BOOOOOM
The entire forest shook at the explosion; Seraphina watched with her pale golden eyes as the shockwave traveled through the forest, flattening everything it touched.
'Is this how I die?' she questioned herself as she collapsed in her place; she had no strength to conjure a shield to protect herself.
"Ahhhh!"
Just when she thought that all hope was lost, Achlys appeared before her and conjured a shield of darkness using all her mana.
BOOM
The shock wave hit the shield, almost breaking it in an instant; an all-out attack by two powerful masters is not something that an expert could trifle with.
"Ahhhhhh!" Achlys screamed in pain as she held on; if she didn't, both of them would die. Her hands broke as their bones began to be crushed due to the immense pressure.
CRACK CRACK
Seraphina heard the sound of a glass cracking behind her; she weakly turned her head around only to see the dome around William cracking. If not for Achlys adding her darkness to the dome, it might have collapsed the moment the shockwave hit it, killing William.
A tear dropped from her eye as she watched the cracks webbing across the dome; it was barely holding on and might shatter at any moment.
SIGH
She sighed in regret and sorrow as she closed her tired eyes. She was too exhausted to keep her consciousness as she slowly drifted into a deep sleep.
After what felt like an eternity, which was in actuality a few seconds, the shock wave passed them.
THUD
Achlys immediately fell to her knees as she too was exhausted; her hands turned to goo under pressure, and her legs were buried deep in the ground so as not to be swept away by the wave.
SHATTER
The dome around William shattered, revealing a young man who appeared to be in his mid-teens. His shiny silver hair turned damp, and his amethyst eyes, which always shone with happiness and joy, turned lifeless.
'Ah!' he exclaimed inwardly as his gaze fell on the girls. He immediately ran toward them to check their situation, and what he saw made his heart break into pieces.
Seraphina sat upright as she closed her eyes; one might think she was just in deep thought if not for her skin getting stuck to her bones as if she had no muscles. She looked like a skeleton with skin wrapping around it like a mummy. Although she was alive, it was barely so.
Achlys was no better; her hands, which should have been healed by now, were still leaking blood. Her regeneration didn't kick in due to her mana being depleted. Her breaths turned shallow as she breathed, using all her strength.
She could sense William kneeling next to her, but she couldn't turn; her bones were crushed and her organs ruptured. Her nervous system tore itself apart due to the immense pressure it underwent.
'Why?' That was the only thing in William's mind. He was sure that Seraphina could have fought better if not for her protecting him. Achlys could have escaped if not for her guarding the dome.
He didn't understand; he was still a 12-year-old after all. Unknowingly, tears began to fall from his eyes as he embraced Seraphina; he then grabbed Achlys with his other hand, embracing her too.
"W-Why?" he whispered weakly. His voice barely came out of his mouth as he felt a lump in his throat.
Achlys felt William's tears falling on her cheek; 'Finally!' she thought. She wanted to smile, but her body was in too much pain to do anything. She wanted to embrace him, telling him it was okay, but couldn't.
'At least, we were able to save him, right, sister?' she thought as if asking Seraphina. But her thoughts became short-lived when she felt an overwhelming pressure descend on the trio.
"Are you the one who destroyed my forest?" An ethereal voice echoed through the forest; it had a feminine undertone to it as if it were both male and female at the same time.
HISS
A snake's hiss crawled through William's skin, as he was still embroiled in sorrow. He shivered as if he felt disgusted and turned toward the source of the voice.
It was a python, a really big python. It was at least five hundred feet long and ten feet in diameter. William watched lifelessly as it coiled around the trio with its massive body. It had wings on the back of its head and had green scales covering its face.
HISS
It hissed at William in annoyance and irritation since he didn't answer. It leaned its massive head dangerously close to William, trying to threaten the young man.
William stared at the large slit eyes almost half the size of him; if he were in any normal situation, he would have thought to run or use his father's name. But now, he doesn't want to do anything. He sighed exhaustively as if surrendering to fate and closed his eyes.
"Answer me! Are you the one who destroyed my forest?" the snake hissed in anger as it yelled.
"So what if they did?" An arrogant voice came from behind the python. It immediately turned itself to see who the bitch was that dared to question who it was.
But its eyes widened in surprise when she saw a red-haired woman, floating in the air, looking down on the saint-ranked python as if it were a worm.
Aquila looked down on the python, her red eyes that were burning like lava moved toward the trio. Her glare immediately softened when she saw her son kneeling with Seraphina and Achlys in his arms.
She understood the whole picture after seeing the injuries on the girls. 'I should have secretly followed them behind.' She lamented.
Her opinion of the girls was raised to a new level as she and her sisters thought that the girls were there to scam William. 'They must have really liked him to go to that extent,' she commented as she watched Seraphina.
"The girl used some of her life force to make her last attack powerful," she mumbled.
The saint-ranked python was now covering beneath the floating Aquila as it bowed its head in fear. "L-L-Lady Aquila, what are you doi-" But before the green-winged python could even finish its sentence, Aquila cut him off rudely and said,
"Leave." Her voice left no other choice for the python, and the python knew it well; any other option was death.
"Y-Yes," the python stumbled as it crawled away from Aquila. It knew her, as she was the real mistress of the forest, not just this one. She was the mistress of the continent and how she ruled with an iron fist.
Aquila came floating down from her position and landed near the trio.
'I wanted to scare you a little by telling you about the python, so that you wouldn't venture deep into the forest. But who would have thought that trouble would come to find you instead?'
She crouched down and leaned toward and took out a blue pill from her pocket; the pill was cool to the touch and emitted strands of mana.
Aquila quickly put the mana restoration pill in Achlys's mouth since her injury would be dealt with if she had enough mana.
The pill melted in her mouth as soon as it touched her tongue; her face began to regain some light as her wounds started to heal.
William slightly opened his eyes when he felt some movement around Achlys. "Mother?" he called out as he saw his mother, Aquila.
"M-Mother... they—" William cried out as tears began to roll down his cheeks. His face crumpled as he recalled how they both guarded him and protected his life with their own.
"I know, dear. Don't worry, nothing will happen to them," Aquila reassured William and gently patted his head.
She then turned toward Seraphina and frowned; her situation was a little tricky since Seraphina used her life force.
Life force is not just how much of a long lifespan someone has, but also how healthily they live their life.
'That woman will know how to heal her better than I do,' Aquila mumbled to herself as she thought about Gaia.
'I hope this will do for now,' she muttered as she put a blood restoration pill, a healing pill, and a mana restoration pill in Seraphina's mouth.
William watched intently as he exclaimed in joy when he saw Seraphina's body gain some color. He turned to his mother, only to see her still frowning as she watched Seraphina.
"What happened, Mother?" he asked with worry.
"She used too much life force; we have to get to the mansion fast. I will contact your father to open a space tear and also that bitch, Gaia," Aquila answered as she stood up.
She then took out a star-shaped artifact from her pocket and sent some mana into it, making the gem in the middle shine in brightness.
"Husband, open a space tear and come to the Marduk Forest, and also call Gaia; we need her help."