Fiona's 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.
No!!" Chaw screamed, throwing herself to Fiona's side and channeling healing mana.
Jarama didn't let up. He dashed forward again, katana forming in his hand, a blade of pure mana energy. Chaw threw up a shield with all her remaining strength but Jarama sliced through it effortlessly. His blade cleaved through the barrier... and through Chaw's arm.
A scream of agony tore from her lungs as her severed hand hit the dirt.
But Fiona, her half-destroyed face partially regenerated as she grabbed Chaw and launched backward, escaping the killing blow. Jarama didn't pursue it. Instead, he raised his arms, forming a circle of black holes around himself, each one warping the very air with ominous gravity.
Fiona stood tall, her face still bloodied, her expression unbroken. "Stay back," she said to Chaw in a firm, cold tone.
She lifted off the ground, divine wings flaring wide, glowing with rage and pain.
Twelve black holes hovered menacingly around Jarama now, each pulsating with destructive power. Fiona summoned thousands of radiant spears, each forged from the purest energy of her wings. The glowing weapons surrounded her like a celestial storm.
She surged forward, forming a katana of her own... white, blazing, and fierce. Jarama launched the black holes at her with a snap of his fingers.
But Fiona's spears split into teams, each targeting a black hole with precise coordination. One by one, they neutralized the voids, dispersing them into smoke with high-pitched bursts of light.
With nothing in her way, Fiona reached Jarama and drove her katana downward in a thunderous strike, channeling every ounce of her power into the blade.
The blow struck Jarama's head.
But he didn't flinch.
Instead, the energy from the attack was absorbed into his body and his helmet cracked and shattered, revealing his true face: long white hair, piercing red eyes, and deep battle scars across his face. A weathered warrior's face, perhaps fifty in appearance, but brimming with unfathomable power.
Jarama smirked, bloodlust flashing in his eyes. "That blow... it could've destroyed the entire planet, had it been concentrated on the earth and if it landed on the ground," he thought.
But Fiona didn't have time to react.
His hand pierced straight through her chest, bursting out of her back.
Her body froze.
FIONA!!" Chaw screamed, tears spilling from her eyes.
Fiona's eyes went wide in shock as her wings began to fade, the light in them extinguishing.
Jarama ripped his hand free and casually tossed her aside like broken armor.
Chaw dashed to Fiona's side, her own severed hand now fully healed, sobbing as she reached Fiona . "Don't worry... I can fix this. I'll heal it... I can still heal it.."
Fiona, blood bubbling from her mouth, growled in anger. "I told you... to take the children and run. Why did you come back?"
Chaw wept, unable to answer.
Jarama stood calmly above them, licking Fiona's blood from his arm. "Not her fault," he said coldly. "The situation was... less than escapable."
"Shut up!!" Fiona shouted, coughing blood.
Jarama chuckled. "Tsk tsk... don't talk to your father like that."
Chaw froze.
Jarama looked at the blood on his arm and suddenly, it began to pulse and glow . The blood on his skin started pulling the rest of Fiona's blood from her distant, broken body, dragging it toward him like magnetized rivers of crimson coloured essence .
Chaw gasped. "What the..."
Before she could react further, Fiona's body convulsed. A terrifying sensation swept the battlefield as the blood inside Fiona's veins surged violently toward Jarama, forming an orb of dense, swirling crimson in his palm.
Chaw's eyes widened in horror. She turned to Fiona, finding her body limp, her eyes closed, the color drained completely from her skin.
"No... Fiona!! Please... stay with me! Don't die!" Chaw cried, shaking Fiona even as her heart sank. Her mind screamed the truth she didn't want to accept: Fiona was dead, at least what she thought.
From a distance, Selay's voice cracked the air like a whip. "MOM!!"
Chaw held Fiona's lifeless body, her mind spiraling. "How could he do that? Divine Wing grants total organic control...no one should be able to extract her blood like that..."
But then, against all sense and logic, Fiona moved.
Her arms twitched, her chest lifted slightly. And then, impossibly, she stood up.
Chaw's mouth fell open. "Fiona... you're alive?"
But Fiona didn't smile. Her balance wavered, her body unstable as if fighting its own death. Her expression was one of cold fury. Without warning, she slapped Chaw across the face, leaving a sting deeper than just pain.
"You useless bitch.." Fiona hissed through a trembling voice. "I told you to get the children out! If anything happens to my son, I'll never forgive you."
Chaw staggered back, stunned, her eyes wet. "I'm... I'm sorry."
