(3333 words)
Back in the hall leading to the throne room, she had the chance to look into his fate. Due to his strength, it was extremely muddled and twisted. He seemed to be almost at the point of breaking through the restraints of fate. But once she concentrated her efforts she was able to organize what she saw and interpret it.
She saw the fate of a slave, destined to serve until the day he died. Fated to serve and follow commands until those commands took everything from him. In the end, he would bring demise onto himself and his people. A demise brought by fear.
But there seemed to be another option hidden in the background. Traces of light that pointed to a brighter future. A future he would be able to reach if he continued to grow stronger and if he put into motion his ideals. It was a future he longed for. A future in which he was king.
The imposing figure of the prince of the insectars, Zion, stood tall in front of Hinata. With no weapons other than his fists. Bearing a resemblance to Zegion, the skin underneath his exoskeleton was beginning to show signs of glowing. Signs of his imminent evolution into a spiritual life form, the highest the insectars could reach.
He had teleported both of them into a distant location, not wanting to risk damaging the palace. And now he was looking down at the human in front of him.
With practiced movements, he teleported in front of the human and launched a punch directly at her stomach.
Hinata's eyes were glowing with a trace of silver light as she swung her sword without worrying about defending herself.
Just as the fist of Zion was about to reach Hinata he realized something was wrong, his fist should have made contact but it felt as if chains were holding it in its place just millimeters from hitting his target. In fact, when he tried to dodge the sword moving towards him he realized all of his body felt as if it had been frozen in place by a mysterious force.
"Melt slash."
The sword glowed as it was filled with magicules and as it touched the skin it released all of the energy stored inside. An attack that should have resulted in immediate disintegration. But beetle insectars, with their exoskeleton, had an even greater resistance against magicule attacks. Resulting in the sword only cutting halfway into the arm before being stopped.
"One."
Hinata was wielding the upgraded Dead End Rainbow sword. A sword that on the seventh strike would destroy the spiritual body of its target. Few exemptions would be beings with high spiritual attack resistances and spiritual life forms. And while they would not necessarily die from this, it would be as if their entire body exploded. Leaving them defenseless and extremely injured. Resulting in an easy kill.
And while she knew she was weaker than the one whom she was fighting she could control her own fate. And as long as she had enough magicules to feed Urdr-Loki, she would not be fated to be hit, and her attacks would be fated to hit. If she had more magicules she would be able to spam this skill, but for now, she had to pace herself.
Hinata pulled her sword out and was about to swing once again when Zion disappeared from in front of her.
Appearing some distance behind her he looked at the wound in his arm healing before looking back up at Hinata. This time with more determination.
"Tsk. It seems I will have to go all out. I will show you the skills I have inherited from my father, the king of space."
He reached his palm forward before saying.
"Space Domain."
Suddenly Hinata and Zion disappeared from their location appearing in what appeared to be the middle of space. A black void surrounded by faraway stars. Yet for some reason, there still seemed to be oxygen in the air. In fact, it felt as if this was a box. As Hinata and Zion were standing on what appeared to be nothing.
Hinata began activating her skill Urdr-Loki to usurp the skills of Zion. Yet due to his innate resistance against skills and magic, the chances of it working properly were low. And the energy required to alter fate and usurp at the same time would be too much.
"Get over here."
Zion extended his arms and Hinata's body suddenly got pulled towards him. Not being able to resist the pull she readied her sword to counter his attack. All while she continued to activate usurp.
Once they were close enough Zion launched his fist forward. Moving her sword to block Hinata readied herself for the impact. But she wasn't redied enough for the strength coming out of his fist.
Zion punched the sword blocking his path with enough strength to snap the blade in half, making it lose its top portion. And since Hinata was still being pulled by the skill it was as if she was being crushed from both sides.
However, since she had blocked using the blade side of the sword she had gotten something in exchange for taking the hit. And her efforts paid off as she took something from Zion.
"2"
But Zion didn't stop there. He activated his domain and froze Hinata in her location. And he activated the next effect as Hinata started to feel pressure all around her as space compressed in her location.
Hinata began to use her skill to rewrite her own future, trying to get as much as she could before she was crushed to death. And once she felt the pressure become too much she activated the skill she had taken from Zion.
"Exchange"
Swapping locations with Zion she exited the area in which all the pressure was concentrated and with the changes she had made to her own future she was able to cancel the effects of the spatial lock keeping her in place.
'I won't make it if this fight goes on for too long. I need to finish this all now.'
Her broken blade began to glow as she readied her stance. She was going to use one of the new subskills she had obtained. It would burn through everything she had but she had to act now.
"Urdr-Loki, Absolute rewriting."
Suddenly the world all around her froze as if time had stopped.
{Fate relocation.
Location rewriting.
Desired future being forced
Forcefully rewriting
Records of events are being forcefully changed.}
Hinata suddenly appeared in front of Zion as her location had been rewritten to be next to him.
Zion reacted instantaneously as he launched another punch at Hinata. Feeling the danger all around him he did not hold back at all as his fist destroyed her stomach as it pierced it.
