The Heavenly Martial Empress Returns: An OP Xianxia Returnee LitRPG

Chapter 220: The Dark Star Princess

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“Mom!”

Cecil panicked as she saw her mother’s castle golem falling to the ground. The impact of General Gaius was immense; a single swing of his titanic hammer was all it took for him to blow away the shield Elphiette created, destroy the golem’s arms, and then send the thing flying down.

“Mom! Are you there?! Are you okay?!”

Elphiette slowly opened her eyes, feeling a sharp pain in her left leg; a huge boulder was crushing it, the ceiling had fallen, and a large stone ended hitting her head, but she recovered quite quickly from her unconscious state thanks to her Ki and her Physique.

Nonetheless, her Physique was still mostly specialized towards using Mana and Spiritual Energies, as she had told Bing Xue she wanted to become better at what she already was good at instead of trying to chase another fighting style or power that would only disrupt her fighting abilities.

Therefore, her Physique wasn’t the toughest, and all of these boulders, blown away by the shockwave of Gaius’ attacks, were enough to deal all this damage to her.

“C-Ce… Cecil?”

Cecil’s eyes widened as she heard her mother’s voice resonate through telepathy. She smiled, feeling relieved, her red and green eyes shining brightly.

“Wait for me! I’ll go save you! Just wait a bit! I’ll take care of this!”

“W-What? You can’t fight that man on your own…! W-Where’s your father?!”

“He’s still fighting Claudius; he’s fine! He’s strong and tough; don’t worry about him for now.”

“B-But you can’t… do this on your own either! Where are the other soldiers?”

“Fighting, I can’t just call them here…”

“But Cecil! You can’t handle him! And he has a whole squadron as well!”

“I can.”

“No you can’t! S-Stop being so delusional! Where does all this confidence come from?!”

“I’ve… been growing stronger, so don’t worry.”

“C-Cecil!”

Cecil cut off the telepathic message channel with her mother, gazing at General Gaius. The man seemed slightly annoyed; she had stopped him from attacking, floating right in front of him.

“You must be… Ah! You sure look a bit like Caesar, and those pointy ears… So you must be his daughter, right? Cecil…”

“Yeah, that’s my name.”

Above Cecil’s head, there was a small black seven-pointed star; it had three rings made of dark purple light rotating around it.

Of course, Gaius didn’t even pay attention to that, as he believed it to be some kind of dumb ornament.

“You say you’re my opponent again, little girl?” Gaius asked, sighing. “I didn’t come here to murder children, even less young women. Simply surrender, and your life, and that of your mother, will be spared. That is, if she’s still alive.”

“You’re mocking my resolve?” Cecil was a prideful young princess, holding her sword tightly; her Aura surged from her body, pitiful in comparison to the general.

“If anything, I am giving you another chance, Cecil,” Gaius said, smiling gently. “You don’t have to fall for your Kingdom. Swear your loyalty to King Claudius, your uncle, and become my disciple. How about it?”

“…I appreciate your kindness,” sighed Cecil, her stance suddenly relaxing. As she lowered her sword, Gaius nodded. “I really wasn’t expecting you to be this kind and honest… It makes me a bit frustrated.”

“I know it must be painful, but this is the destiny of those that stand in the path of King Claudius. However, he has a merciful and magnanimous heart. Join him, Cecil. You don’t have to risk your life anymore. I can already tell you’re strong. And we can make you even stronger,” Gaius nodded.

“But for what purpose? To serve the man that killed my father?” asked Cecil. “That’s… not a life worth living. I don’t want to become your master’s puppet.”

“…Is that so?” Sighed Gaius.

“You’re kind, Sir Gaius; you’re nice as well.” Cecil smiled a bit, making Gaius think she might still have a change of heart. “I honestly am grateful for the offer… Maybe in another time, perhaps if I had been different, I would’ve taken it without a second thought, but…”

“Hm? But?” Gaius asked her, crossing his arms.

“I’m not a good person,” Cecil smiled, her smile twisting into a furious, psychopathic smile.

“Hm?!” Gaius groaned, suddenly feeling something eerie coming from her.

