Chapter 44—143
Rian smiled. Ecstasy to see a worthless attempt by a caster trying to use a fist was exhilarating. White flames struck his face; no, he let them strike. To show the vastness between them.
Hecate’s expression twisted between dismay and disgust—at her powerlessness. Reed’s smiling face while her fist destroyed his mana within was the height of sadism.
The twisted smile widened. Hecate tried to step back, alarmed. She couldn't keep up with his speed. The back of his sword moved straight, and the flat square end struck her abdomen.
Hecate spat as the breath escaped her lungs, followed by blood from her nose. The impact hurled her like a sac of waste down a cliff.
Hecate clenched her teeth, her flame coat wrapped around her, as she skidded down the broken and sharp outcome of Rian’s swing. The flame coat melted, revealing a relatively unharmed Hecate.
She breathed barely, and her eyes widened—Rian Reed’s glowing sword was coming at her. Hecate’ rolled.
The impact shook the stadium, and the piece of stage Hecate was thrown on burst into small pieces. Hecate’s was ragged dolled into the air again, followed by thousands of pain as the sharp piece met her flesh before she conjured the flame coat.
Rian grabbed a large chuck of rock and flung it at Hecate.
"AHHH—" Hecate screamed. It was cut short. The rock struck her head. The coat absorbed the impact, but it was not a barrier by any stretch. The power and pain reached Hecate. Her vision blacked out as she flopped down.
Her vision returned a moment later. Her whole body screamed pain; her face was wet with the blood that trickled down her head. And, "!!" Hecate’s eyes widened; the raven was in front of her. Its red, beady eyes, filled with bloody tears, stared down at her.
Great! Just the thing I need to make this situation unbearable.
Hecate pulled her brain away; where was Rian? She looked around. He stood behind the raven.
"This somehow flew past the barrier." Rian said, curiously. He looked at her, panic in her eyes, and she gave him something. "I don’t want any distractions," Rian said, raising his sword. Hecate panicked, climbed to her knees, and rushed at Rian.
"NO!!" Hecate screamed. Rian’s twisted smile widened. He waited a moment longer, as he did not know the relevance of the raven. Hecate loves Raven; that was all he thought.
Hecate conjured a flame barrier around the raven, which made no effort to move away. Its haunting eyes stared at her. She, in panic and fear, decided tackling Rian was the best course of action.
It was not.
Shingg!!
The sword pierced through Hecate’s stomach, severing her innards. It tore out of her back, covered in blood. Hecate's mouth hung open, but no sound came out. Her mind screamed in pain. Her hand clutched the sword as if that would do something to her situation.
Rian watched her with a confused expression. "Why do you look shocked? Did you expect something else?" He asked before spitting, "WHAT DID YOU THINK WILL HAPPEN?!!" Rian screamed, enraged. Veins bulged in his face as if he were about to burst.
Cruelly, the sword was ripped out. Finally, Hecate screamed in agony. She fell to her knees, and before she could reach the floor, Rian’s foot slammed into her face, crashing it into the hard, rocky floor.
Hecate’s vision blanked; every moment her body buzzed and the pain faded, she was not healing. Death was calling her.
"An obvious outcome, isn’t it?" Rian said calmly.
Indeed. It was fate. She thought. She stared at the raven, who was staring back at her.
To kill Raven, her sister, or push Lady Diantha into hell. Raven would find solace in death, and so would Lady Diantha in life.
The choice was easy. There was no choice. She must kill the raven, or it will die with her. She knew the pain her sister was suffering at this moment. Killing her should be easy.
It should be. But, still, even in encroaching death, she did not want to bear the pain of killing her sister. It was impossible.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
The raven would be screaming at her to make the obvious choice; she could not hear it. She was glad to not hear the painful voice. She was subjecting it to the pain, for she did not want the guilt of killing her sister one more time.
If only she could die; if only she had died with her sister; if only Lady Diantha had accepted Fia’s offer.
No! Hecate screamed in her mind. She would not blame her lady for the kindness she showed. Her vision cleared for a moment, and the referee was asking her if he should stop the match. Hecate weakly shook her head. As if there were any world where she would—she could—give up this match.
142
Hecate counted in her head. She blinked at the raven, who was still in the fire barrier.
For Lady Diantha.
She told herself. To repay the kindness her lady showed her, both of them. She would do what had to be done.
I will kill my sister one more time without ever having the chance to say goodbye.
No, I will meet her soon… Once the match is over, I will meet you again, sister. Goodbye is not needed. Once I repay Lady Diantha’s kindness, I will be with you.
Hecate said to herself, wishing her words would reach her sister.
Slowly, the barrier hugged Raven's frame. Then, it burst into flame with heat that startled Rian Reed, and he stepped back. The referee, who stood between Rian and Hecate, let out a startled cry and flipped. When they looked at the spot, nothing The raven was completely incinerated.
[Requirement: Kill the raven with flames has been fulfilled.]
[Quest: Immolation of Scion Completed]
[All requirements for ascending have been fulfilled: Individual Hecate will now ascend to Level 5]
[The Festival for the Ascension has begun.]