"Shut up...." Fiona's voice cracked with emotion, but she never looked back. As she turned to face Jarama, her body began to shimmer and finished her last talk with Chaw with " I don't want to see your face anymore." As Fiona's skin transforms into radiant light, her form is less human, more divine.
Chaw watched in frozen grief as Fiona sprinted toward Jarama.
Behind her, Selay, despite his cracked ankle, limped and crawled, desperate to reach his mother.
"No! He'll kill her!" Selay cried.
Chaw turned, grabbed him, holding him tight. "We need to go."
"No! Mom... she's still fighting!" Selay sobbed.
Chaw slapped him hard and gripped his hand until it bled. "Didn't you hear me? WE. NEED. TO. GO."
Selay didn't respond. He could only stare as his mother faced the monster ahead.
Jarama smirked, raising the orb of Fiona's blood. "Let's see how it feels to be killed by your own blood."
He hurled it like a spinning drill of death. But Fiona, glowing brighter with each step, punched the orb mid-air. It exploded in a flash of red and white light, and the blood surged back into her veins.
The energy of reunion sparked through her. She vanished in a sonic boom and reappeared in front of Jarama, her hand tuned into something made of light forming mid-motion. Her body burned with radiant speed, as he punched the space which shot some unimaginable attacks as her strikes shook the very sky. She punched the space that tore at the air but all blow missed and every missed blow cracked the dimension around them, distorting reality.
But Jarama dodged each attack with terrifying calm. Then, with one cold movement, he caught both of Fiona's hands, twisted her arms up, and drove his katana straight through her chest.
Fiona gasped. Her light flickered and Jarama headbutted her there directly, breaking her skull and destroying the front part of her brain.
He tossed her like a broken doll.
She landed near Chaw and Selay, coughing, barely conscious. Selay broke free from Chaw and stumbled toward her, calling out, "Mom!"
Fiona, bleeding heavily, extended her right hand toward him. "Stay... away...go.."
But he ran, reaching for her.
Then Jarama came there.
He appeared beside Fiona and drove his katana down. It pierced through her skull, clean and it directly hit her brain as well as consciousness that exists in her brain as a higher dimensional construct that kept her alive.
Blood splattered in all directions, some spraying across Selay's cheek as he reached for her.
Time froze.
Selay dropped to his knees, his small hand gently touching her outstretched palm.
"No... Mom... Please... don't leave me..."
His voice broke. Memories surged through his mind, her warm laughter, the way she held him at night, the stories she told, her sacrifices, her love. Tears flowed freely.
As he touched her hand, a soft glow formed. A white butterfly, fragile and luminous, emerged from where their hands connected. It hovered, then gently landed on Selay's forehead.
The moment it touched him, it dissolved into his skin. His body convulsed.
His eyes flared open, bathed in a blinding white light.
For a moment, everything was a blur then silence.
When his vision cleared, Selay found himself lying on soft grass. He slowly sat up, heart pounding, and looked around. He was in a vast, endless garden. Flowers of every color bloomed across the horizon, and glowing butterflies floated gently through the air like falling stars.
The light here didn't come from the sky... there was no sun above, yet the entire expanse shimmered brighter than daylight. The glow wasn't harsh; it was warm, ethereal, as if the air itself breathed life.
And standing in the distance, radiant even among all this beauty, was a woman in a flowing white gown.
It was his mother.
"Mom…" Selay whispered, his voice cracking. Then louder, "Mom!"
He ran, legs trembling, heart racing, tears breaking free with every step. Fiona opened her arms, waiting for him. When he reached her, she caught him in an embrace as if nothing else mattered in the world.
"I thought... I thought you ..di.." Selay said through sobs. "I thought you were gone…"
Fiona knelt, brushing his tear-streaked face with her fingers. Her smile was soft but there was sorrow buried within it, like sunlight behind a storm cloud.
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
Selay blinked. "Why are you saying sorry?"
She pulled him close again, her voice quiet in his ear. "I'm sorry I couldn't be the mother you deserved. I'm sorry I wasn't there long enough… to see the person you'll become. I'm sorry I made you cry."
"No… Mom, don't say that. You've always been the best. You protected me. You gave me everything…"
Fiona pulled back slightly, her hands trembling. "Selay…Listen to me... I'm not alive anymore."
His heart dropped. "No. You're here. I'm holding you."
"I'm only here for a moment." She said loudly but realizing she said harshly she said softly " I dont have time"
"No! Don't say that!" he cried, gripping her tighter.
She gently placed her hands on his cheeks. "You have to listen to me. I don't have much time."
Selay stared at her, struggling to accept it.
