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The presence before Tekio shone in shades of purple, a living aura pulsing between reality and the abyss.
It dissolved slowly, absorbing every fragment of Dante's agonizing energy, every drop of memory, every piece of his essence.
The world seemed to bend to that moment.
When the light finally dissipated, Tekio had time to see a face.
Split down the middle.
One half was Fenra, with a new mark on her face, but undeniably Fenra.
The other half… he did not know. It was golden, angelic, an unknown reflection, yet still human.
The sight tore at his chest and left him bewildered, unsure if he felt relief or terror.
And then Vernasha emerged.
The energy she had absorbed from Dante seemed to have transformed her—taller, more intense, and more terrifying than Tekio could ever have imagined.
But more importantly, she had absorbed Dante's memories, everything he had seen and experienced, every detail. And crucially, she had seen everything Tekio had done.
She looked at him with contained dread and disdain, but also with the certainty that this boy was indeed something complicated. Yet simple.
Her voice cut the air like a blade:
— You have to die.
Before Tekio could react, Vernasha moved.
An absurd, impossible speed for ordinary eyes. In a blink, she was before him.
She raised a single finger, and the air cracked around it. A wave of energy formed instantly, exploding in a flash that burned the vision and heralded total destruction.
When she lowered her finger, the earth steamed, deep fissures cut the ground—Vernasha's power was absolute.
But then, something unexpected happened.
Vernasha saw.
The speed was tremendous, but Vernasha's perception now saw.
Someone who had caught Tekio in their arms before the wave could hit him.
It was Mei Nuhay.
Her uniform was torn, in tatters, destroyed on her legs and arms, only firm on her torso and part of her thighs. The result of her intense explosions.
She emerged from the chaos, imposing and serene, holding Tekio firmly, shielding him from Vernasha's crushing power.
Carefully, she set him down on the ground, her eyes attentive, assessing his state, his body, his breathing.
— Are you okay? — she asked, her voice laden with genuine concern.
Tekio, still panting, responded with a slight nod. Mei then, in a casual gesture, ruffled his hair, bringing a silent, almost maternal comfort.
Vernasha watched them, patient, calculating every movement.
And then Mei turned, facing the space where Fenra's and Vernasha's energy still vibrated:
— What the hell is this?
Vernasha's voice came firm, laden with possession and disdain:
— Don't be surprised, Mei. I only took what was always mine.
Tekio looked between the two women—the savior and the threat—feeling the confusion grow in his chest.
The field was silent for a moment, only the echo of rain and wind.
But everyone knew: nothing would ever be the same again.
Mei gritted her teeth, spitting the name with contained fury:
— Vernasha! What have you become?!
The echo of that name pierced Tekio's chest.
Vernasha. The woman who had imprisoned Mei, who should have been dead, now alive and powerful in an unimaginable way.
His heart raced, his blood seemed to freeze.
He understood the gravity of the moment, but he couldn't comprehend: how did Vernasha possess Fenra's energy?
She smiled, slow and deliberate, like one savoring every second of another's torture.
— I became what I was meant to be… at least the beginning of what I am. — Her voice was low, but it cut like a blade. — But don't worry. Fenra is alive. I absorbed her.
Tekio and Mei exchanged a glance, their eyes wide.
Absorbed? How? And why?
Mei felt a chill run down her spine, her breath caught for an instant.
The loss of her friend, the cruelty, the impossibility of doing anything—it all crushed her heart in seconds.
She had never felt such impotence.
Vernasha took a step forward, the purple aura around her vibrating like contained thunder.
— And now… — she said, her voice both a whisper and an echo — I'm going to absorb you too, Mei.
Mei's eyes widened. A mix of disbelief, rage, and fear paralyzed her.
She wanted to laugh, to joke, to face it like she always did. But there was nothing. Only pure fear.
Vernasha's presence was overwhelming, as if every atom of the battlefield was at her service.
Vernasha's half-gray, half-golden gaze pierced Mei's soul, stabbing through her courage, her pride, her very being.
She trembled.
For a moment, Tekio felt his own heart tremble with hers.
But Vernasha smiled.
A smile that knew no limits. That knew no mercy.
A smile that said, without words: you are at my mercy.
And in that instant, Tekio realized the battlefield was no longer just physical.
It was psychological. It was existential.
They were facing something that could not be fought with strength, nor with speed.
Vernasha was not just an enemy—she was inevitability itself.
And yet, deep in his chest, a spark burned.
An instinct, a silent certainty: they needed to survive.
Even if everything was against them.
Vernasha looked at the sky for a moment, the rain falling lightly on her golden-dark hair.
She sighed, bored.
— This rain is… tedious. — she said, and with a delicate gesture, raised her hand.
The clouds tore like fragile curtains.
The thunder died in silence.
In seconds, the sky opened—clear, cold, and completely submissive to her will.
But what was revealed above was not the sun.
It was veins.
Ethereal veins of abyssal energy, pulsing in shades of purple and black, serpentining across the firmament like the roots of a dying god.
Each pulse transcended reality, distorting the air, and the world below reacted: the trees contorted, their branches snapped, sap boiled.
The abyssal light fell upon them, making them glow with an impossible color—alive and dead at the same time.
Vernasha watched with serene pleasure.
Then she turned back to Tekio, her golden and gray eyes dancing in contradictions.
— Dante fulfilled his role — she murmured. — As I planned.
She took a step forward. The ground cracked under her feet, not from impact—from her mere presence.
— But… someone did things they shouldn't have.
Her gaze fixed on Tekio.
Mei watched, not understanding, but her heart beat faster.
