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The air vibrated around Fenra, charged with pure energy, as if every molecule were about to explode. She advanced, concentrating everything—strength, speed, intent—into a single punch. The tip of her fist, sharp as an invisible blade, sought Vernasha's body, the blow that was meant to decide everything, crushing and inevitable.
Every fiber of her body seemed suspended between time and space. Fenra felt the speed multiply, the very flow of energy around her bending, vibrating, as if the entire world had compressed into that instant. The fist moved faster than sight could follow. Every breath was a tremor, every muscle an arc of concentrated energy.
But when her fist tore through the space, the impossible happened. Fenra felt nothingness receive her. The lower half of her body disappeared. From the waist down, there was no sensation, only a cold, cutting void that paralyzed her.
— Got you, bleh — Vernasha mocked, sticking her tongue out, floating in the air with an impossible lightness, almost disdainful. — Did you really think you could touch me?
Fenra's world collapsed in an instant. She didn't see or feel the two structures of that environment closing in on her. Her body had been crushed before any reaction was possible. She was split in half, but her mind still fought, still thought, still screamed.
How? Fenra murmured in silence. I had her… I had her in my hands. I transcended. I evolved more than once. I went beyond everything I was ever capable of. And yet…
Blood trickled from her mouth, warm, bitter, as gravity and pain crushed every shred of her existence. Consciousness began to fade, slow, cruel, cold. Even so, even broken, Fenra felt a silent fury that refused to die.
Vernasha? She was smiling. The same poisonous, cruel, calculating expression. The entire game, all the power, had always been in her hands. She watched Fenra plummet, a flying, defeated torso, her body broken, without power, without control. A spectacle of fragility.
Amidst the despair, Fenra remembered. She remembered her birth, the voices she had heard since childhood, the visions no one else could perceive. All because of that eye, the same one that made her ridiculed at the academy, the same one that was now the source of her power—the mark that had transformed her into an empress of shadows on her own path.
She had always seen the realm of souls, a portal she could only access because she was a half-breed. She never knew her father, never understood the reason for her birth. Her mother had conceived spontaneously. She, Fenra Senhir, born to carry both pain and power.
She had honed her abilities, mastering divergent techniques that allowed her to create conditions, shape combat to her favor, and the rare temporal distortion ran in her veins. A prodigy, even from a humble family. A world-class standout.
And yet... she had failed. She accepted her fate with her body broken, with the feeling that nothing she had done could alter the course of the inevitable.
Then, between the pain and the defeat, she saw it again—what she had always seen since childhood: an unrecognizable silhouette, which Fenra had tried to reach and understand countless times, never receiving an answer. The figure had vanished for years. But now it was there. Face to face.
And it was reaching out its hand to her.
Fenra saw. A glimpse. An impossible flash amidst the chaos. Even with her body shattered, split in two, the brutality of her own defeat, she gritted her teeth. The pain was infinite, death imminent, and yet, an ancestral fury exploded within her.
A voice that was not just hers, but from the very essence of her soul, echoed through the void:
— I REFUSE!
And the world answered. The air around her glowed, rippling with pure energy. Vernasha trembled, surprised and, for the first time, feeling fear. Sweat trickled down her brow, as if her very consciousness quivered before the power emanating from Fenra.
— Seriously? She can still evolve? — Vernasha whispered, incredulous.
Fenra did not wait for an answer. She screamed. A roar that crossed dimensions, shattered limits, absolute acceleration:
— DIE!
In a flash of light that seemed to tear the very fabric of space, Fenra's torso vanished, leaving only a blur moving too fast for any perception. Her body accelerated, free from gravity, time, limits. The mark on her face burned, radiating pure light, and her eye with the split iris, torn in white and black lines, illuminated her face with a superhuman intensity.
From the center of that fury, something supernatural emerged: her iris collapsed, it shone intensely, giving nature to a sword that appeared in Vernasha's hand.
That sword was the union of all Fenra's spirits and strength. In a single point.
And she swung her sword one last time.
The blow that followed was an absolute flash, a wave of power that devastated everything around. Vernasha tried to react, but it was impossible. There was no time, not enough space. The attack crossed the distance like a comet, striking her squarely. The world exploded in light, vibration, and destruction.
Fenra fell. The ground beneath her seemed to dissolve, the space around her collapsing. Every fragment of the dimension shattered along with it, as if reality itself was confirming the end of the battle. She fell in slow motion, feeling the weight of her own transcendence, without pain, without gravity, only the absolute ecstasy of triumph.
And there, at the center of the chaos, she saw: Vernasha had been defeated. A warmth of victory coursed through every fiber of her being. Fenra's consciousness grew quiet, finally at peace.
She smiled as she fell through the void that was now hers alone. At least she had fulfilled her duty. At least, now, she could rest.
Mid-fall, Fenra accepted her fate. The dimension collapsed around her, crumbling into broken lights and fragments floating like echoes of destruction. Every piece of destroyed space confirmed what she already knew: Vernasha had been defeated.
She closed her eyes, feeling finally free, finally at peace. But when she opened them, reality refused to obey. The destroyed dimension was intact. The ground beneath her wasn't ground—it was soft, almost alive. And she was in the demon's lap.
The creature observed her with golden eyes, deep, shining with pleasure and malice. A poisonous smile spread across its face.
— Did you enjoy my theater? — it said, its voice cutting like blades.
Fenra couldn't respond. Her vision trembled, darkened. Every breath was a struggle. She was dying, and yet she knew exactly whose voice that was.
