After Lady Aria drew her magnificent purple blade from a portal, the others were not just surprised; they felt a glimpse of her true self. She closed her eyes and said, "You wish to know about my past? My immortality? So be it."
As she spoke, the area they were in began to shape-shift through time. Everything changed, cycling through ages and eras.
"Many centuries ago," she said, "I lived in a normal village, not too fancy and not poor either. It was close to what used to be the capital city of a long-lost empire called Azzraged... a powerful empire whose might even shocked the very foundation of the Underworld."
The area transformed into a beautiful village, with the walls of the capital city visible in the distance. The vast landscape was dotted with the rusted ruins of metal objects, as if from a long-lost battle. The metal objects had long barrels and stood tall, almost scraping the sky.
A small, beautiful girl ran through the field, along with four other girls. They were running through a massive expanse of metal, but the area was also filled with beautiful flowers and vibrant green grass. They kept running until they stopped at a massive metal hand on the ground. One of the girls climbed onto the hand. "How about we play a game?" she said.
"What's the game?" asked another.
"The game is hide and seek," the first girl said. "I will count to twenty, and you go hide wherever you want. I will find you, and if I do, you lose."
"Alright!" they all shouted.
The girl climbed down and stood on the side of a massive metal face, then began to count. The girls scattered to find their hiding places. One of them, with beautiful long blonde hair and star-shaped eyes, was happy to play the game. Her plan was to run as far as she could and hide under one of the metal objects.
As she ran, she accidentally fell into a deep hole in the ground. She managed to land alive, but her leg was bleeding rapidly. Shocked and scared, she looked up and could barely see the light far above. As she tried to stand, small lights began to appear sideways, spreading into a very long path. She was confused, but the pain in her leg wouldn't let her think straight. She wanted to leave as fast as she could.
She began to walk, leaning against the metal wall. As she walked, more lights appeared. She saw some doors on the sides, and as she got close, the doors made a noise as if they were trying to open. They were sealed shut, however, and turned red, refusing to budge.
She kept walking, and the same thing happened to a couple more doors. Then, she came across a large door. It turned green and opened with a massive metallic noise. The girl was terrified. She entered the room and saw human remains all over the place. Terrified, she got close to one of the remains, which still wore a white coat. "People... h-how did they die?" she whispered.
She looked at a card that had a picture of a handsome man on it. "Dr. Ahmad Mansour," she read in a low voice. "Ah... Ahmad? So that was your name?"
In the corner of her eye, there was a flickering green light inside a massive glass container. It caught her attention. She took one last look at the remains before standing up, barely able to walk toward the green light. She stood in front of the glass and put her hands on it. Looking down, her eyes widened. She saw something she would never forget: a green and purple energy beam locked in a standoff, hitting each other and forming a small marble with a mix of colors.
"W-what's that?" she said.
She felt something strange in her body—a dizziness mixed with weakness and cold. She walked to one of the metal doors leading to the green and purple energy. She felt nothing, but something was definitely changing in her body. She didn't think, she was just curious to see what would happen if she touched the marble.
After she touched it, her body was sent flying back into the room with the remains. She woke up, holding her head, which ached. She stood up and immediately felt something strange. She looked at her hands, which were both glowing—one with green energy and the other with purple. The aura was overwhelming. She felt no pain, only more energy and stamina. She felt like she could run for days. She looked at her leg, concerned, but to her shock, the deep wound had vanished. The bruises on her hand and stomach were also gone.
"H-how?" she asked herself.
She looked at her hands, and the power didn't seem to be calming down. She pointed her hand with the purple energy at the roof of the room, and a massive, powerful beam of light erupted, shattering the entire roof and causing it to collapse. It was her only choice.
Meanwhile, in the beautiful field of flowers, the first girl had already found the other three girls. Only the blonde one was missing. They went around calling her name. "Maria! Where are you?"
"Perhaps she went home?" a girl said in a shy voice.
"She'd leave without telling us? That's not Maria," the second girl said.
"Yeah, she doesn't do that at all," the first girl agreed.
"We've been searching for hours. I'm tired and hungry," a fourth girl said.
"We all are, but I'm not leaving without her," the first girl insisted.
As she said that, the purple beam shot from the ground, shaking everything. They saw the beam destroy the ground and erupt into the sky. They were all surprised. "Is that Maria?" they shouted in shock.
"Come on! Let's check it out!" the first girl said excitedly.
