"Revenge may heal the wound, but it leaves an irremovable scar."
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(POV: Eva Helion)
My heart pounded in my chest, my eyes fixed on the lone figure of Zekuth, standing on the other end of the street.
My hands slightly trembled, the temperature around us dropping suddenly, frost forming in the air due to my spell.
[World of Eternal Winter]
A cold, freezing wind blew out from my position. Within moments, the entire street... almost the entire city, was covered in a thick sheet of ice.
The buildings, the cars, the corpses, everything was buried under the ice, under the blanket of cold itself.
The oppressive aura of Zekuth seemingly disappeared, leaving just a sharp, cold air pricking at his skin.
He, however, was completely unfazed.
My eyes burned with hatred as I glared at him, my body trembling with rage as I took a step forward, my shoes slipping a little on the ice.
He slowly clapped, the sound echoing in the silent street.
A dreadful feeling took over me, my breathing getting faster as I gathered mana to defend against potential attacks.
"Impressive," he said in a calm voice, the uncanny indifference sending a chill down my spine.
But in his eyes, I could see something that felt almost like… sympathy.
He flicked his fingers, the ground beneath him trembling, crushing the layer of ice around him like pieces of a puzzle. It almost seemed… beautiful.
My heart skipped a beat as I saw pieces of ice, that he broke seconds ago, rising up, floating in the air.
"Wind magic," I muttered, my hands rushing down towards the ground.
Zekuth showed no change in expression, his fingers flicking again, sending the sharp pieces of ice shooting towards me at a speed I couldn't react to.
I managed to create a wall of ice, which rose up with a loud grinding sound, blocking the incoming shards of ice, which penetrated almost halfway through.
I clenched my teeth, both my anger and my fear rising. I couldn't let him get the upper hand.
I raised my hand, the shards of ice stuck in the wall vibrated, breaking out and shooting towards Zekuth with a loud whooshing sound.
They cut through the air with a precision that reminded me of Sukuna's slashes, his face popping up in my head. My memories of him gave me more confidence, my foot firmly planting on the floor as I got up.
Zekuth seemed unfazed, simply raising a hand towards the incoming spikes.
A torrent of flames escaped his hands, engulfing the shards whole, melting them before they could even get close.
The contact of extreme cold with overwhelming heat produced a loud, almost deafening sizzling sound. A rush of steam came flowing out from near him, pushing me backward.
A groan escaped my lips as the heat of the steam slightly burned my skin, turning parts of my arm red.
My frustration grew, my eyes narrowing in anger. I couldn't give up… not now.
I stepped on the layer of ice with force, causing it to crack a bit as a dense, white mist started to rise, covering the whole area.
I could feel the position of Zekuth using the movement of this mist, which was currently in my control. I knew that he had been blinded.
I shot towards him, the force of my acceleration causing the ice to crack further beneath my feet, slightly floating upwards as I seemingly disappeared from my spot.
Zekuth, however, expected this, he tapped the ground with his foot, sending a barrage of spikes rising from the ground, penetrating through the ice all around him with deafening grinding and cracking sounds.
One of these spikes hit me, going straight through my arm near my shoulder, making me wince.
Thankfully, it missed the bone. I quickly pulled my arm away, temporarily numbed from the pain due to the adrenaline coursing in my veins.
Before he could react, my hand landed on his chest, my mana flowing into his body, making him slightly tremble.
Blood flowed out of his nose and mouth. He turned his head down, his eyes meeting mine as I glared at him in anger.
He simply looked at me, as if he didn't feel pain… no, he was just too used to pain.
This was a special move I had thought of… freezing the moisture in the air inside someone's lungs, creating small shards that chew them up from the inside.
Given a little more time, I could have frozen his blood too, but unfortunately, he realized what I was trying to do quickly, pushing me away with a punch to my gut, sending me flying a few feet away.
I landed on my two feet, slipping back on the ice before hitting on of the spikes he had made, my eyes still fixed onto his figure.
My eyes widened as he raised his hand, curling it into a fist and… punching himself in the chest.
I could almost hear his ribs cracking as he coughed violently, glowing shards of ice shooting out from his mouth like little snowflakes.
