Chapter 24

Fatigue was slowly creeping in to me. Without magic, I can't recover the energy that I lost from my fight against the angel. To be honest, I struggled fighting against him. I thought I had become stronger after the Renewal, but it seems that I was so focused on using magic that I neglected my physical body. I still have a long way to go.

Wandering around the forest, I discovered different species and races. From what I learned from the commander, in this realm, there are three types of race: Inferior race, they are the low species with no intellect. Superior race, where those monkeys… I mean, the Heavenly Guards fall under. Lastly, the Angelic race. The angel that I was fighting against earlier falls under that category. So far, I've only been seeing inferior races deep in the forest.

The further I walked deep, the darker my surroundings got.

Damn, I can't see anything without magic. But moments like this are where you use your brain, not strength. I gathered wood and made a torch out of it. Then, after a few minutes of struggling to start a fire, I was able to make a lit torch. I continued to walk forward with my torch.

After wandering forward in the deep darkness with my lit torch, my eyes caught a glimpse of a bright room. I entered inside and found myself walking in a spacious yet abandoned chamber. In the middle of the chamber, stands a glowing blue portal.

Finally… The portal to Sky Castle. It's time to give them my payback.

However, the ground shook tremendously, making me drop my torch and myself on the ground.

What just happened? I looked around the chamber. The ground shook yet there were no signs of damage in the chamber. I looked at the portal and saw a bright figure standing in front of it. A very familiar figure.

"We've met again." One of the Queen's Rulers said.

"Oh it's you again." I clicked my tongue. I am still fatigued from the fight against that angel, and now this angel appeared.

"I saw you fight one of my soldiers. Honestly, I thought you were gonna die because of those chains." She looked at the chains that were wrapped around my wrist and ankles. "But you never fail to surprise us, fallen princess."

Fallen? That word echoed in my mind. Who has fallen?

"Too bad. This is where you stop." A huge green root appeared from the ground and launched towards me. I quickly dodge the attack before it could pierce my stomach. "Oh, you are making things harder for yourself, fallen princess. If you struggle, you will make it harder for yourself." She said and harassed me with more roots.

I moved around the attacks, dodging them as they came at me. One of them sliced my side, but I endured the pain and continued dodging. She summoned more roots, this time they have sharp spikes around their bodies. They hurled towards me. The first group of roots haven't disappeared as well. As the two groups of attacks came at me, I was forced to run around the chambers. I hate running, especially when fighting a powerful foe. Running is the same thing as showing your back to them.

"Come on, fallen princess. Use your chains! Show me what you can do with them!" She mocked me while she kept on throwing attacks at me. I gritted my teeth in frustration, but kept my composure. Times like this are where you need to use your brain the most.

I watched the attack patterns of the roots. They shoot in a straight line. They don't curve nor swerve. What makes them hard to dodge is because as one misses the target, it quickly follows with another attack. But the more I watched the pattern, the more I saw a flaw to it. The first attack will move slowly. The second will move fast. She does this so that she can purposely make the opponent dodge the first attack and she will follow up with the second one.

I can see it. Thanks to having no magic, I have unlocked another skill that requires no use of magic at all.

"You are getting there, fallen princess. Keep dancing for me, will you?" She laughed. How cocky… She thought that she could win against me, that she has the nerve to dance and hum? But I need more time. Not yet… Be patient.

I kept running around while dodging her attacks. Then, as the last root came at me, before it could pierce me, the attack stopped.

"What happened?" She asked, struggling to move the root closer.

"It is done." I swung my chain at her face, hitting her jaw and sending her flying to the walls of the chamber. She tried to attack me, yet because all her roots became tangled to each other, her attacks could not move.

"Since when?" She asked, looking at her tangled roots and at me back and forth. I didn't answer her. I pounded the chains on her, inflicting damage that caused her to cancel her attack so she can focus on healing. The moment the roots disappeared, I dashed forward, chains wrapped around my fist. Then in a blink of an eye, my fist met her face.

A green root appeared below us, separating me from her. Then she focused on healing. "Damn you, bitch! I will make sure that your face will never be recognizable by the end of this!" She roared and thousands of green roots that came out from the ground were hurled against me.

I smiled at her. "You are desperate." I grabbed hold of the staff I got from the commander, the General's Staff. With one fluid swing, the roots that were coming at me were cut in half. I am tired. But thanks to having no magic at all and my fatigue, I am able to discover something that not even I wasn't even able to discover when I was still using magic. It's not that I am weak. No… I was wrong. Everytime I fight with magic, I also fight with my physical body. Magic just boosts my physical skills. But now that I don't have any magic, the strength that I was slowly building up from my countless fights has finally been unleashed.

I dashed forward, appearing in front of her.

"Wait!" She said. She took a step back, but I took one step forward to reach her.

I put all my strength in this one punch. Without hesitation, I sent my fist at her chest, piercing through it until my fist appeared from her back. Then, her body crumbled and blood and her guts squirted around me, showering me with crimson liquid.

"Well," I said while looking at her dismembered corpse. "Who is the fallen now?"