BUILDING MY OWN EMPIRE - My Journey from Nothing to Overwhelming Power-Chapter 94 - 93 – The Negotiator

For the first time, the Fourth Rank Master gave a direct warning.

My absolute confidence in Louis and her ability to win dropped significantly, suddenly...

How could it not? All the signs pointed toward something bad about to happen.

Joe’s battle with the Third Rank Master was intense, but the blond master suddenly decided to focus most of his attention on the girl’s transformation.

Then it didn’t take long before the girl transformed. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

It wasn’t the transformation itself that made me uneasy... it was her energy at the moment of transformation. It was completely normal.

That could have been good news... but the master’s warning at the end threw everything aside and let fear and anxiety seep into me heavily.

"Louis... be careful," I quickly communicated with her through telepathy.

Where did I get it?

It was one of the abilities one of us acquired during training.

"Don’t worry, my lord... it’s not something I can’t handle," Louis replied quickly.

A calm smile settled on her face.

"The girl has three transformations so far... the little girl was the permanent form... then the old woman...

That second transformation made my attack and defense accumulation useless...

If this third transformation, the mature woman, is her strongest... then that means..." Louis whispered internally... analyzing carefully.

The girl allowed her to do that. She didn’t attack yet... she was still adjusting her body bit by bit, as if she hadn’t used this transformation for many years.

Louis narrowed her eyes after reaching a decisive conclusion in her analysis...

"This leads to one conclusion... her transformation has a strength that suppresses my abilities... but what is it?"

"Shall we begin?" a soft feminine voice cut through Louis’ thoughts.

Louis turned toward the girl... raised her fists... the red gloves appeared again.

"I’m ready," Louis replied.

The moment she said that... the girl dashed forward.

Her steps were fast... heavy and decisive.

Even from a distance...

My eyes caught a great smoothness in her movement.

After three years of continuous training, facing different powerful opponents and various monsters...

And reaching the Third Rank...

My eyes could now clearly distinguish between fast movement... and refined fast movement.

Some monsters used to rush at me with tremendous speed...

But the effort in their movement was extremely high.

"This woman..." I whispered quietly...

"possesses great speed that consumes only minimal effort."

Boom

The sound exploded.

The girl reached Louis...

Raised one of the pink rods... then brought it down toward Louis.

Louis reacted quickly... swung her fist...

She received the strike.

Stopped it.

Then...

She retreated quickly.

Before she could even think... the girl was already above her.

Louis raised her fist...

She received a second strike...

Her eyes narrowed.

Another strike came quickly.

Louis tried to retreat...

Again the girl caught up to her... the movement repeated.

Louis tried to increase her speed further...

Every time... the girl kept up.

Anxiety accumulated within her like a flame about to ignite a forest.

"Damn it," Louis snarled...

She received another strike.

"7!" the girl shouted... a wide smile never leaving her face as she continued chasing Louis tirelessly.

"An attack that harvests accumulation... damn you!" Louis shouted as she retreated further.

She had received seven strikes... all successfully blocked...

But that didn’t matter to the Third Rank Master.

"As long as I successfully hit you... my ability activates and your accumulation gets cut."

After several strikes...

Louis began losing her composure.

The Third Rank Master stood with a mocking smile.

"It seems you’ve figured it out... and it seems you have no solution, hahaha."

She raised her hands... holding both pink rods.

"20 strikes... that’s the limit to end your accumulation. It doesn’t matter if your accumulation is 100 or 30... once 20 hits are completed... it’s consumed."

"20..." Louis whispered.

"I’ve taken 13."

"You have 7 left," the woman said.

Louis took a deep breath...

Then the red energy began gathering intensely again...

Her entire body was surrounded by red energy.

The woman dashed toward Louis... attacked...

Louis evaded the strike.

Her movement became smoother than her opponent’s.

Again and again... the same thing repeated.

The girl could no longer land a hit on Louis.

"It worked... but..." Louis whispered...

"Converting accumulation into energy surrounding my body gave me enough speed to evade... but it also consumes accumulation this way...

In truth... I’m between a hammer draining all my accumulation... and an anvil draining it more slowly... in both cases, she still has control."

