The Stargazing Witch & The Dungeon Planet
Chapter 99: Burning Brighter–

Chapter 99: Burning Brighter–

There were lots of questions I needed to ask.

But I couldn’t as a soul-tearing pain engulfed my body.

ARGH! FUCK, BLOODY FUCK, STARS IN THE SKY FUCKING FUCK ARGH!!

Cracks were across my soul. They weren’t new, they were always there, just invisible to me, but now every single one cracked open like a can and began to spill their contents.

I could feel my soul, with the parasitic attachment that was fused into it. As my essence wanted to leak out again.

(“ Cel! Don’t panic, my protection will protect you from any major loss ”)

Espr tried to provide me reassurance.

But that just made me angry at everything.

ESPOIRAMISSA!!!

I was careful.

I was prepared.

I knew what I was facing.

I did everything in my power to keep track of him and to sense when he used his skills.

For what?!

He fucking teleported an arrow into me!??

An action that was known to be ludicrous, ridiculous, and fucking impossible. You couldn’t teleport an item into a person with mana, as it would just displace whatever was teleported somewhere else.

It was the story of my time on this damned station–new events after new actions, all of which I didn’t know a single speck of anything. Everything was a bloody surprise!

And now I was angry at Espoiramissa.

I SWEAR! If this was one of your FUCKING GAMES! No matter WHAT DAMN HOLD you try to put me in I WILL TEAR YOUR EXISTENCE APART ROCK BY FUCKING STONE!!!

My [Flame Jail] and [Hungering Flame] slowly dissipated as my body automatically stopped pouring mana into them. The orbs around stayed in shape as they didn’t require a constant flow of mana.

[Unleashed Awakening].

My helmet, which was supposed to stretch material over the horns as they grew, failed partway. Leaving the white branchy-bone ends of it visible. My physical body tried to regenerate as it dealt with the aftereffects of my soul damage causing explosions in my body.

I ripped the arrow out of my body, this time, unlike the first, it was still intact.

I was much better at dealing with pain than the first time this happened to me.

But this pain was much worse.

Who would’ve guessed? Having an old injury torn open and made worse hurt a lot, and when that injury involved spilling everything that made one’s soul experience out like a fucking waterfall, it was worse when that dam was bigger. 

Thomas laughed. “I bet you're wondering what is happening.”

I was surprised I could still hear his filthy voice over the pain. Every point of my body screamed as if it were dumped into acid, stabbed with serrated needles, ripped apart by savage teeth, and the pain couldn’t connect into one nice blob. No, every single individual point of pain felt distinct and made sure I was never numb to it.

Boiling blood dripped from my mouth. “As I said–” I opened my bloodshot eyes under my helmet. “–a pathetic sadistic scum.”

Thomas’ confidence was still active at full blast. “A desperate struggle, but you are just bleeding out, well, metaphorically anyway.”

“Hehe, isn’t that when people are at their most dangerous?” My flames burned brighter, my figure was covered with solid melting flames, and you couldn’t even see a sliver of my armour anymore. The flames' intensity had far surpassed my tolerance level, but the pain of my flesh melting was light compared to the internal fracturing of my soul.

Espoiramissa yelled as I put pressure on the artefact I just picked up.

(“ Cel! ”)

To stop a leak, you just gotta plug the hole, heheahahah!

I couldn’t even question if this was part of Espr's plan, lucky consequences, or turned out this way due to the factors and people involved. 

I had enough experience to do a patchwork job on my soul, my experience with soul pressure and my first injury had taught me enough that even with my normal amount of mana I would be alive and at least not lose all my levels, but I wouldn’t be able to do much afterwards until I had a cure, let alone fight. This was all theoretical and wishful thinking, but I was confident I could survive that way.

But I wasn’t going to let the people here get away scot-free.

And I wasn’t content with just being alive or falling into Espr’s web.

Everyone was going to fucking burn.

Actually panicked Espr screamed. 

(“ Cel! Stop. This could actually kill you! ”)

No, it won’t! The only one who decides when I bloody well die is ME!

The pedant cracked as large amounts of the stored mana flowed out and into my soul.

I was plugging holes in a dam by throwing a tsunami at it.

Maybe Espr had a plan. I knew it wasn’t going to kill me, but I was going to follow a plan that just led me to a place I didn’t want to be.

The pain intensified. 

The crimson glow of my body increased. My horns ignited in a solid, burning orange glow as the flames melted off them.

I could feel a number of my magic skills disintegrating as my soul's damage increased, but that damage dramatically slowed down.

“Argh! So bright.” That annoying voice kept speaking.

It was time to remove it.

BOOM!

I [B-ur-st] towards that bastard so fast that he wasn’t expecting it.

“Howareyoumoving–” He panicked as armour glowed black.

Before I clashed with him, the machine blocked my path once more. It formed itself in front of him and deployed a powerful shield.

Then my connection to Espr disconnected. I could feel them, but it was like there was a wall between us.

What?

I wasn’t sure what was going on as my senses expanded and the world around me felt layered? And even more, mana followed into my system like I was the centre of a whirlpool. It wasn’t a good thing, as there was already too much mana in my body, but I couldn’t stop it.

“Kelet! I told you to get away, you stupid machine!” Thomas yelled.

“Will protec–” Its voice cut out as everything in my path melted away. Its shield protected Thomas for a second.

In that time Thomas' figure flashed grey and vanished as my flames consumed us all. 

Within the layers, I saw his figure, and my flames chased him automatically, following a trail of Starlight as I stared at him.

Then that vision vanished.

“Cough Cough!”

I crouched over coughing steamed blood. As my body’s internals tore themselves apart, but not enough, they couldn’t be repaired by the parasitical duo and constant mana feeding them.

Name: Ceella Stella (Celestira Luxpoir) | Race: [Human?]

Level 263 | Awakened

Mana: 967% Starlight: 2%

I felt dizzy, anger still filled my system, but I also needed to expunge a lot of the excess mana in my system. Whatever that moment was, it increasingly filled my inflated balloon worth of mana well past the breaking point.

Scorching mana coated my arm.

[Starlight Annihilation].

I wasn’t confident I could aim what I was about to fire without using [Starlight Annihilation] as a base to work from. [Blazing Solar] took the most damage, and I would’ve been partly afraid it was going to backfire on me if the only thoughts weren’t simple agony.

My soul began to heat up, which I didn’t know was possible, but it added to the pain as I simply focused [Blazing Solar] to pour as much excess Sun and Fire energy into my strike as possible.

A long mouth of cannon was created around my arm with tendrils of Sun energy warped around me and the tower. 

The outer barrier around the tower disappeared, and the inner one that directly covered the tower strengthened.

My arm was melting away, but I had to use it otherwise the mana would go haywire as I tried to focus it.

Finally, it was ready. With my weapon aimed at the warship.

A light flashed so bright it brought darkness. 

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Then I felt Espr’s connection reactivate again.

(“ YOU STUPID CRAZY GIRL!! Wait, you're alive?! ”)