A/N: The chapter ahead is raw, which means not been proofread yet nor edited.
***
Voltage Xirquit covered his face now that he's seen the life his first self had led. He's punching his chest---it is twisting into something so indescribably excruciating. And he couldn't breathe no matter how much he tried to gasp for air.
"A---Ahh! Aaahhhh!" He screamed as he slipped to the floor. They helped him but he pushed them away. He reached out his hand for his son, for his most loved son.
Watts Xirquit stood behind it all, trying to control his tears. Before him, there was his brother. Before him, there was Ohms. Before he was the most loved, his brother Ohms was held so high up that even King's would bow their heads to him. Because that's how much his father raised him. High, higher, and highest.
"Ohms---"
Emperor Ohms looked at him with empty eyes. The sight of his father, once again, grieving for him. They never really had the closure they deserved to share. And if his father is grieving, his mother has fallen into the fiery pits of regret and self-loathing.
She pushed her son to the edge.
She killed her son.
Voltage Xirquit made it to his son after struggling so hard. He pulled him for the tightest embrace he could ever give, while leaving space to not crush the Prince.
Gerson Liorei found himself standing before her miserable daughter who's been crying her eyes and heart out since.
The Emperor showed his truth to him as well.
Princess Lorreign looked up to him and was terrified to see the look on his face.
"Dada... Da!"
Prince Vars pushed Voltage Xirquit away when he felt too cramped between them. So, Voltage Xirquit parted himself with them, but he's touching his son's face as his tears wet his face continuously.
"I'm so sorry you had to go through that,"
"I'm healed," said the Emperor.
Was he really?
"Is my soul... Does she have it...too?"
Emperor Ohms looked away and stood up. stood He rocked Prince Vars and hand Celia his empty milk bottle.
"I fed your curiosity. Did it satisfy you, Maxism? Now, I want you all to leave. It's playtime."
"Dabu!" Prince Vars clapped his hands.
The Prince floated from the Emperor's arms. It surprised him, but he felt no feeling of harm from it. The Prince seemed to enjoy floating and was even giggling. Warm rays of light emit from his chest and glowed so bright until his whole body is enveloped with it. When it faded, the Prince is in full great health and had grown. His features became definite, showing which lineage took most of him.
His mother's, of course.
"DADA!" The Prince beamed a smile with his arms spread wide as he fell down back to the Emperor.
There's no need for the needles to be deep in his tissues. He can move much freely now with strength.
"Vars!" The Emperor called back with a smile and accepted him in his ever loving and caring embrace.
"You've grown again. You're growing fast. Don't grow yet, son. I want more of your baby moments. Stay as a baby for a hundred years. Be in every age for a hundred years, too."
Prince Vars giggled and bit his cheek with his growing teeth. The Emperor may be smiling, but the bite hurts like hell.
"Celia, bring a pacifier for my boy," he ordered, barely keeping himself together.
"Dada, dada da dada da?" The Prince babbled while pointing at his crying grandfather.
"Yes, he's crying,"
'He understood that?' they gasped mentally.
"Da?"
"Because he's sad?"
"Da?"
"Because of me?"
Prince Vars puffed his cheeks.
"Dada! Da!"
And he smacked the Emperor's face, pushing him down to the floor.
The Prince who just grew, crawled out of his father's hold and went to his grandfather quick. They've never seen a baby crawl as fast as the Prince, like he's in a hurry.
"Dada dada, da." He placed his hand on Voltage Xirquit's lap, patting him with a smile.
It only made him cry more, knowing that a pure being such as the Prince is trying to comfort him. He picked him up and carried him. He even kissed the Prince's smooth and plump cheeks. It's surprising that Prince Vars let him.
"Thank you. I feel better now," his voice was groggy.
Prince Vars observed his face. They noticed that he's not just looking at him. His eyes followed the features on Voltage Xirquit's face like it's something to trace. Then, he looked deep in his grandfather's eyes. Then to his father who smiled at him, wondering about what his son is up to.
Prince Vars slowly rest his head on Voltage Xirquit's shoulder. His one hand wrapped around his neck, while the other is tapping his back lightly.
"Dada da, wabwab..."
Emperor Ohms felt like he heard his heart break.
"S-Son, did you just... Did you just said you love him before you say that word to me?"
Prince Vars ignored him and rubbed his face on his overwhelmed grandfather.
