Leveling Up by Seducing Milfs-Chapter 192. We’re Both Monsters

She turned the Leviathan away from the team that was scattered, leaving them hurt and bleeding in the water. "You’re not important to me..."

"Nerissa is all that matters. When I’m done with her, when Meridia is ashes and her children are corpses, then the Archon’s true plan begins."

"The judgment of Zorathia itself."

The Leviathan started swimming toward Meridia with a terrible purpose, leaving Rick and his friends behind.

Liora swam right over to Rick, and divine energy was already flowing. "Don’t move!"

"Your injuries are very severe!"

Rick gasped through the pain and water, exclaiming, "I... don’t care!"

"I need to stop her, and I also want to ensure that Nerissa doesn’t have to face this alone."

"You can hardly swim with that condition!" Carmilla protested and swam up with her own injuries. "We need to fall back and regroup, Rick!"

"No," Rick said, and his voice was firm even though his body was broken. "I already left her once... and I’m not going to do it again!"

"This is my chance... just please... let me have it!"

Liora nodded, and her hands were shining with a strong divine light. "Then I will use all of my resources to completely heal you, leaving no reserves."

"DIVINE RESTORATION: FULL SANCTIFICATION!"

Rick’s body was surrounded by golden light that quickly healed his wounds and knitted his bones together. The healing was complete, but it came at a price.

Liora’s face turned pale because she had run out of divine energy. For hours, she wouldn’t be able to fight.

Rick was back to normal, and his health bar was full again.

He turned on both Sovereign’s Command and Draconic Wings at the same time, giving him the power of a demon king and the ability to fly like a dragon. His speed through water became supernatural, and the Thalassic Crystal’s ability to stop currents made it even faster.

Rick shouted to his friends, "Get Liora to safety and then try not forcefully follow me if you’re still injured!"

"Don’t worry about me... I’ll come back with the victory in my hands!"

He didn’t wait for arguments after that. Instead, he launches into the water to chase after the Leviathan. The corrupted Guardian was fast, but Rick pushed himself to the limit, and Spirit Unity activated automatically as all five bonds poured power into him.

The timer for one hundred eighty seconds started, but Rick didn’t care. He only needed one hundred eighty seconds to reach his destination.

...

He caught up and spotted the Meridia Citadel looming in the distance. His heart raced.

There was an attack on the city. The attack came not from the outside, but from within the city.

The undead sea creatures that Nerissa had cleaned up earlier had come back to life, and dozens of them were running through the streets and attacking people.

The buildings were collapsing. The water was murky with blood, and many screams reverberated through the depths.

Ocean Empress Nerissa Abyssryn stood in the middle of the plaza.

She stood alone in front of Queen Seris and the Leviathan, her water-dress billowing with barely contained power. Her face was no longer blank and emotionless.

It was cold rage, like the rage of a queen watching her kingdom burn.

Rick fell like a meteor and hit the coral plaza floor with enough force to make a crater.

Nerissa’s blue eyes got a little bit bigger. "You... you came back."

"Of course I did," Rick said without any hesitation. "And this time I’m not taking any rejection from you because I’ll stay here until all your problems are cleared!"

Seris’s laugh was cruel and delighted. "How sweet..."

"The hero who failed comes back to die with the empress who turned him down. The Archon will like the poems..."

Nerissa’s voice was cold. "Seris, you died fifty years ago."

"I felt your heart stop."

"You did," Seris said. "You killed me very well."

"The Archon taught me that revenge doesn’t mean killing someone, and death... is no longer the end."

"First, they have to watch everything they love die."

Nerissa noticed a movement behind her in the throne room, visible through the crystal walls.

It was from Typhon.

The cursed consort, who had been immobile for fifty years, suddenly stirred. It moved again, then finally stood up for the first time in half a century.

Seris smiled more. "Oh, and I brought you a gift, Nerissa. A reunion."

