Chapter 745 Distortion
Colors.
Shapes.
Faces.
Illusions.
Sizes.
All sorts of hallucinations whirled inside Professor Frances"s mind after seeing Alex, as if his presence alone induced this change in her.
D̴͓͕̎̋̚i̶͉̊ş̴͕̀ͅt̷̫̟̏̈́̇ó̴͇̘͖r̵̥͙̦͆t̵̘̆i̵͙̫̍o̷̟͒͐͠n̵̳̳̂
Even her senses were dulled and twisted by Alex"s presence, to the point that she found it hard to feel what was actually real or fake.
"D̴͓͕̎̋̚i̶͉̊ş̴͕̀ͅt̷̫̟̏̈́̇ó̴͇̘͖r̵̥͙̦͆t̵̘̆i̵͙̫̍o̷̟͒͐͠n̵̳̳̂
The professor could only stumble, using the best of her organs to just make sense of her surroundings. This naturally had her extremely vulnerable, which Alex fortunately did not take advantage of.
D̴͓͕̎̋̚i̶͉̊ş̴͕̀ͅt̷̫̟̏̈́̇ó̴͇̘͖r̵̥͙̦͆t̵̘̆i̵͙̫̍o̷̟͒͐͠n̵̳̳̂
But even if her new visitor did not attack her, the professor felt that she was still in a bad situation.
D̴͓͕̎̋̚i̶͉̊ş̴͕̀ͅt̷̫̟̏̈́̇ó̴͇̘͖r̵̥͙̦͆t̵̘̆i̵͙̫̍o̷̟͒͐͠n̵̳̳̂
She knew for a fact that her mind and body should have been highly resistant to illusion or mind-based attacks, so the very notion of her suffering illusory and sensory distortion just because Alex arrived was enough to make her panic!
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"You… what are you doing!" Professor Frances growled as she suppressed her fear from seeing Alex. This failed somewhat, as her voice came out like that of a s.h.i.+vering beggar. "Are you actually trying to corrupt me?"
As she said these words, the professor clenched her right fist as she attempted to channel one of her trustworthy Soul Magic.
"Schwong!" Most of the soul energy that the professor channeled has begun to clump above her fist, until they formed a sword large enough to decapitate a person"s head.
Once this sword has appeared, it began to showcase its transparent appearance, as if it was a marvelous thing that should be seen by many.
"…." The appearance of this sword and its flashy entrance should have been obvious to Alex already, yet the man himself did not stop the professor from what she was doing.
He just crossed his arms as he continued his mind-f**kery with the professor, and he even had the time to banter with the latter, as if they were still close friends.
u003cu003cCorrupt you? No, I am not doing that. You"re not worthy of being touched by the Abyss anyway.u003eu003e Alex specifically said as his eyes avoided sword summoned by the professor. His face then warped in slight disgust, as if he was tacitly agreeing with what he just said.
u003cu003cSo don"t think for a second that you, the mad Professor Frances, is crazy enough to be accepted by the Abyss. Yeah… you are evil enough to be included in our ranks. But you are not that dedicated to the Abyss" cause, so the Abyss never had an interest with you.u003eu003e
"Oh, is that so? I don"t know if I should be happy or insulted by that…" The professor"s face twitched as she replied, with a look of incredulity now filling her eyes. "But since it came from a person like you, I might as well feel sad that such a powerful ent.i.ty does not like me…"
What the professor said was obviously a sarcasm, but its message completely went over Alex"s head.
u003cu003cOh don"t sound so sad, Professor Frances. The Abyss might not want you, but I myself is interested with you! So why don"t you come and join me now? I a.s.sure you we will have lots of fun!u003eu003e
"Thanks, but no thanks. I ain"t joining a loco like you. And that comes from an actually crazy person too, so you better believe that I am serious here."
u003cu003cOh, so you still don"t want to join me? That"s too bad…u003eu003e
"…"
The professor tried to hide her disappointment after realizing that not only did Alex get partially corrupted, he also got so dense to the point that he could not even determine sarcastic messages.
This spelled all sorts of bad news to her, as she could see that Alex was getting worse and worse as time pa.s.sed by.