A small pressure he felt coming from her, a darkness that encompassed his body.

“I’m pretty evil.”

“Huh?!”

He saw her suddenly appear behind him, even when Cecil was still in front of him.

“What…?!”

And then he felt… paralyzed.

The darkness he saw coming from her, that weird pressure, paralyzed his body!

CRASH!

Her sword reached his neck, piercing through the muscle.

“Uuuaaagh!”

Gaius screamed as his Magic Aura erupted from his body, quickly helping him forcefully free himself from the powerful pressure and move away before he was to get a vital point damaged.

TRUUUM!

His Aura sent Cecil flying away as she quickly spun in midair, kicking the air and rushing towards Gaius with her sword in hand.

“What just happened…?!” Gaius muttered, touching his wound as he was bleeding. “She appeared behind me even when she was right in front of me?! Illusion magic? No! I would’ve been able to discern it easily!”

He quickly glanced in the direction where Cecil was; she was gone now.

“So it was an illusion then?!”

CLAAASH!

At the same time, he swung his hammer towards his left, easily intercepting Cecil’s sword attack while he kept pressuring his wound to not lose too much blood.

“I’m honestly surprised! You’ve got your tricks, brat!” He muttered. “But I’ve figured it out now; stop this! Do you truly want me to end your life?! I have a daughter your age! Simply surrender!”

“I won't; surrendering is boring,” Cecil smiled.

As she swung her sword against him several times, unleashing waves of darkness that Gaius rapidly evaded or intercepted.

“I’m not naïve, you know? I like being a bit villainous. Let’s say I’m an anti-hero.”

“Huh?!”

He gasped in disbelief again, noticing Cecil appearing behind him out of nowhere.

“When did she…?! No wait, it’s an illusion, right!”

Gaius quickly ignored the Cecil at the front, focusing on the one that appeared behind him.

His Hammer swung forward, attempting to crush her.

CRAAASH!

However, as the powerful blow hit her, the Cecil he had ignored rushed forward, her sword stabbing his stomach from the side.

SLASH!

“UAGH?!”

Gaius felt genuine pain, and as he quickly unleashed his Aura again, both of her bodies suddenly twisted around, becoming pure darkness that merged into a single body.

“W-What in the world?!”

“How did she do that?!”

“General Gaius! Do you need help?”

“We should assist him! She has some kind of strange sorcery!”

The soldiers Gaius had brought panicked, yet Gaius felt humiliated; if he let some soldiers help him fight a girl the age of his daughter, he would never be able to look at the King’s face again!

“No! I’ll take care of this myself…!” Gaius roared. “She has a single trick, and I think I’ve seen through it! I’ll take her down and then her mother.”

“I won’t let you touch my mother.”

Cecil appeared in front of Gaius again; he quickly got more serious, swinging his hammer towards her several times as he spun in midair, unleashing a tornado attack.

FLUOOOSH!

The tornado hit her completely, sending her flying away.

At the same time, he saw her second body appear behind him; just as expected, he quickly harnessed his Aura, shaping it into a secondary hammer, and threw it at her.

Yes, a hammer made out of his own Aura!

“You’re over fifty years too young to think you can sneak attack on someone like me for a third damn time, brat!”

With a furious roar, Gaius’ Aura Hammer quickly hit Cecil, exploding in her face.

BOOOM!

Her eyes were still focused on him as everything happened, finding herself trapped within the Tornado he had unleashed against her.

“Impressive. Well, to be expected for a General of his level and caliber,” she thought, the seven-pointed dark star above her head glowed brightly, releasing an aura of Abyss around her body. “

TRUUUM!

“Ugh?!”

Gaius felt suddenly paralyzed again out of nowhere; at the same time as he saw the form of this "pressure," it was like a shower of darkness and dark red energies.

And amidst this “shower” of energy, he saw something—a crimson eye and an emerald eye glaring at him at the same time.

“T-This is…! I see…!” Gaius smiled lightly. “She is within the possession of Mystic Eyes!”

Mystic Eyes, powerful magical Eyes capable of unleashing special effects and magical powers towards targets that are glared at by them, usually requiring some Mana to activate.

