Speed Is King

“Like, literally anyone? Even the most powerful being in the universe?” Jessica frowned. It seemed extremely implausible.

[Affirmative.]

“Really? There are no restrictions? What would cause the skill to fail?” Jessica asked suspiciously. Her long years of living in hardship had ingrained one very crucial reality in life. When something seems to be too good to be true, then it probably is.

[The skill is able to completely turn the target into a devout follower of the Black Phoenix Goddess, regardless of the target’s power.]

[The condition of failure is if the target actively resists the skill and has enough strength to do so.]

“… … … …” Jessica was speechless. Was she dealing with an AI which was a crooked merchant in its previous life or something? How could it leave such an important condition unsaid!

“Doesn’t that mean that I can’t use the skill on ANYONE then? All of the people above my power level should have enough strength to resist it!” Jessica sulked at the AI.

[Negative, that is not factually true. All life forms will be naturally helpless and unprotected when they are in states of sleep, faint, and coma.]

“WHAT? Oh lord, you truly are a sneaky piece of AI. To think you gave me a skill that specializes in stealing people’s souls while they are sleeping or half dead!” Jessica shouted at her AI.

[Alternatively, you can use the skill on weaker targets. They will be completely converted even while they are awake.]

“Soul stealer. You’re making me a soul stealer.” Jessica muttered to herself. But still, she could truly see the power and potential that skill gave her. If the right opportunity presented itself, she could gain the strength to ascend to the heavens in one go!

With the help of her powerful devout follower whose soul she stole, of course.

“Fine. Better to have poison to use in desperate times, than not at all. Thank you for the new skills. I appreciate it very much.” Jessica sighed.

Although her latest and most powerful skill creeps her out a little bit, she was totally pumped by her new found increase in power!

“I wonder if big bro is even as strong as me. Maybe I should go back and challenge him to a friendly spar. I might even be able to defeat him within a hundred moves. No, maybe even ten moves! I’ll just fly up to the sky and spam my Black Phoenix Goddess Flame Strike on him. Hohoho.” Jessica’s mood brightened considerably at the thought of bullying her big bro a little bit and seeing his shocked face.

However, just as she was about to give Elliot a call, her instincts suddenly came to life and tingled slightly.

Danger had arrived, and it was near.

“Hmmm. I should try out my new skills first on this new enemy. ” Jessica thought as she stirred herself up from her sitting position and got into fighting mode.

First thing to do when hunting a strong enemy, hide and observe.

Jessica darted silently away from the clearing she was in, and plunged into the forest once more. She climbed the huge tree where the dead Dark Nether Vipers made their nests and cast out her senses from there, searching for the powerful enemy which had made her instincts tingle so.

A tiny movement at the far edge of the clearing she was at previously, merely a twitch of an arm muscle which coincidentally touched the leaf of the bush it was hiding in, caught Jessica’s attention.

For most predators, it was a negligible movement. Their brain would not even register it.

But for Jessica, the enemy might as well have sneezed out loud and farted at the same time.

“There it is.” Jessica thought. Her eyes focused on the huge bush which was completely motionless and looked completely normal.

She squinted her eyes and tried to figure out just what her enemy was that actually produced enough lethality to cause her instincts to react.

But it was impossible to make out any details. Her enemy was too well hidden.

However, at that moment, an even more powerful surge of alarm shot through her body as her instincts began to blare at full power!

“Crap! This is bad!” Jessica thought as she immediately unleashed her Black Flame Burst!

BOOM!!!!

The explosion that she produced was so powerful that the tree she was hiding on was instantly incinerated! All around her, trees began to catch fire and within a few short moments, a roaring conflagration surrounded her.

GROARR!!!!

A roar of surprise sounded from right behind her!!

“EEEK!” Jessica welped lightly in shock and immediately leapt away.

She truly did not expect that the enemy had already gotten so close to her! No wonder her instincts were blaring so loudly!

“BLACK FLAME SWORD!” Jessica screamed angrily as she allowed her emotions to overflow and power her attacks.

“BLACK PHOENIX GODDESS FLAME STRIKE!!” Jessica unleashed her most powerful attack at the spot where the roar of surprise sounded previously.

BOOOOMMM!!!!!

Her attack was so powerful that she created a massive crater at the spot of her flame strike.

However, no more sounds came from her enemy.

She had missed!

From the corner of her eye, Jessica sensed something bright moving towards her at high speed. She whirled around and came face to face with the largest fire blast that she had ever seen!

EEKK!! She shouted in panic, forgetting that she was completely immune to fire.

BOOM!! BOOM!! BOOM!!

It turned out that it wasn’t one, but THREE fire blasts in a row!

“DAMN IT! You dare use fire against me? Courting death! Let me teach you what real fire looks like! BLACK FLAME ARMOR! BLACK PHOENIX GODDESS FLAME STRIKE BLACK PHOENIX GODDESS FLAME STRIKE BLACK PHOENIX GODDESS FLAME STRIKE BLACK PHOENIX GODDESS FLAME STRIKE BLACK PHOENIX GODDESS FLAME STRIKE BLACK PHOENIX GODDESS FLAME STRIKE!!!”

Jessica was so pissed off that she immediately spammed her powerful new skill!

All around her, freakishly hot black flames rose majestically into the sky and rapidly burned everything around her to ash.

“Impressive. Very impressive indeed. You truly could have defeated me in a hundred moves… IF I hadn’t had a massive power boost myself recently!” Came a familiar and much beloved voice.