Chapter 226: The Sun Rises Again
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The tropical island was a wasteland, its former beauty marred by the scars of battle. A one-sided battle. The air, thick with the scent of scorched earth, carried the echoes of destruction.
The waves lapped against the shore, indifferent to the devastation around them, the only sound that dared to break the oppressive silence.
Lilithra lay on the ground, her body battered and bruised, her breath ragged. Blood trickled from her wounds, but she barely noticed the pain. Instead, she giggled, a sound that was hollow, desperate. It was all she could manage after everything that had happened.
She did not want to die. Not like this, after finally meeting him after three hundred years. She didn't have the courage to face him, but she forced herself to in the end… but now, she was splattered on the ground, bloody and wounded. Her skin was red, not from her transformation, but from her own blood.
It hurt to see him hurt her. But this mustn't be the fraction of what he felt when I slammed that dagger into him…
She had three hundred years to go over that scene over and over again, every sleepless night, every terror-filled nightmare, she wondered about that night. That night when she killed her love with her own hands. Did she have the jurisdiction to complain now, when all of this was her fault?
Acceptance was the only thing she could do.
If this is what he wants... she thought, her voice barely a whisper as she spoke, "If that's what you want, my love... I don't mind. If you want me dead, so be it."
He stood over her, his gaze cold, devoid of the warmth she once knew. His shadow was long, taller than it used to be, just like him. He didn't look like the man she loved, the demonic man above her was far different than her Seriphoth. Despite that, she knew the soul was his. He was the same man she had fallen in love with, even if that love didn't exist in him anymore.
He didn't reply. He opened his mouth, true, but no words came out of his lips. His initial glee seeing her hurt was not there anymore. He looked bored after a series of one-sided attacks.
Instead, he looked up at the sky as if searching for answers in the churning clouds above. A scoff escaped his lips, bitter and filled with contempt.
Without a word, the man wearing a morphed mask of her husband turned and began to walk away.
What... what is he doing? Confusion gripped her heart as she watched him move. She hadn't expected this, hadn't prepared for him to simply walk away.
"Why?" she called out, her voice trembling. "Are you really walking away now, after pushing me to death's door? Why aren't you killing me? Finish it! End my misery!"
She did not want to live in a world where her love of life hated her. Lilithra's demonic heart burned.
He stopped but didn't turn to face her. The silence that followed was suffocating, every second dragging out her torment.
When he spoke, his words were colder than the void itself. "Death is a simple punishment for you, don't you think? So I changed my mind."
No... The realization struck her like a blow. No, please... She had prepared for death, welcomed it even, but this... this was something else entirely. Why would he choose this?!
"You'll live," he continued, his voice devoid of any emotion. "You'll live, and you'll watch me be happy with others. Speaking of, did you know I've slept with Akeno? Your Queen."
His words cut through her like a knife. The casual cruelty, the ease with which he dismissed her, tore at her soul. Rias' eyes trembled. Akeno... Her mind raced, her heart shattered. No... no, no, no...
Her earlier defiance crumbled. The smile she had forced vanished, replaced by a well of tears that threatened to spill over. She had found him after so long, had endured centuries of grief, all for this moment. Three hundred years... and this is what I get?
When she walked out of the shadows today to meet him, she had already prepared for the worst-case scenario. She had prepared to give her life away for his satisfaction. But even the last thing she could offer was rejected.
His head turned slightly, red eyes locking with her blue eyes. "...."
Then he walked away, his back turned to her, leaving her behind without a second glance.
Each step he took felt like another piece of her heart being ripped away. I waited for you... suffered for you... and this is my reward?
Tears blurred her vision as she watched him grow smaller on the horizon. The pain of his rejection, of being cast aside after finally finding him again, was unbearable. He doesn't care... he doesn't care at all...
But I deserve this... don't I? The thought crept in, unbidden, and she knew it was true.
She had betrayed him all those lifetimes ago, she had set him on the path of madness. This was her penance, her punishment for the choices she had made.
