He sent shadow wave after shadow wave.
He dodged and blocked light beams after light beams.
Nothing else was happening, there had been little to no progress.
Except for one thing.
Lawkey was quickly exhausting himself and his Shadow Sign.
While even his emerald emblem in front of his forehead had flickered a few times, the amber emblem on his opponent was still glowing strongly with no signs of wavering.
At this rate… I won’t be able to help much…
While fighting his battle, Lawkey had briefly noticed that Zoran talked to someone not far from where the priest was standing his ground.
Since his tone seemed relaxed, that only left a few possibilities that Lawkey could think of.
Either Riana failed for some reason… or there are others helping this annoying human lamp…
In either case, this meant one thing to Lawkey.
They need my help… and quickly…
Unfortunately, he could still not see anything to that side of the golden cathedral. The light beams and shadows were still in a constant battle over which element would take over the wide hall.
And due to the constant light beam going around, Lawkey couldn’t even sense the shadows of the two girls. Theirs had been too weak to even be visible, let alone be sensed by him.
All he could do so far is focus on the opponent in front of him and hope that Riana would manage somehow.
But the swordsman was growing worried with every second, especially since Zoran had shown no hints of having lost Sana.
Lawkey gritted his teeth and sent another shadow wave towards the two sacred shields still standing strong. Whenever they did waver, Zoran simply called upon more light from the floating and glowing orb behind him to reinforce them once more.
I’m growing out of options here… The only thing I can do is too risky, and it might put them in danger too…
CRACK!! CRACK!! CRACK!!
“?!”
Then, suddenly, Lawkey heard a rush of multiple lightning strikes.
Despite him not having been able to hear much so far due to the chaos around, the sound of thunder so close by wasn’t something that could be muffled easily.
He felt his heart drop as his pupils immediately constricted.
Lawkey didn’t want to believe his instincts at that moment, but he simply knew that sound wasn’t something that helped their cause.
Quite the contrary…
In that instant, the little Hyking creature’s implanted memory suddenly popped into his head.
“...”
Seeing that scene again brought Lawkey to a quick halt in the middle of the cathedral.
“?”
Naturally, Zoran noticed the immediate ceasing of the shadows.
“Well, is that it? Have you finally exhausted the last of your Sign’s power?” Zoran scoffed, still making sure to keep his two sacred shields in front of him, along with keeping the light beams bouncing off the countless stained glass murals inside the cathedral.
“... I’m not usually the type to overthink things in the middle of a duel. I like to trust my instincts instead…”
“What,,,?”
As Lawkey mumbled, shadows from around him began to dim and disappear. Even his emerald emblem was barely visible anymore.
“I’ve tried to think of a solution, but my mind keeps screaming the same thing…” Lawkey continued as he crouched slightly and held his arms in a crossed manner in front of him. His sword held behind his left shoulder, he made up his mind. “Now that things have come to this, I’ve decided to just go for it. I’ll just take responsibility for whatever happens next.”
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
“?!”
Noticing that his opponent was up to something, Zoran held up both his hands and sent all possible light beams bouncing around towards Lawkey.
However, to Zoran’s shock, all shadows simply disappeared in an instant.
And then…
They exploded once more as Lawkey swung his blade in almost a perfect circle around him.
One Shadow Sword Style - Tenth Stance!
Black Flowing Madness!
Just as new shadows erupted from beneath their summoner to surround him in a tornado-like manner, the emerald emblem manifested in front of Lawkey’s forehead once more.
As the rising vortex of shadows blocked all the pillars of lights coming their way, they continued to grow with no sign of stopping.
They quickly began to threaten to reach the ceiling itself.
“That miscreant… He can’t be thinking of…!! No!!! Eversun Goddess!”
As Zoran failed to formulate a proper sentence due to the conclusion he was coming to, Lawkey’s emerald eyes glowed behind the shadows.
Despite everything, the swordsman knew he wouldn’t be able to hold out much longer.
This had to be his final stretch.
This was all he could accomplish now.
He was still too weak for the ones he was going after.
At the very least, he wanted to save the ones he had decided to help right here and now.
That would be enough for me…
**👑**
CRACK!! CRACK!! CRACK!!
The little girl watched as her aunt got struck by lightning strike after lightning strike, except they were not striking at her, but more striking from within her.
“Auntie!!”
The little girl called out again, she couldn’t bear it any longer.
First, it was her mother. The brave and fierce leader of the Undine Clan, Rania Undine. The little girl watched as that mother was turned into a golden statue and put next to the Nimue monument for everyone to see and fear it.
Then her own people began to turn on her, even giving her away like a useless piece of clothing.