They ran toward the beam. When they arrived, the area was full of smoke, and they started coughing. They called out her name, and in the distance, they finally saw something. It was Maria herself, but there was something different about her. Her hands were still glowing green and purple. They were shocked and amazed.
Two days later, Maria and her mother, Marda, were sitting inside the town chief's house, discussing the matter of her hands. Meanwhile, her sister, Mira, looked concerned.
"This power is magnificent," the town chief said. "I've never seen such a thing in my life."
"What does that mean?" her mother asked in a concerned voice.
Suddenly, a woman barged into the room. She wore a long hat and a beautiful dress. "Apologies for the intrusion, but... I couldn't bear my curiosity, hearing of such a miracle and standing aside doing nothing," she said elegantly.
Mira stood on guard. "Who are you?" she asked.
"How rude of me," the witch said. "My name is Elsana. I am the Witch of the Northern Empire."
"Northern Empire?" her mother said in a low voice.
"Yes," Elsana said. "And many of us witches fled from there after we heard that this continent's leaders have approved the teachings of magic, as they saw it as a gift."
"Is... does this mean..." Maria began slowly.
Elsana finished her sentence for her. "Yes... you can learn magic freely, my sweet dear." She leaned in and patted Maria's head, giving her a sweet, comforting smile. She looked at her mother. "May I take your daughter and teach her how to control her power?"
Mira objected and stood between the witch and her sister. "You will not dare to take my sister away!" she said.
Her mother held her daughter's shoulder. "Dear... calm down."
Mira looked at her mother in disbelief. She started shouting, "What? Are you seriously going to let some witch from the Northern lands take away your daughter? My sweet little sister? We don't even know her! What if she..." She couldn't continue as Elsana touched her head. Mira's hand began glowing yellow. She lost control of her body and looked at the roof. She couldn't feel her legs or her hands, and her strength completely faded away.
"What have you done to her?" the mother asked, angry. "Answer me, witch!"
Before she fell to the ground, Elsana held her. "I am sorry, but I had to put her to sleep."
Maria hugged her mother tightly, scared.
The chief was speechless. "So that's the power of magic."
Elsana began explaining the power of magic and how dangerous it could be. "Magic can be many things, and as we witches of the North listed them, the source of life, the source of death, and the source of obedience. The source of life means healing, revival, a long life span, and many other things that can save a person. The source of death is the power to destroy and kill, a heavily converted magic that is concentrated into a massive, destructive scale. It also spreads diseases. As for the source of obedience, it is as simple as it is called: mind control, thought changing, putting people to sleep, brain control, emotion control... and many other things. It can be used to control animals and change their behavior into something more peaceful."
The mother and the chief were amazed. Maria had mixed feelings. She kept looking at the witch and her sister. The witch noticed this. She came close to the mother and Maria, knelt, and leaned closer to Maria. She then removed her glasses. Maria saw beautiful things, but all she noticed were the witch's eyes. They were shaped like crystallized dark red eyes. Maria could almost see her reflection in them.
Maria and her mother were amazed, and Maria got closer, wanting to touch her face. Her mother let her. Maria gently held the witch's face, rubbing it. "So soft... warm," she said.
The witch also held Maria's face gently and put her forehead against hers. Once she did, a small white orb went from the witch's head to Maria's, but nobody else noticed it. When it went inside Maria's head, her eyes went completely empty, the color fading away as she stared into the witch's eyes. The witch said something only Maria could hear: "himsveia lavartos bena arctartos."
Then, something strange happened that knocked the witch away from Maria's face. The white orb shot back into the witch's head, hurting her. After that, Maria completely lost her strength, knelt, and looked at the ground, soulless.
The witch stopped time around them. She looked at Maria with a confused expression, seeing something she had never seen before. She then looked at the mother with a smug, evil look. She got close to the mother, who was on the ground, looking at Maria. The witch raised the mother's face with her shoe and then put her foot on her shoulder as a sign of dominance.
"Your daughter is no longer yours," she said, looking down at her. "She is going to become mine and mine alone. Pity you won't be alive much longer to see what 'my daughter' will do." She gave a huge, sadistic laugh. She pushed the mother's face with her foot, and the mother's body fell to the ground.
She walked to the sister and then removed her shoe and stomped on it with her bare feet. "If your sister won't obey... then you shall be the second option, and soon you will worship me! Haha!" she continued laughing.
The witch walked back to Maria and got into the same position she was in before. Time continued to move forward. The mother was surprised and confused about why she was on the ground, but she felt a sharp pain in her left shoulder. Maria woke up from her small "nap" and looked at the witch, confused. She looked at her hands, and the glow had finally faded, but she still felt its presence inside her.
