Melantha suddenly showed up beside Baroque.
After asking the other workers to go away, she revealed a serious expression and questioned the old man.
“Mister Baroque… Can you tell me why Bouy abandoned her shell and invaded him as her core?”
Unlike the others, Melantha knew Parasite Queen’s true identity—Bouy the Parasite, a mutated Elementalist.
By using her Parasite Art, Bouy could fully manipulate someone, even “becoming” her target.
And this was not the only thing Melantha knew.
For example, Bouy appeared to be a member of Brute Cavern, but she was actually a spy placed here by Floating Mech City.
All wizard organizations more or less held grudges against each other. Even those who appeared as allies might have spies hidden in someone’s place.
Floating Mech City was not an ally of Brute Cavern, but their relationship was still good. Even then, Melantha knew about several spies sent by Floating Mech City. Bouy was only one of the weakest one.
For her particular identity, Melantha had been keeping an eye on her.
Usually, during her matches, Bouy used spores to pollute her opponents and won. The spores did not last long after the fights, and would completely vanish from the bodies of her victims in several days or months, depending on situations.
However, if Bouy used her core… the problem was serious now. Using her core meant Bouy was going to change her shell.
Once her core entered the body of someone, it would no longer disappear until she chose another body.
What Bouy just did meant she was going to use Angor’s body as her new host. If she succeeded, she could easily control or even become Angor.
Baroque only smiled against Melantha’s question. “How should I know? Maybe she got tired of her old body and wants to try becoming a man instead?”
Melantha looked offended. “And you think I’ll believe that obvious lie of yours?”
“Why not? Angor’s body looks good enough for her standard. Come on, Bouy wants to experience the body of a man. You can’t deny it.” Baroque was still smiling, but there was now malevolence shining in his eyes.
“Mister Baroque… Of course, she can invade anyone she likes, but can you at least think about WHO ANGOR IS?” Melantha bellowed the last part. She did not want to imagine how Sunders would react when the gentleman heard that someone had taken his student’s body.
Why Sunders took Angor in was always a mystery to everyone. These two shared completely opposite characters, and Sunders still accepted the boy, so Melantha believed that there had to be something really important about Angor.
Melantha no longer cared what this “important matter” was. She only came to the Sky Tower as a means of relaxation while looking for the path of truth while at it.
She would avoid getting involved in the wrath of a level-2 formal wizard at all cost!
Even Floating Mech City would step back when a level-2 “truth-finder” wizard was angered. Sunders was not called “the killing machine in the south” for no reason.
Baroque smiled again and comforted Melantha. “Relax. It’s just a fight between kids. Do you think we grown-ups should join them?”
Baroque sounded so calm, but Melantha clearly knew what was at stake.
This whole matter might determine the final standing between two major wizard organizations.
“Mister Baroque, can you tell me why are you doing this?” Melantha suppressed her rage and tried to ask.
“Why? Nothing really. Bouy didn’t use her core to invade under my command.” Baroque skillfully avoided taking any responsibilities. When he saw Melantha’s face twisting a little, he shrugged and said something else, “Well, maybe I ‘accidentally’ told Bouy about Angor’s identity.”
“Accidentally?!” Melantha rolled her eyes. Bouy was only a spy. No one really wanted her to do anything for the moment, which meant she was just a “backdoor” in Brute Cavern. She was a stubborn woman whose life was saved by Floating Mech City in an accident. She always insisted on repaying her organization, so she offered to come to Brute Cavern as their spy. Now that she finally saw someone who could help her approach the “core authorities” of Brute Cavern, of course, she would not let this chance escape.
“Her parasite skill was too obvious. There’s no way she can hide what she did from ‘him’,” Melantha commented.
“It doesn’t matter. You know well how merciless Sunders can get.”