"Dada da, wabwab," he repeated. Voltage Xirquit had stopped crying, but hearing his grandson make efforts to comfort and soothe him made him cry again. He embraced him, buried his face on the Prince's tiny body, mourning for the loss of his other self.
Luckily, Prince Vars was there to let him cry on him and slept again while lying on his grandfather's head.
Meanwhile, the Heart Palace's heart was completely shattered. Since that day, since the Supreme God witnessed the 'death' of her truest daughter, it broke her so much that the curse Azarese put on her can't enslave her anymore.
She submit to the weakness of her knees and looked up to the Matriarch's statue over her. Her vengeful tears were falling like a stream, making clacking noises as her diamond tears fall down to the floor.
"Why did you let this happen?" she questioned the Matriarch sharply, "H-Have I not given enough?"
She smashed her fist against her chest, "My daughter! Gone, mother! GONE! Now, she hates me! HAVE I NOT GIVEN ENOUGH!? I saved the world, I saved your people! I did everything I could! I put duty over my family! You promised me, Mother... You promised to watch over us. So, why? How could you let this be? To me, to my daughter?"
Schionna touched the crystal ball before her. She immediately looked around for the Matriarch but she was nowhere to be found. Her attention went back to the scene playing in the crystal ball. Her grandmother is trying to communicate with the Matriarch.
Mistress DEATH stood by Empress Siofra with a pair of squinting eyes, looking down at her with the silent words, "I told you so,"
"I told you there is no good in being good," she told the Empress who was slumped on the floor, looking miserable.
Had she been in control, such thing will never be. Be it then and now---she will never let it be. She's not as lenient as the Empress. This is one of the consequences of her choice: getting rid of her persona as the Mistress of Death led her to her downfall.
She chose goodness and kindness, and what did those brought for her? Burden. Responsibilities she never needed and asked for. Or maybe it's because she chose to return to where she belong when they're better off on Earth. It may have been infested with zombies but at least she have the power to cleanse it and begin a new age with her family once more. Unlike in Cosmo-Vale, she spent more time doing Empress duties than that of a mother's.
"I was wrong. I only did what was best for everyone!"
Mistress DEATH positioned in front of her and lowered herself a little to bring the Empress's chin up.
"And who is this 'everyone'? Why would you care for strangers whose gratefulness are fleeting? They hardly accepted the minions you brought from Earth. They only worship you when you're around, but glaring at you once you turned your back. They mock you for breeding with lower beings. Earthlings? With Ancient blood? You know they do."
She let the Empress's chin go, more like 'threw' it aside.
"Was it worth it? Getting rid of me, was it?"
Empress Siofra clenched her fists. She tried so hard to suppress her frustrations and regrets.
Everything happened because she changed herself, because she wanted to be like the Matriarch. She wanted to follow her footsteps, be what her lineage wanted her to be---but why must her blood dictate who she must be? She was untouchable as the Mistress of Death.
If only she handled things as herself... If only she did not change... If only she kept her name Dearil Ernalin Azazel Thana Hanctary... Then none of this would have happened.
"My Azarese... If I let you in once again... Tell me that you will do anything for her to forgive us."
Mistress DEATH rolled her eyes, her eyes filled with somber misery.
"Why would I do that? I never even know her. My children are only Izaac, Astaroth, Davorin, Ascel, and Eddrien. They're the only ones I had known all my life. Anyone followed are yours. You raised them your way, not mine."
"But she's your daughter. She's our daughter," Empress Siofra whimpered, putting emphasis on the word that she had wished and hoped for to have since. Ascelin and Etienne, who are now Ascel and Eddrien, were the living proofs of that wanting.
"I've always...wanted one too, you know..." Empress Siofra's face crumpled from the despair she's going through.
"...So, please. Forgive me. I was a fool. I was wrong. I got weak. It made me helpless and weak. So please, come back to me. I need you. I will never be Siofra again. I want my name back. I want to be the Mistress of Death once more to make things right."
Mistress DEATH stared at herself grovel before her. She slightly turn her body aside to look up to the Matriarch's statue, whose eyes were watching her.
She had always hated the old hag.
Mistress DEATH went back to her feet. She brushed her messy hair back, her touch straightening her hair and reviving it to life. It's now all shiny like gloss, darker than black, as straight as her cold, resting bitch face.
"Come out, fool."
She said to the being without a presence, yet she still found out about it.
