Psychic Overlord

BOOM!

Sadistic Flame was almost knocked off her feet by the ensuing explosion, quickly righting herself before looking left and right to make sure no one saw her gaffe. Satisfied that there were no onlookers, she majestically walked into the ruined hall, which was splattered with soot, burn marks, and pieces of flesh all over.

This was the central chamber, where Darren the Puppeteer was holed up. Sadistic Flame could have entered normally and battled the fellow head-on by destroying his flesh puppets one by one, but she decided to be resourceful this time.

By using her old rival as a living bomb, she got the drop on this B-rank esper and turned him into mush.

Or so she thought, until the slabs in the middle of the chamber that had been knocked off from other parts of the walls were forcefully pushed to the side, revealing a young man with pale skin and sunken eyes being carried out by around ten humanoid creatures.

His expression was full of fear and shock, as well as relief for surviving a disaster, seeing Sadistic Flame, who was standing there with one arm akimbo, her expression one of an irritated frown. The young man was furious.

"You wretched woman, how dare you harm my darlings?!" He roared in a wheezing voice, his eyes becoming bloodshot.

Sadistic Flame was not impressed. "Pfff, what a strange freak you are. Calling those corpses ’darlings’? Do you also fuck them too?"

Darren’s face became red as he pointed forward. "Kill her! I wanted her to be turned into a flesh puppet!"

The ten humanoid creatures lurched forward, their grotesque forms stitched together from various corpses, reeking of rot and decay. Their empty sockets and disjointed limbs twitched as they sprinted toward Sadistic Flame, their sharpened fingers poised to tear her apart.

Sadistic Flame sighed dramatically, tapping a finger against her cheek as she watched them approach.

"Oh no, scary zombies coming to get me! Whatever shall I do?" she mocked, placing a hand over her chest in fake distress.

She casually flicked her wrist, causing a ring of fire to explode outward.

The first two puppets ignited instantly, their dry and necrotic flesh catching ablaze like gasoline-soaked rags. They screeched in a tone that wasn’t human, but Sadistic Flame barely acknowledged them as they collapsed into smoldering husks, her lips still curled into a playful smile.

Darren gasped, his pupils dilating. "No! My precious creations...!!!"

Sadistic Flame’s heel struck the ground the next moment, causing a geyser of crimson fire to erupt beneath two more puppets, incinerating them from the inside out. They didn’t even have time to react before their bodies crumbled to blackened ash.

She pouted as she placed a finger on her luscious red lips. "Oopsie. Did I do that?"

The remaining puppets adjusted their approach, darting and weaving around the rings of fire that blocked their way, trying to surround her.

Sadistic Flame yawned dramatically and snapped her fingers lazily, causing a thin jet of flame to shoot forward, cutting across the path of the puppets like a slicing blade.

The next two puppets barely had time to react before their heads toppled from their shoulders, cauterized instantly at the cut. Their bodies flopped uselessly to the ground like... well, like puppets that had their strings cut.

Darren’s eyes bulged, his fingers trembling as he desperately pulled at the invisible threads controlling the remaining puppets, wanting them to retreat immediately so as to salvage what he could.

"Damn you, woman! You think you’re strong just because of some mere fire?! I swear I will..." He roared with hatred, his heart bleeding at his losses.

However, Sadistic Flame did not even have the patience to listen as she casually interrupted him with a tilt of her head, her lips spread into a grin that went ear to ear.

"Oh sweetie, don’t flatter yourself. You’re not losing because of my flames."

She disappeared in a flash of fire, reappearing inches from his face.

"You’re losing because you suck~" She added with a pleasant smile.

Darren barely had time to scream before a pillar of fire engulfed him, the intense whoosh of flames drowning out his cries as the fellow’s robes ignited, his pale skin blistering and charring in seconds.

His last remaining puppets twitched violently, convulsing as their master burned as if the senses were shared but only in one direction.

Sadistic Flame simply watched, arms crossed, her smile one of amusement as she checked her nails. "Aww, what’s wrong? Can’t take the heat?"

