The Heavenly Martial Empress Returns: An OP Xianxia Returnee LitRPG

Chapter 226: The Princess’ Uncontrollable Darkness

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Jackes went to save the queen, who was inside the sinking castle, only to be tailed and stopped by Cecil, the Princess of America. Her red and green eyes were glowing brightly, and her dark aura was growing tremendously large and even stronger than before.

By just facing him, she unleashed a pressure that made even Jackes, someone who had already cultivated into an Immortal, feel the weight of her power over his entire body.

“Ah, it’s… is she the princess?! Princess Cecil?” Jackes asked her.

“…What are you doing here?” Cecil asked with hostility in her eyes.

“I came to help out! We’re—"

RUMBLE!

“Ugh?!”

Jackes struggled to even face her properly or even look at her strange eyes; it didn’t feel like she was being herself anymore. She had changed, way too much.

He remembered that unlike her father and mother, she had rejected Bing Xue’s teachings and left altogether; she was someone that hated her for having killed her father.

And that hate also was spread towards her disciples.

“Help? From you and your ilk? I don’t need it.” Her face distorted, looking at Jackes with disgust. “But you came in at a perfect time, actually. I’ve grown so much stronger now… I want to see if I can kill a piece of shit like you.”

“W-What?! Why are you being so hostile, princess?! We are subjects of your kingdom; you shouldn’t abuse your power to—"

“Shut up. You’re one of her dogs, right? I am not going to forgive her for daring to kill my father or for making my mother cry like that… NEVER.”

“But that’s… She revived him! And he even apologized and forgave her for that!”

Jackes tried to reason with the princess, and yet…

FLAAASH!

“Shit!”

He saw her rushing towards him, her sword pointing at him with blazing black flames, her aura distorting into a massive black cosmos where countless stars floated.

“But I didn’t.”

She swung her sword down as a massive shockwave of pure darkness shaped into a slicing wave reached Jackes.

“Damn it! Why is this happening?!”

CRAAASH!

Jackes quickly unleashed his Aura at once; wielding both of his daggers, he parried the immense attack with all his strength as the mass of black energy reached the skies and exploded.

BOOOOMM!!

“What the hell is wrong with you?! Don’t you know that if you try anything like this, Bing Xue will come after you? She will kill you; you know?! She’s the strongest—"

“Not anymore!”

Cecil, having gone mad with her power, rushed down, attacking Jackes with the intent to kill him! The darkness of the Star above her head clouded her judgment and made her even forget about her mother.

CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!

“Nnnggh…!”

Jackes gritted his teeth as he parried or intercepted her incredibly strong blows with his daggers, moving at lightning speed, but she was just as quick, if not faster, catching up with him and nullifying any chance he had to dodge.

“You’re mine!”

SLAAASH!

She swung her sword again, cutting through Jackes’ torso and slicing him into two halves! She smiled like a maniac, licking her lips.

“Hahahaha! Dark Star! Eat him! Yes! More power!”

Jackes' body quickly turned into shadows, as the Dark Star was unable to eat anything; her eyes widened, noticing that she was suddenly surrounded by several copies of Jackes.

“You think I would die so easily? Keep dreaming! I’m going to beat some sense into you if you’re so eager.”

“Hah… Nice trick. I can do it too, by the way.”

FLUOSH!

Suddenly, Cecil’s entire body started to become darkness itself, making Jackes realize their powers weren’t so different!

Out of nowhere, facing his dozens of clones, she created five of her own.

“And unlike your fake clones…”

FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! FLASH!

All five of her clones rushed forward, releasing explosions of darkness as they reached Jackes’ Shadow Clones, releasing beams of darkness from her hands or swinging shadow swords and spears she materialized on the spot.

CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!

“W-Wha…?!”

Jackes was left speechless as he saw half his clones disappear in an instant!

“Mine are much stronger.”

“Tch!”

Jackes gritted his teeth as he sent the rest of his clones towards Cecil’s divided bodies.

“{Shadow Burst}!”

“Hm?”

Cecil saw as the clones of Jackes grabbed her divided bodies and then…

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

They exploded, dealing great damage, combining both Mana and Ki with Spiritual Energy, and even Phantasmal and Soul Energy, all these energies which Jackes was able to cultivate.

Through his training with Bing Xue, she discovered he held great talent not only in manipulating Shadow and Darkness Ki but also in Phantom and Soul Energy and even Spirit Energy to a lesser extent!

Although Primal Power rejected him, which Bing Xue assumed was because he was way too skinny and small, due to Primal Power always preferring huge, muscular beings, going as far as rejecting even Bing Xue, she discovered these other energies were perfect for him.

His Shadows could evolve to a completely new stage altogether…

“How’s that?!” Jackes asked angrily. “Are you going to continue looking down on me—huh?!”

However, to his surprise, Cecil’s divided shadow bodies remained there; none of them were destroyed, and they were just as fine as before.

Well, they gained some bruises, and one of them had a small bleeding wound, but…

The Curses he had poured into those explosions weren’t affecting her at all!

“You’re immune to my Curses? That’s impossible…” Jackes muttered.

“The Dark Star eats them all,” Cecil said. “Now…”

Her eyes shone brightly, suddenly, releasing an immense pressure that encompassed the entire body of Jackes in a mere instant.

TRUUUMMM!!!

“UGH?!”

Jackes gritted his teeth in disbelief as he felt an immense power wrap around his body, instantly paralyzing him on the spot.

“S-She has special eyes?!”

He saw her clones quickly rushing towards him, pointing their weapons at his body and impaling him with long black spears.

“Aaaggh!”

CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!

Cecil laughed as he saw Jackes’ bleeding as his entire body was pierced and impaled! Jackes looked at the girl in disbelief, his body shaking as he was already at death’s door.

“Hehehe… HAHAHA! So pathetic! Is this her dog? You’re NOTHING, lmao. Just a fucking trash side character!”

Her Dark Star shone brightly again, as an absorbing power reached Jackes’ body, trying to eat his dying soul.

“Heh…”

And yet he smiled back at her.

“There!”

BOOOMMM!!!

Before Cecil could realize it, Jackes’ entire body exploded with immense force and power, releasing all his accumulated energy and blowing away the princess’ divided shadow bodies.

Three of them ended up dying by the sheer power of the explosion alone; the Dark Star was also shaken; suddenly its single eye began to spiral, as if it was confused or slightly…

Damaged!

“W-What did you…?! What did you do to my Dark Star?!”

As she looked around, she suddenly saw all the black smoke gathering together into place, becoming a massive entity made of darkness.

The evolution of Jackes’ shadows, which Bing Xue had helped him achieve.

“Did you think I would be easy to kill after all that arduous training, girl? You’re terribly mistaken!”

He resembled a massive shadow ghost, a titanic…

Specter!

“Tch! You’ve only become bigger; what’s the difference if your power is the same as before?!”

“You think so? Why don’t you give it a go then?!”

“I WILL!”

Cecil went mad with power as black lightning surged from her body; the rest of her separated bodies merged back together as her armor suddenly grew larger, covering her entire body, even her face.

Her armor grew thrice as big, making her resemble a giantess of black metal, rushing towards Jackes, who swung his massive fists made of spectral shadows against her.

BAAM! BAAM! BAAM! BAAM!

The two titans battled against one another across the skies; explosions of darkness reverberated across the clouds, making them disappear within seconds. Jackes summoned his two daggers, which he combined with his Spectral Shadows into two massive swords.

“You’re trying to kill me, so I might as well go all-out!”

With a furious roar, his spectral form swung his two gigantic swords; Cecil blocked the immense blow with her sword as a loud clash reverberated through the skies.

CRAAASH!

“Nnnggh…!”

Cecil gritted her teeth; the half-elf princess was unable to overpower Jackes in this form, as she was being constantly pushed down further and further!

“Don’t think I’m weak…!”

While screaming like a madwoman, Cecil pushed her Aura upwards, her eyes shining brightly as she suddenly paralyzed Jackes again.

“UGH?!”

As he found himself paralyzed for a moment, Cecil’s aura erupted from her body, quickly transforming into a gigantic titan made of darkness with several arms and a single crimson eye on its featureless face.

“{Astral Black Star Guardian Manifestation}”

The massive giant swung its arms forward, punching through Jackes entire body several times, blowing holes that constantly grew larger across his spectral body.

CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!

Above all else, Jackes felt his soul was being damaged directly! The power that Cecil possessed went beyond his expectations, being much deadlier than he imagined.

“Uuuggh…! D-Dammit, this girl is really…!”

Jackes' eyes glowed bright red, as suddenly, his spectral form began to grow larger out of nowhere, expanding around Cecil’s astral guardian, growing red eyes across its entirety.

“W-What the…?!”

Cecil’s face was completely dumbfounded as she saw the massive spectral form engulf her astral guardian aura and then fire hundreds of black lasers against it.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

“Aaaggh!”

Cecil saw her astral guardian rapidly weaken and then explode, disappearing almost way too quickly! It seemed that whatever Jackes had become, he was proving to be much deadlier and stronger.

“Don’t underestimate me, girl!” Jackes roared, swinging both of his daggers that had grown to become giant twenty-meter-long black swords.

“HAAAAHHH!”

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!

Cecil was covered with cutting attacks, as her armor rapidly gained countless cracks and shattered into pieces.

Crack, crack…!

CRASH!

“No…!”

As Cecil saw herself falling from the skies despite how strong she had grown, she felt filled with hatred, her powers clouding her mind even more as she faced defeat.

“HOW DARE YOUUUU!”

With a furious and wrathful scream, the girl manifested her armor around her body again, spending more of her energies in the process.

“Are you insane?! You’ll die if you keep pushing yourself!”

Jackes tried to stop her, but the girl fiercely fought him as if she had lost her marbles completely.

And while this happened, the enormous magic circle above the skies began to rapidly rotate until finally, through the powers of Sara…

“{Divine Saintly Magic}: {Heavenly Purification Magic Formation}!”

FLAAASH!

A blinding beam of light hit the entire battlefield, without missing a single subject! Cecil and Jackes were caught in the beam; their darkness was rapidly affected, purified.

“Uuggh…! Agh, dammit! Sara, don’t hit me with that!”

Jackes complained as he fell from the skies, as he noticed Cecil screaming, as if she was being exorcised.

“Uuuaaaggh! T-This is…?! Uuuggghh!”

As she screamed, the darkness encompassing her was ultimately vanquished, as the Dark Star above her head quickly disappeared.

“Dammit, this brat!”

Jackes clicked his tongue and went to save her, catching her in midair and then landing on the ground. He was strong enough to not be affected by falling damage at this point.

BAAAMM!

“Haah… Haahh… Ugh…”

However, his ankles sure hurt anyway!

He quickly left her resting in the mud, looking around himself with surprise.

The clowns that were swarming everywhere fell unconscious, returning to their original forms.

“I-Is it over?” He wondered. “Ah, right, the Queen!”

Jackes encompassed his body with phantom energy, rushing towards the sinking castle to save the Queen before it was to be too late.

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