A rough breathing echoed, isolated from the constant screaming of a suffering lamia.

Healing the injuries inflicted by the overload of magic energy bursting from Deveralna was tremendously exhausting, yet, Orion continued.

He stood up after having used his power, and switched forms to prepare for the next outburst.

'It's been three hours.'

He looked at her with anxiety, while she laid on the sand, her eyes glaring at the sun.

"Kuh!"

She grabbed her chest in pain, before a shockwave pulsed from her body. A few seconds later, her body began to ignite once again.

Deveralna's loud screams traveled far and wide, as the intensity of the energy amplified.

'If you don't find the balance, I fear your mind won't hold much longer.'

"Deveralna..."

The moment she stopped thrashing, he healed her. Again, and again.

She couldn't even lose consciousness to ignore the pain. Her mind's stability was chipping away bit by bit, yet, her unwavering spirit help strong.

When she opened her eyes again, she slowly glanced at Orion with a smile.

"Don't...worry."

"How am I supposed not to worry?"

Orion shrugged and smiled faintly.

"Hnn!"

While she tried to convince herself and Orion that she was fine, in fact, she wasn't.

'How do I control this surge of power? I don't know.'

'I don't know! What can I-'

Her thoughts stopped when the pain became unbearable. She blacked out, only to awaken a few seconds later.

'I'm tired...'

While looking at the blue sky above her, she held her hand above her, in an attempt to touch it, knowing full well it was impossible.

'If I could control this power, what kind of world would I be able to create?'

'With a supply of energy as vast as the sky.'

She closed her hand and dropped it on the sand.

Rapidly, she felt another surge of power welling in her core.

'Contain! I have to contain it!'

'I can't... depend on him any longer!'

Small flames appeared on her shoulders and stomach, ready to eat her away at any moment.

'I haven't been suffering for nothing. Still, how can I hold this?'

'There's no way I can contain this for long.'

With a sigh, she let go of her resistance, letting the flame consume her.

Orion watched with a frown as she screamed in agony.

This time, she kept her eyes closed.

'What are my options? Did I miss something obvious?'

'Did Tiohr-nam hinted at something? No...'

She began to rack her brain to attain maximum efficiency.

'Ah! Too slow! Even if I have to fry my brain, I'll find a way!'

Different from her previous attempts, she focused on her lightning element. It began to focus on her head, forcing her neurons to work past their limits.

Her nose began to bleed, but her thoughts became twice as fast. Until the last second, she had already crossed numerous options.

'Suppressing it with magic?'

'Letting it consume me?'

'Force the power outside my body? I can try.'

With a smile, she grabbed her chest with both hands and looked at Orion.

"Move...away."

With a nod, Orion warped further away from her. She looked at the sky, and writhed in pain as a large ball of lightning energy formed above her chest.

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It grew larger at an incredible pace, creating arching lightning bolts that ravaged the surrounding ground.

A mixture of pure unfiltered energy and lightning magic the size of a bear loomed over her, until she released it.

The ball sent a shockwave of static energy, electrifying everything in a hundred meters radius, before traveling at a ludicrous speed toward the sky.

Her eyes were glued to the rising sphere, until it became a second sun in the sky. Literally.

Following an explosion of tremendous force, a second sun formed in the sky, way larger than the real one.

Microbursts shook the ground in repetition, until it vanished into nothing. Luckily, there was no one to see this, as they would have collapsed on the ground in terror.

"Are you alright?"

Orion moved his body from hers, and wiped the sand off his clothes and wings.

"I... think I am for now."

In a split moment after the ball was sent, Orion warped next to her, crouched down, and sheltered her from the crashing force.

She sat on the ground with difficulty while looking at her hands. Feeling that her physical strength had deteriorated, she couldn't even clench her fist correctly.

"It's temporary, isn't it?"

"Yes, as much as I want to disagree."

With a dry smile, she nodded.

"But it's the perfect opportunity to find a way to control it now that the energy isn't constantly being released."

"How much time did that give you?"

"Probably around fifteen minutes. Maybe less than that."

After sitting next to her, Orion crossed his arms.

"Hang in there."

"I will."

She placed her head on his left shoulder, and slowly closed her eyes. Even thought she was tired and wanted to fall asleep, she couldn't.

The energy in her core wasn't letting her rest. Even if she expelled parts of the energy, it was rapidly building up, threatening to restart the vicious cycle of self-destruction.

"Orion..."

"What is it?"

"How can I access my soul? Can you tell me how you do it?"

Surprised, he thought for a second, before giving his answer.

"It is impossible to access the soul in normal circumstances. I learned that from Tiohr-nam."