But even as she accepted it, the pain didn't lessen. The tears fell freely now, her body trembling with the weight of her grief. I just wanted to be with you again... But the man she loved was gone, replaced by the cold, unfeeling demon of a man.
He vanished from her sight, leaving her alone in the ruins of the island. The waves continued their rhythmic dance against the shore, indifferent to her suffering, the only sound that dared to accompany her in her solitude.
Lilithra's tears mixed with the blood on her face as she lay there, broken and abandoned.
The reality of her situation crashed down on her. It was heavy and unforgiving. He had rejected her, not with death, but with a life of endless torment, forced to watch him move on without her.
I deserve this... The thought echoed in her mind, even as the pain threatened to consume her. But it doesn't hurt any less...
The waves kept crashing, a cruel laughter of the sea. And in the midst of it all, Lilithra lay there, drowning in her grief, regret, and acceptance.
Her domain collapsed not long after, when he found a way to step into the outer world, and Lilithra Shadowveil, Rias Gremory, hid herself in the shadows of dimensions again.
****
The sky trembled beneath the fury of Elara's strikes, her spear flashing through the air as she relentlessly attacked the shimmering dome that stood between her and her husband.
Each swing of her weapon sent shockwaves rippling through the heavens, the very world quaking under the force of her desperation. Her voice, raw and cracked, echoed across the battlefield, a mix of anguish and rage.
"How dare you!" Elara's voice was a broken scream, filled with a mix of fear and disbelief. "Let him out! How dare you take him from me! You demon whore! I won't let you take him away from me again!!!"
The others watched from a distance, their faces drawn with concern. Ruby bit her lip, her fingers twitching with the urge to intervene. "We have to stop her before she—"
"No." Sieran's voice cut through the air like a knife, sharp and decisive. She stepped forward, her expression grim, her eyes locked on Elara's frenzied form. "Let her be. We can't stop her. She won't stop until she's spent her rage."
"But—" Ruby's protest was silenced by a gentle hand on her arm. It was the Goddess, her eyes heavy with the weight of understanding.
"There's nothing we can do," the Goddess murmured, her gaze fixed on Elara.
Elara's attacks grew more desperate, her body shaking with exhaustion, but she refused to stop. Every strike, every scream, was a plea, a demand to bring back the man she loved.
The dome, however, remained unyielding, an impenetrable barrier that mocked her efforts.
Her final scream tore through the sky, her spear glowing with the last remnants of her strength as she delivered a blow that shook the heavens. But just as the impact faded, the dome began to fracture—not from her attack, but from within.
The cracks spread like spiderwebs, and with a sound like shattered glass, the barrier crumbled.
Elara staggered back, her breath catching in her throat as she watched the dome disintegrate into nothingness. Her heart pounded in her chest, hope and dread warring within her as she strained to see through the falling debris.
She feared that she'd face his dead body, like that day three hundred years ago, when she walked up to his rotting body. That demonic whore had killed him back then, and Elara had every reason to think she was after the same thing this time too.
Breaking her fear, he emerged from the crack.
The Venerable One stepped out of the dust and rubble, his figure imposing against the backdrop of the fractured sky. His expression was unreadable, a cold mask that sent a chill down Elara's spine. There was no warmth in his eyes, no recognition of the woman standing before him.
She didn't sense the demoness anywhere. For a moment, she almost jumped to his arm, but when she remembered what he did to his disciple, she stopped herself.
Right, there was that thing too. This man… this man was not her husband. At least not right now. Something else had taken over his body.
Elara's grip on her spear tightened, her knuckles white with the force of it. She took a trembling step forward, her voice faltering as she asked, "Who… Who are you? Are you really my husband?"
The man turned his head away from the dead body of Ranger Phoenix in the distance that he was looking at and landed on her. He remained silent, his gaze sliding over her as if she were nothing more than a fleeting thought, a distant memory not worth acknowledging.
Without a word, he turned his back to her and began to fly away towards the dead body.
