Ivan and Chenai's clash continued and just when it seemed Ivan was gaining the upper hand, Chenai suddenly pulled a dagger from her boot and slashed quickly at Ivan in close range leaving a bloody gash across his face.
Ivan quickly stepped back away from Chenai as he held his bleeding face. Wincing in pain Ivan looked at his blood stained hand and glared at Chenai with resentment.
"Hehe," Chenai licked Ivan's blood off the dagger as she stared at him tauntingly. "You didn't expect it to be a fair hand-to-hand combat, did you?" Chenai asked mockingly.
"I must admit, I don't think I can beat you in a fair fight if that were the case." Chenai admitted with a playful smirk.
"But who said anything about being fair, we live in an unfair world. For example, you think it's unfair that I killed your friend there, but I'm still here breathing, I'm sure further along the line you'll feel like life is unfair in many more ways."
"Of course that's if you survive today." As soon as she finished speaking Chenai shot forth towards Ivan ready to resume their clash.
***
Berg kept on searching tirelessly for Ivan and Dela scouring all the halls he thought they could be in.
After another round of fruitless searching, he sighed, his frustration and anxiety rising. Not willing to relent he began to search the rest of the halls, even the empty halls as he was now starting to get worried, wondering where in the world Ivan and Dela could be.
In his search he saw the occasional panicked civilian rushing somewhere or another adding more pressure to Berg as he intensified his search.
Finally Berg got to the corridor Ivan was in when he was searching for Dela. At the end of the corridor Berg heard grunts and crashing sounds from a room.
Looking on in confusion, Berg wondered, 'I didn't think there'd be anyone here.' Keeping on to hope, Berg called out. "Ivan, Dela, are you there?"
***
Ivan and Chenai's clash continued with Ivan being on the backfoot since Chenai revealed her new weapon.
Suddenly they both heard a voice call out. "Ivan, Dela,are you there?"
The voice caused both of them to pause simultaneously. Ivan's expression changed slightly to reveal a joyful smile, relieved that his master was finally present.
Optimism filled his heart as he stared at Chenai. "It's over for you."
Chenai's face twisted, realizing that she was in a desperate situation. Sooner rather than later, Ivan's master will make his way here and she knew that in the event that he did all her efforts won't amount to much. She was no match for him, and there was Ivan too.
Looking at Ivan who had a light smirk on his face, Chenai suddenly released a heavy sigh, then she revealed a very disturbing smile.
Seeing Chenai smile, Ivan became a bit uneasy. 'Why is she smiling? Does she have anything up her sleeve?' Ivan thought warily.
"Seems like the reality of your situation has dawned on you?" Ivan asked tauntingly.
"Sigh, I'm just sad that I won't be able to see Tasvill's fall, I mean that's why I'm doing all this after all." Chennai replied with a regretful expression.
"Tasvill's fall? What are you talking about, you think killing Dela or even me could lead to the fall of Tasvill?" Ivan asked in an amused tone.
Chenai ignored Ivan's question as quietly pulled out a ball-shaped pill from within her robe.
Ivan's face twisted when he saw the pill. 'An enhancer? She had that all along.' Ivan thought in panic.
The pill Chenai was holding was an enhancer, an alchemical concoction that sharply boosts the physical traits of those who take it for a short amount of time. It wasn't an overly rare product, it was usually used by those in the army or similar line of work. The one Chenai was holding was among the low-end ones that boosts physical prowess for just about five minutes or slightly more.
It was questionable how or where Chenai got one of those, but
It didn't matter at that moment.
Ivan's panic was born out of the fact that if Chenai took that pill she could overwhelm him in a short amount of time.Their fight had been close up till that point, but an enhancer would change everything and tip the scale in her favour.
Ivan rushed towards Chenai, desperate to stop her from ingesting that pill, he was aware of the danger he'd be in if Chenai took the pill. She could finish him off before Berg could make it to the room.
Outside the room, Berg was getting closer and closer towards the room. 'I think I just heard Ivan's voice.' Berg thought to himself.
"Ivan." Berg called out again.
Hearing Berg call him again Ivan paused, hesitant whether to answer his call or continue his charge to stop Chenai from ingesting the pill.
Alas, that moment of hesitation allowed for Chenai to swallow the pill successfully. Immediately she did so a strange feeling washed over her and her presence seemed more defined, her muscles tightened up and she felt much lighter.
"Ahh, that feels good." Chenai said with a satisfied look, hopping from one foot to another as if she was trying to get familiar with her new body.
"Shit." Ivan cursed silently.
"Ivan?" Berg called out again.
Ivan swung his head to the entrance of the room, Berg's voice was getting really close.
"Dammit, Ma-" Ivan was about to shout out to Berg to get his attention when Chenai suddenly rushed forward, her speed more than double what it was earlier.
A cold glint flashed in Chenai's eyes as she brandished her dagger and rushed towards Ivan.
'Shit' Ivan thought in panic as he stepped back involuntarily, expecting Chenai's dagger to plunge into his chest.
But Chenai's next action shocked Ivan silly. Instead of putting a dagger through his chest, she grabbed one of Ivan's flailing hands and placed the dagger in his hand, and shockingly plunged it into her own chest, all in one fell swoop.
"W-what?" Ivan muttered with a horrified expression, what Chenai had just done made no sense. She had just stabbed herself.
"Heh," Chenai laughed weakly, gurgling blood in her mouth. "You seem surprised, how do you like my gift?" Chenai asked Ivan as she pushed the dagger deeper into her chest.
"W-what are you doing?" Ivan asked with a panicked expression.
"I might not be able to see the fall of Tasvill, but at least I can leave you with this." Haha- cough cough. Chenai tried to laugh but only a bloody cough came out.
"Enjoy," she finally said before the light left her eyes and her body slipped to the ground lifelessly.
Just at that moment Berg walked into the room, pausing for a moment, he looked around. He saw Ivan standing over Chenai's body, his hand involuntarily clutching a bloodied dagger as he stared on in shock, then he saw Dela's body further back, already cold.
Ivan stood in the middle of the room motionless, he hadn't seemed to realize that Berg had walked in.
The sight of Dela's body caused Berg's heart to skip a bit, his blood running cold.
'Please o father truth and visions let this be a lie. Berg prayed silently in his heart, his heart beating against his chest. 'Let this be one of your trials, please lord.'
"Ivan?"
Hearing his name Ivan jolted out of his daze and turned to Berg.
Berg had a deadpan expression as he staggered slowly towards Dela's body. Kneeling beside Dela's body, Berg placed a hand on him trying to confirm whether it was real, feeling his son's body and blood, his expression slowly beginning to break.
His worst fears up until that moment had come true, his emotions that seemed to be absent up till that point began to show. Berg kneeled silently by Dela's body for a minute, each passing second in that silence compounded the heavy feeling in the air.
"Master I-" Breaking the silence, Ivan tried to speak up to explain the situation to Berg.
"Shhh." Berg shushed him up as he kept his gaze on the body of his son, his eyes watery with tears.
After a few suffocating seconds that seemed to last hours had passed, Berg finally spoke up.
"Why?"
Berg's shaky voice echoed through the room, piercing through the silence and stabbing into Ivan like a dagger.