REONE
"I feel invincible," Damon declared, his voice carrying around the Ancestral Funeral Chamber with an unnatural distortion.
When his laughter finally subsided, Damon swung the Trident of Axis around, looking down at it with childlike wonder.
Lyrian looked at him, holding her breath with every careless movement.
"Oh no..." Reone whispered.
"Stars..." Nova breathed. "How the heck did he get the Trident?"
Beside Lyrian, Reone tightened his grip on his sword.
"Doesn't matter. The only thing to focus on now is killing the bastard."
"No!" Anika cried immediately.
Everyone looked at Anika, who wore a weary but disturbed expression.
"Don't try to fight him. He's too powerful now."
At that moment, Nivara stumbled through the ruined entrance, distracting them.
Her body jerked unnaturally, as though she were fighting against invisible chains.
"Stop controlling me, Damon!" she screamed.
Damon didn't even spare her a glance.
He simply laughed.
"You're my puppet now, Nivara."
He turned his head, and his eyes swept across everyone gathered below him.
"In fact... all of you are."
His smile widened.
"Or at least you will be by the time I'm done with you."
Reone stepped forward despite the fear knotting in his stomach. The thing was, his conversation with Lyrian and seeing Primi and Anika alive...
It reminded him that despite all the loss they'd faced so far, there was still much to fight for.
"We'll never let that happen, Damon. We'd rather die."
Damon started grinning again.
"Fine..."
He lowered himself from the air onto the stone floor.
"If that's what you prefer."
The Trident in his hand pointed in their direction.
A massive beam of dark energy erupted toward them.
The five Sylph girls reacted instantly, throwing up shimmering magical barriers.
The attack pierced through them as though they were made of paper.
It hurled every one of them across the chamber.
Cries of pain echoed through the room.
Before Damon could fire again, Reone charged.
The Legion followed immediately behind him, weapons drawn.
Steel and blasts clashed against the Trident.
Damon blocked every strike effortlessly.
He barely even seemed to move.
Reone suspected the Trident had given him unnaturally fast reflexes.
As Sire swung his sword, Damon caught his arm with one hand before hurling him into Mickey, sending both crashing into a nearby wall.
Reone attacked again, undeterred.
This time, Damon blocked the strike and caught his wrist, twisting it as hard as he could.
Reone yelled helplessly, letting his Spiral Blade clatter onto the floor.
Damon then grabbed him by the throat and lifted him effortlessly.
Their faces were inches apart, so close that Reone could feel Damon's breath.
"You're no match for me, Legion. Haven't you realized that yet?" he said as he choked Reone.
A cruel smile spread across his face.
"And just so you know, after I kill you... Rhys is next. Then there'll be no one left to stop me from becoming King of Echian... and eventually Emperor of Ruminia."
As Damon spoke, Reone's eyes flickered toward his Pulse Watch.
His thumb discreetly pressed the activation switch.
A metallic device rapidly shot forward from the Pulse Watch and attached itself to Damon's hand.
Three seconds later, electricity surged through Damon's body, making him release Reone with a surprised grunt.
Reone stumbled backward, gasping for breath.
Before Damon could recover, beams of light, sound, water, and fire slammed into him.
The Sylph girls were back on their feet and ready to continue waging war against Damon.
Their attacks bought enough time for Reone to retreat and recover.
Though the girls had barely harmed Damon.
He casually batted away their subsequent attacks in a dozen flashy ways before quickly growing irritated.
"This is becoming predictable and annoying," he said with a bored sigh.
He then rose into the air once more and aimed the Trident at them again.
Another colossal blast exploded through the room, throwing everyone to the floor as the chamber trembled violently.
For several seconds after it stopped...
Nobody moved.
"Is everyone okay?" Lyrian called weakly, waving away the fresh cloud of dust.
Sire groaned from somewhere beneath Mickey.
"Considering we're all lying on the floor again..."
He winced.
"...not really."
Primi, who had been sheltering a weakened Anika behind a giant stone statue, helped her to her feet.
"We have to retreat now."
Anika nodded shakily.
"I've felt the Trident's power, guys. Trust me when I say it's unbeatable."
"She's right, you know," Damon said, finally appearing. Another blast was gathering at the tip of the Trident.
"But you're not going anywhere," he told them.
Everyone froze, looking at him.
They knew they were in trouble. There wasn't enough time to dodge or counter.
They all thought this was it.
Until—
A blast of dark magic slammed into Damon from the side.
He staggered back in surprise.
"Give me back my sister!" Caelynn screamed as she unleashed another volley of attacks at him.
After recovering, Damon blocked them with ease.
As Reone watched the two, he felt grateful to Caelynn for the first time ever.
Unintentionally, she had created enough of a distraction for them to escape.
He didn't want to retreat, but he knew that in their current state, against a Damon this powerful, they couldn't hope to win.
We'll fight another day, he told himself firmly. But only if we survive this one.
"Run!" Reone shouted, helping Lyrian to her feet.
No one hesitated.
They sprinted from the chamber, aching in body parts they hadn't even known existed.
Damon growled as he watched them flee.
He wouldn't let them escape.
Not after the trouble they had caused him.
His patience with Caelynn finally snapped.
He slammed the Trident's handle onto the floor, and a violent pulse of dark energy erupted from it, throwing Caelynn backward the moment it reached her.
She looked at Damon, breathing heavily.
Whatever had come from the Trident had left her feeling strangely weak.
Damon watched her menacingly before turning toward Nivara.
"You say you want your sister?"
A sinister smile spread across his face.
"You can have her."
His voice became cold.
"After her, Nivara."
"And make sure to kill her."
"No..." Nivara whispered.
But her body rose into the air against her will.
She turned toward Caelynn.
"Damn it. Look out, Caelynn!"