Vernasha's words sounded like dark answers to a theory she feared was true.
— What did he do? — asked Mei, firm, but her voice slightly tremulous.
Vernasha laughed—a soft sound, but saturated with scorn.
— Directly? Not much.
— But while I moved pieces on one chessboard, he was disorganizing the other.
She extended a hand toward Tekio, her index finger almost touching the air between them.
— Tekio… — she whispered, savoring the name. — You were never meant to be anything more than a receptacle. A shell. A vessel for the holder of the lightning of creation.
But something changed.
Her voice wavered—fascinated and poisoned at the same time.
— You started acting on your own. Interfering.
— If you had died, it would have been fine. I would have absorbed you later. But you survived. Even after awakening the girl, you continued.
Her gaze narrowed, something between admiration and hatred.
— And worse… you became a kind of anti-abyss.
— I can sense the nuance just by breathing in your essence.
The silence that followed was oppressive.
Mei looked at Tekio, serious.
And Tekio—motionless.
He did not deny.
He knew.
He knew he had been doing the impossible. That something inside him was changing.
Vernasha sighed, a sound almost melancholic.
Her eyes plunged deep into his.
— You were just a cog — she said with cruel calm. — A support.
— A cocoon to awaken the sisters of chaos. The twin demons I created.
Her energy increased, the air around her distorted.
— And you… succeeded.
For a moment, the wind stopped.
Reality itself seemed to hesitate before the revelation.
Vernasha lowered her gaze, smiling almost tenderly.
— But you also did something you shouldn't have — she whispered. — You made my king remember he was human… before I cursed his mind with my power.
Tekio remained silent.
His crimson eyes reflected the chaos and the fear he struggled to contain.
Mei, however, trembled—each of Vernasha's words fit like a cursed piece into a puzzle she wished she had never understood.
Seraphyne had been right.
It all made sense now.
A horrible, inevitable sense.
Vernasha took another step, pointing a finger to the sky—and bubbles of black energy began to float, pulsing like deformed hearts.
— I orchestrated everything from the beginning — she said, looking at them. — Since he was a child.
— Dante was my receptacle, my avatar of chaos. The stage that would accumulate enough negative energy to rewrite the order.
— Every war, every death, every tear… was written by me.
She turned, her eyes on Tekio.
— And now, you are the error in my script.
The shadow of a smile formed.
— The error I am going to correct.
Mei listened in silence, her eyes fixed on Vernasha.
The words echoed inside her like muffled thunder, and Mei's mind raced—connecting names, forces, memories.
Seraphyne had spoken of the Queen.
And now she understood.
This is her.
The thought came with the weight of a sentence.
The pressure emanating from Vernasha was absurd—the world seemed to bend to her presence.
Every breath the woman took distorted the air, made the ground vibrate, and even the light hesitate.
It was impossible to doubt.
This was the force that reigned over the abyss.
The source.
The Queen.
And if there was something stronger than her… then the entire world would already be lost.
But there was Tekio.
Before that cosmic presence, he remained standing—wounded, exhausted, but unbreakable.
The crimson energy surrounding him pulsed in contrast to Vernasha's abyss, and Mei realized what she had always known, what everyone denied but she always saw:
Tekio was essential.
With every word from Vernasha, that certainty burned deeper.
Seraphyne had been right.
Tekio wasn't just a boy—he was the force that rivaled the Queen.
The balance.
The error the cosmos needed.
Vernasha began to walk toward them.
Each of her steps was slow, graceful, but the sound reverberated like funeral bells.
The ground fragmented under her feet, not from weight, but from submission.
Her eyes were fixed on Tekio—cold, luminous, as if seeing not just the boy, but the entire destiny through him.
She walked without a single care. Even though Tekio's bodyguard was Mei Nuhay, Vernasha didn't even care.
She didn't even look at her. She didn't need to.
— Come now, Tekio… — her voice was sweet, almost maternal, the tone contrasting with the horror it carried. — You were able to rival my power, to interfere with the mental control I had planted in Dante. To unbalance a part of my essence.
She smiled, gentle and merciless.
— I congratulate you for that.
The smile died.
— But now it is far too late.
The air shuddered.
The abyssal veins in the sky pulsed in response.
— I am going to absorb you. — Vernasha's voice echoed, deep, distorted, as if several of her were speaking at once. — Then, I will absorb Mei.
She lifted her chin, her eyes half-closed like one watching a well-rehearsed play reach its end.
— And then… I will return to what I always was.
The golden gleam of one eye and the gray of the other burned together.
— I will return to having what I always had.
Mei swallowed dryly.
The fear was there—real, intense—but behind it, there was something deeper.
Conviction.
She knew that the presence behind her, that boy, was precious.
Seraphyne had entrusted her with this burden.
To protect the balance.
To protect Tekio.
And Mei Nuhay would never retreat from something like that.
She took a deep breath.
The air entered her lungs and came out as flames.
Fire dripped from her lips, her gaze, her veins.
— …Alright. — she murmured.
The ground beneath her ignited, melting the stone.
Mei leaped—an arrow of fire cutting through the air.
The speed was superhuman, the energy vibrated like the roar of an erupting volcano.
But Vernasha merely followed her with her eyes.
Calm eyes, savoring the moment.
And in the instant Mei's fist was about to strike her, Vernasha smiled.
A small smile.
Lethal.
The world tore.
The scenery came undone like crushed glass—the sounds, the heat, the rain, everything dissolved.
The light vanished.
And the battlefield folded in on itself, pulling Mei, Tekio, and Vernasha into a reality that no longer obeyed human laws.
To be continued…
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