Revelation

Near the main battle, Iwao and the king faced each other, a hundred meters between them. Even at the distance, the heat of the king’s flames could be felt.

Iwao was ready but did not strike first. He waited, staring at the king, ready to dodge at the slightest move from him.

The king’s gaze was dark, murderous intent radiating from him. The gusts of wind beneath his feet grew stronger, and before Iwao could react, the king propelled himself toward his prey, fist poised to strike. His flames ignited the air around, making him look like a human fireball.

But Iwao had anticipated the move. Just before the king’s fist could land, Iwao dodged spectacularly – faster than the blazing rocket before him –, stepping aside with all his strength and amplifying the movement with a wind spell.

The king roared as he missed Iwao, then abruptly tried to halt in midair, still carried forward by his momentum.

Iwao turned and cast a spell to coat his hands with a heavy veil of water.

The king grinned.

In the blink of an eye, he vanished from Iwao’s sight. Then Iwao spat blood, staring down at his stomach where the king’s blow landed. Only when he realized the pain was he hurled backward.

Iwao crashed to the ground and could not move despite trying repeatedly. The king walked up and placed his foot on Iwao’s chest.

“I will not lose so easily! I will not betray my promise this time!” Iwao thought, blood streaming from his mouth.

The king let out a guttural rattle and formed an orange sphere of fire streaked with flashes of blue.

Celi and Saya, still fighting the soldiers, unintentionally drew closer. The king glanced at them.

“That was pretty quick, wasn’t it? You wanted to fight without even knowing your enemy. Look where it’s gotten you. Your blue friend can’t even kill that thing over there. And Saya and her… her friend… her friend…” He paused, narrowing his eyes. “Now that I pay closer attention, I recognize that face! It’s the same as the Firia researcher who caused me so much trouble – she looks exactly like her father!” He sneered, laughing wickedly.

Celi and Saya closed the distance as the king’s smile widened. Iwao still lay stunned, reeling from the blow.

“You know what, creature? I have an idea to make things more interesting before you all die!”

He cupped his hand to his mouth, cleared his throat, and shouted as Celi and Saya came within a few meters.

“Hey, you – the blonde one! What does it feel like to be cornered? Hard, isn’t it? Are you going to keep fighting while the creature you love most is about to die too?”

Celi snapped at the words. Seeing the king drive his weight down on Iwao, she rushed to him, leaving Saya to handle the remaining soldiers – about a hundred. The king stepped off Iwao and let Celi reach him. She held him in her arms, desperately trying to heal his wounds.

“Oh, how beautiful! If I hadn’t sent those creatures to kill your father, a friendship like this never would have existed.” The king shouted, bursting into laughter.

Celi’s eyes widened in shock – so did Iwao’s.

They were speechless.

“What… what are you saying?” Celi stammered, her voice trembling.

“Didn’t I make myself clear the first time? I’m the one who killed your father! I made a pact with those invisible creatures and sent them to kill him so I wouldn’t soil my hands with his stinking blood!” The king shouted, his voice seething.

“Why… why! Why?! Why did you do this? How… how am I supposed to believe you’re really the one who sent them?” She said, choking on her words.

“He endangered the kingdom with his research. He claimed to strengthen us, but his proposals were unacceptable. I knew he was a threat to my realm! And the traitors – I killed them! You want proof that I’m really the one who killed your father? I’m feeling generous today, so I’ll give you one!” He roared.

He cleared his throat, a mocking smile spreading across his face.

“I was the one who told the monster to choke him to death! All those creatures in your village were bait – he thought he was on the verge of a great discovery, but I set the trap! You couldn’t see them unless they revealed themselves to you. But I could applaud your father for finding a way to see them and kill them – that’s the only worthy thing he did in his entire life. You have no idea how much relief I felt when he died. A threat disappearing from my kingdom is always a relief. Keep the peace, don’t disturb, just obey!” He laughed.

Celi stood, pale, lips trembling, eyes unfocused, as she grabbed her axe from the ground and gripped it firmly. Her teeth were clenched, her body tense, standing still with her face lowered to the ground.