{Records have been forcefully rewritten.}
Almost as if looking into a different reality, the picture changed from Zion's fist piercing her stomach into Hinata stabbing her sword into Zion's chest. Yet there were traces of a pained expression on Hinata's face.
"3"
Seemingly unaware of what had happened, Zion activated the effects of his domain once again and froze Hinata in her place before grabbing her face and crushing it. Following his instincts.
The next moment Zion's arm flew through the air as it had been slashed off.
"4"
Hinata was breathing heavily as she tried to ignore the future she had just experienced and rewritten. But she didn't get the luxury of time.
The heavy feeling that something was wrong was assaulting Zion. So he planned to leave her trapped in his domain before destroying the whole thing. And so he did just that.
"Damn it!"
Hinata cursed as she felt the space all around her collapsing.
But once again her skill took effect. Rewriting the events that had just occurred. Zion never left in the past she had rewritten. In fact, he had been hit once again with Dead End Rainbow.
"5"
Hinata continued to swing her sword without stopping as she altered the close past and future to guarantee her attacks.
"6"
"7. Dead end Rainbow."
And once her sword struck Zion a seventh time the domain all around them cracked and broke apart to reveal the environment they were in before the domain was created.
The broken sword that was sticking out through Zion's chest was glowing with rainbow lights. And Zion himself was in shock as he felt his spiritual body being destroyed. Once the light stopped shining Zion stopped moving as he collapsed onto the ground.
This loss felt extremely weird to him. It was as if he was a puppet. His thoughts and actions didn't make sense to him. He was sure he would have acted differently during the fight. His moves that would have killed seemed to be unable to hit. And the increasingly sloppy sword slashes should have been easy for him to dodge by teleporting away. But he seemed unable to do so.
His thoughts vanished as his vision turned dark and he fell onto the grass.
"How is this damned beetle still alive?"
Hinata mentioned while struggling to stand up. She could see it, he wasn't dead. And the fate of a slave on top of his head vanished, leaving only the other future she saw for him.
Hinata collapsed to the ground as she felt her magicule reserves empty out. And she felt the exhausting of dying multiple times catching up to her.
Urdr-Loki had a skill called absolute rewrite. And just like its name implied, it rewrote both the near future and the near past. Using this skill she didn't have to worry about anything that would happen for a short moment.
When her stomach and her face were crushed she could simply rewrite the past so that it never happened. When Zion ran away she changed what happened so that he never did. When the pressure from using this skill caught up to her and she couldn't attack properly she would change her future so that she wouldn't miss.
But just because she changed what happened it didn't mean she didn't experience her own death. She was aware of all the changes that had been done.
Now laying on the grass she couldn't help but sigh.
Her vision, too, was fading to black.
…
Zelanus stood in front of Zegion as he was trying to pressure him down using his magicules. But Zegion remained standing firm. In fact, he wasn't even looking at Zelarius in his face. He was looking behind him.
Seemingly unbothered by the heavy atmosphere, a butterfly that had come out of nowhere was flying across the room until it landed on Zelanus' face, right in between his eyes.
Zegion took advantage of the moment of distraction brought from the confusion of seeing a small butterfly and punched him in the face. Sending the king of the insectars crashing against the stairs leading to his throne. Destroying them.
"You had something on your face. But I guess I missed" Zegion said while looking at the unbothered butterfly that flew off his face.
The small butterfly flew away in a swaying motion until it disappeared from sight.
Crazed laughter began to sound off from within the rumble. It resounded throughout the room for a few seconds before some heavy words sounded out from within the rubble.
"Space domain"
The room suddenly began to fold and crumble away revealing a white void. With nothingness spreading from one corner to the other.
"Really, what should I do with you?" Zelanus said in a mocking tone.
"On one hand I really want to kill you, on the other, I really want to make you suffer."
"Does it really matter?" Zegion said, his voice sounding as if he was struggling not to laugh. "I already won."
Zelanus suddenly felt a surge of anger and he said.
"Severance."
Zegion's body was suddenly sliced into perfect squares from his neck downwards yet his nerves were still attached all through his body. Zelanus wanted him to suffer from his entire body while still keeping him alive. If he felt that Zegion was near death he would simply reverse the process and let him heal enough to do it again. At least until all of his friends had been captured.
But not a single sound left Zegion's lips. In fact, the body that had been sliced into pieces suddenly began changing until it formed hundreds of butterflies that flew away.
"My father taught me something, there is a time and place for everything, to repay kindness with kindness, how to fight, to trust in those I care about, what it is like to have a family, so many things. But the thing that applies the most in this situation…"
The butterflies that were flying all across the room were speaking all at once as they all began to swarm around Zelanus.
"That sometimes it is better to get rid of those that will only cause more trouble in the future. It just so happens that I get to pay back a grudge while I am at it."
Zelanus ignored the threats as he lifted his arms and used his control over space.
"Collapse!"
