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Chapter 18: Blood, Ash, and Revelation
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Malik vs Fiona — The First Clash
The skies screamed.
Lightning and sunlight clashed in the great plains outside the empire. Malik blurred forward, Speed Force crackling, virus tendrils lashing like whips. Fiona met him with blinding radiance, her blade a pillar of dawn splitting night itself.
Their first blows split the ground into canyons. Their second shattered the air itself. Their third… broke Malik.
Her blade carved through his defenses, burning flesh and virus alike. His lightning staggered her but could not pierce her armor. Blood sprayed as her strikes left deep wounds across his body.
Malik fought savagely, refusing to fall — but Fiona was a storm of perfected destruction. Her aura suppressed his, her speed rivaled even his lightning.
At last, she drove her blade through his side, sending him crashing into the dirt, lightning sputtering weakly around him.
Breathing hard but unbroken, Fiona pointed her weapon at his fallen form.
"You cannot win, Child of Chaos. The dawn always rises."
Malik's vision blurred. His body screamed. Yet his lips curved into a defiant, bloodied smile.
"…Then I'll burn the dawn to ash."
Before she could finish him, the battlefield was swallowed by shadows — Nyx's crimson aura tearing through the horizon, dragging Malik's broken body into safety.
Fiona let them go. For now.
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Najima — The Host is Born
Far beneath the earth, Najima's body convulsed, black flames tearing through her veins. The cursed ring pulsed, and Knull's laughter filled the cavern.
Her screams turned to silence.
When her eyes opened again, they were no longer hers. Twin voids stared into the world, hungering.
Knull had his host.
The earth trembled as his voice echoed, not just in Najima's mind — but across the skies.
"The void returns."
The first true darkness had risen.
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Nabila — The Choice of Chains
Nabila collapsed to her knees when she felt it — the shift in her sister's aura, the corruption finalizing. Tears burned her eyes as memories of their childhood cut through her chest.
"No… Najima…"
But grief hardened into resolve. She clenched her fists, eyes blazing with determination.
"If Knull thinks he owns her… he's wrong. I will bring her back. Even if I must tear the void apart with my own hands."
She knew she could not do it alone. And that meant only one choice.
Malik.
The one she was fated to kill, the one she cared for most, the one who now carried both the storm and the virus.
It was betrayal. It was destiny shattered. But she didn't care.
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The Return of Dick — The Dark Knight
The palace shook.
Deep within the royal chamber, Dick's eyes snapped open. For years he had lain in a coma, his aura dormant. Now, it blazed like a black inferno.
His body twisted, reshaping, wings of shadow sprouting from his back. His aura was not light like Fiona's nor corrupted like Najima's — it was something older. Something darker.
The King stood before him, pride burning in his gaze.
"At last, my son awakens. The bloodline of the Dark Knight, sealed for centuries, flows within you. You will eclipse even Fiona. You will bring me the Chaos' head."
Dick's grin was feral, madness dancing in his eyes.
"Malik… I'll crush you. And I'll take everything you ever wanted."
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Nabila — The Awakening of the Mystic Blood
While chaos brewed outside, Nabila meditated in her chamber, her aura trembling. Her grief, her love, her fury — all collided within her.
And then, something broke.
Her veins ignited, her body glowing with runes long hidden. The very air bent around her, a power deeper and older than the King's bloodline itself.
Her voice echoed, laced with mystic resonance.
"…So this is my true legacy."
She rose, her aura blazing with both light and shadow, a power unlike any before her. She was no longer just the Child of Destiny. She was something more.
And with this power, she swore — she would break fate itself.
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