Sofia trembled. On her knees, she held Godric's body in her arms, her chest stained with blood that flowed like a confession impossible to seal. Her breathing was agitated, broken, as if the air itself didn't know how to keep entering.
"Why…?" she whispered. Her voice was that of a child abandoned in the middle of the world. "Why did you do it?"
Godric, with half-closed eyes, sketched a weak smile, the corners of his lips stained with scarlet.
"Sorry…" was all he said. Barely a sigh, barely a tear that didn't fall.
Brenda came running, as her weapon dissipated, falling to her knees beside them. Her hands gripped Sofia's shoulder, but her eyes were fixed on Godric. Her voice broken, as fragile as her soul in that moment:
"Sorry…?" she gasped. "I don't understand anything."
Sofia shook her head, desperate.
"But you hated me all my life!" she shouted at him, her voice bursting like broken glass. "You made everyone despise me! You were in charge of destroying me! So why?"
The air became even denser.
And then… a laugh roared from the front.
Lyssander.
Standing, observing the scene, his body upright, the sword still dripping Godric's blood. He brought a hand to his face, covering his eyes while laughing. A cruel laugh. Ironic. Mocking. Empty of compassion.
"Is… this serious?" he laughed louder. "Did you really think someone who cared for you so much would betray you for pleasure?"
Sofia froze.
Lyssander lowered his hand, his bright blue eyes full of devastating cynicism.
"You know why he hated you?" he continued. "Why he accepted that you'd carry others' hatred…? To protect you!"
Brenda was paralyzed.
"He didn't want to hurt you!" Lyssander continued, cackling. "They ordered him to do it! The family forced him! They told him if he refused, they'd execute you, bastard. He offered his life for yours, but they told him if he died… you would too."
Silence fell like a divine sentence.
"So his only option…" Lyssander smiled like a satisfied executioner. "Was to betray you… so you could live."
Brenda and Sofia looked at him… but no longer saw him.
They only saw Godric's face.
The brother who had hurt them.
The same one who, now, was dying for them.
Sofia broke into tears.
Her tears fell on Godric's face, as if they could cleanse him of his pain, as if they could give back lost time.
"No… no…" Brenda whispered, her voice shattered. "Forgive me please, forgive me brother!"
In the imperial box, the entire Celestial Stadium was silent. Not a voice. Not a breath. Some nobles had lowered their heads. Others watched with glassy eyes. Even Tiberius, standing, gripped the edge of the railing forcefully.
Brenda and Sofia cried, broken inside, clinging to his body as if they could stop time.
They cried with guilt.
With sadness.
With desperation.
"No, no, no, no, no!" Sofia screamed, trembling. "It can't be! Why you…?! You can't die, Godric! You can't leave me again!"
She gripped his armor soaked in blood, her face marked by tears and confusion.
Brenda and Sofia cried, broken inside, clinging to his body as if they could stop time.
They cried with guilt.
With sadness.
With desperation.
She gripped his shirt soaked in blood, her face marked by tears and confusion.
"I always thought you hated me!" she sobbed. "You always made me feel it! Why did you protect me… why didn't you ever tell me the truth?!"
Brenda beside her, trembling. Her face was distraught, tears falling like unstoppable rivers.
"Forgive me!" she whispered, her voice broken. "Forgive me, Godric! For not seeing what you carried! Damn it! I left you alone!"
"Don't die, idiot!" Brenda suddenly shouted, gently hitting his chest with desperation. "Not now! Not like this! Not after all this shit!"
Sofia hugged him tightly, feeling how life escaped from his body second by second.
"Please…" she whispered through her teeth. "Don't go… Don't leave me alone again, I beg you please."
Thorgar watched the scene with a different expression. Not of fury, but of pity. Of understanding.
Arjun closed his eyes, fist clenched.
Garreth, the specter, lowered his gaze. His black fire undulated in silence, as if the soul burning within him groaned in mourning.
Eldar, from a few steps back, watched with lowered gaze, fists clenched, claws dug into the earth.
Godric raised a trembling hand.
He touched Sofia's face, leaving a trail of blood on her cheek. She didn't pull away. She cried, trembled, and held him as if she could prevent the world from taking him.
"No…" he murmured, his breath labored. "Don't cry please… I don't want to hurt you anymore…"
Sofia broke into sobs.
"You know… Your black hair matches those violet eyes, you have a beautiful face little sister," Godric whispered, with a tenderness only said when one knows there will be no after. "Now you're very strong… you can continue alone. I'm very proud of you. Really. You made brothers you can be proud of," referring to Ian, Makia, Aelius, and Alena. "Also for Brenda."
His gaze shifted to Brenda. His lips trembled.
"Both of you… are very strong… and beautiful." He said as his eyes tried to close.
Brenda couldn't contain herself. She rested her forehead against his, crying silently, her fingers clinging to his.
"Please… don't go… don't go."
Lyssander took a cold step toward Godric's wounded body, lying in the damp earth, gasping like a torch barely resisting the wind. His sword crackled with energy. The edge, sharp as a cruel god's judgment, rose slowly, mockingly. The twisted smile on his face was a poem of cruelty.
"It's time to extinguish your last breath… cousin. Hm, idiot," he muttered, with a dry laugh.
But before the blow could fall, Brenda and Sofia interposed themselves. Their bodies, fragile before an elite like Lyssander, became walls without hesitation.
"Stop!" Brenda shouted with extended arms, trembling with rage and fear.
