A/N: The chapter ahead is raw, which means not been proofread yet nor edited.1****
In the blink of an eye, they closed the distance between them, clashing their fists coated in pulsing energy to one another, only to be sent back away when it collided and exploded.
The sky darkened as the Emperor summoned a storm, manipulating the atmosphere to unleash furious tornadoes and lightning. He sent it to the Prince, followed by a ball of magma and lava. Prince Izaac countered with a ferocious assault, bending the very fabric of space to create barriers and weapons of pure energy. Then, he opened several portals around the Emperor to return the gifts he sent.
Each move they made was met with an equally devastating counter; the sheer scale of their power warping reality itself. The sky above them split open as the Emperor summoned meteors from space, while the Prince light up layers of magic circles everywhere around them and prepared himself to seal the Emperor.
King LIFE lifelessly climbed down the stairs. He walked outside to bear witness of whatever is happening, hoping that the magic either of them parried will land to him instead and end his miserable life.
"D-D...ad..." The Princes called him. They were trembling. They've never someone that terrifying before.
He never missed and didn't waste a second. He knew what he wanted to do and that is to slay them. Who is he? Why is he killing them off one by one? Good thing his weapons are not to kill an Ancient. Bad thing is their grandfather isn't healing. His body is not yet returning to the heavens, but they couldn't tell if he's still alive either. His body, like a human, is just there on the ground.
The Emperor clapped his hands once. Oh, how he loved the look on Prince Izaac's face when his magic circles shattered into pieces in just a clap.
"Im...possible..."
"No, darling. It's possible. I'm better than you."
The Emperor created the same magic circles until the sky and the space below their feet is cramped.
There, the Emperor removed the mask that is covering his lower face, showing the Prince a face that is very much like his, with a twisted grin on his face.
"Surprise, Izaac. I am Izaac, too," the Emperor introduced and switched their clothes. When the magic circle exploded he fell down like a comet. He let himself get wounded and landed in the Heart Palace's vicinity.
"Kuya Izaac!" The Princes cried out when he fell on a pole. His heart was left on the tip, still beating.
"IZAAC!" The sight of it slapped the King back to reality and ran to cut the pole with his bare hands and save his son.
Prince Izaac followed and pushed him away from the Emperor.
"Dad, don't get fooled! I am the real Izaac!"
The King's eyes widened. It took him seconds. Then he remembered what happened the last time he sided an impostor.
"Shut up!"
Prince Izaac gasped from the punch he received from the King.
Prince Fiery shrieked when the Prince's body rolled to his side. He's wearing what the Emperor was wearing before, so he thought it was him.
"My boy..."
King LIFE lifted the Prince and placed his head on his lap. How the Emperor looked at him is so sharp and cold. There's something in his eyes that made the King realize that he is, indeed, not his son.
But it's too late. The Emperor's clone have pierced his heart with a blade.
"NO! DAD!"
Duchess Selene jumped to push the clone, only for the clone to point his finger to her and shoot her heart with a laser beam before she made it.
The Emperor stand up and stretched his neck from side to side. He bound each of them to the ground and began walking upstairs.
"NO! NO! STOP! WHAT DO YOU WANT! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS!?" Prince Izaac could feel his anxiety swell in his heart. His mother is inside. His wife is inside. He's afraid. He's afraid!
The Emperor stopped from walking and scoffed. He scratched his forehead.
"What a fucking pain."
Watts fell to his knees when he landed to their camp site. His vitals became unstable as his sight double from what welcomed him. Chancellor Titania's friends, headless. And his brother, unconscious and unrecognizable from the damaged he suffered after fighting the Emperor.
"Ku...ya..."
Ohms Xirquit did not respond. Aloisia and Calamity's landing were a failure, so they desperately ran and almost crawled their way to their eldest.
"Fuck! FUCK! I TOLD YOU! FUCK!" Aloisia cursed out while punching her Ohms's chest, hoping that it would revive his dead heart back to life.
"A AAAAHHHH!!!"
Watts pressed his hands against his trembling knees and pushed himself up. Aloisia buried her son's face to her chest, screaming her lungs out to express how angry and heartbroken she is for her loss, cursing the name of her foolish, narcissistic son.
