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The ground split beneath Azaroth's feet.
On his knees, panting, he dug his fingers into the soil, trying to halt the degeneration's advance. His veins pulsed like frenzied black snakes, Aisha's poison infiltrating like an ancient curse, ignoring his demonic lineage.
— What... are you? — he snarled, spitting black blood.
Aisha walked, her steps calm, but the pressure around her grew. The air vibrated, distorting the light. She didn't need to run. Every second was an execution.
— You already know — she replied, her voice low but clear as distant thunder. — I am the mistake you made when you played at being gods.
Azaroth rose in a desperate leap, moving like a fragmented storm. His wings beat with fury, the sky exploded in black lightning, and from the horizon came spheres of chaos—compact, alive, pulsating with the energy of dead worlds.
Aisha did not hesitate.
She shot forward, and the sword vanished from her hand—or so it seemed.
It was in constant motion, cutting the projectiles before they fully formed, as if foreseeing the future.
Clang!
Shraaaak!
Boom!
The earth turned to dust. The field became a crater.
In the center, two figures met. Aisha stopped, the blade buried in Azaroth's shoulder.
He gripped her neck with brutal force, but his gaze... was panicked.
— You... are not human... — he spat.
Aisha smiled.
Blood trickled from her mouth. But her blind eyes seemed to glow behind the bandage.
— I am not...
— Then what are you?
— Someone who is alive for one reason only.
The sword spun in her grip. A vertical slash tore through Azaroth from shoulder to waist, and from the wound gushed a living smoke—the screams of demons inhabiting his body escaped like souls in agony.
Azaroth roared and exploded in demonic energy. The ground rose like walls of flesh. From the sky, pieces of reality began to crumble—the dimension writhed.
He was no longer Azaroth.
He was the absolute vessel of Zepharion.
Teeth grew from his back. Wings turned to blades. His eyes... extinguished completely, replaced by black runes that wept blood.
— DIE, AISHA!
The blast he fired had no color—it was absolute absence. Everything it touched became nothing.
Aisha enveloped herself in her aura. The spiritual poison formed a flower of seven petals spinning around her.
She aligned her palms and...
BOOOOOOOOM.
The explosion erased half the landscape.
But... Aisha was there. Standing.
The eye bandage had been torn away.
The fabric was shredded and thrown into the air.
Wounds opened on her face from the wind pressure and the exposed burn.
Eyes, forever closed, burned blind.
She was blind.
But she saw the soul of the world.
She saw the intent and origin of any attack and knew how to cauterize it.
She saw invisible weaknesses.
— You have become the thing you fear most — she said, facing the aberration before her. — A monster without control. Without a name. Without truth.
Azaroth tried to lunge—but was struck.
The sword now floated beside Aisha, spinning like a satellite. With a gesture, she hurled it with such force the air exploded around the blade.
ZRAAAAK!
The sword pierced Azaroth's chest, and he fell, howling, his body convulsing under the weight of the poisonous energy.
— The poison will continue. — Aisha walked towards him. — You have minutes. Hours, perhaps. You will regenerate. But slower each time. More... painful each time.
And I will keep cutting you until you break.
— YOU THINK... YOU'VE WON?! — he screamed, clawing the sword from his chest.
— No. — Aisha stopped a few meters before him. — This... is only the beginning.
From the sky, thunder split the firmament. A rift opened between planes.
Something illusory coming from Azaroth, yet real.
Eyes—many eyes—gazed upon Aisha.
Zepharion... had awakened.
The strongest demon.
And he spoke through Azaroth with a multiple voice:
— Nameless aberration... I see you now...
— ...and I fear you.
Aisha clenched her fists.
— Then descend.
— And die with me.
The rift widened.
The earth trembled.
The true enemy began to emerge.
And Aisha... smiled.
Determined to end her family's curse right there.
The battle between light and darkness continued in many places, yet... it had ceased… at least there.
Stella remained standing.
Jouki, her body separated into parts, lay lifeless. No remnant of energy. No threat.
Her eyes fixed on the void, Stella turned and walked to where Fenra was. Dan, beside her, could barely stand.
Fenra watched her with silent pride. Stella's eyes, still sharp, held no hatred—only acceptance. A strange, almost sacred calm.