The witch said to the mother, "So... what do you say? I will make sure I take care of..."
The mother raised her voice. "No! No! If my daughter is going to learn magic, it should be in the capital city, not from some Northern witch!"
The witch was surprised, as she hadn't expected that answer. The chief nodded proudly at the mother's resolve. "Ms. Elsana," he said, "I apologize for the rudeness, but it seems this young lady will not go with you. Now, if you please, leave my house and our village."
The witch stood there, confused. "So be it... but don't come crawling when things go wrong." She began speaking a weird language, and a small circle appeared around her. In the blink of an eye, she teleported away.
The mother came and hugged Maria. "Are you okay, dear? Does anything hurt?"
Maria's empty eyes finally regained their color. She hugged her mother. "My head hurts," she said.
The mother growled. "That wicked witch! What has she done to my sweet daughters?"
"I believe it has nothing to do with the witch," the chief said, calming her down. "It's more likely because she used too much mana." The mother looked at her daughter worriedly, as Maria fell asleep.
Mira woke up and had a strange smell in her nose that she couldn't describe. She looked at her mother on the ground, hugging her sister. She rushed to her. "What happened, Mother? Sister Maria?"
Her mother calmed her down. "She used too much mana. Give her a rest, and she will wake up stronger than ever."
Mira was still worried, but the chief said optimistically, "Mother Marda... I wish to speak with you alone later. Take care of your kids, and once you're free, you know where I will be."
"Is it about Maria?" Mother Marda asked.
The chief nodded with a smile. She then carried Maria to her house and put her in her warm bed. Her sister insisted on staying beside her and reading her stories. Maria slept calmly.
The next day, Mira felt something rubbing her hair. She woke up and saw Maria gently rubbing her hair. Mira smiled and hugged her, and Maria hugged her back.
"What happened?" Maria asked.
"You used too much mana and fell asleep," Mira replied. "Mother left the house this morning to talk with the chief. She said she wants to go to the capital as well."
Maria tried to get up, but she still felt tired. Mira gently pushed her back to bed. "Don't... you're still recovering your mana. Rest for now, and I will do the chores of the house and Mother's."
Maria insisted on helping, but Mira said, "Once you feel all right, I will be waiting for you downstairs, okay?"
Maria nodded, and they hugged each other before her sister left. Once Maria finally regained her strength, she met her sister downstairs in their wooden house, and they shared the errands. Maria went to the village to gather food and deliver some homemade cheese to the bakery. Meanwhile, Mira went to work in a nearby office that delivered messages.
While in the village, Maria noticed her friends playing, so she went to greet them. They all rushed to her, happy and wanting to check if she was okay. "We went to your house to check, but your sister said you were sleeping," one girl said.
"Yeah, I hope you are okay," another added.
"Yes, I am fine, thank you for your concern," Maria said cheerfully. "What are you doing here?"
They all responded, "Doing errands, as usual," and they all laughed.
Soon after, they parted ways to finish their errands. As Maria finished hers, she saw some horses in the distance on the path leading to the capital city. She noticed knights with bronze armor riding them. They held the flag of the Royal Academy, and in the carriage behind them, she noticed her mother and the chief.
The knights went to her home, and Maria rushed there as soon as possible. Two knights were guarding the entrance. They stopped Maria and asked her name. Once she said it, they allowed her inside, saying, "They are waiting for you, Miss."
She went inside and saw the chief, her mother, her sister, and two big men, as well as a witch accompanying them. When she entered the room, they looked at her cheerfully and explained the situation. "Please, Miss Maria, come sit beside your mother," the chief said.
Her mother called her, and Maria went to sit beside her. The witch lady got close to Maria. "Observe," she said. A light went through Maria, but it didn't affect her or do anything. The witch, however, saw things only she could see, then looked at the big guy in bronze armor. She nodded to him, smiling.
He removed his helmet, revealing his face—a long white beard and scars. He smiled, showing his teeth. "My name is Miral. I am the headmaster of the Royal Academy. I presume you are Maria, the one we were discussing?"
Maria nodded shyly. "There is no need to be shy or afraid, Miss Maria," the witch said, patting her head. "Your mother already told us everything about you."
"Especially about that Northern witch as well," Miral said.
"It's good that you sent her on her way," the witch said. "No one knows what she would have done to little Miss Maria if she had gone with her."
