----Chapter 43-----
Sweat slid down Azre's temples, stinging her eyes as her hands hovered above Deran's torn chest.
Each pulse of golden Ether burned against her palms as she guided it carefully into his wounds. She bit down on her lip, forcing her shaking hands to stay steady.
She couldn't let him die.
The forest around them had gone eerily quiet, as if it were holding its breath along with her. The only sound was Deran's shallow, uneven breathing.
Then—Movement from the edge of the clearing. The last shadow creature collapsed as Faetalis' axe tore straight through it with a sickening crack. Its body broke apart into drifting black mist before fading into the forest floor.
For a brief moment, everything was still.
"Good," Faetalis muttered, lowering her axe.
"That should be the last one."
"Come on, kid… stay with me," Azre whispered, her voice tight with worry.
Faetalis knelt beside them, glancing between Azre and Deran.
"How bad is it?"
Azre shook her head.
"Not good. This isn't a normal wound. It's cursed… whatever poisoned him is worse than what Rietta used on me before."
Faetalis cursed under her breath.
"Can't you remove it?"
"I'm going to try again," Azre replied.
"If I can cleanse the curse first, healing him might actually work."
Faetalis frowned.
"Why didn't you do that earlier?"
"Because I couldn't," Azre admitted quietly.
"I had to stop it from spreading first… otherwise he would've died right away."
"So right now—"
"I've stalled it," she said.
"That's all. Now I need to get rid of it completely."
Faetalis nodded, letting out a breath.
"Alright. I'll keep watch. Just focus."
Azre pressed her hands down more firmly against Deran's chest. Golden aura spiraled from her palms, wrapping around the dark poison like threads trying to trap something alive.
Deran whimpered softly. His fingers twitched. Azre didn't blink, even as sweat ran into her eyes.
Then—
"It's working…" she murmured under her breath.
Beside her, Dorie leaned closer, fists clenched tightly against his chest.
"Come on…" he muttered.
"Wake up…"
Faetalis planted her axe into the ground beside them but didn't let go of it. Her eyes stayed fixed on the treeline, watching for anything that might come out of the darkness.
Deran's fingers twitched again. Azre's hands faltered for half a second before steadying. A weak breath rattled in his throat. Then another. His eyelids fluttered.
"Deran—!"
Slowly, his eyes opened. They were unfocused at first, struggling to adjust to the light—
Until they landed on Dorie.
"…Dorie?"
Relief hit the boy instantly.
"Deran! What happened?! Why are you here? Where's Mera?!"
At the sound of her name, Deran's expression changed.
Not confusion.
Something worse.
"Mera…?"
His breath hitched as he suddenly tried to sit up.
Pain shot through his body.
Azre quickly pressed him back down.
"Easy," she said softly.
"You're still healing."
But he wasn't looking at her.
"Where is she?!"
Faetalis finally turned toward him.
"The girl you were with?"
Deran swallowed hard.
"She's… been possessed."
Silence fell over the clearing.
"What do you mean?" Azre asked.
Deran shut his eyes, like he was trying to keep himself together.
"After Rubal came out of the Cave of Trials… Mera and I were bringing Bob and Bruce back."
"They were poisoned by those men in black robes."
Faetalis' brows furrowed.
"And now?"
"We detoxified them already," Deran said quickly.
"They're stable. I was healing Bob when—"
He stopped. Dorie leaned closer.
"When what?"
Deran's hands started shaking.
"Mera screamed."
Azre's magic flickered.
"She said her head hurt… that she could hear voices."
His breathing grew uneven.
"I tried healing her, but it didn't work. It was like something inside her was pushing it away."
The trees creaked softly around them.
"She started crying… then suddenly she had this black dagger. I could feel something evil coming from it…"
Azre's voice softened.
"Did she attack you?" Deran hesitated.
"It wasn't her," he whispered.
"When I looked into her eyes… there was nothing there but hatred and fear."
"She's being controlled."
"We have to save her."
-----
Meanwhile...
A loud scream tore through the forest like a shard of glass.
Astares' eyes snapped open. Every hair on her arms rose, her heart hammering. She didn't need to see to know who it was. The surge of chaotic, foreign aura carried the unmistakable signature of Mera — twisted, corrupted by something dark, yet undeniably hers.
Her muscles tensed, reflexively drawing her sword. The world seemed to constrict around her. Leaves trembled. Birds vanished in a flurry of wings. Even the moss under her feet recoiled as though in warning.