“So.. it’s really you! You’re the one I’ve searched for half my life. You ruined my life… my mother’s life… and my father’s! You’re responsible for all this! The one I sought vengeance for was hiding in his big castle, doing nothing…” She stammered, barely articulating a word.

She advanced one slow step toward the king, then another. After three steps she stopped. Tears streamed down her face, a tumult of grief and rage twisting her expression.

“I will kill you! I will avenge my father! I will… The years I lost can’t be returned… The innocence I lost can’t be returned… My childhood is gone forever… Murderer! I will kill you by any means!”

She turned to Iwao, eyes half-closed, tears streaming down her face, wearing a sad smile that could shatter a heart – a smile filled with emptiness, rage, and sorrow, the expression of someone who had resigned, silently saying goodbye with nothing but her heart and her face.

Then she turned back to the king and took another step.

Another one... the king watched amusedly.

Another one… he laughed.

Another one… Celi was closing in.

Again, she raised her axe.

Again, the king’s fists flared crimson, flames licking his hands.

Again… again… another step… another one… More… and more… a few steps away…

The king waited, an evil smile on his face.

One last step, as Celi walked toward her fate.

“I’m sorry father… I won’t survive this… I won’t be able to avenge you… I won’t live… Watch me try… until my last breath.” She thought, hoisting her axe high, her left arm guarding her torso.

As she prepared to strike with all her strength and the king tightened his fist, flames blazing higher, something grabbed her ankle and pulled her down face-first. Her blow missed. The king’s punch unleashed an enormous horizontal jet of flame that spanned a hundred meters, his face wearing a confused expression.

Celi glanced back and saw Iwao crawling closer, blocking her on the ground. He gritted his teeth, clutching her ankle firmly.

“I will not let you die like this! You understand, Celi!” He shouted in fury.

“I don’t care anymore! It has to be my vengeance, not yours-” She began.

“Not mine? Are you serious? Maybe I don’t harbor the same hatred toward him for as long as you have, but I have my reasons to hate him! That’s my vengeance too! But most of all, you don’t have to throw yourself into death like this! I thought you’d be smarter!” Iwao snapped.

“Let me… Let me go! You don’t understand! It has to be me! I have to be the one to kill-”

“Enough, you two crybabies! I’ve had enough of your whining! Just die for once and stop resisting!” The king roared as he kicked Celi in her left flank, sending her soaring into the sky.

The king prepared his hands, aiming at her as fire gathered into a fireball. Without needing to throw it, the fireball shot from his hands and struck Celi midair within seconds, exploding in a blaze that illuminated the sky and echoed loudly across the plain.

Iwao watched in horror as Celi’s smoking body crashed to the ground, creating a crater so deep that the shockwave toppled soldiers on the other side, giving Saya a chance to strike some of them in the heat of the moment.

“One down, for eternity! My aim is as good as ever!” The king bellowed, grinning cruelly.

Iwao stared at the crater where Celi had fallen, speechless. Heat washed over him as the king strode closer, no longer hovering. The grass around him smoked from the heat. The king’s imposing figure, fiery fists, and terrifying smile approached with murderous intent.

Iwao, eyes wide, began shaking, mouth agape, a strange feeling spreading across his face.

“It’s the old familiar one…” He thought.

The one that twists a face as if it’s about to explode and makes the heart leap from the chest.

Fear.

He tried to crawl away but could not. A monster was coming at him in the night – a truly terrifying one. The red moons reflected the blood flowing across the battlefield, highlighting the king’s horrifying appearance.

The king was already there and extinguished the fire around his hands. He leaned down, grabbed Iwao’s head, and lifted him off the ground, holding him directly in front of his eyes.

Iwao clawed at the king’s grip with his arms – his legs barely responding. His head was crushed in the king’s hand. He cried out in pain, a cry so fierce it hurt the king’s eardrums.

The king gritted his teeth and stuck a finger in his ear to block the sound. Iwao tried in vain to sever the tendons in the king’s arm, but it did nothing.

“Spell… Yes… spell! Quick... I can’t do… more…” He thought, blood flowing from his mouth and forehead.

“Farewell, Nightmare Eater!” The king roared, priming his free arm.

