Portal

The young beauty immediately stretched her hands out, and unleashed waves upon waves of sinister black flame. The Nulls stood no chance. They got incinerated before even taking few steps past the boundary of the Tower.

Normally, with the uniqueness of her black flame, any lifeform unlucky enough to get engulfed in it would be screaming out in unimaginable pain. However, Nulls are vacant, empty husks, and as such, do not feel pain, at least, at the early stages.

And this fact left a bitter aftertaste in the mouth of the lady. She was used to making her enemies shriek in horror and pain, after all.

In moments, she cleared out her share of the Nulls, both normal and Variant. However, it appeared her contender was still a notch faster than her. Earlier, she was still hearing the distinct sound of metal tearing through flesh and the grunts of Nulls. Now though, everything was completely silent.

And the fact that the Nulls stopped coming out meant they all have fallen before her contender. Contender. This was how she began to view the individual on the other side.

She straightened her back and decided to wait.

It was then it happened. A huge spherical energy of sorts suddenly appeared. Its bronze color lit up the night as though it was day, and moved as though it was a whirlpool. Its innards, however, was a fear-inspiring blackness that seemed to frame the bottomlessness of Nulls' eyes.

A portal had appeared.

The young lady wasted no time anymore. She took to her heels, crossing several meters in moments. Initially, she was over 70 meters away from the Tower. But thanks to her black flame, she was still able to attack the Nulls over such a range.

However, she had made two mistakes. First, she underestimated the so-called contender on the other side of the Tower. Two, she still arrogantly believed she was the only special existence on Earth.

A figure suddenly appeared before the portal like a panther, and on his shoulder rested another figure. The figure seemed to wait for a moment before looking towards her direction. And upon getting a vivid view of the figure's appearance, her already widened eyes stretched to the absolute limits.

"You…"

That familiar golden eyes that used to radiate warmth, but now exuded coldness. The same lackluster brown hair. His frail–

The lady gasped silently. Seeing his straight, clearly healthy body, she couldn't help but think she had undermined this young man. In fact, she had thought he wouldn't be able to withstand the awakening. But, here he was, more strong than ever.

However, she wasn't about to allow this discovery to impede her journey. But how was she going to make it? He only needed to take a step to enter into the Tower, after all.

'What to do…what to do..'

Her eyes flashed. Although she hated taking this approach, it was the only viable option in this situation.

"You, the consequence of your actions isn't something you can fathom." She calmly said, her arrogant voice dripping like honey as she momentarily paused to examine his expression.

Upon seeing his stunned expression, elation brewed in her mind.

'Although I hate it. I can't deny the fact that it is effective…' She thought.

A mischievous glint suddenly flashed in her starry black eyes for a split second before she continued to speak. There was no way he wouldn't fall for this.

"If you allow me entry, I really can become your girlfriend. Say, isn't that what you always wanted? Hmm?... So, what do you–"

"Is this the lady I took a liking to? Really, i'm quite disappointed in myself."

The rich and baritone voice of the young man cut through her words like tofu. The mock and disdain laced underneath was hard to notice, but to someone like her, it was particularly glaring.

Her heart immediately burned in anger as the contents of his words sank into her brain. The truth was, she wasn't always like this, however, the importance of the Tower on her future wasn't little by any stretch. She had to do anything to get in first.

"What do you mean by that?!"

"I meant what I meant. And… don't try stalling for time. It will get you no where."

The expression of the lady suddenly grew cold. Since the time they began conversing, not even 10 seconds had passed. Furthermore, she didn't stop walking as well. Now, she was more than halfway towards the portal.

A little more and she would have caught the idiot off guard. But it appeared the idiot was really not an idiot. She instantly dropped her facade and pointed forward. A ball of black light appeared right before her right index finger, before it suddenly trembled and became smaller. And then it quivered and became smaller yet again.

At that moment, however, the murmurs of the young man flowed into her ears.

"Dark Flame Edict? No, it contains no Fire Edict but… Star Edict? This Edict… it must be the Black Star Edict of that House. Ha! I see."

Her eyes widened once again and her mind was thrown into turmoil. Consequently, this sent her concentration reeling, which in turn, made the black dot before her index finger tremble intermittently.

"I must let you know, young woman of the House of Etoile, you ain't the only one with an amazing background, you know. Moreover, there are some existences out there your background have no hope of contending with should you really offend them. Just so you know, I am one of them. So, rein in that bitchy attitude of yours and know some fucking humility!"

At the end of his statements, the young man's voice became a roar. Just looking at him, it was evident he was extremely pissed. So pissed, he couldn't care less about the hyperventilating young lady a dozen meters away from him.

She looked towards the young man, her hands trembling. If before, she thought she had undermined him, now she knew she had tug at a hornet's nest. For him to easily discern her House just by the Edict she weilded meant he was at the very least from a background on par with hers.

However, the complete disregard spoke otherwise. He definitely was from a House levels higher than hers.

The black dot inches before her index finger suddenly launched into the distance just as her control shattered. It tore through the air, singeing through any obstruction before it landed.

There was no foreshock, no noise, nothing… to precede the next scene.

BOOM!

A black sphere rose into the air, abruptly spiking the heat in the air to never before seen levels. The very air grew so hot it burned. And all structures within a fifty meters radius of the black sphere vanished as though they never existed.

The young man, who was none other than Damian, looked towards such scene with little apprehension. Unlike him, it appeared the young lady was not limited, hence, she had access to her full stats. Which also meant, she was stronger than him currently.

Even then, he was unafraid. If worse came to worst, all he would do was remove his limiters, then all hell would break loose.

"I'm…I'm sorry."

An especially soft voice snapped him back to reality. He looked towards the young beauty, and his eyes couldn't help but soften at her current state.

The truth was, he hadn't said that to threaten her, but to make her aware he wasn't a pushover. However, it appeared that had really broken her. Even then, that wasn't enough to evoke his kindness.

"Do what I said and we will have no problem." He said coldly before stepping forward, disappearing into the portal.

The young lady, however, slumped onto the floor before sobbing quietly. In her current state, she cared little about the wellbeing of the students and teachers she had saved.

Soon though, she stood, before gently walking towards the portal, vanishing into as well.

As for those she left behind, they would need to fend for themselves.