Watts calmed down. Yet when he turned his head to where the Emperor went, his aura set his suit ablaze.
Celia grabbed on the red carpet and pulled herself up the staircase. She pointed where the Emperor went and her master fled to rescue Ohms Xirquit. While on her way inside, she was crying. At the same time, laughing out of irony.
She didn't know. She had no idea it was them all along. From the Other Side, complete and living the perfect life. Were they given a second chance? Then why were they remained stuck in the same place if time went back? Was it just an illusion? Maybe, Prince Davorin is playing tricks on them. But it's impossible for the dead to do so. Then which was it? What was the truth?
"Husband..."
Celia stopped and raised her head. It crushed her heart when she found the Empress looking down on her.
"Please... Go back inside. My child... We never...deserved you."
The Empress walked past her with the toy in her arms. Barefooted, the hems of her pure white nightgown with layers of fabrics underneath to keep her warm touches the floor.
"Please, stop. I beg of you. Don't. Empress! Stop!" Celia went around and clung on her skirt.
"Stay here. Please."
"Husband, danger." And she went on, leaving Celia screaming and begging behind.
Hands stretches until she's in the air. They followed the Emperor's trail and got excited about seeing the light.
"It was all because of you... Why she became that way," the Emperor said as the details went back to his mind as clear as the Empress's heart before they tainted it with hatred.
Hands moved faster that they almost looked like running.
When she made it to the Other Side, her curse consumed all life force, withering the nature that caught up within the area of effectivity of her curse. Trees along her path shriveled lifelessly to the ground. Animals got blackened, frozen in place like a statue.
The air grew cold and heavy, and those who stood too close found their skin darkening and hardening as the black tint spread. The curse left a trail of death and decay in her wake, an invisible shadow that consumed everything in its path.
The Emperor complete turned around when he heard the screams of the people. No, it's not why he turned around but the Empress's arrival.
"Wife!"
He immediately put an illusion on his face that only the Empress could see.
Hands stretched higher. Now, her curse can't touch anything and anyone anymore. The people were mesmerized as much as they were terrified of her, for her appearance is golden. She's glowing, she's sparkling, and her colors resembles the sun. It was as if a Deity descended from Vanrahim.
They couldn't believe it.
It was her.
It was Azarese.
Empress Azarese found her husband first, but the face she saw right next to him revived her ghosts back to life. Her mouth opened and she let out a monotonous scream, her bulging eyes shedding red tears.
She saw the King, her father.
"Dragunovv! KILL! KILL! DRAGUNOVV! KILL!"
King LIFE coughed up blood. He struggled to lift his head, but he made it. Tears poured from his eyes. It was her.
A pair of her Hands went down to punch a hole through the King's body.
"Aaahhhh! Dragunovv! Kill! All! Kill! KILL! KILL!"
The Emperor teleported behind her and embraced her gently. It did not stop the Empress; crying and screaming. It was lifeless. She was. But he could feel everything. Her trauma, her hatred, her grief---all of it.
Empress Siofra, who felt the link in their blood, endured the torturous pleasure that's seeping through her skin and flesh and traveled to see her.
"My Holy... My H...oly..."
He kissed the Empress's head, "Shh. I'm handling them. I told you to stay in the Palace. Why are you here? Our baby..."
He turned the Empress around and wiped her tears. He pat their baby's head.
"Danger. Husband, danger."
"I'm in danger?"
The Empress nodded and continued crying. He kissed her head again.
"No. They are the ones in danger, not me. Wait for me. We're going home."
And the home he meant is the one below them. First, he will wipe them out. They will begin a new life without them. No Earthlings, and Dragunovvs, and Warlocks.
Just the both of them is what matters.
Giving second chances is bullshit. They exhausted all the chances that was given to them, so now way he will spare them another.
"Home. Baby."
"Yes, he's feeling cold. Hold him tight. I will---"
When his instincts kicked in, he pulled the Empress against his body and slashed his right hand to whatever is coming to them from behind.
Watts stopped mid-air.
