Wicked star mutant Subject F.
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Francoise erupted in flames.
Violet fire consumed her form, burning away even her clothes.
What was this?
She had combusted so suddenly, the queen couldn’t believe it. Was this also astral power? But what was the nature of these bright violet flames?
“Wha?!”
The queen’s voice cracked.
She saw something in the column of fire that had erupted up to the ceiling—something unbelievable.
The girl was transforming. Her black hair rose, stood on end, and coagulated into a transparent, crystalline material. Even the rest of her body became colorless and transparent. The queen could see right through the girl, as though she had turned into a jellyfish.
She had no bones nor internal organs.
She wasn’t human.
The thing that had appeared in the flames was clearly a monster, no longer human.
“I—I am sorry for the discourtesy, Your Majesty!” Within the fire, the monster sneered as she bowed. “I am so very honored to have the opportunity to crush the highest authority in our nation… Ha-ha. I just had to laugh. I wonder how your screams will sound.”
“You’re a monster…”
Was she seeing things?
At first, the queen wondered if she was being shown an illusion.
A human couldn’t turn into a monster like this. Perhaps Francoise’s astral power was not Silhouette but some other type of hypnosis power.
“Excuse me, Your Majesty.”
Snap.
She heard a sound like something rupturing. The moment Queen Cassandra realized it had come from below her, a spike appeared from her own shadow and shot at her back.
“Guh?!”
She twisted her entire body to avoid being skewered.
A spike had appeared from her shadow.
If she hadn’t remembered just now that Francoise had the Silhouette astral power, she would have been pierced through by her own shadow.
“Is this…your astral power?”
So it wasn’t in her head.
Francoise was a Silhouette astral mage. Then the monster in front of her…
“Who are you?”
“What?” The monster hopped out of the violet flames. “It’s me, Francoise. Gaze upon me, Your Majesty. Drink in the sight of a weak astral mage turned powerful. The sight of a witch!”
A witch.
There were two meanings of the word.
The first was an insult levied on mages by the Empire.
The second was a term the Sovereignty levied on its worst criminals.
But this girl fit neither of those definitions.
When Francoise called herself a witch, she meant she was a repulsive, sinister monster. That was what the queen felt to her bones.
“I can’t tell what you are, to be frank.”
She had no idea what her foe was.
And she had already suffered wounds to her side and back because she had been taken by surprise. But so what if she had?
“Who do you think I am?!”
The astral crest on Queen Cassandra’s neck burned as red as fresh blood.
The Inferno astral power.
If she used it at full strength, it could burn away the heavens themselves.
She was the most powerful Flame astral mage in her generation. She was Cassandra Zoa Nebulis VII.
“An unknown foe? With unknown tactics? The Imperial forces have given me plenty of training in that area! O heat wave, burn her away!” the queen howled.
She swept her right hand across the area, and a crimson line appeared. After a moment, an explosive heat wave violently swept over the hall.
The heat wave shot out across the floor, vaporizing the dagger on the ground.
The wave approached Francoise.
“E-eek!”
Splish.
She screamed as her monstrous, jewel-like form disappeared into her own shadow. She had left before being hit by the heat wave that could melt metal.
“Ahh, I knew you’d be fierce!”
Her jubilant voice echoed throughout the area.
Francoise had disappeared into her own shadow, so she was nowhere to be seen.
“Our great queen, who has protected the nation with those raging flames. I guess it’s sad, though. Because everyone knows about your astral power!”
“…”
“That’s how I could dodge it. Now, allow me to make a prediction. The fact that you failed to stop me in my tracks with that initial flame you built will be your undoing.”
“So you dodged it.”
“What?”
“You dodged my flame. So that means you needed to dodge it.”
As the witch smiled at her in pity, Nebulis VII boldly sneered at Francoise in a way unbecoming of a queen.
“That hideous form of yours may be eerie, but it seems I don’t need to be particularly frightened by it. Once I broil you over my fire, that will be it for you.”
“…Hee-hee.” The witch’s pitying laughter echoed throughout the space. “That’s only if you can get me!”
The queen’s shadow burst into flames.
Francoise had used her shadow to dive under the floor and was now reappearing from the queen’s shadow.
“Good-bye, Quee—huh?”
When Francoise emerged from the queen’s shadow, she was sure she had come out from behind the queen. But as she leaped out of the floor, she found that the queen was facing her and waiting.
“Why did I show up here……?”
“Astral mages with the Silhouette power can only travel through other people’s shadows. Did you think I didn’t know?”
The chandelier glowed brightly from the ceiling.
It was the only source of light in the large hall. The queen’s shadow had been directly behind her before. Francoise should have been able to appear behind the queen.
However…
The queen could make her own light.
“Did you forget what type of astral mage I am?”
A flame burned behind the queen.
By creating a stronger light source behind her, she had moved her shadow to her front. Then it had been as simple as waiting for Francoise to appear before her.
“You called yourself a witch earlier.” A flame appeared at the queen’s hand. “But you’re a weak one.”
“Hssk?!”
Spectacular Blaze.
The monster screamed as she was engulfed in flames that could melt a tank.