Building My SSS-Rank Universal Empire: From Trash to Cosmic Overlord-Chapter 239: Time to get serious

Vale grinned. "No, you won’t."

Then he flew at her with his sword raised. The sword was flexible. It could be used like a whip or a combination of both. And secondly, since it was made with fire essence, it could take a large dose of his power.

And Vale was anything if not generous with his use of essence. Each swing of his blade was immediately followed by a sword beam.

The sheer force of each attack was throwing the woman back, and if not for the regeneration ability of hers, she would have been dead at least half a dozen times already.

But Vale didn’t mind. The woman could regenerate? Well, he also had the essence to spend. Maybe it would eventually boil down to who could last longer.

With the Warden keeping the doll back, there was no way for it to interfere.

"You’ve not killed me yet, doll woman!" Vale said. His sword flashed forward, the whip coiled around the sword in her hand and bit into her shoulder. The needle blades hooked into her body, and when Vale pulled, it raked her flesh away, ripping apart the body that regenerated the next instant.

But Vale noticed something that made his smile turn bigger. The woman was getting slower, not only in speed but in the way she used her abilities. She was no longer using multiples as she had been before.

And the biggest of all, her regeneration had slowed down.

Vale pumped more essence into his body and into the five techniques he had going. His mind was crowded with the number of formations he was holding, but it wasn’t affecting him. He was even thinking of squeezing another one in there.

Suddenly, Vale stopped fighting and jumped back. He crouched. "Are you sure there’s no way to get that doll? It can’t be useful to the dead."

"You..." She was breathing hard, so much so that it took a while before she answered. "What did you do?"

"Don’t waste the remaining oxygen you have," Vale warned.

Her eyes widened, and she frowned, narrowing them. "Impossible! Why can’t I turn...!"

"Why can’t you turn into a doll? Because I already bound you to that body. You cannot change it further unless you remove my binding. And because you are still human, you still need oxygen, so I’ve been burning it since."

It was then that she finally noticed the room she was in was red. It was as if she was standing inside an oven. The air was red and shimmering. Vale had kept her distracted with fighting, and with her body being partially doll, she didn’t catch on to what was happening quickly. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Suddenly, she gasped and clutched her chest. She took in hurried breaths, but they were filled with dry heat. The sword and shield of condensed lightning she was holding wavered and disappeared, and she fell to her knees, clawing at her throat.

The sound of clashing intensified as the doll tried to get to its master, but Vale wasn’t having it. He didn’t know the type of ability it could have stored up. No need to take any chances.

"Honestly, you are the most powerful person I’ve fought in my rank. Although you are a Knight rank, your power reached my level. I thank you for giving me a good fight." Vale stood up and bowed to her.

She was crying at that point, her mouth opening like a fish searching for water. The hand on her throat weakened, and finally, she stopped moving.

Vale turned toward the doll and watched as it slowed. Its movements became sluggish, and then finally, it crumbled into dust.

"Dominion!" Vale shouted, and the prison was swallowed by light and fire. He burned away the last bit of the assassin, and then his face fell.

"I should have gotten some information from her. Like what the other spies and assassins look like. But I doubt she was going to tell me anyway."

Vale disabled his techniques and formations, and the room returned to normal, as normal as it could be considering that it was wrecked. But at least he was able to see something to put on now that someone wasn’t trying to kill him. He put on his fire-resistant clothes.

He sighed and began to think about the fight as he exited the room. The force that had been keeping the room from interacting with the outside was gone.

"Interesting. I wonder if there are two? One is keeping the room sealed because I did not notice any artifact around her that might do that. But then again, maybe it is one of that doll’s powers."

Outside remained normal as he walked the hallway. The only difference was that the guards were asleep. Suddenly, Vale paused and mixed his essence with his essence-sensing to sweep the whole castle since it wasn’t that big.

Silence. That was the only way to describe it. Everything was asleep. He remembered then that the woman never admitted to using sleep gas.

...Something powerful enough to put Takoda to sleep?... Thrain really wanted me dead before we met, and the lucky bastard has the resources...

"Something powerful is here," Vale said in a low voice. "Why is the defensive formation not triggered? Ah, yes. They were part of my army."

The hallway darkened, and a coldness that wasn’t frost or ice swept forward. Vale turned as he heard the sound of claws, too many claws scraping on the ground.

Something came out of the darkness. It was a huge skull bound tightly with green fire. Beside the skull, another skull emerged, and then he saw the whole head.

It was a fusion of five skulls held tightly together with green ropes of fire. The monster or Knight, filled the hallway with its bulk.

"Ah, shit." Vale took one look at it and ran. He used small explosions on his feet to throw himself forward faster. He passed the hallway, went straight down the stairs, through the great hall, and then out into the open space of the yard.

...No way I’m going to fight such an abomination in the hallway...

Not only because it would be disadvantageous to him, but it might bring down the whole building on his officials.

Vale brought out his tower. "Time to get serious."