"You...killed my Kuya Ohms!" He ranted furiously and pierced the Emperor through his heart, through the Empress, too.
But what he did is not what shocked him but the name he mentioned, and who he might be.
Watts's body, sliced into two, fell to the ground. His helm opened up to let him breathe in the oxygen he needed. And he was crying with a broken heart. His brother is gone and he's hurt. Everything about him is hurting and he doesn't know which feeling is worst.
"W-Watts..."
Aloisia and Calamity arrived with Lord Feryzen. They teleported beside her youngest, and nothing more was left in her heart now that another son of her has fallen. First, her eldest. Now, her youngest?
"AAAAHHHH! AAAAHHHH! FUCK! FUCK YOU! WATTS! NO! MY BOY! V-VOLT, MY BABY!"
Aloisia carefully picked up Watts's upper body: his head down to his chest.
"I'm sorry... Mommy... I'm sorry. I did it for Kuya... I want to ave---"
"FUCK! You and your stupid brother! None of you were thinking at all! Volt, please! Do something! Call the Ki'zaar! My Lord, please! Please, at least my youngest! Fuck Ohms! Just save my youngest!"
The Emperor pinned his feet to the ground. When they looked up to him and saw the face that killed both her sons, she cursed the Warlocks and Dragunovvs to her bones and soul.
The Emperor slowly went down to his knees and looked at what he have done.
"N-No..." He forced a laugh and hold Watts's cold hands. He's looking at him with half-open eyes.
When the Emperor placed his hand on his cheek, his tears betrayed him, shocking Aloisia and Calamity and stopping them from killing him.
Why? Why was he crying?
"O-Oh... Did I do this? I... I-I... I didn't know... I should have."
And there, he removed the mask he was wearing. The face of Prince Izaac is just but a mask, revealing his real identity as Ohms Tesla Xirquit.
"My son, I'm sorry. I didn't know. I'm sorry. I didn't know!"
At least, he saw it. His brother...
Watts's eyes became heavy. They shut.
"Because of these damn Dragunovvs!"
He dropped Watts's hands and was about to destroy them when he saw who's standing behind him.
His perplexed eyes squinted at her.
The Ki'zaar landed next to her, covering the Prince's eyes so he wouldn't see what happened to his favorite human.
"What..."
Emperor Ohms stand up, unbalanced, and looked up to his wife above. Then back to the woman in front of her.
"Why are you still alive?" Was Azarese's first question to him.
He pulled himself together.
"Who are you?"
Azarese snatched his heart, beating in her hand, "I asked you first. Why are you still alive?"
Emperor Ohms healed himself and catch his breath.
"I faked my death. Happy?"
"Then I'd make sure you wouldn't escape the same death anymore this time."
The Ki'zaar raised his hand for a snap. It doesn't matter who will get caught up in it. He will kill the man.
Emperor Ohms wryly smiled. His bloodlust subsided. He calmed down. He understand now.
"Are you their precious Princess now? Do they love you now?" He asked, and she couldn't answer it.
He shook his head and palmed his face.
"I didn't meant to do it. I didn't know... I would never hurt my brother. W-Watts... I didn't know!" While in the midst of his breakdown, he pulled himself together again and casted a magic circle below them.
Watts's body levitated. He put his parts together and mend it, then closed his eyes to open his third eye, where he found Watts standing right in front of him.
"Go back. Go, my son. Get back in your body."
He even guided him and laid his soul back to his body, bringing him back to life.
Emperor Ohms palmed his face and stepped back. Then, he went to his mother. He placed his hand on her shoulders and looked straight in her eyes. He contained themselves in a barrier, just the two of them, so nobody would hear about the conversation they were about to have.
"It was you, right? The one who turned her back on Azarese."
Her eyes slowly widened.
Emperor Ohms flashed a smile. He bowed down, trying to control his tears.
Because of her, everything went downhill. No, he shouldn't blame his mother. She only became Azarese's last straw. She happened to be the one to push her last button. Azarese was destined to lose her mind. Even without his mother's mistake, Azarese will still do what she had done.
