The screeching and screaming continued for as long as I used my spell. I had my eyes focused on the monstrous body that was my sister, trying my best to see any changes that could come from this spell. However, the monster continued to trash around, and nothing changed.
In a bout of frustration, I increased my magic and White Star Power output as much as I could, and the beam of power turned wider and more intense, covering even the ground around Estelle, and causing the red winds all around us to move away.
“Come on…” I whispered, trying not to blink in case I missed anything.
And yet, despite all my power, her body didn’t change, and in fact, her screaming seemed to have increased, as if this was the most painful thing that could’ve happened to her. I wasn’t sure if I should stop and think of something else to help my sister, but it was while considering that, that I finally noticed a change in her body.
It wasn’t for the positive, as the blood pouring out of the cut limbs suddenly gained shape, before snapping in several directions to connect to the still grasping limbs that were all around her.
“It can’t be…!” I exclaimed with widened eyes.
My healing spell appeared to be healing the monster, while my mother’s White Star Power was only causing her pain.
I urgently stopped using both powers, and just as fast as I did, their glows dissipated in the air. Immediately after, the limbs that had connected with the blood snapped to connect with the body in one loud, bloody mess. Almost as soon as the limbs were back in place, Estelle’s body twisted unnaturally, and in one snapping motion, turned itself to be looking my way.
She screeched and from the depths of her opened mouth, another red beam of corruption was fired at me. I dashed through the air to the side to avoid the spell, and it continued going after me. The burning sensation from her beam was much stronger than before, and as I gazed at her body, I could see that there were more red scales over it than before. Had I unintentionally empowered her?
I had no time to think about it, as while shooting that red beam, Estelle exploded from her spot, causing the air around her to boom in the process and her body to fly here in an instant. Her claws were now shining, and the red corrupted power on them was more intense. I had indeed empowered her, it seemed.
With another booming swing, the claw of her left hand fell on me, and I was forced to block it with my weapon. She didn’t stop at just clashing it with me as she raised back up and tried to slash me once more, but I stopped it again.
She was fast, but she hadn’t fought every powerful being in this world like I had. I could easily keep up with her. This monstrous Estelle even tried raising both hands and slash me with them, but I could just as easily parry them both.
“ASSTTOOOOOOOORRRR!” She shouted, and from the depths of her eyes, another couple of beams were fired. “RUN!”
She wasn’t the only one that could shoot beams from her eyes, and since I was busy blocking with my scythe the non-stop assault of her claws, I used my own White Star beam, shooting it from my eyes as well.
A thin white beam of light crashed with the beams that were coming from Estelle’s eyes. I was forced to keep my head facing that way while swinging my scythe from one side to the other to keep her claws from hitting me, but my White Star was stronger than her corruption, so with a sudden step forward in the air, I pushed my beam right into her left eye.
“AHHHH!” she screamed, and she finally stopped trying to scratch me as she pulled back and placed her hands over her face.
“Estelle!” I urgently shouted, hoping that I hadn’t hurt her by accident.
But in that short frame of distraction, her blonde hair turned corrupted red, and floated in the air. I turned to look at it, and at the same time, every strand of hair appeared to have gained sentience, as it all snapped in my direction.
I easily managed to cut away all of it, since regardless of how much power it carried, it was still hair. Still, seeing those strands of blond hair fall to the ground made me feel somewhat powerless, regardless of how much I could beat her down. It just felt wrong to do this.
Realizing that her hair wasn’t going to do anything to me, Estelle brought back down her hands, screeched again, and shot another beam of red fire from her mouth. The strands of hair surrounding me moved to try to catch me, but I just flew back, raised my weapon, and created a small white barrier at my front, where the red beam crashed and spread in every direction.
It sustained itself just fine, until Estelle dashed from her spot and destroyed it with a slash of her hand, to continue with the same slashing action my way. I parried away each attack just like I had done before, but I just couldn’t keep this up forever… Just looking at her deformed face, I racked my brain for a way to fix it.
“ASTOR, RUN! ASTOR, RUN! ASTOOOOOR, RUN! AST—” She kept screaming with each slash, making it difficult for me to focus on how I could bring her back to normal.
However, listening to her screaming voice, I realized something else. She was only saying that… She was repeating the same thing over and over, the same final words that she shared with me when she was impaled, and I ran away.
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With that realization, I looked back at her; at her bright pink skin, red scales, and red beams of Corruption that were fired from time to time. It couldn’t be… and I refused to accept it, but there was no other explanation for what was going on here.
She was simply another corrupted monster. This one was more powerful because it was a mix of my sister and the dragon from that time, but it was doing the same thing as every other monster I defeated… The only difference being that she was repeating her last words and not the Evil God’s name.
That might explain why my healing spell mixed with the White Star Power didn’t do anything to her besides just hurt her and heal her… Hurt and heal it.