Melantha understood what he meant. Aside from Angor, Sunders had two other students. One of them had not shown up for a long time. The other one was Flora who inherited Sunders’ violent character. Previously, Flora stumbled into several deadly situations and came seeking help from Sunders, but her mentor did not do anything to save her at all.
Sunders’ ruthlessness was well-known around the world.
“Then let’s pray that Angor isn’t really important to Sunders,” Melantha sounded a little defeated.
Baroque smiled yet again. “Actually, maybe Bouy’s attempt might fail. Who knows?”
“Oh really?” Melantha already heard from Baroque’s tone that the old man did not even believe his own words.
An elite level-2 apprentice who used her talent skill on a fresh level-1 apprentice and failed? Only fools would think that way.
…
The stage was still troubled by the angry yells of audience. Everyone was cursing Baron Milk.
Even Dave was looking at the bleeding woman on the ground with an irritated look.
“What’s with Angor? I told him to be gentle!” He complained in his mind.
Someone suddenly drew everyone’s attention.
“Hey look, Baron Milk is down!”
As he said, Baron Milk had lost balance and collapsed on the arena, face-down. He lost consciousness as well.
“Whatever is going on?!”
“Hey, judge, are you there? Tell us already! Which one is the winner?”
“Why didn’t you end the match? We didn’t pay money to look at people lying on the floor!”
“Yeah! Quickly! I don’t care if my queen wins or not! If she keeps bleeding like that, she’ll die!”
Despite their effort, the workers around the arena did not move. They had already received an order from their superiors which was that they were not to announce anything because the battle was still on.
This further enraged the spectators. Someone began to curse the management team in Sky Tower. However, most of the people were still directing their hate at Baron Milk.
There were… a few, who were actually concerned at Baron Milk’s condition.
On one of the VIP seats, a hooded man glared at the damaged body of Parasite Queen and howled, “Now keep that up! Bleed! How dare you hurt my precious! I’ll make you regret forever for being born! When the last drop of your blood leaves your flesh, I’ll seal your soul inside my furnace and burn it in flames for eternity!”
…
Toby circled around Angor anxiously. He had no idea what was going on. He already knocked that stinky woman out. Why is my young master not awake?
The bird flew under Angor’s hood and gently poked Angor’s face with his beak.
No matter how he poked and called, Angor lied on the ground, motionless, like a… corpse.
For the first time in his life, Toby felt fear.
Despite the fact that Angor was always “quarreling” with him, Toby knew how he loved living with the human boy.
Toby was not the reason for Angor’s current situation, but the bird still blamed himself for being too weak. If only he was strong enough to protect Angor…
Toby only considered his strength for the first time. Ever since he was born, no one ever showed hostility to him, so Toby did not mind being weak or strong.
At this moment, Toby desperately wished to grow stronger and protect those he cared for.
…
Angor knew nothing about his situation. The discussions among the audience, the particular attention from a certain pervert, and Toby’s change in mind… he knew none of these.
As Baroque said, he was still inside the battlefield. Not on the arena, but a battlefield he never expected to see.
A battlefield that determined his body and soul.
It all happened at the start of his match.
When the countdown timer on the screen ended, Angor quickly moved to cast a defensive spell.
Right at that moment, he saw a shadowy figure made from small, greenish particles in his sight.
No, he did not “see” the figure. It directly showed up on the retina in his eye.
The shadow looked like a woman.
Before he could figure out what happened, he noticed that he could no longer control his body. In the next moment, he found himself falling into a strange place.
The placed looked like his mind space, with only endless darkness and chaos in there. But he did not see his Axes of the Universe and his spirit model.
He could not feel himself anymore. He was now… existing as his own spirit.
Suddenly, the dark space was illuminated by a green light and followed by some kind of flat plants which appeared and grew quickly, gradually becoming a green flower bud.
The flower bud slowly spread open in a beautiful way. In the end, it became a giant, green flower with layered petals like those found on a rose.
In the center of the flower stood the bright, decently-shaped body of a woman.