— It was fun letting you fight my clone. — Vernasha continued, as if savoring every second. — I enjoyed watching. It was almost too easy… and you were spectacular. Finally accepting your half-breed side, arriving exactly where I wanted you. Now… you can rest.
Without warning, Vernasha lifted Fenra by the neck. The girl's broken torso swung, bloodied, her eyes now empty, but still capturing every word.
— Fenra… do you know where the soul of a human being resides? Or rather, the essence?
Fenra remained silent. But it didn't matter, because a clone of Vernasha appeared behind her, raising its hand, its eyes cold and sharp:
— I KNOW, PROFESSOR!
— Oh, Vernasha… the smartest and most beautiful girl in class, can you answer for your classmate Fenra, please? — the voice was venomous, mocking.
The clone then spoke.
— Yes… in the heart. — The words were spat out like daggers. And immediately, blood gushed, exploding in a scarlet cloud.
Vernasha's hand pierced through Fenra's chest. Pure penetration. Aiming for the core of her soul and essence. Purple energy spread and pulsed like a living current, sucking every fragment of Fenra's essence. She had been shredded. Her life, her strength, her soul… everything was being absorbed.
Vernasha looked up, triumphant, almost maternal in her cruelty:
— I needed you to reach your peak, Fenra. I needed you to forge your essence to the maximum, to transcend, to reach your limit. Now, do you know how to cheat the laws of the cosmos? It's simple: absorb the piece that was made to balance you. Become unbalanced.
Fenra remained motionless, her body a broken puppet, but even there, at the limit of existence, the mark of her transcendence pulsed—a reminder that her struggle, though interrupted, would not be forgotten.
The dimension finally gave way. Shards of energy and shattered reality fragments fell like glass under tension, creaking, breaking, dissolving. The air seemed to vibrate with every crack, every fragment reflecting echoes of a battle that had surpassed all limits.
At the center of that chaos, Vernasha finished absorbing Fenra completely. Every strand of Vernasha's blonde hair darkened, and on her face, two marks appeared, parallel—one white, one black, tearing across her face like scars of pure energy. Her hair followed the mark: the part where the mark was light remained blonde, the dark part turned black. Her eyes reflected the transformation: one a vibrant gold, the other a cold gray, each carrying fragments of Fenra's essence.
The inversion was complete: Vernasha had become Fenra, and Fenra had become Vernasha.
— I told you that in the end… we would become one, my dear — said Vernasha, her voice sweet and venomous at once, laden with absolute power.
She clapped her hands slowly, almost theatrically, as if applauding the very spectacle she had orchestrated.
— Your final blow was impressive, it really was surreal. — The mocking smile widened. — A pity you suffered so much only to kill a clone of mine.
Vernasha turned slightly, observing every fragment of the collapsed space around her.
— You know, from the very beginning, I had the entire dimension in the palm of my hand. — Each word echoed through the destroyed space, reverberating among the shards of reality. — Everything was ready. And the moment you transcended, I hid among my clones. For less than half the time of our battle, I had already mapped this entire space. I could have crushed you at any moment… but I needed you to evolve further.
She leaned forward, approaching the fissure in space, as if playing with reality itself.
— So I hid… within the fissure of this place… and I waited.
Vernasha's laughter echoed through the void, cold and cruel.
— Even though you were surpassed in every possible way… even after transcending to your limit just to kill a clone of mine, I give you my congratulations, Fenra. — She paused, looking to where Fenra now resided, an imprisoned presence, split in half but reminiscent of a formidable warrior. Now immortal. — You were spectacular.
Her laughter mixed with the snapping cracks of the dimension, each word cutting like blades: a cruel, absolute triumph, and at the same time, a perverse praise for what Fenra had become—a part of Vernasha, forever, witnessing everything, unable to act, but carrying the full weight of her own transcendence.
The dimension, already on the brink of total collapse, trembled with every breath Vernasha took. But she didn't care. With a subtle, almost imperceptible movement, the villain began to mold the scenery to her will, distorting space, color, and gravity, as if reality itself were malleable clay.
And then came Azaroth. A being of incalculable power, but now impotent before Vernasha's manipulation. She had kept him, incapacitated like a spider that traps and waits to decorate its web. And the moment arrived; she absorbed him, swallowing his essence without effort, without haste, as if savoring a fine dish. Every fragment of Azaroth's power fused with hers, expanding her dominion, breaking barriers that had once limited her.
The limiter that held back her potential shattered, disappeared. There were no more restrictions, no more invisible bars or limits imposed by the cosmos. She and Fenra were now one, a complete entity, with nothing capable of imprisoning them, without frontiers.
The sensation of omnipotence ran through her body and the consciousness shared with Fenra. Every vibration of reality was detectable, every fragment of existence answered to her will. Vernasha smiled, a smile that consumed everything around her, full of venom and triumph.
— Now… — she said, feeling the entire world bend around her — …it's time to absorb the rest.
She ran her tongue over her lips, savoring every second, every instant of absolute power coursing through her veins. Every word was a promise of devastation:
— My plan… is finally reaching its apex.
And with that, the dimension shuddered as never before. Fragments of space and matter floated, melting under Vernasha's touch. The entire universe seemed to bow before her, and within that force, Fenra, now a part of Vernasha, felt every pulse, every wave of power, unable to separate herself, but also without fear.
She knew there was no turning back. The apex had arrived, and nothing could resist Vernasha's dominion now.
And then, the flash.
To be continued…
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