'Soon, just a bit more.' Hanya thought as she hurriedly cultivated, trying her best to recover her Prana as quickly as possible.
But suddenly, she felt mild tremors throughout the upper surface of the sludge reservoir, becoming alert. She reacted spontaneously, erecting stronger defences. Unfortunately for her though, she had underestimated Inala's strength.
Like meteors falling off from a star in the sky, the heavy Prana Bomb spears rained down on the sludge reservoir with enough momentum to spill out the sludge like a tidal wave.
The Prana Bomb spears used their rapid spin to drill through the sludge and reach Hanya, bombarding her body. Explosions resounded continuously as the sludge splashed throughout the City Lord's estate.
It spilled upon the beautifully decorated lawn, melting it into a puddle in a matter of seconds. The pleasant canal stream that coursed through the estate was polluted once the sludge mixed into it, causing the canal walls to melt and result in the surrounding soil clogging up the drains.
All the plants wilted in response while the walls of the building gradually began to melt into the polluted ground, being eaten off by the corrosiveness within.
Originally a powerful defensive power, Hanya ended up losing a lot of Prana as her sludge was spilled out everywhere and consumed power to melt through them.
She would have originally deactivated her power to conserve her Prana loss. But the moment she intended to do so, a bunch of Prana Bomb spears stabbed into her body, unleashing sonic booms upon impact to shred her apart.
"That was cleared beautifully," Inala commented as he turned his body light and landed on the ground lithely. The moment his feet touched the polluted ground, the Prana within the pollutants were absorbed.
As it had lost most of its potency by already melting through the soil, the remnant sludge wasn't strong enough to affect his Prana Bomb armour. As a result, he ended up easily absorbing the Prana in it.
After a moment of thought, he rolled around on the ground to clean the region, ending up recovering the Prana he had used in the previous attack. Getting up, he dusted and leaped into the crater where the sludge reservoir once stood.
Multiple minor craters filled the large crater. And stabbed into one such mini crater was Hanya, her head a mush after two Prana Bomb spears had stabbed her dead.
Her corpse lay on the ground as her Human Avatar had been deactivated upon death. The moment Inala landed in the region, the ground parted way as Hanya rushed out as a wave of sludge and thrust her hand forward, extending a needle-like tendril out at the front, intending to stab Inala.
After being killed once, her cultivation dropped by a level.
Three Empyrean Zingers that had been posted on Inala's back inhaled air sharply upon seeing her sneak attack and spat out the compressed air. The gust of wind was akin to a storm, stopping Hanya in her tracks.
Immediately after, three heavy Prana Bombs slammed into her face and sent her flying. Sludge extended out of her feet and dug into the ground, reclining like a stretched rubber band as they forcefully anchored her to the ground.
Sliding back by a few metres, Hanya came to a stop and leaped forward, unwilling to stop her relentless attacks. 'As long as I get in a good hit, Inala's strength will be compromised.'
But a moment later, her focused expression glazed over as a bloody line formed on her neck. The head of Inala's mace elongated into a sharp blade—spanning a length of five metres—as he twirled once, severing Hanya at her neck.
"Guh!" She grunted. Hanya appeared next to her decapitated body.
Hanya shot out a bunch of sludge spheres, keeping the Empyrean Zingers busy with defence. She then opened her mouth and vomited a tidal wave of sludge, intending to drown Inala.
"Nope," With a snort, Inala leaped high in the air, evading the sludge wave. He spat out an Empyrean Zinger and used his psychokinesis to give it some momentum before landing on its back, as a result gliding at an altitude of twenty metres.
He leaped once again and threw a Prana Bone spear, targeting Hanya's hand to sever it in response. Immediately following that, another volley of Prana Bomb spears rained down, spilling out the sludge tidal wave to result in a wounded Hanya.
By this point, she was afraid, for none of her attacks were working on him. Even if they did, Inala's physical superiority allowed him to dodge them all and calmly hover high up in the sky.
Whenever she tried to use a Spirit Weapon to harm him, dozens of Prana Bombs acting as Spirit Weapons targeted her in response, overwhelming her. If she were to unleash a strong attack, he would simply retreat high enough into the sky and rain down heavy attacks akin to meteor strikes and splatter all her sludge.
It only resulted in her excess Prana consumption. Hanya stared at Inala with a trembling gaze, sensing that his Prana levels hadn't dropped a bit from the start, "What kind of monster are you?"
"The Empyrean kind," Inala winked and spat out Empyrean Zingers once again, unleashing another rain of Prana Bomb spears on Hanya.
Hanya was at her last life, having dropped to the peak of the Body Stage. She gasped for breath at the bottom of a crater, fear surging in her eyes as she stared at the mangled corpse of her nearby. That was her third body that had been killed by Inala.
'H-How is he this strong?' She was unable to understand, despairing in response as she squealed, "Spare me, please."
"Too late," Inala took on his female form and slammed a Life Bomb—one that would birth a Queen—into her, causing her to shriek as she shrivelled up, growing old all of a sudden.
"W-What did you do? WHAT DID YOU DO?" Hanya shrilled aloud upon seeing her arms resemble tree bark now, feeling all strength leave her. Her Prana had been stolen completely. And now, her Lifeforce too followed suit, leaving behind only a day's worth.
"There are many things I want to ask you. So, I'll do it later." Saying so, Inala grabbed Hanya's head and seeped his Prana into her.
Mystic Bone Art—Prana Domination!
By turning her into his Spirit Weapon, Inala made her seep her Prana into her Storage Lantern and transfer its ownership to him. It was full of valuable medicines, which would come in handy for his use.
He needed a Storage Lantern anyway, and this came at the perfect time.
Prime Skill—Empyrean Extraction!
"Koff!" Hanya coughed out blood as brain matter oozed out of her orifices. It was a gory picture but unlike before, Inala didn't shy away and etched in mind the consequences of his actions.
By exerting strength in his hands, he ripped out her head and tossed it to an Empyrean Zinger who ate all the flesh and returned a clean skull of Hanya.
Prime Skill—Mind Slip!
Inala accessed Hanya's mindspace and looked for information related to their treasury. Upon finding it, he absorbed the relevant information and used it to arrive at a certain room in the City Lord Estate, "Time for some treasure hunt."