Marvel: Empire of Power - Chapter 104: Starfall and a Council of Shadows

The smell of blood invaded my nostrils. I watched helplessly as the woman standing over me raised her sword. I was completely drained, I had no mana left, no items, nothing. As the crimson tendrils held me down by my arms and legs, all I could do was wait for my death.

As the sword drew near, I felt the last bit of courage I had disappear. I was going to die. Alone. In this god forsaken place filled with evil. And for what? To protect those ‘friends’? The same people who mocked me, took advantage of, and used me?

Oh, who am I trying to fool? I was here only because of my own greed. Because I wanted to be useful to someone. Because I wanted to that group to need me. To value me. To have a reason to keep me around. How naïve I was, thinking that power would grant those wishes. All it did was help build a wall between me and everyone else.

The sword approached. I saw the purple light reflect off the sword’s blade. After everything I went through, I hadn’t expected my death to be by the hands of another player. I saw her smile, but this time I didn’t think it was beautiful. It was an ugly smile because it was genuine. She was enjoying watching me die. She was enjoying killing me.

The sword struck my chest and pierced my heart. I let out a scream of pain and agony. The pain was so real, all of this was so real. It shouldn’t be, but it was. What should have been a simple game had become my new reality – all of our new reality. A reality filled with magic, war, blood, and death.

My vision darkened as the pain slowly faded. I felt the last of my vitality leave my body. It felt cold. I wondered to myself, when would I stop being? When would my thoughts disappear?

Soon, I saw those words I feared for all this time appear before me. “DEATH”, in the pale blue font the game always used. They remained suspended in the air for several seconds. It was over. After a long time of fighting, grinding, and exploring, it was finally over. I had died. This was the end of my story.

Suddenly, words before me shifted and changed into something different. I took a shallow breath as I heard a faint heartbeat.

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In her previous life, An Xiulan had been oppressed and tortured by the members of Duke An's household. Her legitimate status wasn't enough to save her from the schemes of jealous siblings. For sixteen years, she tolerated the oppression inflicted on her but in the seventeenth year, she was pushed to death into the frozen lake.

Now she has reincarnated into the body of a youthful girl in the modern world who died in a car accident. She was given everything she was devoid of in her last life– family, love and education.

Graced with a new life, An Xiulan is determined to strive towards a better life. She will be the best daughter. She will study hard. And she will stay away from puppy love.

Nothing must come between her path to become a top scholar!

But there seems to be a hitch in the plan.

Why was the backbencher Han Zixin following her to the library, laboratory, playground and even the principal's office?

Wasn't Big Boss Han allergic to studies?

Why was he following the campus Belle?

…

Teacher: An Xiulan is a top student. We must preserve her at all costs.

Class Ten gulped as they recalled how a certain bro-con had supplied cheating slips to his model student sister in monthly tests subsequently resulting in her topping the exams!

Lu Xuan: No one is allowed to bully my sister!! Only I can bully her!

Everyone in class Ten: ????

A few days later, class Ten witnessed the delicate looking youthful girl chasing her self proclaimed brother with a hockey stick!

The delicate looking campus Belle wasn't delicate at all!

...

A delicate girl can't possibly make two big gangsters of Jingyuan Highschool dance on her tunes?

Traveling to the world of Hokage, Kamiyo Colt witnessed the chaos of the Nine Tails firsthand.Without any special powers initially, he planned to develop quietly and survive until the Infinite Tsukuyomi. However, when he first trained his Chakra, his system finally activated.The system's rules were simple:By healing others, he could gain random attributes and skills.“Heal Uzumaki Naruto to receive pure Ashura Chakra!”“Heal Uchiha Shisui to gain his bloodline talent!”“Heal Sasuke Uchiha to obtain pure Indra Chakra!”In this way, Colt steadily developed his abilities over more than ten years.During the Fourth Ninja World War, when the ninja coalition saw him suddenly knock out the Six Paths Madara with a single punch, he looked innocently back at them.“What? I'm a medical ninja. Doesn't it make sense to defeat him with one punch?”

“That baby is mine, and so are you,” He declared, pointing at Kate’s belly while his deep green eyes gazed at Kate, like a viper ready to strike.Kate couldn’t believe that he– Henry Grant, her new boss eight years younger than her, was the father of her unborn child.“We should be together by default. But I will give you a choice. Go and suffer with your deadbeat husband, or come with me, I will show you the fun you’ve missed.”=====For the past five years of her marriage, Katherine “Kate” Woods, 32, had always believed she was infertile. She was unable to conceive a child and her deadbeat husband Matt always insulted her for it, calling her a useless woman despite never finding a job himself, forcing Kate to be the sole breadwinner of their family.Yet, he still had the nerve to cheat on her with her own sister!Heartbroken, Kate escaped to her office late at night with four bottles of strong red wine. To her surprise, she wasn’t alone.A handsome young man stood in her office, watching her.He refused to give her his name, but offered to keep her company for the night. With lust and booze coursing through her veins, Kate readily abandoned herself to her basest, most repressed instincts, seducing the nameless but willing visitor.In her drunken stupor, she boldly declared, ”If my husband wants to sleep with every woman on earth, then two can play that game.“She didn’t care if they did it raw, as she always thought she was barren. Only to find herself staring at a positive pregnancy test a month later.Kate Woods, the supposedly ‘barren woman,’ was pregnant.The stranger had accomplished in one night what Matt could not in five years.Now that Henry has given her a choice, would Kate leave her deadbeat husband and jump into the sea of uncertainty with this young man?Or would she stay with Matt, her husband who cheated on her for the sake of their families?