Ren dropped down from the wyvern, knees bending underneath him quietly. His steaming body was still regenerating from the earlier vapor attack.
"You—" Nocstella took a step back, heels scraping against loose stone. Her calm demeanor broke instantly. "You don't—you couldn't have—"
Ren steadily walked forward.
Nocstella lifted her right arm to him, a squelching noise erupting from it. From shoulder to fingertip, her arm split right down the seam, as something inside pushed violently to escape her skin. Vulgar veins began to fan upward from her arm, webbing across her collarbone.
"You killed her—my Iris—my only Iris—" Her tone pitched high in hysteria.
Her right arm convulsed, bloody tendon-like whips flaring outward towards Ren.
Ren's head tilted by barely an inch, his expression entirely unchanged. He stepped left, the grotesque whip cutting just past his shoulder. Without breaking stride, he swung his dagger.
The blade traced up in a tight arc.
Shhhhk
The whip sheared clean off, blood spraying outward from the wound. Nocstella screamed as she stumbled backward. Her right arm thrashed around before retracting back into her arm.
"You—" She gasped for air, clutching her wounded arm, blood dripping between her fingers. "You don't—get to—walk at me like that—"
Ren kept walking.
"You think—" She bent to grab a loose rock from the ground. Her left hand shook as she flung it with all the force panic could give her. It shattered against Ren's chest.
No reaction
Another rock, this one striking his shoulder and bouncing right off.
Nocstella's voice was cracking apart now, the syllables rushing out between sobs.
"She—she wasn't ready yet—she was—she was only—"
The next stone slipped from her fingers before she could throw it.
"She was mine—do you hear me? Mine!"
Ren's shadow lengthened across the ground toward her.
"You—you don't—understand...I made her."
Ren's steam was beginning to dissipate, curling upward from his shoulders. From the torn seams of his cloak to where corrosion ate through his bone. He was completely restored.
The stones Nocstella threw slowed—not because she ran out, but because she kept glancing behind her, looking for somewhere to escape. But there was nothing for her.
"You can't—" She said again, this time a whisper. "You can't take from me. You can't..."
Her face twisted between rage and terror—the look of someone whose mind was breaking.
And her arm twitched again, the wounded one, wanting to bloom back into that monstrous appendage. But the muscles spasmed, the bone clicking uselessly underneath her skin.
"You're not supposed to—" Nocstella's eyes darted from his face to the dagger in his hand. "You shouldn't be—"
Noctella tripped over a loose bit of rock as she stumbled back, landing hard onto her side. The impact knocked the breath out of her, but she still tried to crawl backward.
And he followed.
Every inch he closed, she seemed to give more and more into her panic. She'd been an untouchable force in the Vale for so long, she'd forgotten what it means to fear.
Her palms scraped raw as she clawed at the stone to push herself back.
A Ren's shadow, though his body was frail, swallowed her frame entirely as he neared.
"You…you don't get it." Her hand darted up from the side again, flesh tearing as bone tried to spiral out into hooked spines. "You can't ever get it. Why would 'it' make you a respondent?"
Then, it lashed upward toward his throat.
Ren's dagger rose in a smooth flick, shearing through the bony protrusions.
He stepped forward again.
She crawled backward to get away, only until her shoulders struck the sanctum wall.
There was nowhere left to go.
"Everything I made..." She panted, "Everything I've built—it's mine! You can't just take—" Her voice cracked on the last word, her eyes darting toward the wyvern's corpse. "You—don't—you don't even know what she was for. She didn't even get to breathe outside…"
Now he was only a step away.
She looked up at him, her back pressed so hard into the wall that her shoulders ached.
There he stood, his dagger resting loosely in his off hand.
And then, in the beating silence of the sanctum—
A tear fell, running down Ren's pale cheek.
"Why…are you—" Nocstella whispered.
He was still just a fragile boy—shattered, but still human—trying to carry the weight of all he had seen, and all he had endured. It was evident he was working hard to keep composed.
Ren's eyes held hers as a final, quiet inevitability settled between them. He didn't rush to action, nor did he speak a word. No, he let her see him—let her feel the inevitability—before the first movement.
Then, Ren raised the dagger, its tip hovering just over her collarbone.
Nocstella's chest heaved; her wide eyes locked on the blade.
"Please, don't..." She pleaded, voice trembling with fear.
Ren's fingers tightened around the hilt.
And he stabbed down.
In a desperate motion, Nocstella thrusted her right hand up as Ren slammed the dagger toward her. Blood exploded from her hand as the edge of the blade pierced through her palm. Her hand was going limp, but she held onto it as if sheer will alone could stop him.
"Please!" Her voice was barely audible underneath the sound of her tears.
Ren didn't hesitate.
His left fist struck her jaw with brutal precision—over and over, each punch disoriented her, forcing her to soon drop her wounded arm. He pulled the dagger free from her palm, leaving a mess of blood and shredded flesh in its wake.
"I…I don't want…I don't want to die!" Nocstella gasped against the wall, trying to shove Ren away. "This…this is permanent…I don't…I don't want to leave!"
She clawed at him desperately, tears spilling down her face.
"No—please, don't—"
Her trembling hand rose to block the dagger, but Ren's off hand shoved it aside firmly.
Shhhk
The dagger cut deep into her throat, blood blossoming from the wound. Nocstella's hands scraped weakly at the blade, but Ren pulled it out of her grasp.
"I—I don't want…please…please!" She choked, blood gushing at her lips.
The second stab to her neck followed instantly, and then the third.
Her arms could no longer lift to fend off his attacks.
Her mouth could no longer plead for him to stop.
Ren withdrew the dagger slowly, blood dripping from the blade, and stepped back a pace.
Nocstella sagged against the wall, blood soaking her pitch black dress.
"Is this...Death?" Nocstella's vision was beginning to blur. "It feels...cold."
And then—through the haze—she saw Ren.
But it was something more than just him.
"No, I see it...I see it all clearly now...Streets plagued by darkness under crying skies...Broken screams forged from the flame...Waters—waters so calm they never reflect against the sun. And the eldest city's clock tower, whose toll never ends..." Nocstella's eyes fluttered shut, the last vestiges of sight giving way. "It seems...he who sees all has made his choice."
Then, Nocstella's whole world went dark, as her body slumped to the floor.
Lifeless