lives to pay for the two I lost. I failed my mission; I won’t fail to kill you."
"You demon!!" Jinx spat. She reached deep into her core, igniting every drop of her Spirit energy.
"Huh?" Leonardo paused, surprised.
"Don’t you dare look down on me!" Jinx roared. She forced herself up, her joints popping under the pressure. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂
The next moment, her back erupted. Two massive, dark dragon wings unfurled, followed by two horns and a thick, scaled tail. Her aura flared, turning the cold water around her into steam.
"Come on, Old man!! We will see who has more energy to spare—you or me!!"
"Hahaha! Impressive. I know you and your sister are strange," Leonardo smiled, his featureless face tilting. "I would like to see the height of your powers."
He vanished.
"Be careful, Jinx!!" Star yelled.
"It’s ok. Just leave this old man to me," Jinx said, her eyes glowing a feral crimson.
"Die!!!" Leonardo reappeared directly in front of her, the scythe coming down like a guillotine.
BOOOOOM!!!!!