Darren collapsed, his body a ruined and smoking husk. His final charred breath left his lips as his last puppet twitched one final time and fell still, never to rise again.

Sadistic Flame stepped over his smoldering corpse, humming to herself as she flicked a stray ember from her sleeve that seemed to want to cling to her. "Well, that was disappointing, I was hoping for at least a little fun," she muttered.

She turned and gave the fellow’s corpse a kick of anger. "If you were going to survive my initial blow, at least prove to be useful, dimwit!"

Suddenly, Sadistic Flame felt a huge shockwave that shook the entire manor to its foundations, causing her to swing her arms crazily as she almost toppled over. The woman immediately felt ashamed and quickly patted her combat suit down before cursing loudly.

"Dammit, whoever did that better be prepared to cook to death!"

.........

Sophia threw down the corpse of Rocco the Venomous, glancing at the fingers of her combat suit that had come into contact with his neck, noting that the special armor was actually sizzling as it was being eaten away slowly.

It wasn’t until she returned fully into the void and the toxins were expelled that the effect stopped. Sophia felt that her choice in taking down this target was prudent because only one with her advantages could take him down with the least cost among the A-class trio in Kaizer’s group.

With that in mind, Sophia moved through the void and appeared in the grand chamber, glancing at a svelte woman who was hiding in the depths of the room, her eyes worriedly glancing towards the main entrance.

This was Zafira of the Ancients, and another one who was dangerous due to the fact that she laid hex traps all over her location.

Sophia stepped forward, her form flickering into appearance within the room, pretending to scan the chamber with detached curiosity. Hex sigils glowed faintly on the walls and floor, layered with intricate curses meant to cripple or kill any intruder.

Zafira’s eyes snapped toward her, causing the woman to flinch in horror as she wondered how this person got past all her hexes. She quickly raised a hand and began whispering a few words that made some of the nearby hex sigils glow.

Immediately, a dozen nearby hex traps burst to life, their color brightening rapidly as they soon exploded with a pink light and revealed shadowy tendrils that lashed out from the floor, each laced with a malevolent curse.

The air thickened with unseen pressure, an invisible force pressing down on Sophia’s limbs like an ocean of malice. It was as if these tendrils were not a result of Zafira’s power but simply a natural appendage of a fearsome monster that should not be allowed into this dimension.

Still, despite this, Sophia didn’t flinch at all as her visible figure suddenly vanished as if it were never there.

Zafira’s brows furrowed in alarm and confusion, wondering where that woman disappeared to. Even if she could teleport, she should be restrained since Zafira’s hexes were absolute and impossible to evade once triggered due to the creature on the other side.

And yet... Sophia had slipped through them as if they were nothing but mist. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Before Zafira could react, a hand materialized out of the void behind her.

CRACK.

Zafira’s body convulsed as a black-gloved fist drove into the back of her skull with such force that she was sent crashing forward, tumbling across the stone floor.

Zafira coughed, disoriented and in absolute pain. Her fingers twitched even as her mind was scattered, trying to cast another hex out of desperation.

However, Sophia was already on her.

A standard-issue military dagger popped out of one of the crevices of her combat armor, which Sophia grabbed dexterously and gracefully sunk into Zafira’s shoulder.

The woman naturally screamed, her body spasming as the sharp blade drained her strength, severing her ability to focus and connect with her hexes.

Sophia’s voice was flat. "Your curses don’t work on me."

Zafira gasped, clawing at the blade, eyes wild with panic. "W-Wait...!"

Sophia cruelly twisted the dagger expressionlessly.

A ripple of a strange energy surged through Zafira’s body, causing her breath to hitch. Her pale skin rapidly darkened, veins rupturing as the strange energy filled her vessels, devouring her from the inside out.

She opened her mouth to scream, but there was no sound as her existence was swallowed whole, her body dissolving into pure nothingness.

Sophia yanked her blade free, watching the last wisps of Zafira’s essence fade into the void while a cold silence remained.

She exhaled softly, dismissing her dagger as she stepped away.

It was at this moment that Sophia felt the entire manor shake to its foundation, seemingly about to topple over.