She aimed the Tidecaller Trident at Typhon, and a wave of purple energy flowed from its tip like a tidal wave. It broke through the walls of the palace and hit the Emperor Consort’s body hard.

The purple light that had been in Typhon’s eyes for fifty years suddenly came to life.

The Guilt-Lock Enchantment shattered with the force of glass. Typhon’s self-imposed punishment broke when corruption flooded his system.

He screamed, a blend of pain, freedom, and horrific awareness all at once.

He moved with intention for the first time since his curse began. He leaped from the throne room, now tainted by corruption, and landed beside Seris on the head of the Leviathan.

Nerissa’s facade of calm shattered entirely. Rick had never witnessed genuine fear on her face before.

"Typhon, NO...! You have to fight it! You are stronger than this!" Nerissa shouted.

But Typhon’s shattered eyes showed no sign of recognition. Hatred had festered for fifty years in a place where silence was mandatory. His voice, rough from disuse, carried a terrible purpose.

"More powerful than this?" Typhon scoffed, his voice laced with anger. "I sat on that fucking throne for fifty years, consumed by what I had done."

"Every second... every minute... and every fucking day!!!"

"Watching you rule without me and turn into an empty shell... I came to realize it was my fucking fault."

"But still... I don’t fucking care!" He pointed to his broken body. "The Archon gave me a way to get rid of my guilt!"

"He told me the truth, that we are all victims of a world that expects us to be perfect and punishes us when we are weak!"

"I loved two women, and the affair wasn’t the crime! The world was the crime that made me choose."

Nerissa’s voice shook. "You’ve been lying to me for two hundred years."

Typhon agreed, "I did."

"And you killed a lot of people in response..."

"Nerissa, we’re both monsters... the only difference is that I’ve accepted it... while you are still acting like a noble empress with your delusion of guilt and pain!"

He raised his hands, and corruption crackled around them. "The Archon’s plan is wise and smart."

"He’s not going to destroy Zorathia! He is revealing that it has always been shattered, and the foundation is built on lies, betrayals, and spirit bonds that hide significant issues."

"The Seven Major Powers do not serve as protectors...! They are tyrants! And he will dismantle every false alliance until only the truth remains!"

Seris nodded, and her eyes shone with corruption. "Zorathia will fall."

"The Major Powers will fall apart, and the Archon will build something real out of the ashes..."

"A world that doesn’t punish love, doesn’t make people choose between two things that are impossible, and doesn’t make monsters and then act shocked when they bite back."

Rick felt a chill of fear settle in his chest. This was more than mere revenge.

It represented a distinct ideology. The Archon wasn’t just a mindless embodiment of evil.

He was a revolutionary with an unconventional perspective and the power to reshape reality. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Rick told Nerrisa, "Typhon has lost it... and all of this is because of that asshole’s plan!" to help her see that the Archon’s problem is serious.

Nerissa felt silent seeing all of this happen so fast that she’s having trouble keeping it up in her head. "I..."

"Wake up, Nerissa! You have to see all of this for yourself and remind yourself to take action and move forward!" Rick shouted.

Typhon stared straight at Rick. "You... Hero of Mature Hearts."

"Now you see how ineffective the empress is regarding her emotions and intellect. Despite all your efforts to dismantle the walls she’s erected due to her love for me, eventually, it’s all in vain."

His smile, fractured and sorrowful, conveyed a deep sense of despair. "The corruption isn’t external..."

"It’s internal. It’s every act of betrayal, every genocide, and every choice that inflicted pain."

"You can’t just Spirit Bond away the inherent corruption. The only way to address it is to expose it and purge it."

The Leviathan roared as corrupted energy began to build up in several of its heads simultaneously, preparing for an attack that could obliterate the entire citadel.

Seris held the Tidecaller Trident high. "This is the end now, Nerissa!"

"Your kingdom is finished... your reign as empress has come to an end!"

"And at last, you will grasp what you took from me fifty years ago!"