He gasped for breath, his chest expanding and contracting rapidly, the flow of blood from his mouth and nose not stopping.
I got into a stance, my hands curled up into fists as my nails dug into my flesh, my eyes fixed at him for any moves he might pull.
"You'll need more than that," he said, his voice slightly hoarse because of the damage to his respiratory organs.
He raised his hand, the spikes he had created before exploding into pieces, sending chunks of rock flying around in the now-arena.
The pillar my back was resting on a few seconds ago exploded into seemingly endless pieces. Some of the chunks hit me, piercing into my body like bullets.
I winced in pain, blood flowing freely out of those wounds as I struggled to heal my injuries, my nerve endings sending feelings of unbearable torment to my mind.
I was still not too experienced with healing magic, and I had to focus on it to prevent these injuries from growing fatal.
Taking advantage of my distraction, Zekuth lunged towards me, a chunk of earth rising… but something was wrong… it was bright red, as if it were metal.
My eyes widened as I realized his actions, blood staining my clothes a deep red as I tried to move my body away as quickly as possible.
He was using a combination of fire and earth magic to melt the stone in mid-air, and wind magic to send it flying towards me.
The rock melted into a spear of pure molten rock, its temperature out of my realm of understanding.
He, too, was quickly closing his distance.
I grit my teeth, pushing my body to the side, barely avoiding the incoming chunk of molten rock.
The attack grazed my shoulder, immediately burning a part of my clothes and charring my skin a deep black.
A groan escaped my lips as the overwhelming pain of having your skin burned with an object hotter than any fire assaulted my senses.
However, even in the midst of this situation, I felt something inside me… something I had never felt before.
Was it… thrill?
I didn't have time to ponder about it anymore. Zekuth was almost right in front of me, his wrist flicking as I heard an explosion behind me.
My veins popped as I pushed my fist towards him at a speed I didn't think I could muster.
At just the moment I thought I was going to hit him, my movements froze. A raw, primal scream escaped my lips as I felt the most unbearable, most devasting pain I had ever felt in my life.
It was as if my skin was being slowly torn apart, every single one of my nerve endings being burned simultaneously.
I fell to my knees, my vision going blurry due to the utter agony of my situation.
My eyes widened as I realized. Zekuth had made the chunk of molten rock explode behind me, sending the extremely hot lava hurling towards my back.
My skin was charred, my clothes burned away as I tried to regain control of my body.
It felt like I was floating, my body slowly falling to the floor.
With a groan, I tried to muster strength to get up, my eyes slowly opening again, my vision going back to normal.
But what I saw was something that struck a deep, inherent fear in my heart, my heart almost stopping as my situation became clear to me.
Zekuth was mere inches from my face, his leg approaching me at incomprehensible speeds.
The next thing I knew, I was struck by Zekuth's knee, my face caving in as I flew back. I didn't even have energy to scream.
It felt like the end of my life, I was floating in space, my breathing slowing down.
Am I… dying?
It seemed like my life was flashing before my eyes, and the first thing I remembered was… Sukuna.
I was surprised myself… was he this important to me? More than even my family?
Memories of my family arose in my mind, a small smile forming on my face as I remembered the old, peaceful times.
How my mom used to tease me about being thin still put a smile to my face… how cute and playful she looked. I truly miss my mom.
My… mom?
My eyes widened, my heart rate quickening as I realized something… I couldn't remember my mother's face.
The memories seemed like they were slowly disappearing… my family's faces fading out from the echoes of my mind.
Tears formed in my eyes as I hit the ground, the charred skin being ripped off my back as I slid backwards, but… I didn't feel anything.
I didn't know who I was anymore. I don't understand… what was I working for?
Emotion took over my mind… anger? Frustration, maybe? Or maybe it was… desperation.
I kicked the floor, flipping and landing on my two feet, my breathing slowly steadying.
I raised my head, my eyes meeting the figure of Zekuth speeding towards me. My face was covered in blood, which flowed down to the ground, slightly melting the ice I had created at the very beginning.
With a deafening, guttural cry, I lunged towards him, both my hands raised sluggishly, as if trying a final, desperate attack.
Zekuth didn't react, thinking this was the end… I was done. But he couldn't be any more wrong.