And now, her aunt, the only remaining direct family she had left. The aunt that had given everything for her, was currently being ravaged by an onslaught of lightning strikes right in front of her eyes.
The little girl simply wanted to be happy with her loved ones…
It was a simple wish, but now…
All because of her…
All because she was special…
All because-
Before she could finish her thought, a comforting voice reached out to her.
A voice she didn’t believe she would hear again.
**👑**
“I’m sorry… Sana…”
That was all Riana could utter out loud before the first lightning strike overtook her, and her senses.
In that instant, she felt everything freeze around her, as if time itself had stopped.
With the flash of lightning, came the last flashes of her life.
How ironic. If she could, she would have scoffed.
Instead, in front of her was the child version of her fierce sister. The sister she looked up to all her life.
Rania Undine had promised from a very young age to save their clan and usher it in a new age. She would strike a pose with a puffed up chest and proclaim that as if it were the most normal thing to do.
And yet, she had achieved just that. She became the leader of the clan in her early twenties.
Riana was naturally proud of her sister and helped however she could. She vowed to walk in her sister’s footsteps, to follow her example.
However, she could do nothing when that same sister was turned into a golden statue in front of her eyes.
Rania had made her promise before she went to fight back. She made Riana promise to keep Sana safe no matter what, even if she had to swallow her pride and anger and watch as her people died.
For Rania believed one thing after having given birth. She wasn’t the one destined to save the clan, nay, the one to usher the merfolk in a new age, to lead the race into standing on their own two feet…
Only one person could push that into fruition.
And it wasn’t Rania. That is why she made her sister swear her an oath, an unbreakable promise.
And that oath, that promise, Riana had been able to keep thus far.
She almost broke it as Sana was first kidnapped, but thankfully things worked out and she made it in time to save her.
However, now, she was losing the battle. Losing the chance to keep her promises.
All she had ever wanted was to be happy with her family, with her niece. But things weren’t that easy, so many things kept getting in the way of their happiness.
Riana had realized long ago that her promise was shackling her.
If she left the clan with Sana, wouldn’t they be far away from these troubles?
It was true, but on the other hand, that would mean Riana would have to break her promise to her late sister.
Would that really be happiness?
I’m sorry, Rania… I couldn’t do it… I stayed silent and watched them abuse our people… but I could no longer do it. I couldn’t simply stand by and not fight them, not when they threatened to use Sana too…
The promise you made me swear… It was too cruel… Protect Sana and don’t fight back… What am I supposed to do in this situation then?
I’m sorry, Rania… but I’m breaking my promise to you here. At the very least, one of them.
If I had one more chance… just one…
I would keep Sana safe, even if it kills me.
From deep within Riana’s heart, she felt a faint heartbeat come back to life.
And with it, a turquoise emblem in front of her forehead that no one could see through the lightning still overtaking her.
However, she felt a renewed vigor within her body, something much different than she was used to.
And just as the last of the lightning struck, Riana noticed the emerald glow coming off her niece.
The thing that tormented the little girl and put her in this situation.
She needed to stop it.
“Don’t do it, Sana!”
“?!”
Just as the little girl’s eyes were turning completely emerald, she was snapped out of her daze after hearing her aunt’s voice.
It wasn’t just her, even the man to the side was shocked at this revelation.
The lightning strikes had finally stopped, only to reveal a siren walking out of a cloud of dust.
Smoke and steam was rising from her body as if she had just walked through an active volcano, but the damage to her skin seemed minimal.
Because on close inspection, it wasn’t actually skin anymore.
Riana was covered in hard scales that fluttered in a myriad of colors between blue, green and pink. A new layer of moisture was falling down her neck as her transformation allowed her to stay hydrated for a bit longer.
Her turquoise emblem radiated a sense of accomplishment.
Riana Undine had finally reached Pathbreak.
All she had to do was break a promise.
That was the price of her happiness.
“Auntie!”
Riana kicked the bullet that was secreted out her thigh during her first transformation. It quickly landed in front of Nast who was still questioning his eyesight.
The first lightning strike had left its mark for sure, but thankfully, most of the ones that followed were scattered around due to the new scales.
That is why they were still sizzling with energy as they covered Riana’s stunning figure.
While the pain was excruciating to say the least, Riana was ready to put up with it if it meant saving her niece.
She held her fists up in front of her and narrowed her eyes.
“You won’t get a quick death after all. That was the consequence of your actions.”
It wasn’t long before another consequence of someone’s actions would show themselves as well.
Neither the action, nor the consequence were things the ones inside the cathedral could have ever guessed.
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image [https://i.imgur.com/F6h7vmX.png]