Chapter 1281 Freed From The Darkness
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“[Mind Opener]!”
FLAAASH!
Rose’s magic emanated a bright pink and purple light, piercing through the Queen’s mind and bringing her mind out of the chains of the Deep One’s encroaching and brainwashing.
Her conscious thoughts and personality finally resurfaced as they were, perhaps over ten years ago. Confusion quickly filled her mind, alongside the pain of her body still being parasitized by the Deep One’s soul fragment.
“Ungh?! W-What is going on? AAAGH…!”
The mind of Anastasia was finally freed from her brainwashing, however, what had to come next was truly the challenge. While Rose kept her soul “opened”, Kate and Benladra tightly held hands, channeling and combining their magics together.
“[Divine Heavenly Soul Hacking]!”
FLAAAASH!
Their power flew directly towards Anastasia’s head and then flew all across her entire body. Her unique Stigma, which had spread all around her body to strengthen the brainwashing and control over her body suddenly started to react negatively to this.
It started to shrink! Slowly yet steadily, it started to disappear from her skin, flowing back to Anastasia’s hand where her Stigma was originally located.
“NOOOOOO…!”
The Deep One struggled, attempting to stop this. However, the Sealing Chains sealed his magic, the Coral Chains sealed his strength, and the Abyssal Tentacles absorbed the darkness emanating from his soul fragment.
He was completely powerless!
Countless magic circuits of gold color rushed across the entire body of Anastasia, as the Stigma started to burn tremendously, shining bright gold and then… completely expelling and deleting the Deep One’s soul from within!
Crack… crack…
“No… Not… again!”
CRAAAASH!
“A-Aahhh… Aaaaggh… U-Uggh…”
The Queen started groaning in pain, gasping for air as the darkness was completely eliminated from her body. It felt like taking away a parasite that had parasitized even the veins of her body, the extraction was agonizing.
However, once the ritual was finally done, the remaining light emanated from her body and then covered the entire castle, the darkness left behind, and the fleshy tentacles and tendrils in the walls completely disappeared, purifying everything.
FLAAAAASH!𝑶𝓥𝓛xt.𝑐𝐎𝚖
A golden and warm light relaxed the souls and pain of everyone. After many struggles, they managed to actually save them both.
“Haahh… Ugh, my head…” Anastasia groaned in pain. “I-I… what is happening? W-Where have I been this entire time?”
“Mom!” Eleanor ran towards her mother, hugging her tightly.
“E-Eleanor?!” Anastasia was surprised to find her daughter. “Oh… Eleanor! W-Where have I been?! And you! Where have you been?! I-I… I was so worried…”
“Y-You’re finally back, mom?” Eleanor started crying. “After so many years… They saved us from the Deep One, that thing that possessed you and then possessed me.”
“The Deep One?!” Asked Anastasia in shock. “That… Ancient being? Ugh…”
“Don’t you remember how you freed him?” Wondered Eleanor.
“I… I was foolish, I had thought I could use the orb fragment for my own, but at the end… that monster dwelled within and took over my body.” Anastasia seemed regretful. “What have I done? This is all my fault…”
“Well! At least it looks like you’re aware of that.” Yuki laughed.
“Hahh… Is it finally over?” Pekora wondered. “Tisha…”
“I’m alright, stop worrying so much.” Tisha laughed, she had been healed already.
“Yeah! All’s well and done now!” Benladra celebrated.
“Nn.” Kate nodded. “I want some desserts now.”
“Could uncle Drake already have dealt with the Deep One he was fighting above?” Wondered Rose. “I remember he started fighting him head-on with everyone else!”
“I believe, most likely.” Coral nodded. “The sounds outside stopped for a while now… Hah, will we finally end this stupid fight? I just want to chill, honestly…”
“I couldn’t say it better.” Rose nodded. “Though… Eleanor, Lady Anastasia, do you remember me?”
Rose had been wondering for a while if they ever remembered her. After all, Rose was the daughter of the previous queen, who was assassinated.
“Y-You’re…!” Anastasia’s eyes quickly opened, as the fuzzy memories of what she had done under the control of that monster resurfaced in her mind. “You’re the daughter of my sister… I can recall that face… I-I… I’ve done something horrible. Even if I was possessed, I… I don’t truly deserve to be a Queen, in fact… I should be imprisoned for what I’ve done.”
“I never really got the chance of meeting my mother…” Rose sighed. “But I would like… to blame it to the Deep One rather than you, Queen Anastasia. You were a victim here as well…”
“No… I will… pay for what I’ve done…” Anastasia continued crying. “I’m a monster…”
“Mom, don’t say that…” Eleanor cried, hugging her mother’s arms.
“Eleanor… Despite how badly I treated you sometimes, you still love someone like me as your mother?” Anastasia sighed.
“Y-You’re the only mother I have!” Eleanor cried, hugging her.
“Hmm, don’t worry, you two won’t be separated.” Sapphire sighed. “However, Anastasia will still have to pay for what she did… Once we manage to get things back together, I might take over as a temporary queen to make sure things go back to their former order.”
“Ancestor…” Anastasia sighed. “I shall do as you said. I will pay for my sins.”
“Please don’t kill my mama!” Cried Eleanor.
“We won’t kill her.” Sighed Sapphire. “But she might go through imprisonment and volunteer work for the rest of her life to amend for her sins.”
“O-Oh…” Eleanor sighed.
“W-Well, the atmosphere of this is getting really awkward…” Said Rose. “But for now, let’s concentrate in the present, okay?”
“Hm.” Sapphire nodded. “You’ll become the next Queen most likely, Rose.”
“E-Eh? Me?!” The little Rose was shocked.
“You’re the only descendant of the Queen so technically, you’re the one next to the throne.” Said Sapphire, sighing. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to train you into someone fitting for the throne!”
“A-Ah… I feel like this is going to become a pain…” Rose sighed.
“Well, isn’t it nice though? You’ll be able to finally live as the noble you’ve always dreamed of.” Coral laughed.
“After that nightmare I had, I really don’t want to-“
RUMBLE!
However, the peaceful atmosphere was quickly broken by a gigantic tremor that expanded from the Caves where the Deep One was sealed in crystal form, all the way to the surface…
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