Miral nodded. The witch then said to Maria, "We already discussed the matter of your powers, and I am here today to ask you, Miss Maria... do you agree to study at our academy?"
Miral laughed. "That academy will teach you how to control your power, and if you ever wish, you can also learn how to fight with swords as well. I would be happy to."
Maria looked at her mother, not knowing what to say. Her mother nodded, silently telling her to agree. Maria nodded back at them, and Miral laughed happily as the witch clapped.
Later that day, after they had packed Maria's things, her sister approached her and hugged her. "Can't wait to see you again, dear sister!" she said cheerfully.
Maria patted her head. "I don't know when I will come back."
"They told us it's going to be three years and you will return to us," her sister said, smiling. "So don't worry, sis. I will wait for you, even if it's forever."
As Maria looked at her sister's face, a quick image flashed across her mind: the same place, but filled with fire and blood. She barely noticed it. She hugged her sister and her mother one last time before leaving. She went off with the guards in the carriage. As she sat with the witch, who gently played with her hair, the witch said, "Don't worry, they will be alright."
...
Two years later...
Maria was dueling with another student at the academy. The student was holding a blade and using magic to boost his strength and speed. Maria's head was bleeding slightly, and she looked at him with angry, star-shaped eyes. Her eyes were slowly turning red. She used a spell without chanting, allowing her to know how to deal with his speed. After the chant, she saw all the possible outcomes if she dodged or attacked. The best way was to counter-attack.
She also held a blade in her hand. The student boy made his move, moving so fast that she could barely see him. As he approached from her left, he aimed at her neck. She looked to her left with a beautiful face and smiled. Before the blade touched her neck, she used a double boost to her speed, which lasted only five seconds. She crouched, dodging his attack, as she prepared her green energy to hit him.
But instead of shooting green, she shot purple energy, knocking him all the way across the arena. The other students cheered and screamed at the outcome of the match. Maria looked at her hand. She was certain she wanted to unleash the green beam, but she also remembered a voice in her head saying, "Not that one. Use the other."
A couple of days later, she was in a field of flowers that nobody knew about. She wanted to use her green energy, as she had never used it before. Once she did, the flowers died instantly, turning the field into an apocalyptic landscape of dead, gray flowers with no soul. When she touched them, they became ashes. She was scared of using it and never wanted to again.
One night, she remembered those words: "himsveia lavartos bena arctartos." She wanted to know what they meant. She had studied them almost every day since she came to the academy but had never seen or heard of such a thing. She didn't want to tell anyone because if they knew she had contact with the Northern witch, they would turn against her.
One day, while they were sleeping, a massive explosion could be heard. Flying witches stormed the Royal Capital and began destroying it. The wizards and witches of the Royal Academy couldn't hold them off, as there were so many. An entire country had attacked them. The sky was ablaze with an amazing fight between the wizards and the witches. Guards were evacuating the city. "We are under attack! The city has fallen! Leave the city! Go! Come on!" they shouted.
A student barged into Maria's room and told her they needed to go now. A moment later, a wizard came through a window, destroying the glass and going through the wall. Two witches went inside and looked at the kids, laughing as they got ready to attack. One of the students, the same one Maria had dueled with, charged. The witch unleashed a beam directly at his hand, cutting it off. She then turned his legs into a stone wall with a single shot. Maria had studied magic and fighting for three years. The only magic she couldn't use was healing. She had also taken classes on how to wield a blade and fight with it.
The other students were about to run away, but the other witch sliced her staff through the boy who had charged. A moment later, his head fell off as she laughed. The kids were too scared to run. Maria stood there speechless, but her hand was glowing. She felt something was controlling her hand. She looked at it, and it was moving by itself, charging the green energy. The students felt her aura and looked at her. "You will kill us all!" they said.
Maria held her hand, trying to contain her power, but a massive fire breath came from the room the wizard had gone through and burned the witches alive. They flew out of the room but soon fell off their flying broomsticks. The wizard came out of the room, his coat on fire and his eyes ablaze with a power only the most powerful wizards could use. He looked at the children and pointed at them. "Go, leave the city through the underground. Take whoever you see... and leave."
One of the kids asked, scared, "What about you, Professor? What are you going to do?"
The wizard looked out the window at the sky, which was raging with battle. "What am I going to do? Kill some witches," he said seriously. He flew away through the window, and the kids went to the underground tunnels with many other kids and injured wizards and witches.