They can vary from things such as being able to see through their status to being able to read minds, negate magic, paralyze, inflict curses, and even…

Instant death.

However, he knew that Cecil’s eyes were a rather common class among this rare mutation in the body.

“She must have the Mystic Eyes of Paralysis that her grandfather has, huh?” He wondered.

Cecil’s Grandfather, the Emperor and the God of Caesar and Claudius’ original world, was a man said to have the power to bend a whole army to their knees with his mere presence.

Few knew of his secret being that he possessed this almighty power, Eyes capable of making his foes paralyzed.

However, Cecil possessed a lesser version.

“But they can’t… Be compared to the Emperor’s Eyes…!”  Gaius laughed as he forcefully freed himself from the pressure paralyzing his body. “She can barely keep it up for a second or two!”

He rushed towards Cecil after his Aura Hammer destroyed the other. He quickly learned she was able to somehow become shadows and divide herself into two bodies.

They weren’t illusions or clones, but her own body divided into two! With one body destroyed, the shadows most likely went back to the other.

Becoming a single body he can smash with his giant hammer!

“I’ve seen through all of your tricks already, Cecil! You’re indeed very talented, but you’re a selfish and spoiled child in the end! What a waste!”

Gaius swung his hammer down; Cecil didn’t run away but faced him head-on, rushing towards him and…

FLASH!

Turning herself into shadows, coiling around Gaius body like a viper and shocking him once more, before she materialized behind him.

Her sword rapidly rushed towards his head; she aimed to pierce his skull!

“T-This girl fights like a damn assassin! Was she trained since a young age?!” Gaius thought in that split second before twisting his body and catching Cecil’s sword with his teeth.

“RAAAH!”

CLANK!

His bite force was immense, rapidly spreading cracks through Cecil’s sword, and then…

CRAAASH!

Shattering the blade into pieces before he punched her stomach with immense force, twisting her gusts and sending her flying away, forcing her to vomit blood and everything else she had inside her stomach.

BAAAM!

“GAAH?!”

As Cecil fell, Gaius sighed in relief.

“That should do it…” He said. “I’ve hit her stomach and stopped the flow of Mana in her body by striking one of her Meridians, without Mana she’s useless. Pick her up if she survives; we’ll take her as a prisoner if she’s alive after that.”

“Yes sir!”

A group of soldiers rushed down to pick her up. As Cecil fell from the skies, the darkness above her head from the seven-pointed dark star continued flowing through her.

And then…

FLAAASH!

Abyssal Energies flowed through her body as she was encompassed by a cocoon made of shadows. The soldiers gasped, quickly rushing down to stop her, pointing their spears at her.

“Hey! You’ve lost already!”

“Stop this!”

“We’ll be forced to kill you if you don’t stop-”

CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!

The four soldiers surrounding her suddenly gasped in disbelief; their chests were impaled by four, long spikes made of darkness coming from her.

“W-Wha…?!”

“Ungh!”

“What’s… this?!”

“Aaaargh…! G-General… GAIUS!”

As the last one screamed, Cecil’s body was unveiled, looking as if she had aged to her mid-twenties out of nowhere, her long black hair glowing bright purple, moving around like a sea of darkness and red, purple, and blue stars.

Her armor and clothes changed completely, as she was now wearing full-body black armor, covered with spikes, and with the chest holding a symbol resembling the seven-pointed black star.

“{Seven-Pointed Black Star Armor}”

Gaius glanced down, gritting his teeth as his eyes widened in disbelief.

“H-HOW?!”

Cecil didn’t say a word, smiling maliciously while furrowing her eyebrows, as the souls of the foes she defeated were eaten away by her Dark Star.

“How what? They were nameless fodder characters,” she smiled. “Just food for my Dark Star.”

“D-Dark Star? What’s… what is that power?!” Gaius asked with fury and disbelief.

FLASH!

Before he could muster any other words, however, Cecil was already above him, behind him, in front of him, and below him.

“Instead of asking useless questions, you should be focusing on surviving…! Things are finally getting fun after all!”

“Ngh?!”

CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!

Cecil finally revealed who she truly was and why she was so confident of being able to take on Gaius on her own.

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