Sure, Alex saved her from being consumed by the monsters that chased her since earlier, but that does not mean that he has re-developed his compa.s.sion for his allies.
More likely than not, Alex was still feeling possessive on them, and the fact that he just chose to save the professor right before she died, shows that this man was thinking of acting like a white knight to maybe impress her.
Which of course did not work, as Alex"s possessive and murderous desires could be felt by the professor through the air, even when her senses were still warped.
u003cu003c…Well, at least I tried inviting you….u003eu003eu003e The puppy face and the murderous glint that Alex suddenly showed just made this point clearer, and if any, this just made the professor want nothing more but to run away from him already.
"Invite my a.s.s! I never wanted to join you if you are in this state! If you want me to join your cause, then f**king go back to normal first!"
Although the professor knew that she had no chance of escaping at this point, she still did her best to open up an escape route.
"Heh, but looking at you now, it seems like you have no chance of going back to normal. So forgive me for saying this, but we have to part ways here already!"
Before Alex could recover from her "departing" words, the professor hurriedly threw her conjured sword towards his necl, with her body das.h.i.+ng backwards in an attempt to distance herself from him.
"Hing!" The sword let out a shrill whistling sound as it hurtled through s.p.a.ce, with its whole body pulsing like a molten rock, which has allowed it to move unimpeded on its path.
"Hong!" Its tip then let out a brilliant and dazzling glow, one that seemed to have an effect on the souls that it touched.
"Fizz…" Whether this glow had an effect on Alex"s soul or not did not matter to Professor Francs anymore, as she just focused her body from getting away from him.
"That sword that I just summoned used the majority of my soul power, which makes it an extremely potent attack against anyone"s soul…"
"Even Alex who is clearly stronger now will be affected by that sword too, although he will not be fatally injured by it. At most, he will be slightly hurt, and his soul could suffer some mild injuries."
"In normal events, this kind of injuries are obviously not enough, but in my case, these injuries are already good for my situation!"
"After all, I am just planning to escape, so injuring Alex like this should be enough to distract him!"
These words that she uttered to herself made the professor feel more confident, allowing her body to move faster and faster under the suffocating pressure released by Alex.
"Sling sling sling!" Her feet, which has been imbued with all the advanced biological and magical techniques by hers truly, has began to move like a blur across s.p.a.ce, releasing bursts of power that propelled the professor forwards.
As for her arms and torso that were just improved the same way, they acted as a rudder and a stabilizer for the professor, which led to her body moving smoothly against the chaotic regions of s.p.a.ce.
"…"
The combination of these movements served as a great boost to the professor"s escape, and before she could know it, she was already 100 kilometers away from Alex, who seemed to be so engrossed with her sword that he forgot her existence already.
u003cu003c….u003eu003e
Alex was just gripping the conjured sword with his right hand, with his eyes looking at it like a research subject. He held it like it was a precious object too, and his careful att.i.tude with it made that more obvious.
"…"
Judging by the sudden change of his att.i.tude, the professor can dare say that Alex was treating the sword as if it was a treasure, although her distance from him makes it hard to see if his face looked excited or just interested.
"…Okay, I don"t know what made that guy want my sword that much, but if he wants to look at it, then I will allow him to do so."
"That sword will last for 60 more seconds anyway, so it is not like he can get something from it."
"Hehehe, what he will just get from my sword is nothing, so he better enjoy his time with it!"
Although she was not sure why Alex was interested with her sword, the professor just let him touch it all that he wanted.
The sacrifice of her attack meant less than her life, so Professor Frances prioritized her escape more, which she had improved by increasing her speed to the absolute limits of her body.
"Hahahaha!" This speed increase resulted on an additional 1000-kilometer gap between her and Alex, which for people like them, are distances enough to be considered as far already.
In fact, this distance was so acceptable, that Professor Frances could actually start relaxing now.
Which she did, as she had to recover from all the fatigue that she had just experienced.
"S**t… that was so tiring as f**k. Not only did I have to escape from those monsters, but I also have to escape from that d.a.m.ned Alex… Oh well, at least all my efforts to run away are worth it."
The professor took some deep breaths in order to cool down her body, which was so overheated to the point that water could boil if it touches her skin. It fortunately cooled down after a second, giving the professor more room to stabilize her condition.