A being stepped out from hiding behind the Matriarch's statue. The being is a woman and she's smiling at her cheerfully. Fairies and other tiny flying creatures were flocking around her. Her ears are pointy, but that doesn't make her an elf or anything.
"You finally noticed me. Took you so long, Siofra~" she sang and music notes went out waltzing from her voice.
Mistress DEATH grimaced, "Cut to the chase. Who are you?"
"Let's not play pretend, Siofra~ You know who I am."
That made the Mistress of Death scoff, "Then, I guess I can straightly tell you to fuck off and go back to where you came from. I don't need you nor will I ever. Coming out after all this time? What shook your pretty chairs that made you stand up and walk around, Miracyne?"
The woman smiled even brighter.
"See, you know me! I knew it!"
Now, the Mistress of Death is smirking mocking, "Of course, I do. I knew about the Matriarch's bastards. Let me guess, you felt and sensed her legitimate child that's why you were moved, weren't you?"
With words attacking the Matriarch's youngest and most favorite like that subtly, Princess Miracyne sure didn't like it.
"Don't make me upset, Siofra. We should be friends."
Mistress DEATH turned her back on her. The first step she took changed the dirty, uncomfortable gown on her into a more sophisticated and elegant fashion from Earth. Not only was it elegant but luxurious. If Empress Siofra preferred simplicity, then let's just say that the Mistress of Death knew her worth. The word 'extravagance' won't occur to anyone's minds once they've seen her sparkling with jewels from her head down to her toes.
She does not see herself as human, neither an Ancient, but indeed the Supreme God. However, she knew how to appreciate luxuries and who crafted them. She's generous to artists and cruel to those without talent.
That's why she granted Voltage Xirquit's every favor to her before. She recognized his talent as a scientist, doctor, and as a craftsman.
Another is because Voltage Xirquit was among Prince Astaroth's favorite humans.
"Hear me first---"
Mistress DEATH's thirteenth step brought her to the entrance of the Heart Palace. The knights, blinded by her beauty and enthralled by her new persona, panicked when they found her. When she passed them by, their armors melted and so their bodies.
"M-Mom...?" Prince Izaac mutter as he slow down from running when he felt her presence.
Mistress DEATH passed him by.
"Discard those good for nothing knights. No, send them all to fight those filthy Veils. If I see one near my Palaces, you will shoulder the punishment, my dear son."
She stops to tell him another thing, "And bring those puny Warlocks from Voxwein. All of them. If I see one missing, you will shoulder the punishment, my.dear.eldest."
Prince Izaac almost lost his balance from the shaking of his knees. Shivers ran down to his spine and he couldn't stop gulping. His mother remained standing on the spot where she stopped, giving him her signature bored yet love-drunk eyes. Love-drunk in a motherly way. He's her firstborn. She had always looked that way to him. She may not express it on her face, but man, her eyes will never lie about her love for her children.
And somehow, the Prince felt guilty for feeling relief.
"Y-Yes, Mommy. I will."
Finally, his mother is back.
Mistress DEATH sighed. She turned around completely and that's when Prince Izaac ran and jumped on her for a hug.
"I---I failed! Mommy, I'm sorry. I couldn't do it. I... I was... My boys---she took them!"
He lashed out, pouring everything at once. Mistress DEATH caressed the back of his head lovingly. She is cruel to everyone but her children.
"Mommy!?"
Prince Eddrien bust out of the wall. The Mistress and Prince Izaac jolted in surprise. Prince Eddrien stood frozen for a moment, then he ran to his mother with tears in his eyes.
"It's you, right? Mom, I missed you!"
The Mistress helplessly sighed but she couldn't help but smile. It's not like the Princes didn't love the Empress. They loved her too, because she's kinder than ever, but it felt wrong somehow. Something was missing, they missed something about her. It was this.
The Empress didn't have to change at all. She was at her best when she's mean.
"Did you had lunch? Call your brothers. I will cook for you."
At this point, who gives a fuck about the Empire when she had always been a wife and a mother to her children? It infuriates her to think that the Empress put the Empire first before her family when she had always been a family-centered type of a wife.
Prince Eddrien never left his mother, so it'd just Prince Izaac who left. He was clinging on her even in their way to the Imperial kitchen. The chefs and cooks were surprised upon their arrival.
"Y-Your Imperial---Ah!"
Mistress DEATH had all the strangers sent out by the swipe of her finger to the door.
