(Intermission) Destined Lovers or Enemies - Chapter 6: Running on Empty

Chapter 6: Running on Empty

Heavily injured, both Zeth and Sasha face each other, their Soul Power still active. Purple and orange flames burn wildly across the battlefield.

They break into a slow charge toward each other, their movements sluggish from exhaustion. Zeth fires a Soul Shine Blast as he approaches, forcing Sasha to try to dive to the side. However, loses her footing and falls. Though she still avoids the Soul Shine Blast.

Zeth closes in and aims a downward punch, but Sasha swiftly kicks his legs out from under him. As he crashes down, she grabs the back of his head and slams his face into the dirt. Her left hand rises, readying her index and middle fingers to pierce his back.

With his face still buried in the dirt, Zeth quickly manages to raise his right hand and fire a Soul Shard. The shard slices across the top of Sasha’s arm, leaving a nasty wound and stopping her strike. He fights through her pressure, pushing off the ground and lunging to punch her. Sasha blocks with both arms and kicks him hard in the chest.

Zeth rolls across the dirt, skidding to a halt. Before he can react, Sasha drives her Dark Spear into his abdomen.

“You won’t be going anywhere now,” she growls, gripping the spear tightly with her left hand. She raises her right hand, charging it with dark magic.

“I’m not helpless,” Zeth says with a stern tone, magic gathering in his left palm.

“Demon Soul Beam!” Sasha roars.

“Soul Shooting Star!” Zeth yells.

Their beams collide with a blinding light. For a brief moment, the attacks push against each other briefly, then the blasts detonate. Their eyes widen as the explosion engulfs them.

Flames consume the surrounding forest. Trees vanish in the shockwave.

When the smoke clears, both Zeth and Sasha lie sprawled on their backs. They are broken, burned, and seemingly barely alive. Their Soul Powers have dissipated, and Sasha’s True Demonic Release has ended. Their uniforms are shredded. Zeth’s armored chest plate is completely gone. Blood streams from their faces as they struggle just to sit up, breathing heavily.

They force themselves to their feet. Zeth stumbles forward, closing the distance between them. Sasha watches him silently, breathing heavily and not able to move. Zeth stumbles for a moment but keeps going.

Finally, he reaches her and throws a weak punch that lands squarely on her cheek. It really does almost have no force to it. Sasha responds with a weak punch of her own to his face, also having almost no force to it. Zeth tries another strike but falters and ends up collapsing into her, knocking them both down the side of another hill.

They roll together, locked in each other's grip. This part of the forest remains untouched by their battle. At the bottom of the hill, Zeth lands on top.

Zeth tries to punch again, but he’s too slow. Sasha lands a punch first and knocks him off, just barely having enough force to do so. They slowly and weakly stand to their feet. Sasha lifts her hand, trying to use a magic attack.

“Don’t bluff,” Zeth says hoarsely. “Neither of us has the energy to do magic attacks anymore.”

He takes a step forward but stumbles, allowing Sasha to punch him. They begin trading blows. Each blow is slow and weak. Neither of them blocks a single one as they don’t have the energy for that anymore.

Soon, Zeth throws a weak punch but misses to the right of Sasha’s head. Sasha lands a weak punch against his face, he falls onto his back.

Sasha takes a few quick steps but stumbles before finally tripping over his body, crashing flat onto her face.

They lie there in silence for a moment, still breathing heavily, their ability to fight nearly broken.

Sasha begins to lift herself.

“Why…” she gasps, “why don’t you just quit? Give up…”

Zeth groans and pushes himself up. “I… I could ask you the same…”

With slow but monumental effort, they stand once again, gazing into each other's eyes, tension building despite their condition.

They both take steps forward, but neither can keep balance as they fall against each other. Their foreheads press together as they lean on each other, eyes meeting through pain and fatigue.

Then, in sync, they break apart just enough to deliver one more punch each. They resume their back-and-forth weak punches, but something is different this time. Tears begin to fall from their eyes as they punch each other.

Sasha strikes again. Zeth swings back, but he fails and stumbles forward, tackling Sasha against a tree.

They stare into each other’s eyes, tears freely flowing now.

“…Are you crying?” they whisper in unison.

They both breathe heavily, but these heavy breaths are different from before. Sasha slowly lifts her arms, wraps them behind Zeth’s head, pulls him closer, and kisses him mouth-to-mouth.

Zeth’s arms encircle her, embracing the kiss with passion. When they finally pull away, Sasha whispers, “I don’t know what it is about you. I’m… attracted to you.”

“I don’t know what spell you have me under,” Zeth murmurs, “but… you are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”

They kiss again, deeper this time. After the kiss, they rip off what remains of each other’s clothing, embracing passionately.

***

A bit later.

Pearl, wounded and limping, makes her way through the untouched part of the forest.

Pearl thinks to herself. “My battle with Salina ended in a draw but I must find and assist Prince Zeth. Sasha is fearsome.”

Continuous sounds catch her attention.

“What’s that sound?” Pearl wonders aloud.

She walks a bit farther, and the sounds become clearer to her.

“…Moans?”

She follows the noise, then stops, eyes wide open. In the distance, she sees Zeth and Sasha, locked together. Pearl throws her hand over her mouth, horrified, and quickly hides behind a tree.

Pearl urgently thinks to herself. “Are they… Are they engaging in a forbidden embrace!?”

Her shock turns to anger as she thinks to herself again. “That’s heresy!!”

***

At the same time. Not far from there.

Salina, also battered, limps through the forest. She stops, eyes opening wide as she sees the same thing Pearl saw.

Salina urgently thinks to herself. “They’re… They’re mating!”

Her expression turns into anger as she thinks to herself again. “That’s heresy!!”

Back at the tree, Zeth and Sasha remain locked in their embrace with passion in their eyes as they continue their sudden love making.

Narrator: The battle to the death has a surprising conclusion! Zeth and Sasha fall in love with each other! But with their forbidden embrace witnessed… will there be severe consequences?

Chapter 6 END

To be Continued in DLoE – Chapter 7: Love of Light and Dark

Author's Note: This chapter made me hesitant to post this AU story on Honey Feed because, at the very least, it's implied NSFW material. I thought about censoring it for this public release, but decided not to because at least the details of said material aren't described. I did replace one of Pearl's words, though.