Cheat Awakening

"Cough, cough. Damn. This lightning skill was so fierce; it was many times more powerful than last time... maybe because that time I was in a dream, and since I myself hadn't used this skill at full power before, that dream pod couldn't show its true power. Myne coughed, hacking out dust and smoke that stung his eyes, eager to see the outcome of his effort.

Soon, the dust settled, and Myne finally got to see the black disk. Although Myne's attack was very powerful, enough to destroy the entire tower if he had injected three times more mana than the original, he still underestimated the shameless defence of the black disk, which was clearly the main power source of the entire tower, how can its defence be so easy to creak.

The disk was still floating a few inches above the ground in the middle of the array, without any scratch on it, a clear taunt on Myne's effort. But the barrier around it wasn't that lucky; cracks spiderwebbed across its surface, resembling a fragile eggshell under immense pressure. It seemed on the verge of shattering, a flicker of hope igniting in Myne's eyes.

He lunged with his dagger, aiming for the fractured barrier. But to his surprise, although the barrier looked like it was in its last breath, it was still not something Myne could break with his current strength.

"MYNE!"

Just as Myne put the dagger away disappointingly, Velvet's voice, laced with worry, reached his ears.

"Are you okay? How can you cast such a dangerous skill? You could have hurt yourself... Forget about it, how can you use such a powerful skill? The entire tower was shaking just now. What kind of skill did you use?" Velvet asked with shock and disbelief.

If she had thought Myne was slightly powerful and mysterious before, now she felt like she was looking at a stranger, when did her man whom she occasnaly bullies become so powerful?

"Wait, you said the entire tower shook because of my attack?" Myne, detecting the keyword, ignored Velvet's questions and asked with a horrified expression.

"I'm… I'm alright," Myne gasped, forcing a smile. eyes widened in alarm, seizing on the key phrase Velvet had uttered. He ignored her further questions, his voice rough with a sudden panic. "Wait, you said the entire tower shook because of my attack?"

Velvet, confused by his abrupt shift in demeanour, shook her head. "Yeah, and I literally fell from the stairs. If I wasn't careful..."

"Damn, then why are you wasting time, you idiot? Let's go! Alban might have already noticed us. We should get out of here as soon as possible. With only 10% mana left, I can't break the barrier. We'll wait a month, gather mana back, and try again later.

But now, our top priority is to get out of here before someone who can't deal with us catches up," Myne's urgency cut through the air. He grabbed Velvet's arm, his grip tight with adrenaline, and started running towards the stairs without giving a second look at the black disk.

"Hmm, you did quite a lot of damage to it, boy. I didn't expect you were hiding such power from me..."

Myne and Velvet had just put their foot on the first stair when a chilling voice resonated from behind them, sending shivers down their spines. It was cold, devoid of emotion, holding the weight of untold power.

Myne and Velvet exchanged frightened glances. While Velvet remained somewhat composed, unsure of the voice's origin, Myne started sweating buckets as he recognized it instantly, his blood turning to ice. He knew, with grim certainty, that their escape was doomed.

They turned around fearfully. After all, since the other party didn't catch them instantly and spoke calmly, he clearly had some confidence in his own power, meaning running away was not an option at all.

With trepidation, they turned around. Facing them was a tall, middle-aged man clad in flowing black robes. His long black hair and beard framed a face etched with years of experience, now hardened by a scowl as he surveyed the damaged barrier around the black disk, clearly, he wasn't in a good mood.

"How did you two escape from the dream pod? I think the exit I left wasn't something you could break so easily, especially you, little girl. With your strength, I don't think you could get out of the dream unless someone helped you." Alban's voice echoed through the observatory, his black eyes, with red irises and black pupils, stared expressionlessly at Myne as if he wanted to see through his soul.

Myne, feeling as though he stood naked in front of Alban, couldn't help but subconsciously take a few steps back.

"But," Alban's cold demeanour abruptly shifted. A smile, not quite genuine, played on his lips. "Let's talk about those things later. First of all, why are you two standing so far from me? Come here. You two have been living in my house for months; there's no need to be so shy from me." With a gentle snap, a whisper of energy swept over them.

Myne and Velvet felt like a gust of wind had swept on their faces, they blinked and found themselves right in front of Alban.

