"All roads in life eventually end at death"
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Jason's mind raced in all directions as the tense moment sat still in a silence that made all hairs on his body stand.
In the long lasting silence, his perceptive eyes remained fixed on her dull expression.
Her chest remained still. The usual darkness in her eyes remained as she seemed to not be staring at him, but through him.
Feeling pressure building up in his chest from a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding in, the edges of his eyes watered up but he refused to distract himself from the unsettling sight before him.
Asami kept her seemingly indifferent gaze onto the monster who stood before her. Suddenly, she began sharpening her black blade, the sound of her blade being the only thing which made any sound.
And finally, she spoke. Her voice had its usual raspy sound, yet this time was different… as if there was a tinge of calm anger.
"There's something about these shrines that I'm sure your grandfather noticed, but intentionally kept from me specifically…"
She gestured to the parts of the spacious room which were shrouded in shadows. In that moment, Jason could feel countless scattered corpses of the undead foreigners.
Only they weren't dead. They seemed agitated, and repulsed as they scowled at Asami… yet none of them dared to attack.
Asami continued.
"To destroy or at least seal these eternal shrines, it needs a sacrifice to devour."
Jason's eyes narrowed slightly. Of course he wasn't surprised by this fact, but he couldn't shake the itchy feeling Asami was unconsciously casting onto him.
But that wasn't all.
He remembered his battle with Asami just a few days ago in the southern tribe. Her murderous intent resembled a Bloodlusted beast which had been confining itself for centuries…
During that battle, she seemed especially focused on the king of Hell rather than the one housing him. And what further confirmed Jason's thoughts was when he recalled the image of Asami's late daughter.
…
As though reading his thoughts, Asami could clearly hear the young man's heart beat.
Noticing its slightly hastened pace, she spoke.
"Her name was sachi."
…
"She was six years old."
…
For a split second, as Asami ran a stone along the sharp end of her katana, Jason caught a glimpse of a black bracelet which resembled the one the child wore.
"I know you want revenge but now is not the time for-"
Before he finished his words, Asami glanced back up at him once more with heavy eyelids. It always had been difficult to tell what emotion lied behind her eyes, but now it was as clear as day…
Unsatisfied hunger for vengeance. But there was something else…
Conflict.
Finally, Asami rose to her feet. And loosely held onto the handle of her black blade.
"Your desire to save and protect your mother is… something. But unless we destroy these shrines the only way we can, then you might as well be saying goodbye to her now."
Jason's knuckles turned white. The veins in his hand which he held his katana were almost visible.
"There are two shrines… so you'd need two sacrifices…"
Jason could sense Selene and sidra near the second shrine, locked in a brutal fight against the second dead soul.
After a moment of silence, Asami spoke.
"Sidra… Whatever happens to them, is what'll have to happen. After all, I formed the black lotus division with the only purpose of killing Malum and ensuring he remains dead."
"Your sister, is just collateral. But sacrifices are always made."
Hearing these words, A sudden spark of rage ignited inside of Jason. One that made his face burn with unbearable heat.
"I'll kill you before i let you kill anybody I care about… you're one of the supreme generals, you of all people should have a clear head."
Suddenly, Asami let out a chuckle that didn't match the indifference which stained her face.
"You kill my daughter, a child for your own selfish desires… and you stand before her mother, and deem her insane for her state of mind which you are the cause for?"
Her eyes grew darker. Tightening her grip on her katana's handle, Asami pointed it toward the chest of hell's king. Her voice was only then uncovering her century long fury.
"HOW DARE YOU?!!"
Only then, did Asami make her move.
***
"Mama, why do you have to leave?"
Asami had been sitting on a stone, right across from her young daughter who had been sitting on the thin bed.
Looking up from sharpening her black blade, Asami gave the young girl a small smile and said:
"Mama has to go help the other hero's scare away the bad man."
Sachi poked out her lips and scrunched her nose. She clutched a black bracelet in her hands as she watched her mother pace around the room, gathering small weapons such as knives and short blades.
Asami spoke to another woman who was sitting next to Sachi.
"Mother. I'm trusting Sachi to you… there are two guards outside who'll keep watch and alert me if the battle gets closer to this area."
The older woman placed comforting hands on the small shoulders of the pouting child, and whispered to Asami.
"Do you really have to go? You have no obligation to fight for the sake of anyone but Sachi. Please reconsider!"
Asami pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes. After a deep sigh, she said:
"Mother, if I could I would. But there's no other sorcerers aside from the supreme generals who can stand against Malum. And Kahal who's in hell right at this moment is our best hope of killing him, I have to do this."
The older woman simply closed her eyes and sighed. Seeing this, Asami knelt down to meet the eyes of her daughter and smiled.
"Listen Sachi. You're a good girl, I trust that you know that mama has to do this to protect you and grandma, you understand don't you?"