"No! No!" Panic surged through Elara's veins, her voice rising in desperation. "Not answering means you're not him! Speak, otherwise, I'll attack you! S-Seriphoth, don't do this to me!"
Her words hung in the air, heavy with the weight of her fear. But still, there was no answer.
Driven by a mix of fear, anger, and disbelief, Elara launched herself after him, her spear flashing as she aimed to stop him, to force him to respond. But the Venerable One didn't even bother to turn around. With a casual flick of his wrist, he slapped her attack aside as if it were nothing more than an inconvenience.
Elara stumbled, her weapon knocked from her grasp, and she fell to her knees, her breath ragged. The sheer difference in power left her stunned, her mind reeling with the realization that this man… this being… was far beyond anything she could comprehend.
Elara stood up.
She prepared another attack.
"Stop, Elara!" Sieran's voice was sharp as she rushed forward, grabbing Elara's arm to prevent her from attacking again. "You're only going to hurt yourself!"
"Elara, please," Seraphina's voice was softer but no less urgent. She stepped forward, her hands gently taking Elara's as she knelt beside her in the air. Her eyes, filled with compassion, searched Elara's, seeking to soothe the turmoil within her. "Since this has come to this… there's something I feel like I should tell you…"
Elara's eyes, still wide with shock, slowly turned to meet Seraphina's. The difference in power seemed to drain the life out of her, leaving only a hollow shell of the woman who had been so full of rage just moments before.
She didn't say anything as Seraphina began to speak, her words expressing what she had sensed from his soul back when she first met him. The… truth of the man she loved unfolded before her eyes, as the Venerable One disappeared into the distance, Elara's world crumbled around her.
The reality of her situation settled in like a cold, unyielding fog.
****
The sky above was a dark expanse, streaked with the last remnants of a battle that had shaken the very foundations of this world. Yet, the Venerable One was not done. The battle had ended, but it wasn't a proper victory yet.
His form streaked through the sky, a dark silhouette against the crimson horizon. He wasn't flying aimlessly, as he had often done in the past when his mind was clouded with regret or anger. His destination was a place where the dead lay silent, where the cost of victory was steep. Below him, the landscape was scarred, the aftermath of the battle evident in the torn earth and shattered mountains.
But his attention was elsewhere, on the lifeless form that lay ahead.
Ranefer Phoenix.
She was massive, even in death, her form sprawled across the broken ground like a fallen titan. Her once radiant feathers were dulled, covered in the grime and blood of battle, and her eyes, which had once blazed with the fires of life, were now closed in the stillness of death. Ranefer, that scaredy cat who always feared death, was now… dead. Her fears had come true.
Yet, despite the scene before him, a small, almost imperceptible smile touched the corners of his lips. It was not a mocking smile. It seemed so out of place on a face that had shown nothing but cruelty and darkness for so long.
He landed softly beside her, the earth beneath his feet trembling slightly as if in recognition of the power that had just touched it.
First time seeing you in this form, the Venerable One looked down at the great bird, his expression inscrutable as he took in the sight of her. His eyes traced the lines of her body, the once majestic wings that had carried her through the skies now limp and motionless.
"You should have run away," he said quietly, his voice barely more than a whisper. "I didn't think you were the type to stay until the end. You have my thanks." He closed his eyes.
To think that scaredy cat would fight until the end of her life, dying.
The words hung in the air, gratitude from a man who hadn't spoken those words in millennia. But of course, thanks alone were not enough to bring someone back from the dead. His expression hardened, the fleeting smile vanishing as he reached into his Void Storage.
From within its depths, he retrieved an organ.
A heart—a pulsating, glowing organ that radiated a fierce, almost unbearable heat.
The Heart of the Demonic Phoenix God of Destructive Flames. It was the object he had seized from the air earlier, a prize won in the chaos of battle. He looked at it for a moment, the light reflecting in his eyes, before turning back to the lifeless body before him.
