Jarek stepped forward and yelled, “You can’t kill us all, Victoria. You have arrived at your own funeral. Surely you have come for something. What is it you want?”
Jarek did find the situation to be unusual. The Victoria he knew would have been furious and rageful at the sight of her dead daughter. Instead, she was cool, calm, and collected. None of it added up.
Victoria shook her head, “Is it so surprising that I want to avenge the death of my daughter? Xenia was the family jewel, my heir, my life blood.”
Victoria then raised both of her hands bloodbending Erika and Michael to their knees and constricting their necks choking them. She laughed and called out, “I may not be able to kill you all, but I can certainly kill most of you!”
Jarek yelled, “Stop this! Stop this at once Victoria!”
She glared at him, “I will make you a deal. Allow me to take Xenia’s body and return it to Bella Domina for a proper funeral and burial. You can even attend to attest to her death if you wish. In exchange, I will spare these weaklings and your son. We can fight each other as we have always wished.”
Jarek looked to Erika and Michael struggling to breathe and immediately agreed, “Deal! Now let them go!”
Victoria relinquished her grip of their necks and bodies allowing them to fall to the ground with hurried breaths. She then looked to the side and barked orders to no one seemingly, “Take her. Bring her to Nero. He will give her a royal funeral for the world to mourn our fallen angel.”
Jarek had been so focused on Victoria that he failed to detect anyone alongside her. Suddenly, as if a blanket of invisibility had been lifted, Constance and Ashrok appeared and walked to Xenia’s dead body. Ashrok picked up her headless body and walked back towards Victoria nodding to her.
Victoria nodded in return and looked back to Jarek, “Thank you, Jarek. Now I will have Constance and Ashrok take their leave. You won’t mind if we keep the void spear. It is crafted from stolen material, after all, is it not?”
Jarek eyed her without responding. He only thought, “If she knew then why did she allow Xenia to be so careless?”
She then said, “You do your best to control your underlings now as we fight. To the death this time, please.”
Jarek took a fighting stance and ordered his allies, “Retreat to the camp site. This is between Victoria and me. No one is to interfere. Is that clear?”
They all agreed. Jacek was the only one with power enough remaining to participate in a fight of such caliber anyways. It pained him to leave his father’s side against such a powerful opponent; however, he obliged at his father’s request.
As the battlefield cleared leaving just Jarek and Victoria alone together, she smiled and said, “To kill two BloodStars in one day. You would be a man of legend.”
He smirked back at her, “The tides of fortune are turning Victoria. These aren’t the old days which soaked you in glory.”
He then powered up layering his body in a glowing ki before rushing towards her and releasing a powerful punch.
She easily sidestepped it. Jarek looked around to find her thinking to himself, “Older but still fast as ever. I couldn’t even follow her movements.”
She appeared behind him; however, instead of striking, she mocked him, “It’s a shame you never truly pursued the height of martial arts with me. The level of Grandmaster is only the beginning.”
He turned and swept his arm horizontally releasing a crescent shaped wave of ki energy at her which she again dodged with ease.
He smirked to himself as he followed her movements this time, “I’ve learned a few tricks of my own since last time. Don’t you worry.”
He raised his arm into the air and shot a large ball of energy into the air which hovered above him. He then pushed his arms outward with force and yelled, “The Ghost of Jazek!”
The energy ball split into hundreds of smaller yet very powerful energy balls which formed a dome-like array around both fighters.
Victoria looked to him, “I can dodge anything you throw at me!”
He taunted her, “Good luck!”
He then began to slowly constrict the dome-like array of deadly energy blasts forcing her closer to him. She rushed in and began to attack him, “If you are so intent on trapping me then we will both suffer the consequences!”
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She lashed out with various punches and kicks to his body including his neck and other vital regions until finally Jarek clenched his fists and brought every last energy strike flying in towards both of them.
As each energy strike landed on him and her, they exploded with utmost force dealing damage to both in massive amounts. Jarek had pulled no punches in the might of his attack, and it showed.
As the dust cleared, Victoria was still standing albeit with cuts and bruises all over her body and blood running down her face.
Jarek stood with similar injuries including a large abrasion over his chest. He called out to Victoria, “Lest you forget! Damage only makes me stronger! Now go ahead and heal, so that we may continue this fight with ever increasing intensity.”
Jarek’s warrior blood was only beginning to boil, yet Victoria stood with blood running profusely down her face. She had imbued her Bloodline powers into the Invictus Sanguis orb, and she had poured over 90% of her ki into it as well following its creation leaving her natural abilities weakened. She had even permanently transmitted a source of ki to Nero in raising him to a status of a BloodStar Immortal. In all her adult life, she had never been weaker.
