Reia's chest pulsed violently as the connection to Lalira snapped like a nerve being torn from her soul.
The psychic backlash hit her with the force of a physical blow, staggering her. Her breath hitched, and her knuckles whitened as she tightened her grip on her dark hilts until the leather groaned.
"What the hell…" she growled, her voice a jagged, trembling edge of rage. "Who did you have kill her? She was my strongest."
Eiden offered no answer. He simply unsheathed his longsword in one slow, deliberate motion, the steel whispering like a cold wind through a graveyard.
"We should get this over with," he said, his voice flat and final.
Reia lunged. Her blade shot forward like a streak of black lightning, shrieking through the air. Eiden met the strike with his own steel, white aura flooding the blade, and their collision sent a thunderous crack echoing through the foundation of the hill. They pushed against one another, auras flaring in a violent struggle of light and shadow, before kicking off and sliding back across the torn earth.
Reia vanished. Her body dissolved into drifting ash only to reform instantly behind Eiden, her blade descending toward his exposed neck.
"White blaze."
A towering pillar of white fire erupted from Eiden's body. Reia dashed away just in time, the intense heat brushing her skin—hot enough to have charred her to the bone. She skidded across the ground, her cloak whipping violently.
"It is like you are not even trying… Very well." She stabbed her blade into the earth and raised a palm toward the fading stars. "Jya're."
The air cracked open as a storm of white and black beams exploded from her hand, hundreds of them screaming across the field like enraged spirits. Eiden sheathed his blade and vanished. Teleportation flashes lit up the dawn as he dodged beam after beam, the hill splitting open under the pressure.
When the final beam struck, Eiden appeared inches from Reia's face. His palm was open, his aura sharpening into a translucent blade of energy. He swung. Reia jerked back, but a thin red line of blood opened across the bridge of her nose.
"Tch. Fight like you mean it!" she snarled. "IERIA!"
A barrage of beams slammed into Eiden's position, pulverizing the rock into a cloud of smoke. When it cleared, he was gone. Reia's eyes darted frantically—left, right, up—until she sensed the chill behind her. Eiden stood there, his palm already raised.
"We'rve."
A bright blue beam erupted. Reia's magic shield fractured like glass under the pressure. She teleported away just as the beam roared past and detonated in the distance, a secondary sun rising over the horizon.
Reia exhaled slowly, her aura rising like a gathering storm. "It's always you," she said, steadying her heart. "Of all enemies, you're the one who forces me to go all out. I'll tell you what—after I'm done with you, I'll find Vaelus and kill—"
She never finished. In less than a heartbeat, Eiden was behind her, his hand gripping her head with crushing force.
"Reop'a."
A massive blue-white explosion swallowed her point-blank, tearing a crater into the ground. When the debris settled, Reia stood meters away, untouched.
"I see," Eiden murmured, looking at the glowing mana ash at his feet. "A clone."
"You're touchy when I bring up your members," Reia smirked, hand on her hip. "Why is that?"
"Because you threatened one who is currently weak," Eiden's voice dropped an octave. "Why would you kill the weak?"
"One day I'll make sure the Seven Great Sages end up just like the Ten Celestials."
Silence followed, broken only by the sound of distant fighting. Eiden clasped his palms together, aura radiating from him like a rising sun.
"I am fighting at your power level," Eiden said calmly. "So I can allow myself to use an attack that will demolish you instantly. I wouldn't want to fight someone with no real desire to kill me."
Reia panicked, layering shields in front of her. Eiden extended his palm.
"One million slashes."
In a blink, millions of white aura slashes bolted forward. The first shattered her shields; the rest tore into her and the earth in violent waves. When the dust cleared, Reia knelt on the destroyed ground, a deep gash across her chest and blood dripping from countless cuts. One eyelid was sliced shut.
"You survived," Eiden said, standing over her. "But I told you, I was fighting on your level. That attack was never meant to kill. But I could finish it now." He slowly unsheathed a katana, the metal singing a mournful tune.
"Just do it," Reia whispered, her strength spent. "I only did this because I promised my husband... the one you killed. But it looks like I broke that promise. Tell me... when you fought Uzak'me... how did you die when you have this power?"
"Because he was stronger than you," Eiden said plainly. "I fought him on equal ground, knowing I might die. I simply wanted to fight him as an equal."
"Would you do the same for Civilar and Yajin?"
Eiden stood still, his cloak swaying in the morning breeze. "If they killed everyone in the Sages but three," he said quietly, "I wouldn't show either of them mercy. Yajin sees himself as a god; he would strike 'judgment' on the world. And Civilar kills for fun. I blame myself for not finishing the job sooner."
"I see..." Reia whispered. "But who in your clan killed my daughter?"
"Me, of course. I used a duplicate made with creation magic."
"Creation magic? That belongs to Seraphel."
"He gave it to me while fighting Civilar."
Silence returned.
"Are you going to finish me?" she asked.
"No." Eiden sheathed his blade. "You're a mother who only did this for a promise. You never loved that man, did you?"
Reia froze. "I never thought anyone would figure that out. He was an evil man who tortured his own daughters. Why would I love him?" She sighed, the weight of decades lifting. "What am I even doing?"
"I'll spare you," Eiden said. "And I'll resurrect Lalira."
Reia stood up slowly, her legs trembling. "Don't bother. She was more like her father anyway. She never respected me." Her voice cracked.
"I can heal you," Eiden offered. He raised a palm, and a soft green aura wrapped around her. Her wounds steamed and vanished; her breathing steadied.
Reia flexed her arm, a tired smile touching her lips. "This was a waste of nothing... wasn't it?"
But the silence that followed wasn't normal. It was absolute. The distant screams and clashing steel had stopped. Reia's chest pulsed violently—then again, and again. She dropped to her knees as the spiritual connections to all her daughters vanished at once.
Footsteps approached. Morvath emerged from the shadows, dragging something behind him. Around his neck hung an aura chain, and threaded through it were the severed heads of Reia's daughters.
"What do ya think?" Morvath chuckled. "Nice, right?"
Reia didn't scream. She was frozen in a horror too deep for sound.
Eiden stepped forward, his voice turning to ice. "Reia, I was never going to spare you. You are a devil. And like all devils, you are monsters."
Reia's eyes snapped to him, filled with fury and grief. "Me? A monster? You've killed more than I ever have! Families! Innocent people! Your fans only ignore it because of the monsters you slay!"
Her words cut off as a hand rested on her head. Selyndra stood behind her, a golden glow erupting from her palm. Reia's body dissolved into fine white ash.
"What an idiot," Selyndra said, sheathing her blade. "You should've finished her from the start."
"I wanted her to have hope," Eiden replied. "And I wouldn't have spared her anyway."
"Can we head back?" Seraphaine asked, rubbing her eyes. "I want my bed."
The group followed King Tcil back toward the gates. As they walked, the moon hung over the kingdom like a massive, watchful eye. Iris and Seraphaine admired the stars, their figures turning into silver pillars as they passed through the gates.
The kingdom was quiet.
On the roof of the tavern, a black bird landed. Its feathers were darker than shadow, its eyes a violent, unnatural red. It watched them, silent and unblinking. As the Sages disappeared into the city's heart, the bird tilted its head, spread its wings, and cast a jagged shadow across the rooftops.
Something else had seen everything. The night was far from over.