Without a word, Fenra hugged her.
Dan approached. His eyes met Stella's, carrying a warmth almost impossible to describe. She, even while embraced by Fenra, looked at him. And in that look, she answered everything.
But then... Fenra felt it.
Stella's gaze changed. Something broke the internal silence. A call only she could feel. Jade, only she...
Stella pulled away and spoke, with serenity and firmness:
— Recover. Things are going to get worse.
And she left.
In the blink of an eye, her body tore through the air at an absurd speed, leaving only a trail of vacuum and suspended dust.
Fenra and Dan exchanged a look, not fully understanding. But with no time to question, they began tending to their own wounds.
The battle, for them... was over.
Elsewhere, however, the war continued—and not in a way they would have liked.
The concrete was stained with blood.
Echoes of insane laughter and whispers filled the air.
Karmore remained in ecstasy.
She laughed. A diabolical, sadistic laugh.
Before her, Tekio's body lay fallen. Broken.
It would be better if he were dead.
His arm was twisted grotesquely. His body covered in bruises, wounds, and cracked bones. His eyes were swollen and empty.
Blood streamed from his ears. There was no more reaction, no fight.
His soul... was silent.
Inside him, Yara felt everything.
She watched in despair at Tekio's state… and the distorted face of her own sister.
— Tekio… forgive me — Yara's voice murmured, almost unrecognizable, torn by pain.
— This was never your responsibility. I never wanted to involve you in this. I never wanted you to carry the weight of my past, of my pain...
— I… just wanted to give you hope. But I was too weak to sustain it.
— Forgive me... for making you the stage for my ambitions.
Nothing.
Tekio did not respond. Did not move.
Karmore, meanwhile, smiled. She delighted in slowly absorbing his energy. She was about to finish him.
He would be completely consumed.
— Try, Tekio… — Karmore taunted, approaching with slow steps. — Repeat those sweet words… Say again that you will save me. Go on... I'm waiting…
She laughed. Cackled like a demon.
— Just as I thought. You're only kind when it's convenient.
— You will die like all the others.
Then, the energy around her shifted. It grew dense. Violent.
She prepared a single strike, meant to pierce directly through Tekio's heart.
It was in that instant…
That Tekio moved his head.
His eyes, however swollen and weak, opened.
He stared at Karmore.
Straight into her soul.
For a moment, she froze.
A single glance.
And she hesitated.
Tears of blood streamed again down Karmore's face.
As if her soul were screaming.
As if, deep down, something within her did not want this.
As if… a part of her was still weeping.
The world around them trembled.
The atmosphere was seized by an ancient, sacred presence.
Something the very elements seemed to fear.
And then... a powerful, cutting feminine voice echoed within Karmore's mind:
— IMPURE.
A beam of light tore through the space between her and Tekio.
Yet… his eyes did not look away.
Nor did hers.
And in that moment, they saw each other as mirrors.
As parallels…
Connected in a way words could never explain.
And then — Stella appeared.
Or perhaps… something beyond Stella.
With divine speed, she slashed Karmore's chest with a single stroke of her sword, hurling her away.
Karmore fell unconscious, seized by a pain that was not just physical—but spiritual.
Stella turned to Tekio. But he recognized something... different.
He had seen that silhouette before. That energy. That blade.
In Yara's memories.
The word echoed in his soul:
Jade.
And then Stella—or rather, Jade—responded, looking straight at him:
— Yara.
The two recognized each other immediately.
War friends. Soul sisters. From ages past.
— I did not kill her — Jade said, her voice calm. — She will awaken soon.
They shared the same body. The same blade.
The sword reflected the souls of both—Stella and Jade—coexisting, fused in that instant.
Stella could not contain her pain upon seeing Tekio like that.
Jade understood.
Quickly, she knelt and began to heal him, channeling her energy to restore his broken body.
Yara, inside Tekio, joined in this effort.
And so… slowly, he began to mend.
— St…Stella… — Tekio murmured, with effort, between coughs of blood.
— Don't speak — she replied, firm but gentle. — Focus. Recover.
She smiled tenderly.
— You fought well...
To be continued...