The forest, once silent and somber, now trembled with unseen force. The air hummed, trees groaned and twisted as if in agonizing pain. At the center of this chaos stood Gerda, her body enveloped in a pulsating, multicolored aura. Her eyes, usually bright and lively, now burned with a cold, otherworldly fire.
Only moments ago, she had been ready to fight the creatures surrounding them in the clearing. But suddenly, like a dam bursting within her mind, memories flooded in. Images of the past, vivid and painful, flashed before her inner eye: the cozy apartment, the smell of freshly baked bread, the warmth of her grandfather's hands… And then—the blinding flash, the roar, the pain… death.
Grandfather… The thought, saturated with grief and despair, echoed in her soul. Why… why did you leave me?
The pain of loss, which she had suppressed for so long, now erupted with unstoppable force. She clenched her fists, her body trembling with tension. The beast within her, awakened back in the underground city, also cried out in pain, echoing her despair.
The aura around her intensified, its pulsation growing stronger. Gerda felt an unknown force tearing her apart from the inside, threatening to shatter her. She tried to control it, to contain this destructive flow of energy, but it was futile.
The trees around her began to crack and break, the ground beneath her feet vibrating with increasing intensity. The creatures surrounding the clearing recoiled in fear, sensing the danger emanating from Gerda. Their red eyes burned with anxiety and terror.
Agatha and Shi, who were beside her, also felt this power. They struggled to stay on their feet, their bodies as if pressed to the ground by an invisible weight.
"Gerda! What's wrong with you?" Shi shouted, trying to reach her through the swirling vortex of energy.
But Gerda couldn't hear him. She was consumed by her pain, her despair. Her consciousness clouded, and she no longer controlled her actions.
The aura around her reached an incredible intensity. It tore at the fabric of space, creating a zone of absolute chaos around Gerda. Trees were uprooted and flung into the air, the ground cracked, forming deep chasms. The creatures in the clearing vanished, as if dissolving into thin air.
Agatha and Shi barely managed to hold on at the edge of this zone of destruction. They understood that if Gerda didn't regain control, this power would destroy not only the forest but all of them as well.
"Gerda! Stop!" Agatha screamed, her voice strained with desperation. "You'll destroy yourself!"
But Gerda didn't react. Her body glowed brighter, and the aura continued to expand, consuming everything around it. In her eyes, there was only emptiness and pain. The pain of loss that was tearing her apart.
Suddenly, a figure appeared at the very center of this chaos. It was shrouded in a dark, ominous aura, and its eyes burned with red fire. It was one of El's personalities—Kanku.
"Interesting," she said, her voice cold and cruel. "What secrets lie within this girl?"
She raised her hand, and dark energy surged towards Gerda, as if trying to engulf her light.