Once they left the capital through the tunnel, Maria looked back and saw a terrifying view of the city burning. Armies were fighting on the ground and on the walls, shooting fire arrows. The fight continued in the sky between the wizards and the Northern witches. Maria saw her village in the distance, on fire. It looked bad.
She charged, running toward the village, leaving everyone behind. She took a quick glimpse of them to make sure they were okay, but a student stopped her and asked her what she was doing. She pushed him away. "Out of my way! My village is on fire!"
"Everyone there is dead," he said, looking back at the village.
Maria couldn't believe it. She energized her hands and pushed him away, her hands glowing brighter and brighter with green and purple energy. "My mother and sister are there, and I will not let anyone stop me from saving them!" she said angrily.
She boosted her stamina and speed, running as fast as the speed of sound. She cried all the way to her village. When she arrived, she saw something she would never forget. The horrors in the capital were nothing compared to what she saw in her own village. A woman in a witch's coat and long hat stood on a mountain of corpses from the entire village.
Maria felt her heart start to hurt. Her eyes slowly became dark red as she walked toward the mountain of bodies, speechless, not knowing what to do. She noticed a woman kneeling before the witch. It was her own sister, Mira. Maria tilted her head with sadness, unable to believe what she saw. Her own sister was offering the head of their mother to the witch, while the witch patted her head, her hand glowing red as she manipulated Mira's mind.
The witch noticed Maria. "Dear Maria... you missed the party," she said, laughing.
Maria kept walking, her hands glowing, and a small flame erupted in the corners of her eyes. The witch saw it but wasn't worried. She called for an ambush, and soon, non-humans surrounded Maria: Eaglemen, orcs, devils, lizard men, and even an angel among them. They were all laughing. Maria was raging with something she had never experienced: hatred.
The witch began walking down the bodies of the villagers, holding Maria's mother's head. She then threw the head into the flames of one of the houses. Maria took one last look at her mother before she vanished into the flames. The witch laughed hard as the other non-humans and her own sister joined in.
Maria looked down and closed her eyes, trying to contain herself as the non-humans walked toward her. Her sister walked down and stood beside the witch. The witch told her to kill her sister. Maria's eyes finally opened, and the flames in her eyes bloomed. Maria began to rise from the ground slightly, and in the blink of an eye, she vanished. This made the witch concerned for a moment. She saw a string of light going faster than anything she could see. She couldn't keep up with it.
Then, it stopped, and Maria reappeared in the same place. Moments later, the heads of every single non-human around the village fell down. Maria had decapitated them all using her green energy mixed with purple. The witch was not amused but was indeed surprised.
Her sister began laughing. "Oh, Maria, dear Maria... why are you still refusing our mistress? She is the absolute power. She is our salvation... All you need to do, dear, is kneel before her boots and let our mistress do the rest."
Maria looked at her sister. Her eyes were completely empty. Maria started walking, and in thin air, she made a blade using her green energy. Her sister kept laughing. Maria noticed her sister's glowing eyes. She stopped and said angrily, "You are not my sister."
She charged with full speed. But her sister didn't flinch. A wave of dust came out from where she stood. After the dust cleared, the sister was holding Maria's head and crushing it, while with her other hand, she was yawning as if she was bored.
"Is this all you got? Pity," her sister said sarcastically. She threw her sister into the witch. The witch stepped on Maria's face, crushing it.
"You still think I am a witch?" the witch said.
Maria's eyes were still enraged with flames. She held a tight grip on the witch's legs, trying to hurt her in any way possible, but the witch kept crushing Maria's face with her boot.
"You know your mother kissed my feet before I made your own sister cut her head off," the witch said, laughing sadistically. Her sister joined in. "She begged to leave you alone... Pity she will never see what I am planning to do with you, pet." Her hand began glowing red, ready to manipulate Maria's mind. A fireball hit her stomach, but it didn't affect her because she had a self-barrier. It only knocked her away.
From afar, a wizard in a red coat with his eyes enraged with flames flew to the sky, chanting, "Oh heavens above, grant me thy strength to incinerate all that is in my way... grant me thy eternal flame and let me cleanse your enemy with it." After the chant, a massive bow made of fire appeared in his hand, and he unleashed it toward the witch. The sister stood in front of the witch to cover her, but the witch pushed her aside.
The witch took the full hit of the arrow. She was badly hurt and went into a coma. Maria's sister was terrified and concerned for her mistress's safety. "Mistress, please... stay with me," she said. She took a quick look at her sister. Maria's eyes were full of hatred. She picked up an axe and charged to finish her off, but the wizard landed, standing between her and Maria. The wizard stood, wielding a flame blade and a flame staff, ready to fight.
