Chapter 373: Legion Of The Queen

​​Deep within the subterranean roots of Galaxy City, a cavernous, ancient chamber lay hidden far beneath the ground. Runic torches cast erratic, amber shadows against the damp stone walls, illuminating a makeshift laboratory. Master Teacher Nadia stood rigid beside a heavy iron desk, her breathing shallow, staring down at Jessica. The Sword Academy’s captain lay unmoving, bound by thick chains, her face pale.

​"That absolute bitch! She just casually wasted years of meticulous, cross-dimensional investment!" Nadia snapped, her jaw clenching so hard the bones clicked. Her aristocratic poise was entirely gone, replaced by the raw, venomous fury of an entity whose master plan had been brutally derailed.

​"We can’t do anything about it now, Aunty. The damage to the host is systemic," Carolina said smoothly, her heels clicking softly against the stone as she emerged from the shadows of the cave. Unlike Nadia, her demeanor remained chillingly playful.

​"How is the status of Nirvana and the others?" Nadia asked, her hateful gaze still fixed entirely on Jessica’s broken form.

​"They have already evacuated the island via the private transport arrays, all heading directly back to the safety of the empire. Well, as per your instructions, we left Ethan behind... Those two annoying ladies with him were proving to be a bit of a headache, so we also left them behind and officially cast them out of the academy’s roster," Carolina answered, a small, cruel smile gracing her beautiful face.

​"These pathetic humans from Earth! They’re just utterly useless resources!" Nadia violently smashed her palm down on the iron desk. The sheer, unyielding force of her strike left a deep, warped palm print melted into the metallic surface.

​"Ethan possessed that raw primordial power sealed within him, what became of it?" She suddenly asked, snapping her head up to glare at Carolina.

​"Oh, we manually extracted it from his soul before abandoning him. Now, with his shattered cultivation core and an empty spirit, he is nothing but a useless, broken person," Carolina said dismissively. She reached into her robes and brought out a pulsing, deep red gemstone that radiated a dense vitality.

​"His stolen power is safely contained inside here," she added, holding the artifact up to the torchlight.

​"Use it for yourself to reinforce your vessel." Nadia waved her hand dismissively, lowering her dark gaze back to Jessica, computing the remaining value of her assets.

​"Thank you, Aunty," Carolina said with a bright, predatory smile. Without a second hesitation, she violently shattered the gemstone in her hand. A stream of volatile red light flew out from the fragments, swirling through the air before eagerly entering her open mouth, which she swallowed whole in a single, greedy gulp.

​"Hmm... So much raw, unrefined power," Carolina muttered, her eyes briefly flashing a dangerous crimson as she licked her lips. "Too bad that Earthling was far too useless and didn’t even know how to properly bring it out from his soul."

​"What about her?" She gestured with a sharp fingernail toward the unconscious Jessica.

​"This girl has a dormant goddess’s power sealed within her, I suspect it’s from one of the great families like the Sun family... She is technically useless to the academy now with her core shattered, but the raw divine essence is still intact. I can still manually absorb the remaining power," Nadia explained, her voice dropping to a low hiss.

​"Then what is Aunty waiting for?" Carolina asked, a little bit confused by the delay.

​"Normal extraction gemstones are far too weak to harvest a deity’s baseline. It will crack under the pressure. I need the absolute best of the best. That man will bring it here by tomorrow morning," Nadia said darkly.

​"That man? Wait, you mean him?"

​Nadia gave a slow, deliberate nod of her head. Carolina’s eyes widened in profound surprise, before a twisted, ecstatic grin appeared across her face: ’I absolutely can’t wait to meet him,’ she thought, her internal energy bubbling with anticipation.

​"Come with me."

​Nadia said coldly, turning on her heel and walking away from the desk, heading toward the only massive stone exit in the cave. Carolina stared down at Jessica for a quiet moment, admiring the chains, and then followed directly behind Nadia into the deeper tunnels.

​"Centuries of meticulous work!! Orchestrated all the way from the higher worlds, just to locate her unique signature. I won’t let everything go to waste! I won’t!" Nadia muttered furiously under her breath.

​’If Aunty is truly this angry, blood will flood the streets... I wonder what will happen if she actually loses the entirety of this investment,’ Carolina thought, casting one final look over her shoulder at Jessica, who was lying helplessly chained on the cold iron desk.

​’Will the second world be completely plunged into chaos?’ She exhaled softly, walking away into the darkness.

​Nadia stopped her descent, stepping out into a massive, cavernous open space located miles underground. The chamber was staggering in scale, lit by purple fire. She stared down from an elevated stone platform at the one thousand elite Ninjas kneeling in perfect, geometric formations before her, their dark uniforms absorbing the light.

​"Are you all ready?" She asked, her voice magically amplified, reverberating with terrifying authority all over the underground expanse.

​"We are ready, Chosen Queen!!!"

​The one thousand assassins yelled simultaneously at the top of their lungs, their unified voices shaking loose dust from the cavern ceiling.

​"Today, we will completely wipe out all the young prodigies from the other rival empires!! My slaves have already helped revealed the strongest ones throughout the tournament, and most of them will be heavily recuperating in the city hospitals! Your sole task is to infiltrate and kill them all!!" She yelled, her eyes flashing with absolute malice, and continued:

​"But be highly mindful!! Keep your absolute distance from the Dragon Academy students!! I am not saying you can’t kill them if the opportunity arises, I am saying you should be exceptionally careful with them! If you can, try to stay completely out of the way of the girl named Mirabella!" She yelled, her voice carrying a rare trace of caution.

​"Everyone now calls her the Blue-Eyes Demon," Carolina added from her side, a twisted smile on her face as she recalled the arena scene.

​The one thousand kneeling assassins nodded their heads in absolute, unquestioning agreement.

​"You all possess two lives!! And I personally created every single one of you from my own blood! In truth, I gave birth to every single one of you!! Your entire life is to serve and die for me!! Do you understand?!!"

​"Yes, Chosen Queen! We live and die for you alone!" They roared back.

​"Now!! Go!!"

​WHOOSH!!

​In a seamless blur of movement, the one thousand assassins vanished into clouds of dark dust, scattering through the subterranean tunnels toward the surface.

​"Your ultimate goal is getting closer," Carolina said softly, walking slowly towards Nadia. She wrapped her arms tightly around Nadia’s waist from behind, hugging her closely and resting her ear against Nadia’s back, listening to nothing, not a single heartbeat could be heard.

​"Yes. Soon... The entirety of the second world will officially join my empire," Nadia said with a chilling smile, exhaling softly.

​"What should we do now, I mean, with Jessica... Should we simply wait still he arrives tomorrow morning?" Carolina asked in a low, muffled voice, her grip tightening.

​"Stop thinking of eating her. We will wait here. For now, I want you to go outside and help... Make sure to use your second form," Nadia ordered coldly.

​Carolina’s grin slowly widened, stretching past human limits. The flesh around her mouth violently tore open across her face, revealing a cavernous maw as rows of razor-sharp, predatory teeth grew instantly through her skin.

​"I won’t fail you, Chosen Queen." With that guttural, non-human voice, her form dissolved into a cloud of ash and vanished into the ceiling.