"Haah…" She then performed some meditation techniques to both her soul and energy pools, in hopes of recovering her energy in a much faster rate.
"…"
"…"
"…"
After a few seconds of staying in this state, the professor found herself recovering 50% of her total energy reserves. This is not that much of a number, but in comparison to her almost-drained state earlier, 50% is already a good haul for her.
"…I could stay here to recover my energy more, but I obviously won"t do that. Alex is still near me after all, and knowing his weird attention span, he could have lost interest to my sword already."
"So I have no f**king choice but to move now, or else that semi-corrupted guy could catch up to me."
With her perfectionist att.i.tude, Professor Frances naturally wanted to let her energy recover up to 100%, but because of the presence of Alex behind her, she knew that reaching that point will be impossible for her.
"Scwhing!" So she placed power on her legs again, urging them to slice through s.p.a.ce and all the obstacles that surrounded her.
She then moved forward, resuming her escape.
"…Alex, you might have almost caught up to me now, but this will be the end!"
"Now that I have seen your face and your soul signature, I now have proper ways of avoiding you next time!"
"So lament! Lament the fact that you let me escape! For this will be your undoing, and it will herald your end in the future!"
"Hahaha! I might not be able to end your suffering now, but I will do so in the future! So just you wait, mister semi-corrupted guy! My power will eventually-"
But just like all the unfortunate events that happened to her, the professor"s dream of being free from Alex quickly ended in a miserable note.
And it did so in a manner that the professor could hardly accept.
u003cu003cCorruption of s.p.a.ce: Distorted Paths.u003eu003e
To the professor"s dismay, she saw that the s.p.a.ce in front of her, which should have been her path to escape, has suddenly began contorting like thin plastic.
D̴͓͕̎̋̚i̶͉̊ş̴͕̀ͅt̷̫̟̏̈́̇ó̴͇̘͖r̵̥͙̦͆t̵̘̆i̵͙̫̍o̷̟͒͐͠n̵̳̳̂
What should have been a normal spatial trip for her became a confusing one, as the straight paths in front of her became crooked, while all of the directions became jumbled.
D̴͓͕̎̋̚i̶͉̊ş̴͕̀ͅt̷̫̟̏̈́̇ó̴͇̘͖r̵̥͙̦͆t̵̘̆i̵͙̫̍o̷̟͒͐͠n̵̳̳̂
What should have been up became left, right or down, while what should have been down became up.
D̴͓͕̎̋̚i̶͉̊ş̴͕̀ͅt̷̫̟̏̈́̇ó̴͇̘͖r̵̥͙̦͆t̵̘̆i̵͙̫̍o̷̟͒͐͠n̵̳̳̂
What should have been the center became the edges, while what should have been the edges became the insides.
"…."
These distortions in s.p.a.ce did not affect the professor"s body at all, but its changes on the s.p.a.ce itself has definitely made the professor panic.
And this panic just increased when out of all these distortions, a small hole suddenly appeared, and out of it came the person that she was busy escaping from!
u003cu003cWhy are you calling me as a semi-corrupted person? Does that term mean anything at all? Come on Professor Frances, please explain the meaning of that term to me.u003eu003e
The semi-corrupted Alex, who should have been standing 1100 kilometers away from the professor, has suddenly appeared in front of her body!
And he just appeared in a manner indiscernible to the professor!
"What the h.e.l.l is this?"
Alex actually came out of the spatial distortions, and he seemed to be unaffected by all of the contortions around him!
He just walked through the distorted s.p.a.ce without looking like he was lost or disoriented, which are leagues better than the professor"s progress!
He even had the gall to banter, as if he was just strolling in to meet a new friend!
u003cu003cOh, you don"t need to open your mouth this early, professor. We have a lot of time to talk with each other, so don"t be so excited.u003eu003e
u003cu003cI can let you rest for now, so why don"t you stop escaping from me?u003eu003e
u003cu003cYou can"t even escape now that I distorted the s.p.a.ce around you, so please stop moving.u003eu003e
u003cu003cI said stop moving d.a.m.n it! If you don"t stop, I will distort your body next!u003eu003e