Family heirloom, then turned into a demon girl

Chapter 244 Mission: 02-4 Trial
"Well!"

After a muffled groan, Jörmungandr took a step back, clutching her side. She spoke again, her voice low and hoarse: "Judgment?"

The dark tights were ripped open by the invisible blow, revealing fair skin. A bloody wound crisscrossed it, wriggling in an attempt to heal.

"What do you think it is?" Nero turned his wrist and danced with the sword, and asked calmly as if he had the upper hand.

"Is this your power? Or that sword's?" Jörmungandr asked again.

"Does it make any difference to you?"

Both of them answered questions with questions, and neither was willing to reveal any information.

"No one can seal a word spirit of the level of 'Judgment' into a single weapon. Even Norton... Even if he succeeded, the weapon would tear apart anything that came near it."

After a moment of silence, Jörmungandr's tone became more determined: "How did you do it?"

Another sharp blade flashed in response. Jörmungandr tried to retreat, forming a hard metal armor around his body. But no matter how fast he ran, he couldn't avoid the blow, and no matter how hard his armor was, it couldn't resist it.

Nero simply stood there and swung his blade, and in the distance, another deep scar appeared on Jörmungandr's shoulder. The invisible blade slashed down from her shoulder, slanting as if to pierce through her entire chest.

"He's not dead, what a pity."

Nero used all his strength to activate the Yama Blade to launch the Dimension Slash - or the "Sky-Splitting Judgment", but judging from the current situation, the tearing caused by the spatial turbulence alone was not enough to cause fatal damage to Jörmungandr.

Sure enough, it must be "Dimension Slash: Absolute".

She finally understood that Xia Mi, under the guise of attacking Lu Mingfei, was actually trying to test Nero's strength. Unfortunately, this wasn't Nibelungen. Considering the many residents overhead, Nero's actions were somewhat limited. She believed the same was true in Jörmungandr. She wasn't ready to expose herself to the eyes of Kassel Academy, so she wouldn't take such a risk.

If the two of them tried their best, the foundation of this building would not last more than a second.

But Jörmungandr had no intention of retreating. She looked at her torn skin and sneered, "Unfortunately, this word spirit doesn't have the power to kill beings of higher bloodlines. It's completely useless to humans."

This was a response to Nero's words. Within her domain, the magnetized, suspended metal fragments rapidly heated up, turning red and shiny until they melted, forming a torrential rain of molten iron.

As she had said, her wounds were healing rapidly, leaving no scars. This also matched Jörmungandr's understanding of the "judgment" of the Word Spirits—among dragons, "judgment" was always handed down by the higher-ranking to the lower-ranking. Jörmungandr was the Dragon King, and there were only a handful of beings with bloodlines higher than hers. Naturally, Nero's order to "die" her would be ineffective.

Lu Mingfei looked bewildered, unable to understand what they were saying, but Jörmungandr clearly heard the word Nero uttered as he swung his blade: "Death" in Dragon Tongue. The command to die, then the fifth element, "Aether," carried that command, transformed into a blade, severing the enemy's body and destroying their vitality. It was exactly like Jörmungandr's understanding of "Word Spirit: Judgment."

But it was for this reason that Jörmungandr finally felt relieved. The White King's "Judgment" was actually quite similar to the Black King's "Discipline." The suppression of the higher-order Word Spirits over the lower-order Word Spirits was an insurmountable wall. While it could be used to slay third- and fourth-generation dragons, it could render them completely defenseless. However, against the Dragon King, it couldn't unleash its true power as a high-order Word Spirit. For human dragon slayers, it was merely icing on the cake, not a lifesaver.

Therefore, she concluded that Nero could not pose a threat to her life. The people from the academy had not arrived yet, so if that was the case, they could wait a while before leaving.

Jörmungandr was really curious about why Nero could use such a high-level word spirit, and why the ordinary-looking guy behind her was worthy of her attention.

The discharge between the molten metals grew more intense. Jörmungandr's long black hair, distorted by static electricity, twitched like countless venomous snakes entwined behind her. Then, she condensed her entire domain into a fiery incendiary bomb, launching it towards Nero and Lu Mingfei behind her.

The moment Jörmungandr landed again, the incendiary bomb would explode right next to Nero's face. Nero might have had time to dodge, but he definitely wouldn't have been able to take Lu Mingfei with him.

However, at this moment, Nero closed his eyes.

Facing the impending incendiary bomb, Nero raised the sword in his hand and slowly drew a beautiful arc, like a swallow returning to its nest or a butterfly picking up a flower.

A thin, vibrating thread suspended in the air was severed by the blade. Of all those present, only Nero was aware of its existence. In an instant, she slipped through the cracks of time, took a step forward, and aimed at Jörmungandr, whose speed had been slowed dozens of times, bringing the blade directly to bear.

Amidst the chaos, Nero sneered, raised the corners of his lips, and passed judgment on his enemy.

"You..."

The blade cuts across.

"When (shall)..."

The body follows the sword.

"Die!"

Then, time began to flow again.

Jörmungandr's eyes widened as she saw Nero, who had been standing before her just moments before, vanish! Then, an icy chill coursed through her body, and a glass-like crack tore through the void, piercing Jörmungandr's abdomen. From a distance, she looked like a bird impaled in mid-air by thorns.

Blood spurted out. As the strange cracks disappeared, Jörmungandr's body shattered, and blood gushed out from his damaged organs, splashing along the cracks on his body like a leaking showerhead.

Her spiritual realm collapsed. Molten metal condensed in the air into countless tiny steel balls that rolled to the ground. Jörmungandr collapsed to his knees, covering his mouth and nose, and suddenly spat out a mouthful of scalding blood.

She turned around in disbelief and saw Nero slowly getting up behind her, his eyes and tone filled with uncontrollable fear.

She had heard Nero's voice just now, and even though it was sped up dozens of times, as a Dragon King, she instinctively understood what he meant. But... that was completely impossible!

"Time Zero..."

Blood was still gushing from her mouth, and her hoarse voice was weak and panicked: "How is this possible? You actually used two high-risk word spirits at the same time... Who the hell are you?!"

Without waiting for Nero's response, nor did she have time to wait, Jörmungandr pressed down hard on the ground, instantly crumbling the solid foundation into dust before disappearing into the bottomless cavern.

(End of this chapter)