The sister saw that her mistress was still alive. She took her and teleported away. Before she teleported, Maria took one last look at her sister. The flame in her eyes faded away, and she began to cry.
After they left, the only ones alive in the village were the wizard and Maria. The wizard put away his blade and calmed down. He walked to Maria and picked her up, as she was overwhelmed with tears and emotions. He then flew away. The capital city had fallen, and alongside it, the eternal country of Avadoria.
The next day, she woke up, her body full of bandages. She was hurt. She got up in a strange, calm, and peaceful house. She left the house to see a beautiful view of a massive landscape, somewhere she had never known existed. She saw a field that looked like a training ground, and someone was there, training with his blades. She walked to him. It was the same wizard who had saved her that night. He was in good shape, training with his two blades.
"I was thinking for a while," the wizard said. "What is the true purpose of magic? My theory is... it appeared after the Metal Age fell."
"Metal Age?" Maria asked, confused.
"Yes," the wizard said. "You see that giant metal hand over there? That was created by no men, that's for sure. I have many theories about it, and the biggest one so far is that magic is nothing but an entity that appeared to destroy what's left of mankind's world."
He turned to her and smiled while he was sweating. "Good morning, child. Hope you had a nice sleep."
She nodded. "If magic was really a thing to erase ourselves, then why are we still using it?"
"Because if you want to counter it," the wizard said, "you have to learn it. That doesn't mean you use it, but you learn to beat it when the chance arrives."
He continued, "Once you recover, I will teach you how to use the blades."
"But I already know how to use one," she said.
He laughed a gentle, harmless laugh. "But can you use a double blade?" he asked.
She nodded no.
"After you recover," he said, "I might give you the privilege of teaching it to you."
"Professor..." Maria said, confused. "I only saw you at the academy, but who are you, really? I never saw you teaching anything."
"I don't teach much because I am the Guardian of the City," he said. "Why do you think we were teaching you young folks how to fight? To aid the city when the time comes. But that doesn't matter anymore."
"Why?" she asked.
"Because I failed them all," he said, his voice filled with sadness. "Before I came to you, the ones who were evacuated were executed by the hands of the non-humans. We are both the sole survivors of the country of Avadoria. I'm sorry for your mother and sister. It's my fault that they died."
"No," she said. "There weren't enough Guardians in the city to begin with. My best guess is they were planning this attack for years."
"Yeah, same guess here," he agreed. "But tell me, child... what are you going to do now?"
She said angrily, "To take away everything they took from me."
He nodded.
After a few months, Maria was in the training field alongside the wizard, training in a magnificent way. She began to use double blades as well as she had used a single one. He was shooting fire arrows at her, and she deflected one and dodged the other, using her formidable speed. She moved all over the place as if she were teleporting, but in reality, she was just that fast.
He kept shooting, and once she got close, he used his blades as well. He tried to strike from the left, but she moved away fast to the right. She didn't notice the blade that was already aiming at her from the right. She noticed it too late and was dropped to the ground.
"Again," he said, lending her his hand.
At night, she was in her room, studying and experimenting with spells. She was trying to create a new spell that could grant her full power and access to her green and purple energy.
The next day, they were training again, but this time she was faster than the day before. Her techniques were far better than anything else. Even though it had been only one day since their last duel, she had gotten even better. Her moves and attack style were unique and fit her well—so feminine, so elegant, and so deadly.
The wizard tried to strike her again from the left. She dodged it easily. Once he tried to double-strike her from the right like last time, she was nowhere to be seen. He saw her, but it was too late. She was already behind him, her blades at his neck. He was amazed by her speed and the elegance of her moves. He felt her anger and hatred in her every motion.
After another few months, her speed became even more impressive. She no longer needed to use her magic to boost her speed, stamina, or strength. She could cut three metal pipes as if they were pieces of paper. Her moves were beyond impressive; even the wizard couldn't keep up.
At night, she always studied new magic moves and experimented. She read a book about the Dark Tides, which was full of prohibited acts. The wizard had given her his full approval to use it as she saw fit. She read a page about summoning magic. "Boring," she said. Another page was about animal control. "Boring." Another page was about crafting. That page took her full attention. It was two pages in one: a page about crafting and the other about life span.
She tried to chant something from the life span book, and it exploded in front of her, knocking her across the room. The wizard felt the house shaking but didn't care. He continued smoking and cooking, humming to himself.
