Rise of the Eromancer

Chapter 205 Talia Talcott

"I don't appreciate my name coming out of that filthy mouth of yours, dregger."

Rhys has been called 'dregger' several times by more people than he could count. And of course, the ones he remembers the most are the words spat out by Sylas West — the sheer utter disgust with the way he said it to him while he blew up his mother's stomach was something he could never truly forget.

But Sylas's utter disgust of him could be considered just a speck, and that was only comparing the way Talia was looking at him. But of course, Rhys had already expected this…

…like with Ayesha, this wasn't a fateful meeting, but a forceful one. And like with Ayesha, he came here with the intent to make Talia fall in love with him. Except…

'Die. Die. Die.'

Talia's thoughts could not reflect the look she was giving Rhys more. Right now, she truly wanted Rhys dead and wanted nothing more. But from Rhys's experience, those who harbor intense feelings for him, whether negative or positive, would be affected even with the tiniest move he makes.

And for Talia… she probably had nothing but intense feelings for Rhys. Even when he just breathed, she seemed extremely appalled to even be breathing the same air as him. And so, the only acceptable course of action here is to…

"You… step no further, feces!" Talia pointed at Rhys as he very slowly made his way toward her, "Stop!"

And as Talia once again opened her mouth, the floor beneath her feet slit open, with the crevice moving toward Rhys almost instantaneously. Rhys, however, did not let whatever invisible force Talia was summoning hit him as he swiftly stepped to the side while still moving forward.

"Stop dodging, you cretin!" Talia once again raised her voice, and once again, the floor split open… and once again, Rhys was able to dodge while still casually moving closer and closer to her. This, of course, was already affecting Talia by a lot just by itself — but Rhys was smiling while doing all of this.

Talia did not even speak; her lips and nose just trembled as her face turned into a snarl. But very soon, however, she stomped her foot on the floor, and as she did so, multiple crevices started to crack the floor, almost like webs.

"!!!"

The other inmates who were watching the chaos unfold could really only run away, all of them scurrying to the other end of the cafeteria where Talia couldn't see them. Unfortunately for some of them, they were slower than their peers.

And there, Rhys finally saw what would happen to him if Talia's invisible strikes would actually hit him. The lucky ones were completely split in half, instantly dying as their neck and spines were cut cleanly into several pieces; the others weren't so lucky as they survived.

"A cross," Rhys then whispered as he glanced at the dozens of dismembered bodies behind him. Rhys actually already had an idea of what Talia's invisible attacks were due to how his body instinctively dodged the strikes, but he initially thought it was just a straight blade at first… but the corpses littered around him proved it to not be the case at all.

It was… fascinating to say so the least. The cuts were precise, smooth — almost as if their flesh and bones were gritted and buffed like marble.

"A little disappointing…" Rhys then breathed out; quiet enough that it was a whisper, and loud enough that Talia could hear it, "...I've read about you in history books. How you have terrorized Lowborns, treated them lower than pets, how you wanted to wash us out from existence, and how no one could stop you while doing so…

…but this is it?"

Talia still did not speak, but she didn't need to; her lips trembled as she forced out a smile on her face. Her eyes, now filled with nothing but raw, unfiltered fury for the person in front of her.

"Of course, I suppose history always exaggerates," Rhys said as he continued to make his way closer to Talia, who no longer attacked him and just stared at him,

"Hm. I guess your old age could also be attributed to this — based on what I've read, you're at least 120 years old."

"You are just a gunk between my little toenail, you pretentious fucking dregger…" Talia finally opened her trembling mouth as a small mad chuckle escaped along with her words, "...Take one more step… and I will be sure you will experience what your ancestors have felt when I burned, tortured, defiled, suffocated, electrocuted, and so many things I did to them you can't even begin to imagine."

"Oh, believe me…" Rhys whispered as he did, indeed, took one more step, "...I have a very wild imagination."

"Die, dregger!" Talia screamed as this time, she waved both her hands toward Rhys — and what happened next made all the inmates thankful that they moved to the other side of the cafeteria. The surface of the floor just completely disintegrated, the dust and sand they formed in the air almost made it look like the very space itself tore apart.

A loud horn then began to wail in the air as the lights of the cafeteria turned red.

But from all this chaos, however, one remained completely unchanged — Rhys Wilder.

No, there was a large gash on his chest and arm; the blood gushing out of his wounds, almost competing with the violent beating light of the prison's alarm.

"You and I…" The smile on Talia's face grew wider to the point that all of her wrinkles started to show themselves, "...We shouldn't even be breathing the same air. You either belong to the Underworld with your kind, or you do not belong anywhere at all. And like the vermin you are, you could not even fathom the difference between—"

And before Talia could even finish her words, she saw Rhys's wound closing as he once again just casually stepped forward. And with his single step, he used his wind control to blow away all the dust that clouded the air…

…and to Talia's surprise, Rhys was only a foot away from her, and with Rhys now standing at 6'8", he was literally looking down on her as her eye was only at the level of his chin.

"I am fully aware of the difference between us, Talia Talcott," Rhys then slightly bent his knee so that they could talk face to face, "But the question is, do you?"

'Die. Die. Die. Die. Fucking die!'

"Oho…ho…" Talia forced out a seething chuckle as she looked Rhys in the eyes, "What I would have given to face you when I was younger. I would have fucking eaten you like the useless lump of meat you are."

"I would have also liked to have faced you when you were younger," Rhys did not back down as a small smile crawled on his face.

"You have no idea of how glorious and strong I was, dregger…" Talia subtly shook her head, almost hissing as she opened her mouth, "...You wouldn't have been able to open your mouth."

"True…" Rhys leaned in slightly closer toward Talia, "...But one thing I do know is how much more beautiful you would have been back then."

"You fucking think you can—" Talia then abruptly stopped her words as the wrinkles on her face almost instantly faded away along with her snarl. Her eyes started to squint as her head very slightly tilted to the side, extremely confused by what she had just heard,

"What did you just—!!!"

And before Talia could even finish her words, Rhys suddenly grabbed her by the jaw and forcefully placed his lips upon hers.

The only thing Talia could really do was widen her eyes as she felt her mouth being violated by a filthy and lowly dregger. It did not last long, as Rhys pulled away; the strand of their saliva still connected them as he looked her in the eyes.

"Wh…" Talia was flabbergasted, shocked beyond belief to the point that not even a single word was coming out of her mouth. But soon, however, as she recovered from the shock… the snarl on her face once again returned, and this time even more vicious.

"Back to killing each other, then?" Rhys, however, was still completely calm as he just took several steps back to get away from the volcano that was about to erupt in front of him.

"That… that dirty mouth of yours…" Talia almost gasped as she wiped her lips, "...Die!"

And with even more ferocity than before, Talia started waving her hands again toward Rhys.

Rhys, however, was just smiling. This time, however, he wasn't doing it to taunt her. He just couldn't help it…

…because Talia's desires have changed.

'Stay away. Stay away from me, filth!"

Of course, the only reason Rhys could have the leisure to smile was because Talia truly is old. A century old.

But when she was younger…

…she was said to be capable of splitting entire mountains in half.

A power that Rhys sorely craves, even if it was just a quarter of it.