My lips curled up, a huge, savage grin forming on my face. If I saw myself right now… I wouldn't believe for a second that it was me.
Zekuth's eyes widened, his movements abruptly stopping as he coughed up a huge volume of blood. He stood at the place, unmoving, clutching his chest with his hand.
His eyes slowly raised, staring right into mine, and it was the first time that, in his eyes, I saw… fear.
Even though he managed to cough up a huge quantity of the ice in his lungs before, he couldn't possibly get all of it out. There was still some inside it, and what made that ice special was… I had created it from my pure mana.
And since it was my mana, I could control it to a certain degree, even though it was far away.
I simply altered the flakes in his lungs, starting a chain reaction that froze almost all the moisture in his lungs, the shards pricking him from inside.
Zekuth grit his teeth in frustration, he never thought that he'd be losing to a little girl like me.
He finally showed emotion, and it filled me with a weird excitement, my grin widening as I started gathering mana in my hands, readying for the finishing blow.
Zekuth raised his trembling fist, the temperature around him quickly rising. He opened his mouth, the flow of blood from it increasing as he managed to whisper a few words. "Final Call: …"
My eyes widened at his incantation. A Final Call was the strongest move of a person… a desperate, final attack, usually requiring an incantation to cast.
My heart beat hard in my chest, threatening to burst out.
If he succeeds, it might be the end for me. I will have to stop him before he completes the incantation.
My eyes burned with desperation, still wet from the tears forming in them earlier. I extended my arm, my hand landing on his chest.
The sound of cracking ribs resounded from his body, which was slightly trembling in… fear? Or maybe frustration? Or even resentment, perhaps.
"Glacial Cleave!" I shouted, my hoarse voice echoing in the silent, yet chaotic street. It was a name I had taken inspiration for from Sukuna's moves.
A net of thin, yet sharp threads of ice shot towards Zekuth from my palm, penetrating his flesh with a low, squishing sound.
In a final, desperate attempt, he tried to finish the incantation of his Final Call. "Inferno's Ju– "
His words, however, were quickly cut off as my attack went through his flesh mercilessly, dividing it into equal cubes.
This was one of my most powerful attacks, threads of ice which could penetrate through titanium, and also melted quickly, leaving behind no evidence.
However, this also showed to be a weakness, as the threads melted before they could go all the way through his body, leaving only half of his body parted into cubes.
It was enough.
He fell backward, his eyes slowly closing, and the last emotion I could see on his face was… acceptance.
I did it… I got my revenge.
I stared down at him, the fire in my eyes gone as my gaze was fixed on his paling face.
My heart swelled with… nothing.
I felt so unbearably empty, as if I hadn't just reached the goal of my life, but lost the chance to accomplish it completely.
Why do I feel this way?
Tears formed in my eyes, my teeth grit in frustration. I fell to my knees, my hand going to unsheathe the dagger I hadn't used in the battle at all.
"Why?!" I screamed, my voice heavy with emotion as I stabbed the dagger at Zekuth's cold, motionless body.
Blood flew into the air as I pulled the dagger out, only to thrust it back in, his limp body not showing any reaction.
"Why do I not remember them!?" My hollow voice echoed in the eerily silent street, the only sounds being that of flesh being pierced by my dagger.
Tears fell from my eyes, rolling down my cheeks and falling to the floor, melting the sheet of ice I had formed at the start, which was already thin.
My movements slowed down, the dagger falling out of my hands as I punched the ground, cracking the ice.
"I fought for them…" I muttered, a lump forming in my throat. "…I don't know who they are anymore…"
My whole body hurt, but what hurt more was the realization that… I had failed.
I killed Zekuth… but forgot the reason I was doing it. I forgot myself in the process, which made the success completely… meaningless.
"I don't know…" I muttered, my voice barely audible. My hands were blue from the cold of the ice, and my back was charred from the overwhelming heat of Zekuth's attacks. "…who I am anymore."
Seconds… minutes passed, but I didn't get up… I couldn't muster will to do so.
Tears fell out of my eyes without stop… I had lost myself.
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Meanwhile, at a far-away place, Sukuna was going through a challenge of his own.
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DAMN, 2600 words xd
hope you likes the fight :>
gimme POWER STONES :3