The night of the fifth day arrived with a heavy, suffocating silence. Kova stood in the center of the abyss, his single eye glowing as he willed the darkness to obey. With a sharp flick of his wrist, he dismissed the lesser horrors, sending them dissolving into the grey dust.
"Wait a minute, Juno," Kova commanded.
He didn't look at her as he began to weave his Yen into the air. The demons groaned as they were pulled together, twisting and expanding until two giant demons towered over the obsidian floor. Their skin was like wet iron, and their eyes burned with a flat, lethal hunger.
"You have until tomorrow night to master your White and Pink flames," Kova stated. "You will finish these two off first. Then, you will fight me."
Juno stared up at the massive entities, her hands trembling as she wiped blood from her lip. The second heart within her ribs was still a raw, unfinished knot of muscle, pulsing with a heavy, painful rhythm.
"Why is he making them giants? What does he mean fight him? I am not ready for this," Juno thought. I have nothing left to give, and he is calling for gods of shadow, Juno thought.
"I cannot... Kova, please," she gasped, her vision blurring with exhaustion.
Kova walked towards her, his presence a mountain of crushing Yen that made the very air feel sharp. He didn't mask his power, and the weight of it forced her to stay pinned against the obsidian floor.
"The Black is for the predator," Kova said. "Now, you must master the rest. The Pink and the White. If you fail to call them forth, I will let my Yen crush what is left of your spirit. I will not raise a hand to hit you, Juno. I will simply watch you struggle until you break or master yourself."
The two giants lunged. Juno scrambled backward, her newly formed ribs screaming as she rolled beneath the sweep of a massive, clawed hand. The air in the Void was pushed aside by the sheer mass of the creatures. Juno threw a wave of obsidian fire, but the giants walked through the heat as if it were a summer breeze.
"Kova, I cant take this anymore!" Juno shrieked as she scrambled across the stone. "You have to call off the giants, please!"
She was caught by a backhand that sent her skipping across the floor. One giant loomed over her, its foot coming down to crush her skull. Juno braced her arms, the Black Flame roaring in a desperate, jagged shield. The pressure was immense, her second heart hammering against the bone socket in a frantic, uneven tempo.
Kova did not call them off. Instead, he charged. He moved with a speed that defied reality, a blur of dark energy that went straight through the giant that was about to crush her.
The demon disintegrated into grey ash as Kova passed through its core, reappearing instantly above Juno. The sheer displacement of his power was enough to pin her down as he loomed over her.
"Call me by my name," Kova whispered, his foot pressing down on her newly formed ribs. "And show me all three flames, or the children watch Jester bleed tonight."
Juno looked toward the cage of Void energy. She saw Jester's face, pale and streaked with tears. The fury in her soul finally broke the last seal of her pride, bypassing the pain of her shifting anatomy.
"Master!" Juno screamed, her voice tearing through the Void.In that moment of total submission and absolute rage, the fire on her hands did not just burn black.
It flashed with a blinding, purifying White, followed by the soft, deceptive glow of the Pink. The three colors swirled around her like a lethal halo, responding to the frantic beat of her two hearts.
"This alone is not enough," Juno thought. "This is my Master. He is making me stronger. I will be whatever he needs," Juno thought.
"Kova... I mean, Master," Juno gasped, her strength failing as the flames flickered. "Please, let me rest."
Kova withdrew his foot and looked down at the swirling colors with a small, terrifying nod of approval. He reached his hand out, his Yen finally beginning to recede.
"Very well," Kova said. "Your heart is nearly done forming. Rest for now." Kova looked at her with a chilling focus.
"That second heart will allow you to heal wounds. It will not be as fast as me and my siblings, but you shall never hurt for long periods of time. It also helps you in terms of gathering more Yen and Yan and being more powerful."
"I can heal now?" Juno asked, her voice trembling.
Kova did not answer. He simply walked away into the deepening gloom until he disappeared from her sight.
"Your training is done for now," Kova's voice echoed through the abyss as he vanished. "We will resume another day."
The vision of the Void collapsed, the obsidian darkness dissolving into the grey, ash choked air of the present.
Jaeger stood amongst the pulverized stone of the estate ruins, his hand trembling as he lowered the sigil cloth.
Kota, Mira, Thorne, and Leiya stood around him, the silence of the graveyard heavy in their lungs.
"That is how my clan was erased," Jaeger said, his voice a raspy ghost of its former self. "I don't know where my siblings are."