“Diana!”

Oliver’s expression darkened as he saw his boss flying across the room. Fear was written all over his face while turning towards me, an expression of terror like no other worried for his own safety. His hands were clearly trembling alongside the rest of his body. I took a glance at him, which only fueled the extreme fear he felt towards me. Staring at his eyes I could easily tell what he was thinking of me, monster, that was it and how could I blame him, after all, I do look like one right now. From the dim reflection in his eyes, I could see one of my own had none. My left eye had reverted back to how it looked in the dungeon and I could tell this had something to do with my current mental state, which in simple words was a complete mess.

“Oliver, get out of here, things are going to get a little rough. As for you Amelia, I must admit you surprised me, to think that becoming a monster would strengthen you this much. However, I won’t let you leave”

Dianna had recovered from the previous blow. Her posture and combat readiness indicated that she was serious. That only served to make my blood boil even more.

I swiftly lunged myself at her, aiming a kick to her stomach. However, Dianna is no pushover and with relative ease, she was able to block it while counterattacking with a punch to the face. Our exchanges were of that nature not refined and filled with untamed savagery, yet calculated and exact.

“Monster! what bull crap, you are more of a monster than me for attacking me out of the blue. I developed a core? So what? I am still me you dumb troglodyte, I am still me dam-it!”

I felt angrier the more I thought about it. What kind of stupid excuse is it to kill someone for something like this? Whatever if she is so eager I will just pummel her into a pulp while hammering some common sense into that muscle brain.

“Fine then. I will tell you, you may still be you right now, but in the near future, you will change. A magic core is a synonym of a high ranking monster, it will corrupt you and sooner or later you will start harming or even killing everyone around you. I made the mistake of letting go such a monster once and the price was too high. I am not willing to make the same mistake ever again!”

With every word, the mood grew heavier just like her blows, but I would have none of it. So what? should I just curl up and die! What a load of crap that is! If need be, I will kill myself if I ever were to start doing what she just said, but as of now, I refuse to let myself be bullied around. At that moment the door that had been slammed shut behind the fleeing Oliver was flung open, from it Dan and Lizz rushed inside the room.

“The two of you stop! This will solve nothing”

Followed by those words, Lizz ran in between the two of us. Next, I saw an unimaginable scene playing out in front of me, Diana’s arm was flung towards Lizz’s head with such force I am certain it would either explode or be knocked right off. Time seemed to slow down to a stop, my body moved by itself at such a high speed I was unable to make out anything of what my eyes saw. Light and sound were distorted as I moved, making it impossible to know where or what I was doing, yet I could tell everything that was happening around me with nanometrical precision. In this heightened state was I not only able to move at ludicrous speeds, but even my thought process and calculating capabilities were at the same height. Calculating the move of every single particle of dust in this room was like breathing for me, so doing the same for everything else was out of the question.

In an instant, I placed myself in front of Lizz, blocking the blow as the boiling anger reached a whole new height. With a simple move, I kicked Diana in the chest with enough force to send her flying once more.

“You! Talking about monsters! YOU! talking about me harming others! Yet here you are almost killing innocent Lizz with your own fucking hands! Now tell me which one of us is more of a monster! I swear, if you dare to stand up and say I am, I will pummel you to the point everyone around thinks the same as you!”

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I was truly losing it now. If she isn’t going to give up now, then I don’t know how much I will be able to contain myself in the future. I feel it already, the voice in the back of my head whispering violent words to me, I should just kill her and be done with it, and for a moment I do agree. However, if I were to do such a thing I would be proving her right, I can’t afford that.

Diana stood once more in her combat-ready position, blood trickled down from her brow and the corner of her mouth. Our little skirmish seems to have taken a toll on her, and to tell the truth so it did on me. I felt tired, extremely so. The core within my heart complained as it began to run dry, but right now I couldn’t care less. She actually dared to stand up. I flung myself at her once more, forcing every ounce of mana out of my core at once. Time froze once more as I began to pummel Diana as I had promised I would. First a spinning kick to her back with enough force to shatter a boulder, next a punch to the gut which prevented her from flying off into the wall from the other side of the room. After that, I grabbed her leg since the force from the punch was still enough to send her off into a journey. Slamming her onto the floor with all my might, I began to punch her over and over again.

I can’t tell for how long I hit her in this distorted flow of time, or rather sense of it. However, I can tell that I did stop only when I was satisfied, meaning only when her right shoulder bones and left hip finally broke. Her bones are truly hard if anything they resemble tempered steel. What a monster.

“I am no monster. I won’t kill you, I broke your bones so you would stop acting so stupidly. Next time you should try and talk first”

I spoke these words as my body exited the heightened state. The whole ordeal must have lasted around five minutes or so, the pummeling at most two seconds, but this was enough to completely drain me dry. I began to lose consciousness as soon as I finished those few words. If it wasn’t for the horrendous pain that followed I would have fallen unconscious there and then. The pain came from every single nerve end on my body as the internal damage caused by my own soul ability couldn’t heal up due to mana exhaustion. What a joke, I fought so hard and now I will die because I fought too hard. Whatever, I am too tired right now, not even this excruciating pain will be able to keep me awake for long, I just hope that somehow I will survive and that when I wake up that crazy woman won’t try to kill me again, or even kill me in my sleep. This is too troublesome, too troublesome, I say.

“That was a splendid battle, my dear. I can’t be but impressed with your performance, moreover, you came to visit so soon after your previous visit, I am really happy. You know, being trapped here isn’t so bad, at least I get to see you often and I also get to see what you are doing. I just wish I wasn’t so foolish back then. We could still be together, but alas thinking of past mistakes is meaningless. Time isn’t easily reversed and I bet Chronos wouldn’t let me change it either way. What I truly miss is your presence and perhaps your touch. Just know that I will wait, even if it takes another millennium or two, even if I have to wait for two or three eternities I will, in the end, you are my other half and waiting is the only thing I can do. I miss you”

Once again I found myself in these void space where only that beautiful voice exists. I listened to her until my consciousness faded again. This time she spoke a bit more than the others, while also mentioning things I couldn’t understand even so I don’t mind just a murmured of that voice is enough to ignite a warm feeling inside of me, one I can’t describe yet I long for it.

“you... important... me”

It wasn’t speaking, no words left my mouth as in this space I do not have one. However, I could clearly feel those words leaving from within me. Those words resonated with me, exposing my true feelings towards the owner of this voice. I am happy I was finally able to at the very least expose these burning feelings of unknown origins.

“Really! that makes me happy. If I was willing to wait for a few eternities before I am willing to wait for an even longer amount of time after those words. You are also important to me, no, you are the most important thing to me, I wish I could continue talking endlessly with you, I wish I could hear just a few more of your words, but alas time is up. I will wait eagerly for our next meet up, and by then I hope with all of my being for you to repeat these words once more.”

Her voice trailed by the end as my consciousness faded once again. I know I will forget when I wake up, but if possible I would like to remember it, even if it’s just as a fuzzy dream, that much would be enough for me.