She woke up, her hand badly injured. She watched as it regenerated rapidly and at an extremely fast pace. She was amazed and thought she had accidentally granted herself an extra life span.
Later, she and the wizard were at the forge, trying to forge a blade for Maria. But every single time, the blade became something else. As she continued her extreme and rapid training, the wizard couldn't keep up. The moment a battle started, she was already beside him, her blades at his neck, and she was smirking. The wizard didn't even move a muscle. He simply smiled.
Later, Maria found a page about a location far away. It would take her four weeks to reach there.
"Are you sure you want to do this on your own?" the wizard asked.
"Yes," Maria said. "It's an 'Adamantium' from the book. It's said to be one of the original materials that existed in this world, way before the Metal World was even a thing."
"I see," the wizard said. "But remember, child... never go near the metal ruins. They have already collapsed enough. No need to interfere with their final remains."
Maria sighed and nodded to him. He smiled and patted her on the head. She then left on a journey alone.
Two weeks later, the wizard was relaxing outside his cabin when he suddenly felt a grave pain in his heart, as if extreme danger were approaching. He turned serious and flew into the sky to see what was going on. Without warning, something hit him from behind at extreme speed and threw him into the vast landscape. He recovered quickly and stood his ground. The one who had attacked him was a female with demon wings and horns, wielding double demonic blades that cut through space and time.
"Demon," he said. "What is a creature of hell doing here?"
The demon girl laughed and teleported to his side, attacking him. But the wizard had already put up a barrier that saved him. However, from her strength alone, she knocked him away. He stood and unleashed hellfire from the sky and ground. She dodged every single one and struck him with a clean, straight hit, but the barrier took most of the damage. As she knocked him back, she attacked again and again, giving him no time to recover. He tried to teleport, but she used her tail to suck up his magic. He couldn't do anything.
The last hit destroyed his barrier. When the dust cleared, she was standing there, not even breaking a sweat. He was breathing heavily and bleeding badly from his head, nose, and body.
"Is this what the greatest of mages can do?" she said. "Imagine how easy it will be for us to attack the rest of the human world... Hahahaha!"
"As much as I want to admit it," the wizard said, "my generation is long beyond gone. But worry not, you filth... someone will always take what we left and continue beyond imagination."
"Oh, really now?" the demon woman said. "That is, of course, if there was anyone else besides us alive! Hahaha!"
The wizard laughed, a laugh that shivered the demon girl's body. "You arrogant fool... you underestimate humanity too much."
From underground, a massive beam of fire unleashed and threw her into the sky. The wizard chanted, "Oh, great heavens above... grant me thy sacred fire... one last time... grant me thy eternal flame... grant me thy gaze to incinerate all that stands against me... to eradicate all that is evil... to cleanse this world of this filthy creature... grant me thy strength!"
A beam of light came from the sky, and energy surrounded him. He absorbed all of it into a single concentrated orb that unfolded into two heavenly blades that no one had ever seen. The fire burned his clothes, and his muscles appeared, shaped like a titan. With wings of fire like a phoenix, he flew too fast and struck her. She deflected and countered with her tails. Her tails wrapped around the blade, and he used his strength and threw her to the ground. At full speed, he came crashing down.
She unleashed void strikes, but he kept dodging while walking toward her. She stood up and launched herself into the sky, crashing down on him with a great strike from above. He countered it and sliced her down the middle, cutting her in half. But she regenerated her other half fast. She took heavy breaths, sweating from how hard this fight had become. The wizard's eyes were glowing with white flames, and he didn't even break a sweat.
As the demon girl screamed, a way of calling for help, the wizard didn't flinch, waiting for her to make a move. Suddenly, four other demons appeared, each a different size. It became a five-on-one fight. They all attacked him. He countered all their attacks and spun his blades, cutting them, but they were regenerating. As the fight continued, the gift or blessing that the wizard had slowly began to fade, along with his physical body.
A demon warrior attacked him from behind. He was too tired to do anything other than attack. The wizard countered the attack and struck where the demon's heart was. The wizard was surprised, but that single attack killed the demon. Their weak point was their heart. The demon twins attacked him from different sides, and he countered them both. But the wizard was also starting to get tired. The big demon got his chance and struck him from behind, cutting off one of his flame wings. The wizard deflected the twins' attack, and they both hit the big demon. Without noticing, the demon girl struck from behind as well. This time, his heart was the target.
