"You know me?" Jessica asked, a frown on her face, the expression looking alien on features that were both familiar and terribly different to Mirabella.
"Yes... Don't you remember me?! And how did you change your hair and eyes?!" Mirabella asked in confusion, taking a step forward. The Jessica she knew didn't have hair like spun moonlight or eyes that held the cold edge of a blade.
"Mirabella? I... I don't remember that name." She stammered, holding her head. A grimace twisted her face, as if a mental block was physically fighting back against the intrusion of the past.
'What the hell happened to you, Jessica?' Mirabella thought, her heart sinking.
"You know her?" Zoginoi asked, staring at Jessica with narrowed eyes, assessing the threat level.
"Yes." Mirabella nodded her head, her voice firm.
"Ok, because what she tried to do can cause a war between the Sword and Dragon empires. With her strength and status in the academy, she must know killing other students is against the peace agreement." Zoginoi's voice was cold, invoking the treaties that held their fragile world together.
"You made a mistake." Jessica said, her voice dropping the confusion and returning to an icy calm. Her words stunned the group.
"And what is my mistake?" Zoginoi asked, adjusting his glasses.
"We are free to kill anyone in a red dungeon." She dusted her clothes, flicking away imaginary ash with terrifying nonchalance.
"Besides, we aren't allies to begin with. As you said, we signed a Peace agreement, a student from another empire can kill another in a dungeon... You just have to make sure there is no evidence." Her eyes glowed brightly, a predatory light shimmering within the silver irises.
"So you think you can kill us?" Zoginoi asked, pushing his glasses in place, his posture shifting to a combat stance.
"Of course, I can not... Not with you, her and him." She gestured to Zoginoi, Elizabeth, and Hitachi—the three monsters of the group—then turned her gaze to Mirabella.
"And Her... A student who can copy skills and maxed them out in an instant... That is a very dangerous ability you have." She said, staring directly at Mirabella.
Mirabella felt a chill run down her spine. 'Whoever she is now, she is good... Just one attack, she already figured out a lot of things,' Mirabella thought, staring back at Jessica. Her Copy ability was one of her trump card, and this girl had dissected it in seconds.
"I am sure you already copied all the skills I used." She added.
Mirabella narrowed her eyes, not saying a word. Confirming it would only give Jessica more data.
"Lady Jessica, when you get back. You should be ready for the consequences of your actions." Zoginoi warned.
"Hmph! Do you think all that rule appear to me?" Jessica sneered.
She raised her hand, and placed one finger on her forehead. When she removed it, the skin split cleanly, revealing a third eye. But this was no ordinary eye; it had no pupil, only concentric, tiny colorful circles that spun slowly.
Seeing the third eye, Zoginoi, Elizabeth, and even Hitachi instantly got serious. Their auras flared defensively, a rare sign of genuine alarm.
"Is that?!" Mirabella was stunned, feeling as Jessica's spirit energy flare up, increasing drastically. The air pressure in the clearing dropped, making it hard to breathe.
'She is just a Lv60 All-class! How is her spirit energy close to mine?!' Mirabella thought with a frown. The math didn't add up; this was raw power that defied levels.
"I would so love to kill you all!" Jessica stretched forth her hands. The air shimmered, and two long swords made from pure spirit energy appeared in her grip. They hummed with a frequency that made Mirabella's teeth ache.
"But I have something very important to take care of."
Before the group knew what was happening, she vanished. There was no sound of movement, no blur of speed—her presence simply disappeared instantly.
"Huh?"
"....?"
Everyone was dumbfounded. Even with their advanced senses, they had lost her completely.
"It can't be..." Zoginoi said, beads of sweat appearing on his forehead.
"Yes. These experiments have failed countless times, how did it succeed?" Elizabeth asked in horror, her usual composure cracking.
"Hey! What are you two blabbering about?!" Mirabella snapped around, staring at the two attendants. She hated being left in the dark.
"You know the two strongest families in the sword empire?" Hitachi asked, turning to her. His own eyes had changed, turning red with tiny dots around the pupil.
'Is that his celestial eyes?' Mirabella moved her gaze on Zoginoi and Elizabeth, feeling the palpable fear radiating from the two strongest people she knew.
And why are they so scared?' She nodded at Hitachi.
"That third eye on her forehead, that is the Bauhinia Family's mythical eye, that alone made her a very powerful powerhouse. And now, those spirit energy blades, that's the sword skill of the sword family. Meaning, she possesses the strongest skills of the two strongest families."
Hitachi stared at her with his celestial energy, his gaze piercing, like trying to dig into her soul to see if she understood the gravity of this anomaly.
"I don't know where you knew her from, but if she has enough power to fight us all on, but she won't win, which is while she moved on." He added.
'This? Is she that strong?' Mirabella thought in surprise. A hybrid of two apex abilities shouldn't exist.
BOOOM!!!
WHOOSH!!
"....?!!"
The conversation was cut short by a sonic boom. Everyone looked at the side, as someone flew towards them like a ragdoll and smashed heavily on the ground, creating a crater and a rising cloud of smoke and dust.
"Huh?"
Grace, Carl, and their group were stunned, clutching their weapons. The five simply narrowed their eyes, ready for anything.
The smoke cleared, revealing Jessica on her knees, blood trickling at the side of her lips. The terrifying hybrid warrior who had just threatened them all was trembling.
"Huh?"
Mirabella and Hitachi were dumbfounded. With all her strength—the Mythical Eye, the Spirit Swords—who in this dungeon was strong enough to injure her so casually?
'Seems she isn't invincible,' Mirabella thought, and turned her head to the distance, following the trajectory of Jessica's flight.
A man made of translucent black crystal stood in the sky, hovering without effort. His purple gaze was fixed on them, devoid of life or mercy. His arms were crossed on his chest, and a white cape flapped behind him in the wind.
Mirabella's system pinged violently.
{Information.}
{Name: Crystal Emperor.}
{Title: Realm World Boss.}
{Level: 500.}
{Weakness: None.}
{Difficulty: Hell Extreme Difficulty.}
{Attack: 5,000,000.}
{Health: 10,000,000/10,000,000.}
{Defense: 10,000,000/10,000,000.}
{Agility: 3,000,000.}
{Intellect: 100%}
{Trait: 100% immune to all physical damage taken, crystal prison, crystal domain, crystal doom, Crystallization.}
"Oh my God!!"
This thought appeared in everyone's head simultaneously. Their faces instantly turned pale, the blood draining away as they stared at stats that shouldn't be possible. This wasn't a fight; it was an execution waiting to happen.