The hand of the entity tightened. Blood spilled from Doulong's mouth. His body went limp.
Selay watched in shock, his hands trembling. "No… wait… he will kill Doulong.. I have to do something...anything "
But for some reason his body isn't moving anymore.
"Stop it! Why are you hurting him?!" Diana screamed, rushing toward the entity (Jarama.)
Jarama glanced at her and conjured a large hand made of mana, sending it flying toward her at incredible speed. Diana had no chance to dodge. But in a sudden flash of light , she was no longer in the attack's path. The mana hand missed,crashing into the ground with a deafening impact that cracked the earth and shook the entire palace and the surrounding area before vanishing.
Diana hadn't dodged on her own, it was Fiona who appeared in a flash of light, pulling Diana away just in time. Jarama hadn't even noticed her at first. But the moment Fiona gently dropped Diana to the ground, she looked up at him. Their eyes met briefly...less than a second, before she launched forward, moving at the speed of light.
She struck Jarama across the face with a blinding kick, the sheer force sending him reeling backward. The impact disrupted his control over his mana, and the hand that had been holding Doulong dissipated. Without wasting a second, Fiona rushed to catch Doulong's unconscious body and carefully placed him near Diana.
Chaw arrived at their side moments later, falling to her knees and pressing her hands to Doulong's chest, green healing mana pouring from her palms.
Fiona turned her gaze toward Selay, who still stood frozen, eyes locked on Jarama.
"Take them and get out of here," Fiona said, her voice calm but firm.
From a distance, Jarama's voice cut through the air. "Fiona? Long time no see," he said, his tone dark, yet oddly cheerful.
Fiona drew the sword from her back. It glowed a bright white as she extended it into a larger blade. As she approached Selay, she asked coldly, "How did you escape from hell?"
Selay stood motionless, wide-eyed, staring at Jarama. "Is this real? What's happening? "he thought."
Jarama pointed at Selay. "Who's the little one staring at me?"
If I make any sudden moves, Jarama might attack, Fiona thought, walking calmly toward Selay.
"Mom… what's happening?" Selay asked, his voice trembling.
Jarama's voice turned mocking. "Ah, so this is your son? Yours and Shanglui's, right?...
" How can I forget someone whose blood freed me. "He thought.
Fiona didn't answer the question directly. "Why does that even matter?" she said, lifting Selay into her arms.
She turned and dashed toward Chaw at the speed of sound, but Jarama appeared mid-path, slamming his katana into the ground, creating a deep, violent scar across the earth. Fiona reacted instantly, leaping back with Selay in her arms.
They landed safely. But Jarama stood uncomfortably close now.
"Why run?" he asked. "Did you think I'd steal my grandson from his mother?"
Fiona took a step back, her eyes hard. "I don't think I ever considered you my father."
Then some knights were running toward the fight to join it and Fiona, sensing shouting and ordering said " I order all of you... Do not interfere, this is not someone who you can fight. "
Before her order could finish , some mana arrows soared toward Jarama from hundreds of distant archers. Though they moved at supersonic speed, to Jarama, they might as well have been drifting leaves. He watched them lazily.
Fiona didn't waste the distraction. She moved to Chaw and said quickly, "Take them. Now."
As the arrows neared, they disintegrated into ash before reaching Jarama. He looked back and saw Chaw running toward the castle, carrying Doulong with Diana and Selay close behind.
Jarama smiled.
He summoned another giant mana hand and launched it at them. But Fiona stepped in, slashing through the attack with her glowing sword. Wherever her blade struck, the mana evaporated.
Midway, the hand shifted shape, collapsing into a giant orb that surrounded Fiona and solidified into a glowing pocket dimension made of distorted mana and artificial space which turned into reality fabric that holds reality together.
Fiona didn't panic.
With a sharp breath, she punched the inside of the orb. Her raw strength shattered the dimension like glass. She landed on the ground, unharmed.
Jarama chuckled. "I forgot. You're not that little girl from fifteen years ago anymore. You've grown… stronger."
Fiona raised her blade. "Then you should be afraid. I held you off for an entire day back then. And now...."
"Don't get ahead of yourself," Jarama interrupted, his voice calm but condescending. "You may have grown stronger, but I'm beyond what you can imagine now."
The air around them thickened with mana, heavy and suffocating. Fiona struggled to stay on her feet, her body trembling under the pressure.
"This is more power than I've ever felt, she thought. Not even Shanglui or the other Nios came close to this." her thought tumbled as she was struggling to stand with that mana force.
Jarama looked at her, amused. "You're probably thinking that, aren't you? That you've never seen anything like this. So… let me make you an offer."
"What kind of offer?" Fiona asked, cautious.
"I wouldn't offer this to just anyone," he said. "But you were born from my mana....my blood. You are my daughter. So I'm giving you two options…"
"And what are those options of yours?" Fiona asked, her voice firm, though her thoughts raced. "Where is Shanglui? I need to hold him off until either Shanglui or Douzen arrives. I can't win this fight, and trying to run would be suicide..he's fast enough to catch me before I could even move."
Jarama's grin widened. "My proposal is simple. Option one: you join me. Say yes, and I'll let you live and bring you into my ranks immediately. Right now, my mana force has spread across the entire castle. Unless someone in there has divine wings, which I doubt, none of the 300 people inside will survive much longer."