"Stay back!" she barked, voice cutting through the panic. Her tone was not just command — it was the ferocity of a guardian mother, a vow that no harm would touch the children she had sworn to protect.
Mera's form blurred with unnatural speed, dashes of shadow flickering over her robes. Her hands clutched a dagger that pulsed with dark, twisted energy.
Her eyes — once soft and trusting — were now black pits, glinting with a cruel, alien light.
The first swing of Mera's dagger cut the air toward Astares. The wind twisted unnaturally, shrieking against the blade's arc.
Aura flared from Astares, shielding her just in time, the dagger bouncing off in a spark of corrupted energy that sizzled and smoked.
Astares' eyes burned with restrained fury. The betrayal of the attack — someone she considered family, a child she had sworn to protect l, hit harder than any physical wound. She could smell the tang of Mera's fear, the residue of panic, even through the possession.
But underneath, she sensed Iblis.
The realization struck her like ice water.
"Iblis…" she muttered, voice trembling with controlled rage.
"You've been behind this."
Mera's attack continued in wild arcs, driven not by her own will, but by something inside her. The dagger hummed as it sliced through leaves, snapping branches, leaving a trail of black smoke and twisted aura in its wake.
"Hang on Mera I'm going to save you."
Astares whispered.
A blur of motion rushed toward her.
Mera. Her robes snapped violently behind her as she closed the distance in an instant, shadows trailing from her limbs like smoke. The dagger in her hand pulsed with dark energy, its surface breathing with something alive.
Astares barely had time to raise her blade. The dagger came straight for her throat.
Clang.
Steel met blackened metal in a burst of sparks.
Astares pushed back, but Mera did not stop. She twisted mid motion, the dagger slipping past the edge of Astares' sword.
Too fast.
Astares' eyes widened as the blade drove toward her chest. She jerked sideways at the last possible second.
The dagger grazed her armor with a sharp screech, carving a shallow line across the plating before she forced Mera back with a surge of aura that burst between them like a shockwave.
Both of them slid apart across the forest floor.
Astares steadied herself, breath unsteady.
That was close. Far too close.
Mera came again, silent and relentless. The dagger shrieked through the air as it tore through leaves and snapped low branches, each swing leaving behind streaks of black mist that clung to the ground like rot.
This was not wild. It was controlled.
Calculated.
And underneath it, Astares could feel her.
Mera's fear. Her panic. Drowning beneath something else.
"Iblis," Astares muttered under her breath.
Behind them, Nortron dropped to one knee.
The pressure hit him all at once.
A suffocating weight pressing down on his chest, forcing the air from his lungs. His fingers dug into the dirt as he tried to steady himself, vision trembling.
That aura.
It was not just darkness.
It was something deeper.
Looking at Mera now, he did not see shadows swirling around her body.
He saw the same presence.
The same suffocating fear that once froze his blood in place.
Years ago.
Back when he stood before the Master of the Apostles of Daath.
The first time that monster had released its true aura in front of him, back when Nortron was still being recruited into their ranks.
That same crushing pressure now poured out from Mera's body.
And his hands began to shake.
Astares' grip on her blade tightened.
Then, slowly..
She lowered it.
The shining blue shamshir slipped from her hand and drove point-first into the earth with a solid thunk, its glow bleeding faintly into the soil beneath it.
Gasps broke out behind her.
She stepped forward.
Unguarded. Unarmed.
"Mera," Astares called softly, her voice cutting through the tension like a blade.
Her arms hung loosely at her sides.
Open.
An invitation.
"I won't ever forgive him for using you like this," she cursed under her breath.
Mera's head tilted to the side —
Too far. Too still.
Like a puppet pulled by invisible strings.
Then she moved.
A violent lunge forward, dagger aimed straight for Astares' chest.
"Hey— what are you doing?!" Enix screamed.
Astares didn't move. Didn't flinch.
"I will never forgive anyone who hurts my children…" she said quietly.
The dagger came closer—
"…not even a God could escape my wrath."
Her eyes ignited.
Gold., brighter like the sun.
For a single heartbeat—Everything stopped.
The blade struck and sank into water.
A sudden surge erupted from the air itself, liquid aura flooding around Mera's arm, swallowing the dagger whole.
The impact rippled uselessly through the shifting mass before the water twisted sharply—
Astares' hand moved. A precise strike landed against the back of Mera's neck.
Her body went limp instantly.
Before she could fall, streams of emerald-lit water coiled from Astares' palm, spiraling gently around Mera's chest. The glow deepened as the liquid began to seep inward — threading through veins, skin, aura pathways.