Jarek took note and relaxed his body, “You have weakened, Victoria! Your strikes felt like Erika attacking me. Your wounds remain. And your skin betrays you. What has happened?”
Jarek only just now realized something was severely out of place. First, she was almost pleased to see Xenia dead. Second, she was goading him into a fight she clearly couldn’t win. And lastly, she appeared intent on following through with this fight to her own death. He hesitated to attack further as he awaited her response.
“You can thank Master Sage’s family. A curse takes a toll on one over many many years. And it takes an even larger toll when removing it as I have.” She huffed to catch her breath and continued, “All the more reason to kill her after I am finished here.”
Jarek wasn’t keen to re-engage in battle until he figured out what was going on; however, he had no choice as she began to bloodbend his extremities and his neck. He flexed against her bloodbending powers and easily broke her hold.
She rushed in to engage in close combat once more with unnaturally fast and skillful movements from a woman of her age and appearance. He struggled to keep up with her movements taking hits as she went; however, he then fired a large yellow energy blast at her directly which caught her and forced her back.
She struggled to deflect it until she finally lost her control with it exploding in her face. She slammed back into the ground with severe injuries including a missing hand and several large areas of skin burned away completely.
She stood and let out a menacing laugh, “Finish the job if you can, Jarek!”
He grit his teeth and powered down, “No! I will take you as prisoner, Victoria. You are no threat to me or my allies in your weakened state. I will take you to the Allied Forces Courts where you will answer for your crimes against humanity.”
She grimaced and let out a scream, “No you won’t! Kill me Jarek, or you will regret it!”
Jarek immediately thought to himself, “So it is true. Her goal is for me to kill her… but why? Xenia is dead this time. What dark magic does she have up her sleeve?”
His thoughts were interrupted, however, as he heard several shrieks from the camp site. He turned to see Erika floating in the air with her neck being wrung by an invisible force.
Victoria looked to Jarek, “Kill me or she dies!”
Jarek hesitated in the moment torn between which decision to make. On the surface, it appeared painfully obvious, and he had only a hunch to go against killing a long-time foe. However, deeper down, he knew an intricate plan with months possibly years of planning was unfolding. The last thing he wanted to do was play directly into that plan.
Only a few seconds elapsed; however, it felt like an eternity. Jacek, watching from the sidelines, could no longer bear his father’s hesitation while his love’s life was hanging on the whim of an unhinged killer.
He stepped forth and summoned all of his energy into one singular attack. A golden column of ki shot forth into the air seemingly disappearing into the sky.
Victoria took note of the surge in ki from Jacek and smiled. The ki continued to burst forth from Jacek as he sent it into the sky. Then, a column of his ki shot down from the sky.
Jacek yelled, “Heraklinos Burning Sky!” The column rained down hitting Victoria squarely. She did not scream, and she hardly moved a muscle, only offering a smile on her face to anyone who could squint through the bright ki to focus on her.
She felt her skin begin to disintegrate in the powerful attack, and she closed her eyes and whispered to herself, “Crimson blood-red hair. Grace the undead heir. Once fallen in a dark hour. Rise with unmatched power. Pass through the gates of death. To reach your first breath.”
She then opened her eyes smiling directly at Jarek. Jarek yelled to her, “What have you done, Victoria!? What have you done?!”
Without answering him, she dropped her ki entirely and her body rapidly disintegrated into nothingness. Erika had fallen back to the ground unharmed; however, Jacek’s attack continued for no less than ten more seconds. By the time the column of powerful ki halted, Victoria and any trace of her had been swept from the Earth.
Jarek walked up to the point of impact and inspected it closely as he muttered, “What have you done?”
Jacek ran up to his father, “Is she dead? Just like that? What happened?”
Jarek frowned, “I’m not sure yet. Take the others and lead a team to rescue Master Karasu from the citadel. If yours and Katya’s intel is correct, he should still be alive.”
Jacek turned to lead a team while Jarek stood in silence staring at the ground thinking to himself, “Two BloodStars in one day. That has never happened. I have the terrible feeling it only happened today because they wanted it to happen.”
He turned and walked back to the camp site and maintained a serious expression dampening the celebratory mood of the others. He turned to Ramses and Zara and barked, “I want to be in the front row of Xenia’s funeral! Make it happen! I want to confirm her death.”
He retreated back into the camp leaving the others to themselves. Erika looked to the others, “You think he would be happy?”
Michael shook his head, “He thinks it was all too easy. The man doesn’t know his own strength. Xenia all but offered her life to us, and Victoria was old and weak. Fortune simply favored us today. Nothing more, nothing less.”
Ramses and Zara nodded, “Nonetheless, we will arrange for premier viewing at the funeral. All nerves will be settled as we head into a new age of prosperity.”