"What is this...? Your true and terrible form...?" Rose asked.
"[Only partially. My full power cannot be manifested, yet. But I am hopeful that this will be enough to slay you. I am Vengeance, Overseer of the Deus Arms.]"
"The spirit of Mizik's sword, then? This should be interesting. Yes...a battle worthy of song! My name will be hailed in time eternal for slaying you!!!" Rose said.
"[You will die. You will be forgotten. NOW PERISH, FALSE WIELDER!!!]"
Vengeance threw both of his swords at Rose and they flew like spinning sawblades.
As they impacted her, I felt pain shoot through my body.
[The final form of Bravery is a defensive weapon without equal. All who face it will break upon it. Bear with it for now.]
I'll try...
After Vengeance caught his swords, Rose extended hers.
Light shot from it as if she had used sunlight blade.
But it stayed instead of dispersing immediately.
Her shield glowed with radiant power.
I felt drawn to it. Like I really wanted to attack her and no one else.
Vengeance channeled more of his power into me and shot forward.
The blades clashed over and over again until Rose raised her shield.
I evaded out of the way just in time for her to unleash a blast nova without speaking.
Valtheim pulled Iris, Cassandra, and Vakra out of the way and took them somewhere else.
Now Difar and I stood ready to fight.
He glared at me.
"I don't even want to imagine what kind of terrible power that sword of yours is hiding... Damn you, Mizik...!" He said.
"[And it will be used to destroy you some day, false wielder of Hope.]"
The blast from Rose's shield completely annihilated half of the city of Torantis.
All around, there was panic as helicopters swarmed to get an idea of what was going on here.
Rose shot them down with streams of light.
Vengeance took the opportunity to ignite itself and changed its weapons into a pair of axes.
He shot forward and before hitting Rose, then blasted her with a familiar pale purple energy.
Rose gasped as she was affected by the death curse and Vengeance manifested numerous shurikens made from wind. He brought them down on her immediately.
Rose continued to block and eventually, Vengeance leaped backward.
In mid-air, one of the axes disappeared and Vengeance changed the remaining sword into a staff.
At this point, he began using it to channel huge amounts of magic power and started blasting Rose from every angle with a variety of spells.
Unfortunately, with every hit, I could feel my body taking significant damage.
Then Difar charged in and struck her with an explosive sword attack.
At this point, I began to feel my body breaking.
Channeled power wasn't going to last long enough for us to do anything.
"[Impossible... You have manifested Bravery in its full power! This is truly abominable!]"
"VILE DEMON!!! SUBMIT TO ME!!!" Rose shouted as Difar got back.
"This bitch...! I can't break her! It hurts too damn much! Like my physical form is being ravaged from the inside out!" Difar said angrily.
"[I will draw upon my power to subdue her. But I must be careful as to not harm my wielder any further.]"
Rose swung her sword and multiple blades of sunlight began crashing all around me.
Vengeance dodged them easily and closed the distance in an instant.
He changed his staff back into two axes and prepared to strike. I could feel an incredible amount of my power behind his blades.
Vengeance aimed for Bravery, itself, as he brought down one of his axes.
He slammed into the sword and knocked it out of Rose's hands.
Then he severed her shield arm.
I felt pain shoot through my body as Vengeance lunged for Bravery.
Before he could grab it, the sword disappeared and came back to Rose.
Difar took the chance to attack, but Rose opened a rift and jumped into it.
Moments later, another rift appeared at the edge of the crater she made with her blast nova.
Her arm regenerated and she was ready for battle again.
"This is annoying. Why won't she just die!?" Difar said angrily.
"[Destroy the heart stone in her chest. That will kill her. It is the only way.]"
Why would you tell him that, Vengeance?
[We will deal with it later.]
"I see...destroy the heart stone. Unfortunately, it's blocked by that troublesome shield. Mizik, sever her arm again and I'll kill her. Unless you can't bear to watch, that is..." Difar said.
"[He would love nothing more than to slay the mockery with his own hands. It matters not to me who deals the final blow...just that she dies.]"
"I never imagined that you would be capable of this kind of strength. Very well...WORLD SIPHON!!!" Rose said.
She stabbed her sword into the ground and within seconds the energy stopped flowing into her weapon.
"This world seems devoid of any real power..." Rose said.
Immediately afterwards, the trees and the grass began to either and die.
The sky darkened and the ground became unstable everywhere. Buildings began collapsing in groups.
I saw people fall over dead as they tried to run away.
Men...women...
...and children.
They just fell over and stopped moving.
"Wow. And I thought I was pretty demented. How many people do you think you just killed, Rose?" Difar said.
"As far as I'm concerned, they were already dead by Mizik's hand. His refusal to give himself up has caused their deaths," she said
"No, actually. They were perfectly alive and well. Mizik doesn't have the power to exert mental dominance over others. You just murdered and entire world full of innocent people. You're no different than me, now. You can't just push your crimes onto someone else! Even I know that!" Difar said.
Rose gritted her teeth and glared at Difar.
"ENOUGH OF YOUR LIES, YOU MONSTER! I WILL NOT BE CALLED A MURDERER BY SUCH A FOUL ABOMINATION!!!" She yelled.
"Suit yourself, but this battle is over. This world is no longer capable of supporting our presence," Difar said.
The air began to grow thin and suddenly, the power of Vengeance left my body.
The armor I wore crumbled to dust and I felt everything screaming in agony... I had also reverted to my younger self again.
Then, I felt the very world itself clawing into my soul to steal my life essence. As if it were trying to survive in any way it could...
