Kirin froze.
Aneurin Aethelmaer singlehandedly stopped Freyja's strongest attack. Before he knew it, Freyja was already flying across the room. Kirin rushed to catch her, his back hit the wall hard because of the recoil.
"Is that the legendary celestial sword?" Aneurin sneered. "How pathetic."
"Why?" Freyja's face was blank. Unable to believe what just happened. She was sure she had Astrid with her. She was sure she gave it her all. She is Celestia's Lenfiare, the one and only user of the strongest aura even known. And yet, this man deflected her attack as if swatting an insect. There's nothing but silence that followed.
The fears she's desperately trying to dispel were amplified. They're starting to creep throughout her consciousness.
Aneurin smirked, reading through her thoughts right away. "You are no match for me, little girl." His voice echoed around the room, "The Celestial aura is not weak. YOU are weak."
"Shut up!" Freyja was suddenly filled with rage. She stood up, summoned Astrid and continued to attack him, only to be shoved off easily. "No matter how strong your sword is, if the wielder is weak, you will still be defeated." Aneurin continued to mock her. "You couldn't even materialize Astrid into his true form, what a waste."
Freyja's rage and fear has turned to her disadvantage. She started attacking him randomly, with no concrete strategy in mind. "No! It can't be!" She kept on shouting in her mind while subconsciously visualizing a barren, dead Celestia. "I can't do it! I will die!" Her mind flooded with thoughts of fear and pain. Freyja didn't want to see it. She didn't want to see herself failed. She didn't want all of her efforts to go into waste. She didn't want to die. "I don't' want to die!" She cried and cried, letting all of her emotions out with every futile strike.
At this rate, she will surely be killed. Kirin came in between them right away. "Leave this to me!" He summoned his black aura sword once more. The father and son competed, dark aura versus dark aura. Although it was completely obvious how different their skill levels were, Kirin did not yield.
"Celestia fell because you are a weak Lenfiare!"
Freyja was about to thoughtlessly charge again, when Kirin shouted at her. "STAY THERE!" His face, almost begging. "STAY THERE AND PROTECT YOURSELF!"
Kirin is fighting for her. Kirin is protecting her, like what he has always done ever since she came into that world. Looking at him, the disturbing visions of the future started flooding her mind again. A barren Celestia, a dead Keon, a dead Alaric, and Kirin lifelessly lying on the ground. At this rate, all of it will come true. And she can't do anything but witness it.
The first time she met Kirin, she was also trembling in fear. But it was Kirin who saved her. Before she knew it, Kirin had already become an irreplaceable existence in her life. All the happy memories she had, meeting Kirin, Alaric and Keon. She remembered them all. For the first time in her life, she had a name to call in the brink of giving up.
And then, her mother and father. The home she's supposed to protect, but left in fear for her own life. The celestial guardians who can't be freed from their cages, who can't fly like they used to because she's not strong enough to let them.
"It's my fault." She whispered. "I don't know." Surprisingly, the mysterious voice she's been hearing appeared again. "But there's one thing I know. I can still do something, because..."
Finally, she realized. Her selfishness, her ambitions, her dreams. The only one who's holding them all back, is her. "Yes. I know." Freyja smiled.
Aneurin and Kirin both fell speechless as she ripped the celestial medallion off of her, leaving small bloody traces of the chain around her neck.
"Freyja! What are—" Kirin ran to her, but she immediately threw the symbol of the absolute monarch to him. "I trust you, Kirin. You're the only one who can take care of them." She said before walking towards Aneurin Aethelmaer with a resolute look on her face. Her eyes, burning with a different kind of emotion they couldn't tell.
As Freyja walked, her white aura started gushing out of her body. Her face says it all. Freyja is ready to die. Her white aura gushed more and more, grew larger and denser even Aneurin was dumbfounded. Knowing what she's up to, Kirin rushed to stop her, but her aura was too strong, he's pushed back.
"STOP IT FREYJA!" Kirin cried, Kirin begged, but her white aura continued to gush out of her body even more, almost filling the room. Without her guardians, the white aura's regulator, the white aura will soon consume her body. "That's suicide! Stop it Freyja!" She can't hear Kirin at all. She can't hear anything except for one familiar voice. It's the same voice she's been hearing in times of desperation. Finally, she realized whose voice that was. "I'm sorry, I didn't recognize you earlier."
"I am Freyja Lenfiare Leafen!" She, and the mysterious voice chorused.
Freyja's muscles ripped beyond repair, her veins burst one by one, her bones shattered as she freely let the white aura inside her flow. Aneurin had no choice but to use his trump card, the source of power he's been hiding.
Blinding light filled the room, the ground shook hard. Kirin winced. Slowly, it subsided.
When Kirin finally opened his eyes, there was no trace of Freyja or Aneurin left in the room. Only the celestial medallion in his hand.
Freyja slowly opened her eyes. She found herself in the middle of a majestic room, positive that she's still inside the Aethelmaer manor. Across her, a pale Aneurin sat, energy drained. There isn't a single trace of black aura left in his body.
"We're at a stalemate." He said, the least amused. Unexpectedly, Freyja sighed. "No, I lost. I can't move at all."
Aneurin stood up, despite being gravely injured himself. But unlike Freyja, he can still walk and hold a sword. He grabbed one of the swords displayed on the room's wall, and dragged himself towards the girl. "I will kill you."
"I know." She said, looking straight into his onyx eyes. Surprisingly, she still had the nerve to impose orders. "Aneurin Aethelmaer, tell me everything you know about Celestia."
Aneurin looked at her. She is a human. Far from the celestial he's long been afraid of. After seeing how she fought, he was convinced that this girl is nothing but a shame to the Leafen clan. He was convinced she doesn't deserve the white aura and the celestial throne. But, for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to disobey.
He pointed the tip of his sword at her heart. But she didn't even bat an eyelash. "Tell me."
"We are descendants of Celestia." The words just came out of his mouth naturally. "My ancestors were celestials, mixed with the race of Phrein and Humans." Freyja didn't say a word, but continued gazing into his eyes.
Finally, after a long pause, Freyja broke the silence. "Kirin... thank you for bringing him to this world." Freyja closed her eyes. Aneurin pierced the sword deep into her chest, and left it there for a while.
A pool of blood started growing under her. Her white aura disappeared completely. Color disappeared from Freyja's face, her body grew stiff and cold.
Aneurin was planning to take her head off, but decided not to. He chopped off her left hand before calling his servants, ordering them to throw the corpse into the ocean.
The sixth Lenfiare, Freyja Leafen, successor to the throne of Celestia, is dead.
~ o 0 o ~