His energy was drained, and his blessing was fading away. He quickly struck her and hit her wing, which was already burned. She backed off quickly. He dropped the blade on the ground but didn't give up. In one last attack, he struck the big demon's hand, cutting it off, and tried to strike its heart. But he never noticed the twins. They both came with their blades and struck the wizard's head, finally cutting it off.
The demon girl picked up his head and spat on it. "Look where you are now, old man," she said. They all laughed hard, and the demon girl ordered the big demon to initiate the attack on the human world. She didn't notice, but a beam of light came from the sky and hit the wizard's body in a final attack, eradicating one of the twins and badly burning her hand. She was angry. She picked up his head, struck it with a spear, and left it to rot while she burned his house down and left the area in flames.
In the distance, a massive demon army was approaching, marching to a human city. Meanwhile, Maria finally found a massive crater. There were no trees around it, just a single stone in the middle. It was the "Adamantium," the very metal that drove the old monsters to extinction. She picked it up and went back home.
After two months away from home, she was finally back. She was shocked and threw her bag on the ground, seeing that everything she knew was now ashes. The huge, vast landscape was nothing but burned land, and the house she had lived her life in had been taken away from her.
As for the man who trained her, his head was rotting on a demonic spear. She wanted to pick it up, but it was filled with diseases and other dangerous things, so she did the one thing she could: she set it on fire. She burned his corpse to ashes. In that moment, she felt no pain or sadness. She was just empty. As the flames in her eyes began to rage, she noticed a blade on the ground shining white. She picked it up, and it absorbed her green energy, becoming one with her, sharing her thoughts and her power. A voice echoed, "This is my final goodbye for you, child... Use this blade as you see fit... May the heavens bless your life with eternal glory."
She teared up when she heard his voice one last time. She then struck the blade, opening a gap between realities, and threw the blade into it. After she threw it, the gap closed. Then, she struck her hand, and the gap reappeared, and she took her blade back. She was experimenting with it.
She went to the forge and used the demonic spear and the Adamantium metal to forge an amazing blade no one had ever seen. A blade that could deflect magic and cut through the hardest of metals. It absorbed her purple energy and became the Demonic Heavenly Blade. She now wielded two of the rarest blades that ever existed on the whole planet. The flame in her eyes finally appeared, but this time it was a dark, deep red, spreading to the corners of her eyes. She forged her own armor and made her hair into a ponytail.
She left the forge and marched toward the demon army. After days, she finally found them. Instead of taking the hidden route, she took them head-on. The army stood in front of her, ready to attack, and the demon girl who killed the wizard was there, smirking.
The army started attacking, and in the blink of an eye, an entire platoon's heads were cut off. They all fell at once. The demon girl ordered the second and third platoons to charge until there was nobody left from her army. A mountain of demon corpses piled up, and Maria stood above them. Her gaze alone made them shiver with a deep chill.
The demon girl was angry. Behind her, witches flew. One of them stood beside the demon girl, and another female in a witch's cloth stood beside them. It was none other than the Northern Witch herself and her sister. The witch hadn't anticipated this moment.
The female witch, who turned out to be her sister all along, walked close to the mountain of corpses. "Dear Maria... oh, dear sister... I will ask you one last time... join me... Do it for me, not for them."
Maria threw the head of the demon general that had charged earlier to her sister's boots and started walking down the bodies.
"Maria, why won't you listen to your sister?" the witch said. "Or else I might have to kill you now... Oh, and about killing... where is that old fucker, the so-called wizard?"
Maria clenched her fist when she heard his name and knew she was about to make fun of him.
"After I am done with you," the witch said, "the wizard will make a good pet to play with." They all laughed.
But as she was about to continue, a beam of purple energy struck her. She barely dodged it, but a deep cut was left on her cheek. Maria cut through reality and drew her double blades, which were energized with her own power.
"I am no longer Maria," she said. "I am no longer your sister... no longer that girl that lived in that village. I am Aria, and this is your execution."
The demon girl drew her blade but couldn't react. Aria was standing right where Arcadius saw her in his vision. She was right beside the demon girl on her left. The demon couldn't react as Aria cut her head off.
Aria pointed her blades toward the rest of them. Her sister looked scared, and something strange happened in her mind as she was hurt. The sister flew away alongside the witches. She ordered them to fall back. The witch mistress smirked as she said, "One day... one day, Aria..." She flew away, but Aria unleashed another beam, the green one, and killed most of the witches.
The demon horde charged at Aria, but she killed them all with her speed and strength. At the end of the day, the entire field was nothing but a demon massacre. The one who did it was a girl driven by vengeance.