Notifications popped up in front of Hecate. She abhorred every word she read. This worthless world would reward her for killing her sister. She wanted no part of it.
The world was silent for a moment. No one moved. Uttered a word. Or even blink. It was an unconscious decision from their soul. Like a foreboding feeling.
Rian Reed's face lost color as he saw slowly the mana swarming up Hecate’s limp body like ants on a sweet. His blood ran cold. He knew what was happening.
"WHAT THE FUCK!" Rian screamed but made no attempt to strike Hecate.
He was not allowed to interrupt an ascension. No one was.
Of the many agreements between every faction of the world, One was universally agreed upon. No one should interrupt the ascension process. If Rian tried to do something, the Imperial Knight would intervene, and he was not even the biggest concern. The Duration of Ascension: Ilona was free to stop him.
He could only watch as the mana embraced Hecate’s body. It was not the usual flames that mana took the form of.
Woosh!
Everyone shivered. A chilling coldness gently cradled their nape and crawled down to the base of the spine.
The light in the stadium illuminated it like day, yet it felt damp and cold, as if flickering lights at the edge of the world on a mourning winter night.
The Colesium gasped at the same time.
Slowly, things—broken, twisted, mutilated, torn, and anything that could be thought—crawled out of the ground and made their way to Hecate. Their whole body was covered in black and ashen fire. They howled eerie, making the audience quiver.
Hecate’s body itself was wrapped in dense black miasma. Every time a thing reached her, it would turn into black miasma.
Slowly, it took the form of a cacoon. A pure black cacoon with grey broken and twisted rings.
Ley, who lay in the mansion, was content after a full belly meal. Its eyes shot open. It let out a scared mewl. The next moment, the cocoon formed around it too. It was time for it to reach maturity—a child who was hardly a month old.
…
Hecate was somewhere where nothing changed as far as her eyes could see. A sea of black The world was simple. One. Did she die? The thought crossed her mind.
Slowly, hundreds of ripples disturbed the sea. Hecate watched things crawl from inside. They grabbed the sea like it was a sheet. She stepped back, but her body didn’t listen. It was a dream. The ones she had about Stella.
Slowly, their form became recognizable. They were her sister, one who was looking exactly the same as the day Stella died, and one was the raven she just killed.
Every other form that Stella took in between those. Every Stella stared at her.
Hecate clenched her eyes shut. She did not want to see them.
"Hecate." It was the voice she so wanted to hear. Every night. One last time. It was Stella's voice who would not beg her to kill and who was kind and warm. Hecate opened her eyes.
"It’s finally over," Stella, the bony and weak one, sighed. "Farewell, I guess..."
"N-no… I’ll come to you soon. Once the match is over," Hecate said in a pleading voice.
"What!" Stella screeched. Hecate saw her angry—something that never happened before. Stella frowned, her jaw clenched, and her eyes stared at her like she had done something wrong. "I HAVE NOT SUFFERED THIS MANY YEARS JUST FOR YOU TO END IT ALL LIKE THAT." Stella marched at her while screaming.
"I have not lived…" She struck her chest with both hands. Hecate stood still, unable to say anything. "I have suffered YEARS!! YEARS!! If I had known this is what you will do, I would have ended it on that day! I hate you! I HATE YOU! I HATE…" Tears streamed down Stella’s face. Her hands never stopped beating Hecate.
"I…" Hecate tried to say something but choked.
"NO!! I WON’T HEAR ANYTHING. YOU WILL LIVE UNTIL THE DAY DEATH COMES TO YOU NATURALLY. FOR ME, FOR MY SUFFERING, MY SOUL IS WITH YOU, I WANT TO SEE HAPPINESS TOO… FOR THE SUFFERING I HAVE ENDURED—YOU WILL FIND HAPPINESS, FOR ME!"
Before Hecate could say anything, the black sea pulled her in. A thousand weird things crawled at her. Everything burned in fire, in black, in ash.
A light swam in the sea of darkness, scattering things. Light of her sister. She swam to her and hugged her. Slowly vanished into her.
Hecate held a scythe in her hand. It was as long as herself. She swung the scythe.
The sea was split.
…
[Hecate Meredith (Hella)
Level: 5
Age:18
Rank: Scion (absorbed soul of Twin Stella)
Class: Reaper
Subclass: Caster
Title: None
Element: Flame of Death:
Achievement: 143
Skill: Chains of Reaper.
Flame Dance.
Collar Dead
Souls: 1223]
[Reaper Class Attribute
Speed: 70 (mastery:60%)
Strength: 60 (Mastery: 60%)
Mana: 90 (Mastery: 80%)
Grace: 60 (Mastery: 60%)]
Attribute explanation
Grace
Influences the aptness: of the ability to nimbly bounce on the Chains of Reaper, maintaining poise and sense of direction while moving, and executing the fast and rather unorthodox way a Reaper uses speed and scythe to perform skills.
"AHAHAHAHAHA!" A twisted, cruel laugh filled the stadium.