Crouching down, his movements were precise, almost surgical, as he cut open Ranefer's chest. There was no hesitation in his actions, only swiftness, as he placed the Demonic Phoenix's heart over Ranefer's own.
The contact between the two hearts sent a shockwave through the air, the energy radiating outwards in waves that caused the very ground to tremble.
The Venerable One's eyes narrowed in concentration as he tapped into his demonic powers. The world around him began to hum, a low, resonant sound that seemed to emanate from the very fabric of reality. Colors began to glitch and fracture, the edges of reality overlapping as if the world itself was struggling to contain the energy being unleashed.
He used the [Heaven Icon]'s space-manipulating properties, a technique that bent reality to his will, forcing the two hearts to merge as one.
The world trembled beneath his power, the very air around him crackling with energy. A demonic soul was slumbering in the air, her soul, and the Icon grabbed it and slammed it back into her body. And then, with a final surge of power, it was done.
"—Haah!" Ranefer's eyes snapped open with a loud, gasping breath, her body convulsing as life surged back into her. The air around them exploded in a rain of fiery snowflakes, each flake glowing with a soft, ethereal light as it drifted gently to the ground.
The once lifeless form of Ranefer Phoenix was now alive, her eyes wide with shock and confusion as she stared up at the figure looming over her.
But the resurrection didn't stop with her.
As the energy rippled outwards, traveling through the fiery snowflakes, it reached the other fallen warriors who had perished in the battle. The Archangel Auriel, her once radiant wings now tattered and torn, her body cleaved in two, stirred. Her eyes fluttered open, a soft gasp escaping her lips as she realized she was alive.
Red, demonic energy swirled around her once pristine wings. The revival wasn't holy, after all.
Around her, Kalawarna regained her life too, restored by the power that had been unleashed. The same demonic energy tinted her black wings partially red, but that wouldn't badly affect her. Those who were alive were already healed from when the Demonic Phoenix died, yet this energy rejuvenated them further. The air was filled with the sounds of gasps and murmurs, the world itself seeming to breathe a sigh of relief.
The Venerable stood amidst the newly resurrected, his gaze distant as he looked up at the Heaven Icon and the other two hovering above him.
The power it radiated was still potent, still crackling with energy, but he knew what needed to be done.
There was a moment of hesitation, a flicker of something unreadable in his eyes before he let the Icons go. The dark energy swirling around him began to dissipate, the power receding as his form began to change. His hair lightened, turning a golden blonde, and his eyes shifted to a clear, piercing blue.
The transformation was complete—and Aqua Hoshino stood where the Venerable One had been just moments before.
He looked down at Ranefer, who was still lying on the ground, her eyes wide with disbelief and tears streaming down her cheeks. She had returned to her human form.
She couldn't believe it—she had been dead, and now she was alive, brought back by the very man who had led them into battle. She remembered her rage at the end of her life, and that rage made her jump at him.
"Y-you bastard! You should have been here from the get-go!"
"Hey, hey, I'm sorry~" he caught her, allowing her to slam him with her fists, her eyes smothering his face.
Her cries didn't stop, but her attacks did. She clung to him, her body trembling with the aftershocks of her resurrection, her mind still reeling from the events that had just transpired.
Aqua let out a breath, shaking his head, as he hugged her. He ran a hand through her hair, calming her, and then carried her towards the others, who had gathered in the distance.
Everyone had expressions of relief, confusion, and awe. His… his 2nd life's wives wore different sets of expressions, but he didn't look at them.
As he approached, the group turned to face him, and Aqua stopped before them in the air. His voice remained calm and steady as he made his final declaration.
"Well, that wraps things up," he said, his tone carrying a weight that none of them could ignore. "This world... Pangeal has been saved."
Enemies have been defeated. The world's been saved.
The Sun rose in the North Pole after months.
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Author Note: The long fight has come to its end, one after another enemy kept popping up, but now it's all good as done. I hope you enjoyed it so far!
Goal: Top 10
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