"You always wondered why you had no power… why mana never touched your soul. It wasn't your fault. It was ours. Your father and I..our Divine Wings made your body resist mana naturally. That resistance protected you… but also made you powerless."
Fiona said " I am sorry, but " She placed her palm against his chest " I thought I will pass on my divine wing after you grow old enough, but now I no longer live so I pass on my power to you. Time has stolen that choice."
"I don't want power!" Selay shouted. "I just want you!"
Fiona smiled softly. "I love you more than anything. That's why you must live. No matter what happens, live. Even when it hurts. Even when I'm gone remember, mom loves you ."
She leaned in and kissed his forehead. Her body began to glow, breaking apart into light like morning mist.
"I love you," she whispered, fading in his arms. "You have to live…"
"Mom!" he screamed, clutching the vanishing light.
The garden echoed with his cry. Butterflies of white light swirled around him, drawn by his sorrow. They surrounded him..dozens, then hundreds..until they covered him like a cocoon of radiance.
And then, he was back.
Back on the real world. Back in the blood-soaked world.
His mother's body lay cold before him.
His hands trembled, her warmth still lingering in them. Tears streamed down his face, but his expression was different now..silent, burning with something deeper.
Across from him, Jarama stood with a twisted grin. Behind him, the sky split open dark rifts in reality tearing like paper, vomiting demons into the world.
Jarama pointed his blade at Selay.
"If you love her so much," he sneered, "then why not join her."
With that, he lunged and his katana raised, ready to strike Selay.
Just before Jarama's blade could reach Selay, a blinding golden flash erupted.
It was a glowing sword bright as the sun clashed with Jarama's, creating a shockwave that shook the ground for miles as dust flew and the air trembled with it.
Selay looked up, eyes wide to see Shanglui. (His father.)
Shanglui had blocked the attack.
"Father…!" Selay cried, his voice shaking. Tears streamed down his cheeks. "He killed Mom… He killed her…"
Shanglui stood still, holding Jarama's blade back with all his strength. He didn't look at Selay right away, but he saw Fiona's lifeless body. He saw his son, broken and weeping.
Sorrow inside him cracked, but he showed no emotion.
"I'm sorry…" Shanglui said, with a heavy voice. "I am too late…"
A single tear fell from his eye and then, with a roar of rage, his golden divine wings burst open, shining like the sun as He prepared to strike. But just as he raised his sword his strength gave out all of a sudden.
His weapon slipped from his hand. It landed with a clang beside Selay.
In that same moment, Jarama grinned and shifted his grip.
He thrust his sword forward, piercing straight through Shanglui's skull.
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.
Jarama hovered in the air far from the ground , holding his bloodied blade high like a trophy.
He was wounded,one eye gone, an arm missing.. but he still stood.
And on the tip of his sword… hung Shanglui's body. The blade had run through his head, his crown now the nail holding his corpse in place.
Portals opened in the sky as demons poured through, flying into the world, screaming with madness.
Jarama turned to the village below. People stared up, horrified, frozen in fear.
"Look at your king," he shouted. "The one you chose over me. Look what I've done to him."
His voice was with power and pride.
"For standing against me… all of you will suffer."
The villagers murmured in panic, some crying, others unable to comprehend . Thousands stood still, helplessness in their eyes.
None dared speak.
Until a single voice he heard from a distance which was young, quiet and the voice was not feared like others .
"I'll kill you."
Jarama looked with surprise.
It was Selay.
His hair blew in the wind. His small hands held the broken golden sword his father dropped. His eyes, once soft, now burned with grief and fury.
"Why?" Selay thought. "Why did Mom have to die? Why Dad? They saved the world…"
He stepped forward, dragging the sword.
"You'll pay for this!" he yelled.
He tried to run toward him with the intention to attack him .
But after just a few steps, the sword's weight pulled him down. He fell hard. The weapon was too big and too heavy.
Jarama sneered. "You think you can kill me with that? With those weak little hands?"
Selay clenched the hilt, tears mixing with blood. "Why… Why did you do this?"
Suddenly, a figure appeared in front of him who was cloaked and hooded .
He looked at Selay, his voice calm but heavy with emotion.
"Your father died to save the world... I could've helped him in that fight, even if it wouldn't have changed the outcome. But I made a promise... to save you, and everyone I could.
I can't afford to lose you, Selay."
He slowly extended his hand.
"You have to live... to save the world your father died for."
Selay stared at the hand. His body shook as rage and sorrow burned in his eyes.
Before he could move, Jarama vanished at a speed faster than one can see , blade aimed to strike.
But Selay didn't flinch and he grabbed the hand.
And just as the blow was about to land....They disappeared into reality...
To be continued...