"Don't you dare…!" Sofia looked her cousin in the eyes, her hands firm though her heart was in pieces.
Then, the sky broke.
The clouds closed like a fist over the world.
Day became night.
An eclipse drew itself over Amazonia.
And right there, between the falling shadows, Godric tried to rise. Coughing blood, staggering, his arm supported on the earth like a soldier who hasn't yet received permission to die. He looked at Thorgar.
"N-no… them… no…" he stammered.
His legs gave way, but his will still burned like a dying sun.
It was then that Makia appeared, like a wind arrow. In a blink, she took Sofia and removed her from the lethal trajectory, leaving a gale of leaves in her wake.
"What are you doing, Makia?!" Sofia shouted with tears in her eyes, stretching her hand toward Godric. "Nooooo!! He's going to kill him! Let me go, please!"
Thorgar, the steel colossus, understood his companion's mute plea. With a gaze charged with respect and compassion, he took Brenda in his arms like a sack of living fury.
"Let me go! LET ME GO! He's going to kill him! He's going to kill my brother! I thought he was your friend! Let me go!" Brenda shouted, hitting his back with desperation.
But Thorgar didn't respond. His steps were firm. He protected Godric's last spark.
Until…
Brenda broke free.
She fell in the mud. She ran without brake. She ran toward Godric. Her breathing was fire. Her soul, ash.
But Arjun interposed himself.
"What are you doing?!" Brenda shouted, trying to pass. "You said you were on our side."
Then Eldar appeared from the other side. He stopped her with a single hand on her head, with the gentleness of an older brother, the firmness of a rock.
"Your brother, he really is strong," he told her. "He saved us."
Brenda, trembling, lowered her gaze.
"It's okay… now everything's okay." Eldar raised his gaze to the covered sky. "Trust him… one last time."
…
Before Lyssander, standing though about to fall, Godric raised his bloodied face. His chest rose and fell with difficulty. But his voice… was firm.
"…Weapon of Destruction…" he whispered. "Primary Flow! Nanotechnology… incorporated…"
Everyone opened their eyes.
Godric possesses such a technique!
"This… this technique…" he whispered with a furrowed brow. "I created it… to protect them."
Energy burst from his chest like compressed lava. Particles shone in his veins, coursing through his body like incandescent rivers.
And then, he roared:
"ATOMIC CATACLYSM!"
The air tore.
A luminous, imposing orb formed above his head. A living sphere of pulsating energy, beating like the heart of a star about to explode.
Lyssander retreated two steps, frowning.
"What… what the fuck is this?"
Godric held the giant sphere, trembling, his body on the verge of breaking. But then, a figure planted itself at his back.
Garreth Fitzgerald.
Black fire wrapped his specter like a mantle of eternity.
"I'll support you, hero," he said, placing a spectral hand on his shoulder. "Feel proud… of your sacrifice."
Sofia, in the distance, watched the scene. Her face was devastated seeing Garreth's figure beside Godric. Her eyes filled with astonishment and terror.
Garreth surrounded Godric in black flames.
The young Fitzgerald's eyes turned violet.
His brow hardened. His trembling arm rose with fury and legacy.
"CRUSH!"
And then, the bomb descended.
Like divine judgment.
Lyssander raised his sword, wrapped in energy, ready to resist… but knew that explosion… would consume them both.
But it wasn't so!
Just when impact was inevitable, a white and golden burst emerged from the ground.
Ian.
With his rumbling energy, he emerged like lightning beneath the bomb, grabbed Godric by the arms and, in a trail of absolute speed, pulled him from the epicenter.
"What are you doing, idiot?!" Ian shouted as he dragged him away from hell. "Now it's your turn to recover lost time with your sisters, imbecile!! You can't die!"
The explosion burst behind them like a new sun.
The jungle was swept by fire.
The sky lit up like a scar.
And Godric Fitzgerald's name… was engraved among heroes.
The roar of the celestial stadium was absolute.
Thousands of voices exploded like thunder of glory. The crowd stood up. They applauded. They shouted. They cried. The tension accumulated over days of injustice, of fear, of uncertainty… was released like an overflowing river.
The aspirants' first great victory.
They had resisted. They had fought.
And one of their own had given everything to protect them.
Godric Fitzgerald's name crossed the people's lips like newly lit fire.
"Godric!"
"Ian!"
"Sofia!"
"The aspirants resist!"
In the Imperial Box, even some nobles, previously indifferent or skeptical, stood to applaud with respect. Others, still paralyzed, saw how history rewrote itself before their eyes.
But in a discreet corner, set apart among the noble boxes, a man didn't applaud.
Didn't shout.
Only watched.
Edward Fitzgerald.
His jaw trembled slightly. In his chest, something broke and healed at the same time. He couldn't take it anymore; everything Catherine had done to his children filled him with contained fire, with rage and pain that made his hands tremble invisibly.
"Son…" he whispered, with a broken voice. "In the end… you were always a hero."
A solitary tear streaked down his hardened cheek. It wasn't weakness. It was pride in its purest form. It was the wound of a father who had been silent too long… and now could only observe.
At his side, Lucien, Lyssander's father, stood trembling seeing his son crushed by the explosion. The shock shook him inside. Beatriz, his second wife and political union, could barely look; her concern was with Brenda, Sofia, and Godric. After all, Lyssander had always treated Beatriz badly, and her heart was with those who truly mattered to her.
And that night, in Amazonia's heart, a brother showed the Empire what it means to protect.
And the empire would never forget it.