"Eddrien, get off of me. I can't wear the apron if you're all over me," she said, but the Prince only hugged her tighter.
"But I missed you!"
"I know. I missed you, too. So, get off of me before you piss me off."
It made the Prince happy.
Yes. It's definitely what he missed.
Prince Davorin arrived with the shy Princess Diamanda. And they couldn't believe it too. Meanwhile, Prince Ascel tried to play it cool, but he couldn't hide how excited and flustered he was now that his mother is back. The Prince was the most dependent on their mother. As a child, on his first day of school as a pre-schooler, he cried so much when she left him to the teacher. His ability is Invulnerability but he's utterly vulnerable without his mother.
Word about the Mistress of Death's return reached the other Earthlings' ears within the Empire in no time. When they had arrived, they went to the Dining Hall where they've been told where she is with the Princes.
When they made it to the Dining Hall's entrance, they found the elemental Princes standing before the doors shut to their faces earlier, crying.
"What's the matter?" asked Yohanne Minuet Dragunovv, King LIFE's cousin.
"Mommy kicked us out. Hnnngh... We don't know why!"
Prince Zephyrus went to his Uncle to seek comfort from him. Just then, their grandparents arrived with King LIFE just a few steps behind them.
He look miserable.
"Eat more. Are the chefs in this world lacking? My babies are thin. You're not fed well enough," the Mistress rant as she watch the Princes eat to their hearts' delight. She cooked all their favorite dishes and they helped.
"About Dad---" Prince Eddrien opened a conversation, but their mother fed a spoonful of food.
"Oh, we're not talking about that bastard right now. Eat well. Here, dessert. Ascel, must I feed you every time? You're grown. Davorin, my love, slowly. Chew your food properly. Izaac, do not hoard all the food to yourself."
The Mistress kept on walking back and forth and around, giving her all in attending to her all-grown-up sons. And when they're done, they had desserts. Mango Graham dessert paired with a mango graham smoothie. Their favorite.
Without her approval, the doors opened. Her face soured as soon as their eyes met. King LIFE's eyes widened for a moment. He palmed his face, staggering as he walk to her. When he tried to hold her, the Mistress cut his hand clean.
"Your King is ill. Take him to his chambers," she ordered the nights outside the Dining Hall.
"Azazel..." The King had called her, flaring up her traumatic memory.
She once loved it whenever he calls her by that name. He's the only one can, while the rest call her by her first name. But now, she hated it. She hate the way he will speak of that name.
"I am sorry..." Was all he could say. He had so much to, but it's the only words he can say in the moment before breaking down.
"I tried my best. I did my best. I only ever wanted to be a father to her. Our daughter. M-My g-girl---"
King LIFE caught his head between his palms and wept. The Mistress of Death ignored his pitiful show.
"I said, bring him to his chambers! Is there no competent enough peasant in here? All knights---TO THE DUNGEONS."
"M-Mom---" Prince Izaac wiped his mouth and stand up, "Please, cool down. Grandmommy, granddaddy, please bring Dad to his room."
The King's parents brought him up and took him away. His wife didn't even paid him a look. It's evident that there's a rift between the husband and wife now.
Mistress DEATH stared at her throne. She went to run her fingers on its details. It was this seat they want so much, a mere chair that ruined countless lives and made others miserable. Just a pretty chair withholding the heaviest responsibilities. How could they want something so worthless? There's more to life other than sitting on a chair all day long and getting sandwiched by politics.
Then, her fingers traveled to the other seat. The Emperor's seat.
"Let me go! How dare you lay your hands on me!? I am the Grand Duchess!"
The ants have arrived.
She stood between the chairs and faces the Pure Nobles. The knights pushed them to the front and forced them to kneel. It's the first time the Mistress liked the knights.
"What's the meaning of this, Siofra!?" Helverica fumed while glaring at her.
"Slash her throat,"
The knight, afraid to fail her again, unsheath his sword at once and beheaded the Grand Duchess, leaving the other Pure Nobles in dread and shock.
"W-What---WHAT'S THE MEANING OF THIS!?"
Her uncle, Grand Duke Breuce, was dumbfounded as he stare at his wife's regenerating head. Princess Aeverie was cowering as she cling onto him.
"Where is the other artificial bitch?"
"In Vernignac Empire," the entering Prince Izaac answered, "I sent a formal letter to their Empress alongside a piece of teleportation spell sheet. They should've received it by now."