Dark blasts erupted from her hands toward her sister.
Caelynn immediately took flight, desperately weaving between Nivara's relentless attacks.
Satisfied, Damon turned away from them.
His eyes settled on the exit of the funeral chamber.
A grin spread across his face.
"Now..."
He tightened his grip on the Trident.
"...back to the real hunt."
---
AUTHOR'S POV
As soon as Damon left, more chaos erupted in the Funeral Chamber.
Caelynn twisted out of the way as Nivara fired another blast of dark energy from her hands.
The attack exploded against the temple statues, sending fragments of stone crashing to the floor.
"Nivara!" Caelynn shouted, looking at her. "Stop fighting me!"
"I can't!" Nivara cried as another attack fired despite the horror on her face.
"I'm trying!"
Caelynn ducked beneath the blast and landed a few paces away.
"You need to get out of here, Caelynn. Or I'll end up hurting you," Nivara said despairingly.
Another blast.
Caelynn rolled aside.
"I'm not leaving you," she said.
At that moment, Nivara's body jerked violently.
She gritted her teeth as if wrestling with an invisible force.
Caelynn watched in despair as she lost that battle for control, and another energy beam formed between her hands.
Caelynn blocked what she could and dodged the rest, but one blast grazed her shoulder, spinning her sideways.
She stumbled before catching herself.
"I'm sorry!" Nivara sobbed.
"I'm so sorry!"
Caelynn ignored the pain.
"I'm fine."
Nivara's expression became pleading after she said this.
"Please, Caelynn. You have to go!"
"No, I don't," Caelynn said stubbornly.
Instead, her eyes fixed on the ruby necklace around Nivara's neck, glowing crimson. Damon had already informed her that it was the source of his control spell.
And she planned to destroy it.
She quickly filled Nivara in.
"I'm going to try going for that necklace. Maybe if it's destroyed... you'll be in control of yourself again."
"What?"
"The necklace!" Caelynn shouted. "It's what's keeping you under Damon's control. I'm going to destroy it."
Nivara's eyes widened for a fraction of a second.
She was about to protest when another command seized her.
She continued attacking Caelynn.
Caelynn flew toward her, evading the blasts with agility and bursts of speed.
She reached Nivara, and the two started fighting, throwing kicks and punches at each other.
Caelynn, being the more skilled combatant, eventually managed to knock Nivara to the ground—only hard enough to stun her, and only because she had no choice.
"Sorry," she whispered, reaching for the necklace.
Nivara caught her hand.
Her eyes suddenly snapped open.
Caelynn went still, not expecting her to have been faking unconsciousness.
Before she could think, a blast erupted from Nivara at point-blank range.
Caelynn cried out as the impact slammed her into the stone floor.
The air left her lungs, and for a moment everything spun.
She tried to stand but couldn't.
She then looked up.
Nivara hovered directly above her as dark energy gathered between her trembling hands.
Caelynn lay there, too badly hurt to move. Frustration filled her.
She then saw tears streaming freely down Nivara's face and went still, calmly accepting her fate.
"I won't hold this against you, Nivara," she said softly. "It's okay."
"No... it's not," Nivara said in a teary voice.
The dark sphere between her hands grew larger and larger, but it remained there only because Nivara refused to release it.
Her entire body shook violently from the effort of holding it back.
"I won't... hurt you too, Caelynn," she whispered.
Her voice was trembling.
Caelynn watched her struggle with wide eyes, knowing how much pain she must be in.
Then suddenly—
Nivara screamed.
And fired.
Not at Caelynn.
But at herself.
With a desperate cry, Nivara forced both of her hands inward instead of forward.
The dark energy slammed into the glowing ruby resting against her chest, causing the necklace to shatter instantly.
But the blast also damaged Nivara herself, burning her body and devastating her internal organs.
Nivara's scream echoed through the temple.
Then her body went limp and fell toward the floor.
"Nivara!"
Caelynn threw herself forward and caught her just before her head struck the stone floor.
She lowered her as gently as she could into her lap. Then she looked at her.
Nivara was conscious, but barely.
Blood stained the front of her clothes, and she let out a few weak coughs.
Caelynn looked at the wound before panic filled her face.
"Oh... Stars..."
Her voice broke.
"What have you done, Nivara?"
Nivara managed a weak smile.
"I... couldn't..."
Another cough.
"...hurt you."
Caelynn shook her head frantically.
"Oh, Nivara..."
It was all she could say.
Nivara looked into her sister's brown eyes.
They told her the truth about her condition.
"It's... bad... isn't it?"
Caelynn couldn't answer.
The tears gathering in her eyes answered for her.
"I thought so," Nivara whispered.
"Don't talk," Caelynn pleaded.
Then, desperately, she added,
"You're going to be fine. I'm going to find one of those Diviners and make them heal you."
"They wouldn't agree..."
Nivara coughed again.
"...and I think... we both know... it's too late."
Caelynn shook her head, even though she knew Nivara was right.
"It's okay," Nivara whispered, repeating the same words she had told her minutes ago.
"No," Caelynn said.
Nivara smiled at her as a tear rolled down her cheek.
"I'm... glad... you're here, Caelynn."
A shaky breath.
"You've always... been here."
Her breathing became shallower.
"I just... wish that Veyra..."
Another tear slipped down her face.
"I... wish..."
She went quiet again.
But this time...
It was forever.
"Nivara?" Caelynn called urgently, gently squeezing her hand.
"Nivara?"
Silence.
Caelynn stared at her for several long seconds before breaking into sobs.
Nivara was gone from this world, she realized.
And so was Veyra.
She was all alone.
Caelynn remained there for a long while, kneeling on the cold temple floor, holding Nivara's body and ignoring the sounds of battle echoing somewhere in the distance.