The entire white void began to fall onto itself as if a black hole had suddenly formed in the middle of it. It should have resulted in the destruction of anything and everything which remained inside yet the butterflies continued to fly without being dragged by the collapsing void.
"I really know I should have better control of my emotions. But if I am being honest with you Zelanus… I am really angry."
The butterflies suddenly joined together forming Zegion's body standing right in front of Zelanus.
"If you had surrendered, I would have forgiven you for my father. So I thank you."
Zelanus tried to use his skills to attack Zegion but nothing happened. Actually, it felt as if Zegion was becoming bigger. No, rather, he was becoming smaller.
The strength he had put so much effort into growing was leaving him. Until he became nothing more than a stage one insectar. A simple beetle.
"What was it that you wanted to use on me? Ah, that's right. Severance."
The small beetle was suddenly sliced into small cubes all thought his body, yet with his nerves still connected to his body. Letting him feel pain from every portion of his body.
"Zelanus, I am truly disappointed. You were supposed to be the god of space. The king of the insectars. Yet you have not been able to do anything to resist all of this time. Truly, you are nothing but a failure." Zegion continued to taunt the small beetle who used to be a king, using the same words that were once said to him. Failure.
"I guess if we think about it this way you are nothing but a failed experiment are you not? Veldanava wanted to experiment in this world and you popped out. I wonder what he would think if he saw you right now."
At this, Zelanus began to wiggle in the ground, as if he was trying to say something but couldn't.
Zegion stared at the beetle on the ground before sighing.
"Maybe if I try something like this."
Zegion snapped his fingers and the scenery all around them changed. Diablo had taught him a thing or two about how to bring out people's biggest fears. And it was time to put that to the test.
It was unclear how much time passed since the moment the fight had started but to Zelanus it felt as if centuries had passed. And his mentality had been broken into nothingness. He stopped responding to anything after some time.
They were back in the real world. And Zegion was standing in front of Zelanus' limp body. He was still alive, but it almost didn't matter.
Zegion was looking down on him with nothing but disappointment.
"I probably should have listened to you Ramiris… It really does feel empty…"
Zegion looked at the limp body before turning it into a small beetle in the real world and crushing it with his feet.
Since the very beginning, Zelanus had been trapped inside an Illusion. An Illusion in which a single second could feel like a year. An illusion so real that only a few people would be able to break out. And that was with them knowing beforehand that they were about to be trapped in one.
Everything about it felt as if it was real. And that was because in some way it was.
Zelanus had fallen into Zegion's illusion world. A world in which he had full control of everything that happened. A world that was real and an illusion at the same time.
This world was a result of a skill Zegion had awakened himself. Xirdneth, God of Illusions and Unreality. A skill Zegion had awakened thanks to his understanding of illusions and creation. And it was thanks to seeing and imitating the Origin skill Creation that he could even turn some of his illusions into reality. Just as he had done when he turned Zelanus' real body into a small beetle.
"I should go check on the rest."
He first teleported towards his youngest sister. Only to find her wandering the halls with a lost expression, her dress and face covered in blood that didn't appear to be hers. And her face lit up as she spotted him.
"Zegion!" She ran to give him a hug before saying with a sad expression.
"I… forgot to ask if they wanted to join us…. Do you think dad is going to get angry at me?"
Zegion patted her head a few times before saying.
"Probably not. However, you should know better by now. Since Father won't give you a proper punishment, no more sweets for a month when we come back."
"NO!" Silk said as she fell to the floor dramatically. "Anything but that! Jouzu already left me to wander the halls until you come back as punishment."
Zegion picked her up by the collar as if she was a grumpy cat before teleporting to his next destination picking up the rest of his siblings.
Jouzu had rounded them up and they were all together playing cards with a group of humanoid ant insectars. A bundle of wasp knights was in the corner unconscious. The atmosphere in the room seemed to be warm as they continued to snack on the food they summoned using one of the rings connected to Yggdrasil.
Zegion dropped off the newly depressed Silk with them.
"How did it go Zegion?" asked Maimai with a concerned expression.
"Aye, how did it go with the boss?" Asked Anton, one of the ants.
"It wasn't what I expected it to be. But we don't have to worry about him anymore."
Zegion said those words before vanishing towards Hinata's location.
"Hear that Maimai? We are going to be coworkers! Told ya boss would hire you." Anthony said while raising up a card that said +4.
"I don't think that is what he meant," Maimai grumbled as he grabbed four cards off the pile.
Appearing on a faraway hill, Zegion looked down at the two unconscious bodies. Hinata seemed to be suffering the consequences of overusing her magicules. And should be fully recovered once they were back in Tempest.
As for his brother…
Zegion looked at him as he felt his soul was becoming weaker and weaker. Due to his resistance to spiritual attacks, he didn't die immediately, but he was dying at the moment. His soul was beginning to decompose and once enough time passed there would be nothing left of it.
"Zion..."
He sighed for what felt like the hundredth time today. And he knelt down as he began to repair and heal the soul of his brother.