"And the impostor?"
Prince Izaac stopped by the steps to the thrones, "The twins are looking for her. She was last seen in The Academia. Let's just hope that she will come without a fight,"
The Mistress rolled her eyes and walked down to approach the Pure Nobles.
"Do not mistake me as her. I am not Siofra."
She stepped on Helverica's regenerating head, crushing it. Grand Duke Breuce's eyes went from cold to sharp and threatening.
"That look... So you hold affection for your cousin wife," the Mistress smirked and moved her foot, flattening his wife's brains.
"What is this insolence for---"
"I'm putting you to your place."
The Mistress lifted her foot. Prince Izaac went down on one knee and flick a handkerchief from his pocket to wipe and clean his mother's bloody foot and shoe.
"Something they should've done long ago. Look at you now; you don't even respect me at least. You don't fear me enough, so I will make you."
She turned around and sat on her throne.
The knights resisted each Pure Noble's hands with anti-magic shackles as the Mistress of Death state her declarations.
"From here and forth, I am relieving the Pure Nobility of their titles and rights as a noble and to the throne. The Artificial Princesses are to be detained below the Diamond Palace, their parents will be kept below the Heart Palace's until the day for a trial comes. The others will be forced to do hard labor, to go to the frontlines during Veil clearances. Their riches will fall under the Imperial treasury, and their servants will be held prisoners unless proven innocent. Effective today."
"SIOFRA!" The enraged Pure Nobles snarled that Prince Izaac had no choice but slice their throats with a swipe of his finger.
"I changed my mind. Bring forth the ones who raised their voices at their Empress,"
The attentive knights did so.
"Feed them to the Veilions."
Even Prince Izaac was shocked about her decision.
"Mom---"
The Mistress shut his mouth.
"---Or you can admit your crimes. Betray your brothers and fathers. In return, I will set you free."
"This is madness! What did we do!? Why are you doing this, Siofra!?"
Now, the Mistress had lost her patience. She flicked her finger, summoning a tamed Veilion, telling them that she's serious.
"Your destinies are within your hands, not within mine. I only have your lives, but you have the power to avoid death. I am aware of your hatred. I am aware about the names you called me. You wanted this shitty chair to yourselves. I know everything and I want you to confirm it yourselves. Admit it. Tell the truth. Your honesty will save you from my anger."
"We have no idea about what you're talking about! Have you gone mad? Why are you bringing us into the chaos that befell on you? The Grand Duke told us to stay in Voxwein because we have nothing to do about your circumstances here---"
"Shut the fuck up, you bald, motherfucker who can't get his cock hard!" The Mistress finally snapped, gagging her Uncle, one of Archduke Karrygyl's brothers.
"The least you can do for me is be grateful that I saved your losing asses against those Veils! Instead, you faked submission and had been scheming to overthrow me! I am giving you a chance to speak your truth, SO SPEAK! My daughter! My child---ruined and gone! Do you think your two, little artificial bitches would amount to her value? You, who mixed that old hag's blood with mud, thought that your creation could be Empress? IDIOTS! Eat this uncircumcised egg!"
The tamed Veilion, a werewolf, jumped upon his prey and ate him. The men around them then scurried while screaming.
"HELP ME! AAAHHHH! I'M SORRY! BREUCE! BREUCE, HELP ME---"
The werewolf bit his neck and divided his head from his neck. They heard how the poor man's bones crack as the werewolf chew it with his sharp teeth.
His dark red blood spilled on the red carpet.
"Now," the Mistress had calmed down, "The truth. Speak or face the same fate as him."
"I..."
Their eyes shifted to their highest noble, Grand Duke Breuce.
"I have nothing to admit about your accusations against us, my dear niece. I ask for a trial. I ask for the Pope to judge our words."
Mistress DEATH let out an exhausted scoff.
"You're smarter than I thought,"
The Grand Duke is formidable.
She stand up.
"Very well. Feed half of their number to Veils, excluding the important prisoners. Silence their snouts. Their time to speak has ran out and I don't want to hear any of it. Once the other artificial bitch arrives, imprison her at once."
On her next step, she was sent to her lonely chambers. She sat on the bed and massaged her nape.
She stared at the ceiling, then looked at the empty space on the other side of the bed.
She is to blame. All of this had happened because she married and loved a Dragunovv.