"I see."

Feeling that her options were thinning, she barely opened her eyes.

"But..."

Orion glanced at her with a serious look on his face.

"I should be able to help you access it."

"Really?"

Her eyes opened wide, and a bright smile replaced her gloomy expression.

"Yes."

He gently pushed her away to stand up, and changed to his demon form.

"Close your eyes."

A puddle of dark matter traveled from his feet toward her. Dark tendrils began to latch on her, before her whole body was covered in darkness.

She felt the cold feeling seep into her body, as it became numb, until she closed her eyes.

Enveloped in a cocoon of darkness, Deveralna felt her consciousness fade away.

...

"Where...?"

*Bzzt*

A lightning bolt crashed next to her, surprising her in the process.

The static electricity made her hair fly up for a brief second, before she looked at the origin of the attack.

"..."

In utter shock, she opened her mouth.

"How? How am I supposed to control that?!"

A raging orb, three times the size of Albriar, loomed over her.

It acted as the core, releasing in rhythm arms made of lightning in every direction, until it formed a perfect tesseract of pure plasma.

All of this happened in fractions of seconds, appearing to create three times in a single second.

She felt the sickening energy pulse uncontrollably, as the tesseract appeared to rotate after each released of energy.

"Haha~ What in the..."

Deveralna felt that this was impossible. She had chewed on more than she could swallow, as she began to desperate.

Alone with this horrible power, she felt insignificant.

"How could I think to contain such a powerful power?"

Feeling the strength in her tail give out, she dropped to the ground.

Tears welled up at the corner of her eyes, but she contained them. She was still a Queen, and her dignity couldn't allow this pitiful state to worsen any further.

While gritting her teeth, she shook her head, and recalled what she had said.

"Until the bitter end, I'll struggle! I'll prove to Velridar that he was right in leaving his power in my hands!"

She glared at the intense energy in her soul, her eyes glowing a white hue over her orange irises.

The path to becoming a Remnant was full of dangers, but for a strong-willed Deveralna, it was only the beginning.

"I will absorb you! You will be mine, and you will follow my orders!"

Suddenly, a lightning bolt flew straight at her, threatening to injure her. If she took too much damage in this state, she could permanently injure her soul, or even lose her life.

"Two can play this game."

Pointing her right palm at the lightning, she sent a bolt of lightning to counter it.

"I subdue you before it is too late. Trust me."

Standing her ground, she glared at the orb.

The confrontation rapidly worsened, as more and more attacks rained on her. Since plasma was an incredible matter state, Deveralna could barely keep up while countering each strikes.

Beads of sweat formed on her forehead, before one bolt of plasma grazed her right arm.

'!'

She looked at her arm, and noticed that it didn't hurt, and it wasn't injured at all.

'What?'

Feeling a small energy in her core being refilled, confusion arose in her head.

Then, an idea formed. If her suggestion were correct, then this matter would find an end sooner than later, without her suffering too much.

Opening her arms wide, she welcomed the next bolts, which pierced her body from top to bottom, avoiding her head.

"Kh!"

The recoil made her slide a few meters backward, but she was fine.

'Process it! Quickly!'

She began to melt the energy inside her, as her body absorbed it.

Away from her sight, a single container began to light up, filled with only a fraction of what it could hold.

'Faster!'

The next strikes were already pummeling her. She began to avoid and counter those she had no certainty she could absorb, while processing the ones in her core.

Rapidly, the first energy container ended up being filled to the brim. A second one began to fill next to it.

'I feel lighter.'

The white glow in her eyes became stronger. It began to take over her irises natural color the more she absorbed the plasma bolts.

At the same time, the tesseract began shrinking. Fewer and fewer plasma bolt hailed on her, as the fourth energy container filled up.

Deveralna's red scales turned white the more she processed the energy, until her whole tail became as white as snow.

Her hair also turned whiter. A pure white, devoid of impurities. Now, she looked very similar to Velridar.

Finally, the tesseract stopped appearing, leaving a feeble and blinking orb behind.

"I... absorbed it all?"

She looked at her hands in shock.

"What is this strange feeling? I feel power swelling inside of me, but it's not difficult to control."

When she closed her eyes, she could see herself floating in the sky, a sky made of the energy she processed and made it her own.

All that was left was to absorb the last piece, the orb, and all seven energy containers would be filled, marking the birth of the new Remnant of Strength.

As she pointed her palm at it, an arc of plasma traveled from it to the orb, and it began to take the last of its power. Transferring everything to her, the orb vanished, absorbed.

At last, a cross-like symbol formed in her eyes, symbolizing her success.

When she felt complete, Deveralna awakened.