Something inside resisted.
Darkness clawed outward—
Fragments of black mist forced their way from Mera's body, writhing violently as they were dragged free. The water caught them mid-air, spiraling faster and faster until the shadows were trapped within a floating sphere of churning liquid.
The orb trembled.
Shook.
Then—The darkness began to break apart. Dissolving. Unraveling into nothing within the emerald current.
Silence returned to the clearing.
Astares watched the last fragment vanish.
Her jaw tightened.
"Iblis…" she whispered.
"I'm coming for you."
------
Elsewhere back at the open clearing where Brooke and rubal teleported moments ago.
And then, another scream tore through the chaos—but it didn't come from Mera.
It came from inside Rubal. The void around him trembled as something pushed against the edges of his thoughts, pressing in from all sides until even breathing felt difficult. The power he shared with Iblis surged violently, not like a steady current anymore — but like a storm breaking loose inside his veins.
"Rubal…"
Iblis' voice slipped into his mind again.
Smooth. Quiet. Too calm for what was happening outside.
"You cannot defeat Anon like this," he murmured.
"Not with a mortal body. Let me take over… just for a moment."
Rubal's fingers curled into his robes as if holding onto something real would stop him from slipping further into the dark.
"I… don't know if I can…" he admitted, voice barely there.
His chest felt tight.
Too tight.
"If we hesitate now," Iblis continued gently.
"Anon will succeed. And when he does… everyone here will pay for it."
Everyone. The word lingered.
Faces flashed through Rubal's mind — Mera… Brooke… Deran… and everyone else in this island.
"…Fine," he whispered finally.
The word tasted wrong the moment it left his mouth.
"Take over. But only to save them… only until this is over."
For a second, nothing happened.
Then—Something pulled.
Rubal gasped as his senses began to slip away from him, like his body was being taken apart piece by piece. Aura burned through his nerves, sharp and unbearable, as if he were being dragged backward into his own skull.
Light swallowed everything.
When his vision returned—He wasn't standing anymore.
He was watching.
Trapped somewhere deep inside the dark, staring through his own eyes as his body moved without him. His hand lifted slowly… turned… flexed.
Not his will. Not his control.
"This is…" his thoughts stuttered.
Wrong.
"Iblis— what are you doing?!"
But the only answer he got—
Was laughter. Soft at first. Then colder.
"Thank you, Rubal," Iblis said through his mouth.
And the way he said it made something in Rubal's chest drop.
Because the kindness was gone.
"All this time…" Iblis continued, rolling Rubal's shoulder like he was testing new armor.
"Every promise… every reassurance… you believed it, didn't you?"
Rubal tried to move. Nothing happened.
"T-that wasn't part of the deal—!"
"It was never a deal," Iblis replied simply.
"It was a necessity."
Rubal could only watch as his own hand lifted toward the forest ahead.
"I will open the Altar of Daath," Iblis said quietly.
"On my terms."
His feet began to move. Toward Anon.
"If Mera fails… if your allies fall…"
A pause.
"…then you'll still get to see what comes next."
Rubal screamed. But no sound came out.
"I'll watch?" he choked out helplessly.
"Yes," Iblis whispered.
"You'll watch."
"Anon."
The voice that called out wasn't entirely Rubal's anymore. Anon turned slowly, amber light flickering in his eyes.
"I'm listening."
"I'll tell you where the altar is," Iblis said, each step deliberate.
"But you'll have to give me something in return."
----
Not faraway..
Silence stretched between them.
Even the wind died. Far from the forest.
Brooke's shot went wide.
The sudden gust that swept across the ruined village wasn't natural. It hit the battlefield hard enough to scatter ash and broken splinters into the air, forcing her to shield her eyes for half a second.
That was all it took.
Her chest tightened. Her gaze snapped toward the treeline. Toward where Rubal had gone.
"…Rubal…"
Her grip loosened. Just a little. And Gorak saw it.
"Hey, pirate," he called out, grin spreading across his face.
"I don't think now's a good time to get distracted."
Brooke's jaw clenched as she forced her focus back onto him.
"Tschh…"
Her fingers tightened around her guns again.
"Then I'll just have to end this now."
Gorak laughed. Loud. Ugly.
"Go ahead," he said.
"Make it quick… no one knows if your brother's still breathing out there."
The words hit harder than any blow.
Brooke swallowed.
"…Just hang on," she muttered under her breath.
"Please…" Her voice shook despite herself.
"I'm coming. I swear… I won't lose you again."