Sachi nodded. Though her lips trembled and her blinking hastened, as though stubbornly refusing to cry in front of her mother.
"Please don't die mama… I don't want you to go…"
Suddenly, Asami felt her own tears forming in her eyes. Though she pinched the soft cheeks of the young girl and smiled.
"I promise, I won't die. I won't die until I see you grow old enough to take care of me."
Sachi wanted to smile, but she couldn't.
The silent tears began flowing freely. But before Asami could brush them away, a violent tremor shook the earth.
She snapped her head to the side, and saw a crimson beam of chaos energy shoot up into the night sky.
She rose to her feet and slowly walked toward the door. Giving her daughter one more look before she flew off into the direction of the last stand against Hell's king.
The final battle of the blood war had began.
***
Asami inhaled deeply. Slamming her eyelids shut, she stretched out her arm and aimed her black blade toward the ground.
Once she exhaled her long breath, the blood which coated her blade cascaded down toward the stone ground, and turned it into an endless sea of blood.
All it took was one blink of Jason's eye to now notice that he was no longer inside the wide room of the catacombs.
For a moment, a tense silence was all that surrounded him. In the next, there was a pale phantom towering over the skies as though piercing through the heavens.
The phantom had no face, but sharp stripes of hair which shot down from all directions. A blood soaked nightmare realm which resided inside of the northern tribe's general's soul.
'Her soul space'
This had been the first time Jason had seen such power at the hands of a supreme general.
One of the first things he had learned from the scrolls during his time at the academy, was that the supreme generals were not only hand selected to guide the world to victory only due to their intellect in all aspects of battle, but also because of the very way in which they used their sorcery.
The six supreme generals were the first ever sorcerers in recorded history to have attained a deep understanding of the inner pathways to their souls. And as a result being the first sorcerers to have achieved their soul's true essence.
Jason himself who had no way of using such a grand level of sorcery had no way to counter such an opponent as a supreme general.
Jason looked up toward the towering phantom. He expected it to move or attack him, but it did neither.
'Is that thing the base of this soul space? If I can destroy it then maybe it'll-'
Too late.
Asami had no intention of giving Jason a fair battle.
After all she was a sorcerer from an era which was stained with bloodthirsty savages. In front of him, there was a crest shaped blood slash racing toward him.
Fortunately for Asami, her blood managed to slam itself right into Jason's arm.
But it left no visible damage.
'Pay attention boy. Or don't… either way is fine with me since you'll be dying anyway'
Once he twisted his body to meet Asami, his eyes had widened and his face contorted in pain.
He finally noticed, looking down at his arm that it was melting. But he had no time to fixate on such matters, standing in front of him was a ruthless monster with nothing but murder on her mind.
Once he brought his glare up to meet the eyes of the monster who stood before him, he noticed that her skin had been melting off.
From the lower half of her face, all he saw was her skeleton. As if her blood itself had the same properties as acid.
Running her hand along the sharp end of her black blade, Asami raised it high up and brought it down in one swoop, sending a crescent shaped blood slash toward Jason.
Then another, and one more.
With the help of Kahal's cursed flowers which blossomed into Jason's body, his heightened senses allowed him to parry a few of the blood slashes, until Asami had disappeared from his sights.
In a moment too fast to even be considered an instant, Asami had already reappeared in front of him. As Jason tried to swing his blade, he suddenly felt as though an invisible force was holding him in place.
The hair of the phantom woman which towered over the space was now wrapped around his body. Threads of black hair bit into his wrists as he struggled against the phantom's hold on him.
The victor had been decided in that moment.
***
Jason gritted his teeth. Of course he hadn't expected to win in a battle against a supreme general, but he hadn't expected to lose so soon.
In this moment all he could think of was Aaliyah and Selene. His face filled with unbearable heat as he shouted:
"Stop fucking around! While we waste time here my mama and sister are dying!"
Asami stood in place. Her face was suddenly somber, though her eyes held their usual darkness as she brought her eyes up to meet Jason's.
But all she could see was the eyes of the man who took the life of her child one thousand years ago.
She drug the sharp end of her blade along the blood soaked ground, and said in a cold tone:
"Scum like you who commit evil deeds always plead for your lives when faced with the eternal punishment of death… it's pitiable."
Once she found herself standing mere centimeters away from the boy, she reached out.
Her fingertips pressed against the left side of his torso. She scoffed as she felt his heart pounding as if demanding to be freed from its chest.
"I guess all beings good and evil have hearts."
Jason felt his eyelids growing heavier. His vision blurred in and out, as he felt his clothes growing heavier wetter and wetter with a thick crimson liquid.
Asami had slowly thrusted her blade through his heart…
And watched with a somber expression as the light slowly faded from his eyes.
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Continued in chapter 114: Fear
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