The world didn't just go black; it shattered.
When my eyes snapped open, they weren't golden anymore. They were glowing with a terrifying, ethereal light that burned like twin suns. The air around me crackled, and the ground groaned as if a god were walking upon it.
I didn't run. I began to walk toward the monsters, the movement slow and deliberate. On my way, I reached down and plucked a fallen knight's sword from the blood-soaked grass.
Behind me, my father, the Duke, and Wayne were shouting my name, but the sound was muffled, as if they were speaking from underwater. I heard nothing but the pounding of my own heart. With a single, effortless swing of the blade, the entire area in front of me was obliterated. The sheer force of the shockwave leveled trees and turned the monsters into nothingness. No signs of life were left—only ash.
My eyes were dripping, the golden light bleeding into my tears.
"The prophecy..." A gasp echoed from the royal pavilion. It was the Queen, her face pale as death, her fingers trembling as she pointed at me. "The God Child... she has finally awakened."
But I didn't care about the prophecy. I didn't care about the hundreds of eyes staring in terror. The light in my eyes faded as I skidded to a halt beside the jagged oak tree. A single thought consumed me: A god is supposed to protect people. If I am the God Child... then I can save her.
"Mia!" I gasped.
I reached for her, my hands still humming with a fading, white-hot energy. I tried to push that power into her chest, desperate to force the life back into her cooling body. "Mia, wake up. That's an order! Mia!"
But there was no witty retort. No "Yes, My Lady." Her hand, once warm and steady, slipped from my cheek and fell limp into the dirt. The silence that followed was louder than the monsters' roars had ever been.
I lost all control. I leaned down, burying my face in her chest, straining to hear even the ghost of a heartbeat. "Mia!" I screamed her name with every ounce of my soul, my body shaking with a grief so violent it felt like I was breaking apart from the inside out.
The funeral was held under a grey, weeping sky.
The Regulus estate was filled with people I didn't know—nobles who hadn't come to mourn a maid, but to catch a glimpse of the "miracle" that had decimated a horde of monsters in seconds. They brought flowers and spoke empty, hollow words of "sacrifice."
One by one, they paid their respects to the closed mahogany coffin and left.
My father stood at a distance, his face a mask of iron, but his eyes were fixed on me, calculating the new weight of the power I now possessed.
Eventually, the garden grew quiet. The only ones left were the dead and the broken.
I sat on the ground by the coffin, my long white hair spilling over my face and spreading across the polished wood. I was still wearing the black silk pants and white shirt from the hunt, stained with the soil and blood I refused to wash away. I felt like a hollow shell.
"She died protecting a miracle," a voice said softly behind me.
I didn't turn. I knew the heavy, dark scent of sandalwood anywhere. The Duke of Crisis stood a few paces back. For once, there was no teasing in his voice, no predatory smirk. He looked at the coffin with grim respect.
Wayne stood on the other side of the Duke, his head bowed, his fists clenched so tight his knuckles were white. He was a sword master, yet he had been too slow. The guilt coming off him was suffocating.
"She wasn't protecting a miracle," I
whispered, my voice sounding like dry, dead leaves. "She was protecting her friend."
I looked up, my eyes meeting the Duke's. The "Witch" was gone, replaced by something much more dangerous.
"The Duke of Crisis," I said, my voice steady and cold. "And my brother, the fastest blade in Regulus. You both watched it happen."
The Duke stepped forward, his eyes locking onto mine with a new intensity. "I did. And I will not let it happen again, Iris. The world knows what you are now. The Church, the Queen, Ishu... they will all come for you."