But because of her, her madness happened earlier. Isn't that a good thing? Because if she were to hang on a little more, be patient a little more, then that would mean she will have to suffer more than enough until she reaches her limit and break. Maybe that's the good thing, even though it's the worst thing, too.
"I know it was you. I didn't believe it. It wasn't my Mom. She was with me. We were altogether. It wasn't her; and now I am sure. And I don't blame you. Mom, I'm happy to know that I'm still your son even in this lifetime."
'Why does it sound as if he's saying his farewells?'
Aloisia hated how he sounded. She locked him in her arms.
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry. Everything happened because of me. I'm sorry that I made you suffer. My love. My boy. Forgive me."
An apology wouldn't amount to what it caused.
Emperor Ohms peacefully closed his eyes and accepted his mother. Thanks to her, everything is clear. It will be over for him. Finally.
He was the first to let go and faced Azarese.
He opened a portal and Prince Maximilien fell from it.
"Aaahhhh! Mommy! Mommy!"
Azarese ran to catch him. Prince Maximilien's eyes almost popped out from their sockets when he found her.
"Best to keep him in their sanctuary to preserve his soul. I saved him from a soul-eater. I saved him from her."
Emperor Ohms breathes in and looked up. He smiled at his wife and waved his hand to her.
"Do you think you can do it?" He said while still looking at her, "Kill her, I mean."
Watts gasped.
"As you can see, she's nothing but an empty vessel now. I guess the same identity can't have two souls. You're an exception, unlike us who have our own, no matter how many version of us live,"
Azarese sent her son to their paradise to settle her matters.
"You've been waiting for this," she said. And he nodded.
"Well, fuck. I don't want to leave her alone. I finally found a way out. And don't even ask me to stay and live. I will just kill everyone and then kill myself after."
"That makes me sad. I can definitely take two Ohms Xirquit at the same time."
That made him look down to her with an arching eyebrow.
He pointed his wife over their heads, "The one up there is better."
"Still me. Just different colors. But it's still me," she smirked. The Ki'zaar is not happy about the conversation they are having.
Emperor Ohms sighed.
"Not quite the ending I imagined, but fuck it. What's your plan? I have mine."
There was a moment of faltering silence between them. The Ki'zaar grabbed her hand, rubbing his thumb on the back of her hand. He even kissed it while glaring at Emperor Ohms, so he raised his hands in defense.
"Chill, brother. I got the better and prettier Azarese."
"An empty vessel."
And that offended him.
He dropped his hands, stares gone cold and serious. He pulled out a sword from the space he tore beside him.
"That 'empty vessel' is the mother of your son, Empress of the great Warlock Empire, the incarnation of beauty and chaos, and the first to withhold her soul. What to expect to stupid, son of some deceased bitch? There was never a school in this world to teach you a lesson, so I will tutor you."
He summoned clones and they attacked the Ki'zaar all at once. The Ki'zaar blast them away before they could reach him. He stayed on his place, not sweating about the threat that the Emperor is, taking him unseriously.
When he thought that the Emperor is defeated with just an effortless move, he was taken off guard when the Emperor got through his shield. The Ki'zaar threw himself back, but the Prince in his arm was sliced.
Prince Valerian cried out in pain.
Before them, the rest of the people around them looked nothing but an audience.
Before the Ki'zaar lose his control, Azarese stepped in while glaring at him. He was dumbfounded, and so is Lord Feryzen, when she slapped his divine face.
"Mind your tongue. I won't tolerate disrespect against me. WE ARE ONE. She's the one who carried Valerian! Her body existed before mine, and you will---!? Watts Xirquit would never."
Hands took the Prince from him.
"M-Mi'zaar---"
"SILENCE!" She sent her palm across his face. On the other cheek this time.
"I am his mother and you're not getting my son."
Guess, it's the Emperor's win either way. But Azarese slapped him, too, when he thought he's the victor.
"And who gave you the idea that you can hurt my son?"
Emperor Ohms hold his cheek. It felt hot, it hurt. But the grin on his face says otherwise. I fact, he felt pleasure in it.
"Forgive me. I didn't mean to hurt the Prince," he said, and who can tell if he's being sincere or genuine?