CHAPTER 36 - PLAYING THE REVERSE CARD, BABY!

Lizzy’s breathing is heavy. Her forehead blood started to drip on the floor. She held her burnt left arm as she continued to walk forward. She gritted her teeth and clenched her fists.

“How dare you mangle my brother’s body! You’ll pay for this, Mimosa!” The princess roared.

“You’re all bark and no bite, your majesty.” The chancellor smiled. She rubbed the snout of her dark dragon and then she let it free. “Come on, Alfeus. Finish this. Finish your sister so that she can join you in your suffering.”

The Necross Dragon snorted smoke. It stood back to its two feet as it walked forward. Black flames engulfed the dragon’s claws as it readied itself for the second round of this sibling brawl.

“Lizzy!” I cried out loud as I pointed my Archonlight hand to her. I was about to pronounce a Command Code to heal her, but she stopped me with her hand.

“I’m fine! This is just a scratch!” Lizzy yelled at me. “Reserve your Command Code for something useful.”

I look at the HUDs in front of my eyes.

[Enemy Command Code: Ready]

[Enemy Ultimate: Ready]

[Enemy True Form: Active]

[Enemy Instakill: ???]

We are on a tight disadvantage when the battle started. Aside from the fact that the enemy has access to her Fighter’s True Form, Chancellor Mimosa seemed to be a more experienced Archon than me. She has more cards to play. I should wait for her trump cards to activate before making my counter move.

But then again, Lizzy is bluffing. I know that she’s enduring great pain. I can use Full Heal at her, but...

“Don’t worry about me, John. I believe in you.” Lizzy smiled.

I can’t do anything but nod in confirmation. I made a deep breath. Cleansing my thoughts by slapping both of my cheeks, I made myself more alert. I’ll watch the enemy’s movements and cast the appropriate Command Code to win this fight!

“Kill her!” Chancellor Mimosa pointed her staff to the princess, and the Necross Dragon followed. It blasted off by flapping its wings, unleashing strong breeze like those of a tornado.

“GYAAAAAAAAOH!”

“Stardust Volley!” Lizzy materialized a magical circle with her right hand, and that magical circle unleashed white flamed bullets. The barrages of bullets flew towards the Necross Dragon, aiming for its head and wings.

The Necross Dragon created an invisible forcefield to shield himself from the raining stardust bullets. All those projectiles Lizzy unleashed were rendered useless!

Just when the princess and the dragon are just three meters apart, Lizzy materialized her sword on her injured left hand and coated it with white flames.

“Stardust Drill!” Lizzy surged forward with her sword that is buffed with spiraling stardust. In response, the dragon also charged his mouth with flames and fired it at a point-blank direction!

Stardusts and flames raged against each other. The countering force of both magic unleashed a black and white lightning storm that destroyed anything that’s near them. The princess and the dragon struggled to push each other, trying to see who’s stronger.

All of a sudden, the dragon spread its claws and wings, revealing dark blades on each limb. Seizing the opportunity, the dragon tried to smash the princess with a double pincer attack!

In the nick of time, Lizzy disabled her Stardust Drill and made a swift front flip, leaving afterimages on her wake. With just one jump, she managed to get close to the dragon’s head and tap her heel on its snout.

This is the perfect time to do it!

“Unleashing Ultimate!” I pointed my glowing hand to the princess.

[Warning: Ultimate Activated]

“Stardust Crystal Seal!” Lizzy cried.

Creating a magical circle from the heavens and the earth, the Necross Dragon froze as if time has halted his authority to move. Giant crystal stardusts in the shape of lances materialized and surged towards the dragon, piercing its arms, feet, tail, wings, and even its central body!

“Gyaaaoooh…” The dragon weakly cried. Since Alfeus is now pinned with Lizzy’s Ultimate, he can no longer move.

“It’s not over yet!” The blind chancellor pointed her Archonlight hand! “Command Code: Remove All Buff!”

In an instant, the Necross Dragon exploded into black smoke. Lizzy jumped away to prevent getting caught with that smoke. It took a mere two seconds before the smoke dissipated and revealed a humanoid demon. It’s Prince Alfeus Erindel on his base form, fully wounded, his skin oozing with black blood.

Remove All Buff is a Command Code that removes all power-ups and status effects. It was responsible for freeing Alfeus from Lizzy’s seal, as well as returning to his base form. It’s a situational Command Code and I hate to say that the chancellor had the perfect chance to use it.

“Finish her, Alfeus!” The blind chancellor cried. “Our turn!”

With a frown, the demonic prince jumped towards his sister. He spread out his arms and coated his body with dark energy, with a magical circle on his back

“Unleashing Ultimate!” 

[Warning: Enemy Ultimate Detected]

“Blacklight Crystal Abyss!” Alfeus shouted. Six gigantic dark lances materialized from the magical circle on his back and surged towards Lizzy in a blink of an eye. Lizzy won’t have any chance to evade the attack. All she can do is to block it.

Never mind that, I’ll block it myself! Now that the enemy Archon has used their True Form, Ultimate, and Command Code, she no longer has tricks on her sleeve! But I… I still have one!

“Command Code: Burst Counter!”

An invisible barrier coated Lizzy’s body before the spears could reach to her. The moment the dark crystal spears clashed with the barrier, the barrier exploded, giving a powerful explosion!

“What the-” That was all Alfeus could say before he was eaten by the bright light.

Burst Counter is a Command Code that negates an incoming attack and then returns the attack to the owner with 100% of its power. Since the enemy used his Ultimate, he suffered the ‘ultimate’ price of drinking his own medicine! Haha!

When the bright explosion faded, the two Fighters revealed themselves. One is the winner, and one is the loser. The demon prince who took the latter title was left in the ground, unconscious. And the princess who took the title of the winner sat on her knees as she breathed heavily.

“We… won…”

Lizzy muttered with a tired smile that is full of relief. It was a hard-fought unfair battle, and I’m happy that we pulled it off.

The frustrated chancellor bit her delicate lip which made it bleed. She’s disappointed with the demonic prince who can’t do his job properly. She’s clenching her golden staff as if she’s going to break it.

But then…

She smiled. She started to chuckle, and laugh. She’s a bipolar psycho who does not have the concept of win or lose.

“Hahahaha… Hahahaha… HAHAHAHAHAHA!”

“Mr. John, look!” Yufa immediately shouted to gain my attention. I followed where her eyes are looking.

There are three floating hovercraft that surrounded us. Each of those saucers has a white paint job with golden linings, just like what the General of the Aegis Knights used to board. More soldiers came out of those vehicles and they all surrounded us with rifles ready to fire.

“Haah!” The chancellor slashed her staff in the thin air, and a portal materialized. We were all astounded when people started to come out of the magical portal.

The first one who came out is an orange-haired woman wearing platinum steel armor. This knight pulled the second person and forced to get out of the portal, and this second person appears to be a middle-aged woman in a white hospital gown. This second woman is cradling a doll on her chest.

Yufa, Lizzy, and I were frozen in shock. I may have no idea who the orange-haired woman knight was, but the middle-aged woman in a hospital gown is all familiar to us. It’s the Queen of Agartha!

“M-Mother!” Lizzy cried.