"Then it's my victory! I won't allow you to escape this time!!!" Rose shouted
Difar smiled as Rose fired multiple volleys of light streams at us and they disappeared in a barrier formed by Valtheim.
"You won't allow it? You don't have a choice, sweetie. We're leaving," Difar said.
Right after that, I felt myself being dragged down into the shadows.
I was pulled down...
Far down.
So far down that I couldn't even begin to fathom the distance I travelled.
I felt like I had leaped into a canyon and fallen for a thousand years.
But at the same time, it may only have taken a few moments.
Soon, my body reappeared on the cold hard ground of an unknown location.
Then Cassandra was upon me.
"DARLING!!! MIZIK!!!" She shouted as she held me tightly against her.
She cried as I weakly looked up at her.
"Hey...Cassandra... Where are we...?" I asked.
"The Abyss," Difar said.
My eyes went wide as I looked up at the sky.
There was no light. No sun, no moon, and no stars.
The sky was almost like...
Valtheim.
It was almost like staring into Valtheim's eyes.
"Don't stare into the Void too much, Mizik. People say it stares back if you do. And that isn't good for your mental health. Not that I care... But it will be better for me if you remain completely sane," Difar said.
"This is Zaxvalrah. The highest point of the Abyss. It's also the place where they execute people by throwing them into The Void..." Cassandra said.
So this is...The Abyss...
I felt my consciousness fading and Cassandra started to panic.
"P-please stay with me, darling! Don't die!!" She cried.
Then she quickly began casting Grand Heal on me.
The more she did it, the better I felt.
I smiled at her.
"Thank you...Cassandra... I just need to rest a bit..." I said.
"No! Don't fall asleep! Please!" She said.
"Cassandra, you have nothing to worry about. You've already stabilized him. Let the man sleep. He needs it," Vakra said.
"But...m-my darling... I have to make sure he's fine..." Cassandra said.
I placed a hand on her cheek and looked up at her.
"I'll be fine. I promise," I said.
"O-okay...I believe you. I'll keep you safe while you sleep, darling. You can count on me!" Cassandra said.
"I trust you. I'll be in your hands," I said.
Moments later, I drifted off.
* * *
A while later, I awoke laying in a bed.
When I peered around, I saw that I was within a place that had pitch black walls decorated with an ornate purple design.
The room was oddly well lit.
Although it didn't make any sense...
There were torches on the walls made from a purple metal with pitch black flames that somehow allowed me to see.
Without even guessing, I knew exactly where Cassandra was.
I heard her softly breathing as she slept under the covers on my chest.
I slowly pulled back the covers and looked at her.
I gently stroked her hair and smiled.
One of the things I had actually begun to realize over time was just how different she was from her sister.
And in all honesty, lately I had begun to prefer the silence as I slept. I didn't want to think about Rose because she made me angry.
I missed Isabella, of course. Even if I hated the person she became after the reset, I would never forget the love we shared...
But...Isabella was gone forever. The sooner I accepted it, the happier I would be.
Although, the closer I came to a full realization, the closer I felt to losing my mind in a horrible pit of rage and despair...
Like some part of me that was previously restrained...was now allowed to roam free. With absolutely no form of confinement.
All that remained of Isabella was the evil predator woman named Rose... The one who dared to defile the memory of my loving wife.
As I had these thoughts, Cassandra began stirring.
She awoke and looked up at me, then her eyes lit up with joy.
"Mizik! My sweet Mizik! I'm so happy to see you awake!" She said as she adjusted herself and hugged me tightly.
"Hah...hey Cassandra. Are you okay?" I asked.
"Me!? I'm fine! I'm more worried about you!" She said.
"I'll be okay... I'm just a bit sore, is all. Ah...where are we?" I asked.
"This is Difar's castle. It's a lot bigger than the Albatross castle. Actually...it's bigger than Albatross City," she said.
"He's probably compensating for something. Regardless, we should come up with a plan of action. Are we safe here?" I asked.
Cassandra sat up and nodded.
I wondered why she was in her underwear, but decided not to comment.
I sat up as well and sighed in relief.
"Darling, the Abyss is located below the Void. The Void is extremely vast and remains in an absolute state of nothingness. Meaning, anything that enters it gets obliterated," Cassandra said.
"You certainly know a lot about that place."
"Well...I was a Dark Army General and fought alongside Valtheim. Also...Difar told me. I could have said I just knew but...lying to you is wrong. Even if I really want my sweet Mizik to compliment me lots..." She said shyly.
She occasionally glanced at me and couldn't help but chuckle.
"You're amazing, beautiful, and talented at many things, Cassandra. I'm glad you're here with me," I said.
"Haah...I'm so happy I could melt!" She said.
Then she tackled me back down onto the bed and laid her head on my chest again.
"Rose can't come here because it's impossible for anything to pass through the Void. We'll be safe here for a while," she said.
"I've been wondering... How did Difar manage to escape the Abyss if nothing can pass through the Void?" I asked.
"It's simple, darling. He created Valtheim. Otherwise, no one would have even known about the Abyss existing in the first place," she said.
"Then I suppose we should go find everyone. How long was I out?" I said.
"Four days. At least what we would call four days. There's no day and night cycle here and they don't have any way of telling time. But you should get some more rest! You had me so worried..." Cassandra said.
"I...I guess. Okay, Cassandra. Please attend to my every need, alright?" I said.
She nodded happily and smiled.
I was nervous about being in this place. But as long as Cassandra remained at my side, I felt safe.
And honestly...the irony of that was fairly thick considering what she put me through in the past.
But as far as I was concerned, she had redeemed herself.
I chose to forget about my time in her dungeon.