"My dear little brat, did you miss me? You are such a naughty kid. I thought you cared a lot about your wife and would take care of her until I came back, but it seems I was fooled by you. Who would have thought that behind that arrogant and careless guy, you would turn out to be so cunning? When did you find that there was something wrong with me?" Alban asked casually while walking around Myne.

Velvet was obviously just a minor character in Alban's eyes, so she was naturally ignored.

"Maybe the time you beat down that other demon with your overpowered skills?" Myne, although reluctant to speak, seeing that Alban's face was getting uglier with each passing second, could only bite the bullet and answer casually.

"Oh, yes, that was indeed the turning point." Alban scoffed. "Because of that blundering fool, I also had to spend quite a bit of energy. Tsk, and to tell you the truth, he wasn't anything special. After realizing that he kicked the iron plate, he directly severs the connection with half of his soul. I didn't get anything useful from his remaining half of the soul either.

It was quite a bit of a loss for me, but compared to you, his actions are mere child's play."

"Do you have any idea just how much damage you have done to me?" Alban's voice hardened, his anger simmering beneath the surface. He circled the observatory, inspecting the array for signs of damage, his words flowing like molten lava. "Forget the lesser floors. The damage to this core array of the tower alone is enough to empty out my years of savings.

Do you have any idea how difficult it is to find and persuade an ancient mage to build or repair such an array, especially with the identity of a demon?"

Alban's bombardment of questions clearly had no effect on Myne. After all, he knew nothing about what Alban was talking about, except that he was in deep trouble. Myne stared at Alban while brainstorming whether he should try to fight with him, so at least Velvet could escape. However, remembering how stubborn his girl is, he gave up.

Until he managed to coax her to escape without him, Alban might have long ago killed both of them, that too in the best-case scenario. But looking at Alban's face, it didn't seem like they were going to die so easily and peacefully.

"Listen," Myne whispered urgently to Velvet, his voice low and determined. "Flee while I distract him. After making a certain distance, you distract him, then I'll attack him with my full force when he isn't paying attention. We are going to get out together, got it?"

Velvet's eyes widened with fear and worry, but thinking that Myne's plan indeed sounded reasonable, she hesitantly nodded her head, clearly not very confident in this plan.

Go! Read exclusive chapters at empire

Fueled by urgency, Myne unleashed a barrage of fireballs at Alban. His main motive wasn't defeating him, but to create so much chaos that he could earn time for Velvet to flee.

Velvet, easily fooled by Myne out of nervousness, reacted instantly and dash towards the stairs faltered. But only after taking a few steps, she stopped as if someone had pressed the pause button, staring at Alban with eyes wide open in shock.

Myne wasn't much better off. Although he knew his meagre power was no match for Alban, witnessing all his attacks getting stuck into a transparent vortex in front of Alban and being looked at as if he were a brainless idiot, Myne didn't know what to do. But he still threw a few dozen more fireballs, as well as a wind tornado, but all swallowed by the shimmering barrier with contemptuous ease.

"Did you really think you could fight with me with those zero-tier spells? If so, then I am very disappointed with you," Alban's voice was devoid of emotion, a chilling monotone. With a flick of his finger, an invisible grip seized Myne, lifting him up. Before he could react, the ground rushed towards him, a bone-jarring impact echoing through the observatory.

"Myne!"

Velvet's scream tore through the air as she sprinted towards him, but Alban clearly wasn't in the mood to play anymore. He snapped again, and out of nowhere, a two-meter-tall metal spear materialized behind her, piercing through her heart like tofu.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Coughing, Velvet a spray of blood painting her lips red. With a last desperate glance at Myne, she crumpled to the ground, her life and death unknown.

"VELVET!!!"

This time, it was Myne's anguished cry that filled the space, his face covered in blood, Many of the bones in his body creaked or broke after Alban's attacks, which weren't just for fun. But Myne didn't care about his pain; he stared at Velvet with disbelief, who was lying on the ground lifelessly, the crimson bloom beneath her, indicating that everything was real, not a dream.

"Tsk, so much drama," Alban drawled, the hint of annoyance barely veiled. "It's time to take some sleep, boy. I will deal with you properly later," Saying this, he waved his hand dismissively, and suddenly, a red hexagram array appeared behind Myne's head. Myne, whose mind went blank seeing Velvet's dire situation, felt his consciousness slip away, the world fading into a nightmarish oblivion.