I gathered power in my scythe, and with one quick swipe, I created an explosion of red, white, and dark purple, right when my blade hit its claw. It was sent crashing down to the lake, where another explosion of red sand ensued, and it was buried under it.
“There’s no other way…” I whispered to myself.
I had to kill her. Just like I had killed every other corrupted person, animal, and magical being in our world before coming here. She was beyond saving, and being the first corrupted one, there was simply no way to turn her back; not after being killed, and spending so many years trapped in that monstrous form.
If anything… This was the final mercy I could grant my sister after so long.
There was no need to allow her to suffer anymore. The only place where she lived anymore was in my memories and nowhere else. That thing trying to dig itself back out to continue attacking me was nothing more than another one of Xarcos’ monsters.
“ASTOOOOR!” it shouted, before bursting out of the lake and flying in my direction, winding its arms back and gathering another red beam in its wide-open mouth. “RUN!”
But I wasn’t going to run, and I wasn’t going to let this continue.
I spun the scythe a couple of times, gathered all the power that I needed to it—causing it to glow white with streaks of dark purple mixed in them—and then turned a sharp look at the incoming monster.
A red beam of corruption was fired from the mouth, and I burst from my spot, straight at it.
I crashed into it, and the burning red beam surrounded me. I kept going, deeper and deeper into the beam, until I reached the dark depths of the monster's mouth. There, I finally gave a powerful swing and released all of my power. The scythe cleanly cut through the monster’s body, a loud scream followed, and I popped out through the other side of the body.
I continued falling until I hit the ground, where I landed and spread sand all around me, before turning to look at what remained of the monster’s body.
It was slowly falling back down with a large hole in the middle of the torso that was getting wider with a white glow on its edges, slowly consuming the rest of the body. I saw how the beast continued to fall, until finally hitting the center of the lake with a boom that spread sand everywhere. It wasn’t falling at a high speed, so despite the sand, I could clearly see how it was struggling with scrambling arms to move; to stand back up and fight. But it was done.
There was just one thing I needed from it. So, I jumped from the edge of the lake and flew over the monster’s slowly dying remains. I could sense the remains of my sister’s power. It was concentrated in the middle of the large head.
“Aaaaaastoorrrrr…” it gurgled out, and while it did, I swung my scythe, sending a white wave of power that cut right through the middle of the monster’s forehead.
Its head violently shook back, and a cut was opened in the place of impact. There, I finally saw a softly glowing white jewel—my sister’s inherited power. I didn’t know if that was more or less than mine, since we never compared, but just from remembering how adept my sister was with magic, I could tell that it was likely stronger than mine.
A waste for it to be used in such a way by that Evil God.
I stretched my hand to it, and a white aura stretched from it, going down and into the opened wound of the hardly struggling monster. Once it touched the jewel, it reacted to it, and like a piece of ice in the summer, it melted into my power. I could feel the piece of power traveling back up from it like a tingle on my arm. With my eyes closed, I felt it move through the air; through my power, and finally through my body, until it settled in my chest, right where my power and my mother’s power were.
An explosion of white power followed once they all connected, and I could feel my body increase in strength beyond those of a mortal body. This was it. This was the same kind of power that my mother likely carried. The power of a Goddess.
The power… to kill a God.
I opened my eyes and looked at the unmoving monster. It was twitching here and there but no longer trying to fight. I watched for a few seconds, and then, just as slowly as it had been dying, it finally stopped all movement, and any power flowing through it ceased to exist. The body quickly started decaying, turning into a red mist that was dissipating into the air and being carried away by the still raging Corrupted Winds.
I couldn’t watch anymore, so I turned to look at the skies; at the place where I had to go next. It was time for me to leave this dead world and find the one that killed it. It was time for me to find Xarcos.
I stretched my hand, and a bright glowing white path was summoned, going to the skies and beyond them as I tried to find any traces of Godly power. However, as I took one step onto the path, I felt something strange, followed by a voice; a near whisper.
“Astor…” I heard, and I quickly turned to look at the monster. It couldn’t be. It was supposed to be dead by now.
My eyes widened when I saw a thin, white, girly figure, with swaying long blond hair, standing by the edge of the lake. I froze in place, unmoving despite the pull of the path that was trying to launch me out of the world.
I stretched my hand over to it, but a voice caused me to stop.
“Thank you…”
It sounded just like Estelle’s old voice, but I blinked and the figure was gone. I tried cleaning my eyes, extending my magical senses as far as I could to find out what that was, but I couldn’t find anything.
A mocking chuckle escaped my lips and I shook my head. Right. There was no way… The monster was dead, and nothing else remained in this world. Estelle had also died a long time ago, and her power was now coursing through me. What I saw must’ve just been my imagination.
Knowing that, I finally stepped into the white glowing path in the sky and burst out of this world. However… As I was leaving, there was just one thing in my mind that I had to say, something that I hadn’t had the chance to say before, even if nobody could hear it.
“Goodbye, little sister,” I said, a knot forming in my throat.
"Goodbye… Estelle.”