Chapter 158: The Shattering of the Soul's Mirror and the Dance of Daggers Under the Weight of the Curs
The darkness had reached its zenith, as if the sky could no longer bear the weight of the Grandmother's malice and was collapsing onto the courtyard. The black rain had transformed into a mixture of venom and ash, each drop piercing Diyari's wounded and scorched flesh like a red-hot nail. The Grandmother, with eyes glowing like two pits of hell, raised her cane, elevating the "Prostration of Agony" spell to a stage where Rina's unconscious body became a tool to torture her own soul. It must be understood that Rina—the girl whose heart was more delicate than a flower petal—was now being treated as a soulless machine within the cage of this sorcery. The Grandmother did not want Rina to wake; she wanted to use Rina's physical form to inflict the ultimate agony upon Diyari: the sight of his beloved suffering at her own hands.
The Grandmother shouted with a voice full of threat and arrogance: "Look, O Crownless King! Look at this girl, how she now becomes a victim of your 'folly'! If you resist, she suffers; if you remain silent, she destroys herself!" The Grandmother swirled her cane, and suddenly, glowing purple chains formed around Diyari's hands and feet. These chains coiled around his body like thirsty serpents, sinking into his open wounds. Diyari, who no longer had a single uninjured spot on his body, was dragged with manic force into the courtyard's crystal wall and imprisoned there. He could not move; he could only watch the unfolding catastrophe with golden eyes that were beginning to fade.
In that moment, the Grandmother unleashed a more brutal spell; she caused Rina's unconscious body to rise from the ground, moving like a wooden puppet. Rina's eyes remained closed, but her hands gripped the purple blade tightly. The Grandmother said with a loathsome laugh: "Rina, show how much you hate this 'ugliness'! If he will not die, then tear yourself to pieces!" Under the influence of this black magic, Rina—who was still weeping bitterly within her unconscious world—began dragging the blade across her own body. The hands that were meant to comfort Diyari were now tearing her own delicate skin. Every cut Rina inflicted upon herself was like a dagger driven into the center of Diyari's heart.
From his glowing prison, when Diyari saw Rina wounding herself, he let out a cry that shook the earth like a tremor. "No! Grandmother... stop! Do whatever you want to me, but do not lay a hand on her!" Blood streamed down Diyari's face, and the chains cut into his shoulder flesh, yet his only concern was Rina. Rina brutally plunged the blade into her own shoulder, her red blood mingling with the black rain. This is a girl driven to this by magic, not her own will; she is merely an innocent victim the Grandmother uses to break Diyari's resolve. Inside, Rina was screaming, "Stop! Please stop my hands!", but the Grandmother only raised her laughter louder.
The Grandmother, with long fingers like vulture talons, pushed the "Mirror of Agony" to its peak. she made Diyari feel every bit of pain Rina inflicted on herself, but ten times more intense. Diyari felt his body turning to ash, yet his eyes never left Rina. He watched as Rina, in her unconscious state, brought the blade toward her own face, watching that pure beauty being marred. Diyari, using the tiny fragment of "imaginary power" he had left, tried to shatter the chains. A faint golden light emerged from his veins, but the Grandmother immediately cast another spell upon the chains, causing Diyari to sink deeper into the wall.
The courtyard had become a slaughterhouse where no mercy remained. The Grandmother forced Rina to slash her own chest, each cut an image she wanted to plant in Diyari's mind: "It is you who is killing Rina!" Within that dark prison, Diyari felt the deep weeping emanating from Rina's soul. He knew Rina was burning inside. The man everyone called a "fool" was now fighting the greatest spiritual war; the war of not losing hope while seeing his love being ruined by her own hand because of him.
With a voice full of venom, the Grandmother said: "See, Diyari! Look at that blood! That is the blood of the girl you thought you were protecting! You are nothing but a curse to her! If you weren't here, she would be sleeping peacefully now! You are the 'ugliness' that has made her life a hell!" She forced Rina to place the blade against her own throat. In that instant, time stood still for Diyari. He felt that if he did nothing now, Rina would end her own life. With a cry full of blood and tears, Diyari gathered his entire being. The golden light in his heart, which the Grandmother had filled with pain, suddenly transformed into an unstoppable white radiance.
This light was not meant to strike the Grandmother, but only to reach Rina's soul and stop her hands. Inside his prison, Diyari was becoming a piece of white fire. Fearing this power, the Grandmother tightened the spell, causing the chains to grip Diyari's neck and strangle him. But Diyari only looked at Rina and whispered in his heart: "Rina... do not cry... I am still here..." Here, it is seen how love becomes a sacrifice where a man is willing to have his entire body torn apart, yet cannot bear to see a single small wound on his beloved's body.
The courtyard was filled with a terrifying silence, broken only by the sound of rain and Diyari's groans. Rina, though unconscious, felt her hands—which were about to plunge the blade into her throat—falter slightly. Diyari's white light had managed to momentarily subdue the Grandmother's spell. With immense rage, the Grandmother raised her cane to use the final "Soul Destroyer" spell and turn both Diyari and Rina into ash together. The wounds on Rina's body stood as marks that would remain forever in history; signs of how magic can turn the kindest human into their own enemy.
This chapter ends here, as Diyari strangles within his prison, Rina stands on the brink of suicide with a wounded body, and the Grandmother, like a bloodthirsty demon, prepares to draw the final curtain on this tragedy. The silence is so heavy it sits like a mountain on the heart of anyone witnessing this scene.
Written by: Dlin_myth