He took a step forward, voice calm but cruel. "Option two: you refuse. I'll withdraw my mana force, and we'll fight. But make no mistake... if you choose to fight, I won't hold back. I'll kill you, and everyone you care about. Still, it's not all bad. If you manage to survive, maybe your husband will return in time to help."
Fiona's eyes locked toward the castle. From the courtyard, she could see people on their knees :Chaw, the children, the knights, the archers struggling just to stay conscious under the crushing weight of Jarama's mana.
"None of them have divine wings. If what he's saying is true, choosing option one will only mean everyone else dies. But if I fight him, I might be able to buy time..."
Jarama's voice broke her thoughts. "What do you think, Fiona?"
She gripped her sword tightly with both hands, taking a deep breath. "You'll be the one to die."
Then, without warning, she dashed forward at the speed of light.
Jarama chuckled darkly. "Looks like I got my answer."
He pulled his mana force back into his hand and conjured a massive, black orb which was not a normal black orb. It was a house-sized black hole and he threw it toward Fiona. The black hole warped the space around it, devouring everything in its path."
Fiona's eyes widened. "What kind of attack is this? She swung her sword, aiming to block it but the blade passed right through. Instead, the force began pulling her in."
"What is this?" she thought in panic , struggling. Jarama smirked from a distance. "Even light can't escape a black hole. Good luck trying to escape it"
But then, with a flash, Fiona's divine wings burst forth large and glowing with raw mana. The wings flared once, collapsing the black hole into a small orb of harmless mana. She sliced through it, dispersing it into nothing.
Stunned, Jarama launched a new assault on dozens of massive hands made of mana, each holding a spear, attacking from every angle. From above, below, behind every direction.
Fiona dodged them all, her movements looked like blur. Some also almost hit her but she blocked with her sword again and continued to dodge them. To her and Jarama, time itself seemed frozen. From the outside, they appeared to be standing still, their movements too fast for normal perception.
In her own perception, it felt like minutes of relentless dodging. But the onslaught only intensified until she was surrounded by thousands of mana hands. Their red glow suddenly darkened.
Before she could react, they all closed in, crushing her from all sides.
" Internal Hands of dead " Jarama said coldly.
[ This is an existence eraser attack that fades one from existence in a way they seem like they didn't exist ]
To Chaw, watching from the courtyard, everything had happened in less than a blink. One second Fiona was standing. The next, she was trapped in a sphere of dark red energy, screaming in pain.
"What's happening?" Selay asked, panicked.
Chaw didn't answer. She leapt into the battlefield, racing toward the chaos.
Inside the crushing hands, Fiona's body was beginning to fade. But then, with a burst of power, her divine wings exploded outward, shattering the grasp of the red mana. She hovered mid-air, bloodied, her sword knocked far from her hand but alive.
Jarama blinked in surprise. "You survived that? Impressive."
"Shut up!" Fiona snapped, flying toward him in a fury.
Jarama didn't move. "I have a dimensional shield, any attack will be redirected into another plane. She can't break it."
But as she reached him and slammed her fist into him, the shield cracked and shattered.
"Impossible!" Jarama gasped, just barely dodging the punch. He retaliated, grabbing Fiona by the face and slamming her into the ground with tremendous force.
The impact shook the land for miles. Cracks split through the earth, and the castle itself began to collapse.
Chaw screamed, eyes wide in horror. "Oh no... the kids!"
Inside the crumbling castle, Selay reacted quickly. Without hesitation, he hoisted Doulong's unconscious body onto his back and grabbed Diana, who was desperately trying to channel healing mana into the weakened warrior.
"We have to jump!" Selay yelled.
Before Diana could respond, he leapt from the edge of the collapsing castle, crashing down onto the broken ground below with immense force. His landing cracked the earth and fractured his ankle, but he didn't pause.
Massive chunks of the castle's structure came crashing down toward them. Chaw, sprinting forward, conjured a glowing green force field just in time. The debris smashed against it, splintering into dust and rubble.
"Everyone okay?!" she shouted, eyes scanning the smoke.
Selay, breathing hard, looked toward the battlefield and gasped. "Mom!!"
Fiona was being slammed into the ground by Jarama, his massive hand gripping her face, forcing her down. She pushed against the ground with her wings, veins bulging with effort, but his grip was unyielding.
Desperate, she flicked her fingers as her sword flew to her hand with a whistle of steel, grabbing it she slashed at Jarama's arm.
But the blade shattered on impact.
Jarama smirked coldly. "I haven't even used my true power yet, and still, you can't break free of a simple face grab? This just proves how far above you I've ascended."
Suddenly, a group of knights charged at him, weapons drawn. Jarama simply waved his hand and every knight taller than five-foot-five was instantly ripped in half. Blood sprayed the air like red rain as torsos and limbs fell to the earth, lifeless.
Chaw sprinted toward Jarama, rage burning in her eyes, forming a dragon-shaped fist of glowing green mana in her right hand.
Noticing her approach, Jarama casually hurled Fiona's body through the air in Chaw's direction. But Fiona twisted mid-air, spreading her divine wings to stop the fall just inches before impact.
Then came the flash of light as Jarama appeared before her in a blink.
Before she could react, his fist collided with her face at point-blank range.
The impact was devastating.
Her skull cracked, one eye burst, blood gushed as her cheekbones shattered and her nose flattened. The sheer force sent her hurtling backward, crashing violently to the ground right in front of Chaw, forming a crater.
To be continued...