Veneri stood atop a rocky hill. In front of him, was Edarea Anivaris. She was sitting on a rock, holding a black sword that was a Divine Weapon. Veneri's eyes narrowed, scanning her carefully.
"So are you real this time?"
Without warning, Edarea sliced the air. In a second, her own head rolled from her shoulders. Her headless body bent and held the head with both hands with black blood dripping from the cut neck to her hands.
Veneri, unsurprisingly, did not flinch.
"Boundless Immortality. So you have it in this life too."
"How... do you know that name?"
" Your immortality isn't simple regeneration or a cheat of life. It's a curse tied to the lives of others. Every death you experience is redirected into another soul you've marked. That's why you were Empress of Earth back then. Governments feared killing you because any attempt would cost the lives of innocents. That's your power as the Split of Death."
Her head laughed even though it didn't have functioning vocal cords. And honestly, I'm not going to focus on how that's possible.
"You keep surprising me, And you can slow down time, right? Do we… not have a thing anymore? Do you not love me?"
Veneri's scoff made Edarea confused.
"I have five women with better attitudes than you," he said. I even had to bite back a laugh. The sheer bluntness cut through her, and I could see her pride bristle.
"Ouch," she said, but there was more shock than pain in her tone. "I'm really beautiful, you know. Even the Transmigrators of Ledatic Siliportem are entranced by me."
"You're comparing yourself to mortals? Then you're just an ordinary bitch. My own women are wanted by Divine Beings and you're telling me only mortals want you? Sheesh, what a letdown."
Edarea's eyes rolled, but this time there was irritation. She tried to mask it with humor.
"You are not fun to tease."
He stepped closer. The rocky ground beneath his boots cracked from the pressure of his Presence.
"Neither are you. Now bring Celadille back."
Her smirk faltered and she hummed thoughtfully, the word "Celadille" slipping through her lips like a note in some dark song.
"No. She's a good snack for my Divine Creature. The moment she's about to give birth, my pet eats her and she'll reach Overlord Rank. Do you care about a random elf?"
Veneri's expression didn't change. His eyes didn't even blink.
"I don't care about her. I do care if my beloved loses a niece or nephew. And you getting stronger? That's not happening."
"Then you can try. She'll be in the palace. If you can save her, good. If not… well, you'll see."
Veneri shook his head slowly, almost with a sigh.
"I have my ways. Boundless Immortality has a weakness. You can't remember it because you don't have memories of your past life, right? You should know that."
She was silent. It was was the expression he wanted to see and it also made me smile. He really know how to push her buttons.
"I'll make a bet with you, Edarea. If you regain your memories before I reach you to end you permanently, you win. If not, too bad."
Her smirk vanished. The playful, arrogant mask she always wore slipped away, leaving a shadow of unease beneath the monstrous confidence she had carried this entire confrontation.
"Good luck," she said finally as her form melted into black smoke and vanished, leaving the hilltop empty.
Veneri didn't move. He just stood there, staring at the empty space she had vanished from as if she might reappear out of sheer spite. I spoke in his mind.
"So, does her Boundless Immortality actually have a weakness?"
"No."
"No?"
"No, it doesn't have one."
"Then why did you tell her it does?"
That finally made him glance at my hologram beside him.
"To make her uneasy."
That's it?
"You made a bluff to a Split of Death?"
"She relies on certainty. Confidence is part of her power. If she starts doubting, she hesitates. If she hesitates, she makes mistakes. I know her."
"That's cruel."
He wasn't proud about it. He wasn't even smug. The glow of the city below the hills intensified. A massive tower collapsed somewhere in the distance. Even from here, he could hear the roar of hundreds of thousands of Krepsunas flooding through the city.
"This was actually supposed to be a good trip with no apocalyptic mass casualties."
"Oh, sure," I said dryly. "The elven refuge city is under siege by Sunderer Rank Krepsunas. Very relaxing."
He ignored the sarcasm.
"I'll have to take Elyonari with me. We'll retrieve Celadille together."
"You're serious?"
"Yes."
"That's… interesting."
He shot me a look. "What?"
I hesitated, then asked it plainly.
"Do you actually care about Celadille?"
He didn't answer immediately. He looked down at the city instead. Fires burned in clusters like infected wounds across the landscape. Screams rose and fell. Krepsunas screeched in a horrifying chorus.
"I care about a lot of things. For now we head back. How's the city holding up?"
I didn't sugarcoat it.
"Not good. Thirty percent of the elven population is dead. Another twenty percent have already turned into Krepsunas. And you know what that means."
"They have to be killed."
Because once the infection fully sets in, there's no reversing it. They can't be saved.
"It really is unfortunate."
Below us, the city was full of mutated bodies. Elven defenders were overwhelmed in large numbers. High-ranking warriors were fighting like legends, but legends don't matter when you're facing sheer volume of monsters.
"It doesn't matter how strong we are. We can't save everyone. Not when hundreds of thousands of Krepsunas are attacking one spot."
That was the part most people didn't understand about power. You could split mountains and rewind seconds. You could even kill Divines but when you have hundreds of thousands of infected creatures swarming through every alley and street, tearing through civilians faster than you could teleport, even a Split of Time couldn't be everywhere at once.
"It's best if you scout first. Edarea might still be nearby. She was trying to snipe the city from afar earlier. She might still be doing that. Her spheres are strong enough to kill Divines."
"Fine, I'll sweep the perimeter."
I turned my focus back into the city. Buildings that had stood proud this morning were cracked open. The main avenue was a massacre. Elven guards were torn apart mid-formation, Krepsunas kept piling over their corpses in a frenzy and consuming them.
I flew closer to the scene.
An elven mother clutched her child against a collapsed fountain. Both were already caught in the first wave and died. A group of turned elves staggered down an alley. They still wore city guard armor.
They had to be killed. There was no other way around it.
Further ahead, a squad of surviving warriors were forming a perimeter around a cluster of civilians. Their captain was screaming orders through blood and smoke, trying to hold a line that was already crumbling.
Thirty percent were dead. Ten percent had been turned. I hovered above the central area, or what was left of it.
"Well at least it was a good temporary home while it lasted."
There was something bitterly funny about that. We had barely settled in. The architecture had been elegant. The forests surrounding the capital were beautiful in the early light. Now, a tide of infected bodies crashed against anything that still stood upright.
In the distance, I felt Veneri's presence sweep across the outer perimeter. He was scouting efficiently and sure enough, Edarea was there trying to destroy the city using her energy spheres. They were clones of hers though, not the real one. He killed them regardless.
This is really annoying. Just how powerful is Edarea that she managed to overpower a Sixth and two Fourth Enlightenment Divines at once?