He punched Iwao in the stomach the moment he released his grip on his head. Iwao flew at the speed of sound into the crater made by Celi – both lying unconscious.

The king laughed, stretching, then raised one hand while the other clutched his wrist. Flames crackled across his palm.

A small red sphere of fire blossomed in his palm – until something pierced him and the sphere vanished. He spat blood and looked down in pain. A sword had plunged into his back.

Anger flared across his face, and the air around his body grew hot.

He roared as he spotted the attacker from the corner of his eye.

“YOU! HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO ME? I’M GOING TO KILL YOU FOR THAT!”

******************************

Saya fought with all her might against the remaining soldiers, who seemed to have lost their minds – reduced to war beasts driven only by rage and bloodlust. Suddenly, a shockwave shook the ground, and she seized the moment to kill the fallen soldiers.

She cast a spell that raised a rock pillar beneath her feet, lifting her high into the air to gain a better view and catch a brief rest. Soldiers rushed the pillar, striking at it with swords reinforced by incantations, but none of it worked.

A soldier backed from the pillar and cast a rock sphere, hurling it at Saya who was perched on top of it.

“I need to find a way to kill them quickly, so I can rejoin Celi and Iwao… Wait – there are no more sounds coming from them. What’s happ-”

The rock reached her, drawing her attention away from Iwao and Celi. It struck her full in the face before she could react, sending her crashing to the ground.

She struggled to her feet, coughing and vomiting blood, her face smeared with it. Her nose appeared broken, and she immediately began to heal it. The soldiers rushed at her, giving her no chance to rest.

“I need to lure them all into the same place – that’s my only chance…” She thought, hovering above the ground before launching herself toward the village at full speed.

Once in the village, she saw Celi’s notebooks scattered on the ground and began riffling through them frantically.

“Maybe Celi left something useful to make up for the fact we don’t have mastery over large-scale spell… Quick, Saya, read – your life depends on it…”

Grabbing another notebook, she read the cover: Traps List. She opened it and leafed through the pages while hiding in the ruins of a house. The soldiers’ footsteps shook the ground as they approached.

She froze on one page, her finger pressing against it.

“Trap locations... the ones she set up on this battlefield… Thank you, Celi, for thinking of everything. Wait – there’s one here, inside this village?! Perfect! Exactly what I need!” She thought as she read on the page: ‘Yorl: Abyssal hole’.

She burst out of the house, propelling herself high above the village. Furious soldiers poured in, filling it to the brim.

Saya, bleeding heavily and gasping for breath, desperately dodged their spells. Some hurled their swords skyward, but their shots fell short.

Suddenly, a deep gong resounded. Every soldier froze, exchanging confused looks.

“Finally... it’s over!” Saya thought in relief.

But nothing happened. The trap failed – the hole never appeared. The soldiers waited, puzzled.

“It’s not working! I’ll have to trigger it myself… I won’t have much energy left, but it should be enough to heal myself and still help Iwao and Celi!” Saya thought, her face tightening with resolve.

She lowered her hands, her body trembling as a shockwave burst from her. The ground beneath the soldiers shook violently.

The soldiers tried to move but collapsed with every attempt. Saya let out a piercing scream, and the earth gave way, collapsing into a massive pit.

“So that’s what the original ‘Abyssal hole’ trap was meant to be… It was just hidden beneath this thin layer of earth.” Saya thought, resting her arms as she slowly descended.

Every soldier fell into the hole without exception, crushed instantly by the collapsing ruins of the village above them. They were all dead.

Saya landed heavily, took a deep breath, and clenched her head in pain.

She looked toward where Iwao and Saya should have been – but only saw her father, flames crackling in his palm. From the distance, she couldn’t make out the details. Turning to her left, she spotted the crater

“Iwao… Celi… Don’t tell me you’re in there… Please, don’t let it be true…” Panic flooded her eyes.

She slapped her face, gritted her teeth, and charged forward toward the king with fierce determination, barely looking ahead, focusing only on her feet. Despite stumbling every few meters from exhaustion, she forced herself on until she reached him.

Raising her head, breathless, she froze at the sight before her. A figure had plunged a blade into her father’s back. Her eyes widened.

“Ru… Rufus…?”