The girl attacked again... she realized her recent attacks were no longer landing...

But she remained calm.

She wasn’t a Third Rank Master for nothing.

The moment Louis used energy enhancement... the woman knew it would consume accumulation.

"She chose to lose slowly... until she finds a solution. Let’s see if she can," the woman scoffed, continuing her advance.

She failed to land a hit... she smiled... her voice echoed in Louis’ ears.

"Running alone will end you eventually. Fight and die with honor."

Louis didn’t respond immediately... she dodged another strike... then replied:

"You speak as if your current transformation is permanent... I’ll uncover the weakness of breaking it before I’m finished."

The girl laughed loudly.

"There’s no secret that will help your situation even if you knew it... believe me hahaha... but I’ll tell you."

"We masters need long lifespans... reaching higher ranks takes effort and time... the human body isn’t suited for that...

Everyone tries to extend their life... as for me...

Abandoning my current state allows me to continuously gain time...

Of course, using this state makes me lose time quickly too...

But the time I possess before collapse... is far greater than yours...

As for my accumulation...

The perfect body state doesn’t consume accumulation... it consumes lifespan."

"What?" Louis snarled... disbelief appeared... then she understood.

A master using life energy instead of accumulation... how was she supposed to face that...

Above... the Fourth Rank Master whispered:

"It seems your subordinate has finally realized the battle is lost... that girl, when she uses the perfect body state... cannot be defeated by a Third Rank Master... the only solution is...

A powerful strike from a higher-ranked master."

"And are powerful strikes exclusive to higher-ranked masters?" I whispered, a mocking smile appearing on my face.

Suddenly...

Louis abandoned her red gloves.

"Let me tell you something as well," she whispered...

"I’ve been fighting you with an ancient weapon until now."

"What?" the Fourth Rank Master shouted before the Third Rank Master did the same...

He had been listening to their conversation... when she said that, he turned toward me in astonishment.

"Don’t be surprised," I laughed.

"All of us here possess ancient weapons... otherwise how would we withstand masters like you?"

Suddenly...

The master pulled out a small cube from nowhere...

Placed his hand on it... heavy yellow energy seeped from his palm...

The cube absorbed it instantly.

Then... its shape began changing into something resembling goggles.

Blacksmith-like goggles.

The master held them... wore them... then looked at Louis... at me... at Joe... at Monali... and everyone.

"How the hell..." he shouted,

"did you manage to obtain all those weapons?"

I didn’t answer... I only smiled... but the master insisted.

"Tell me... and I’ll spare your lives."

"This bastard..." I whispered...

His expression, his tone... everything changed suddenly when he heard about the ancient weapon...

Even though he clearly possessed one... he understood its true value.

This made me realize again... that what the Deception Beast said was true...

Ancient and mastered weapons are extremely valuable... far more than I understand until I leave this world.

"You can defeat us and take those weapons... isn’t that what the blue cube above you does?" I said.

"There’s no need for your death... just tell me how you obtained all those weapons," he asked eagerly again.

The composed master suddenly turned into a diplomat trying to strike a deal...

It wasn’t about defeating us or not... he might be capable of defeating us and taking all the weapons we have...

But...

He was searching for the source... not the goods.

Suddenly...

In the middle of our discussion...

A different change began appearing on Louis...

Her body became extremely exhausted...

Several drops of blood poured from her mouth violently...

Her accumulation...

Had suddenly reached zero.

The Third Rank Master watched in concern...

She had no part in what was happening... she was still trying to process the shock of her opponents possessing ancient weapons...

Suddenly...

Threads of white light...

began to emerge from every part of Louis’ body... then spread and branched further and further...

until they formed something like a delicate white web...

Suddenly... the web began to transform as well... merging together, connecting, breaking apart, reconnecting... until it seemed to move chaotically...

then... in the end... the chaotic movement stopped.

Louis’ eyes... turned silver.

And from her back... two wide silver wings emerged.

The wings fluttered... lifting Louis lightly...

as if they were carrying a lifeless body.

Then... a strange aura began to seep down from above... from the silver wings.