Chapter 24: The Black Witch

Mina and Mortivar clashed again.

Blood met death.

Steel met bone.

Her Crimson Blood Blade screamed as it struck.

Mortivar caught it.

The blood on her blade sizzled.

It melted. Dripped.

Evaporated into black mist the moment it touched his aura.

Screams filled the air.

Not hers.

The souls.

Thousands of them.

Floating.

Twisting.

Crying.

Begging.

"Help us..."

"Save us..."

"Get out..."

Mina clutched her head.

"Stop—"

She couldn't focus.

Every time she swung, another voice cut through her skull.

Mortivar smiled.

"Noise bothers you?"

Mina gritted her teeth.

She drove her blade forward.

It cut into his shoulder.

For half a second, she thought she had him.

Then the blood healed.

Her blood.

The cut on her blade sealed itself.

The blood that was lost returned to her hand, pulled back by the domain itself.

Mina's eyes widened.

"...This place."

Her breath shook.

"The blood doesn't disappear here. It comes back. This is your domain."

Mortivar tilted his head.

"Took you long enough."

Mina didn't answer.

She turned and ran.

An Endless Grave

She ran.

One minute.

Five minutes.

Ten.

The black moon never moved.

The darkness never ended.

No matter which direction she went, the same void stretched ahead.

She stopped.

Looked back.

Mortivar was standing there.

The exact same distance away.

Like he hadn't moved at all.

He laughed.

"Did you think you could run from a God?"

"This world has no end, little girl. No exit. No sky. No road back to Eryndor."

Mina's chest tightened.

"No..."

She ran again. In another direction.

Same result.

She was always moving backwards.

Her breathing became ragged.

"This isn't fair—"

"Fair?"

Mortivar walked toward her.

Slow.

Amused.

"You stepped into the world of the God of Death."

Mina screamed.

She jumped.

Blood coiled around her arm and hardened.

Crimson Blood Blade!

She came down with everything she had.

Mortivar raised his weapon.

CLANG!

Then he moved.

Faster.

His blade swept sideways.

It caught her right arm.

SNIK.

Mina's vision whited out.

Pain exploded up her arm.

Hot.

Wet.

Unbearable.

Her Crimson Blood Blade fell to the ground.

Her right hand was gone.

Cut clean off at the elbow.

Blood sprayed across the dark earth.

"AAAAAH!"

Mina stumbled back, clutching the stump with her left hand.

Blood poured between her fingers.

It hurt.

God, it hurt.

It was hot and cold at the same time.

The feeling of losing something that was part of her.

She was terrified.

She was bleeding out.

She forced herself to run anyway.

Limping.

Shaking.

"I have to... I have to survive..."

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

She raised her left hand.

Blood gathered.

Shaking.

Unstable.

Blood Lance!

A crimson spear shot toward Mortivar.

He sidestepped.

And appeared beside her.

A dark strike came down.

It hit her left leg.

CRACK.

Mina collapsed.

"AAAAAAAH!"

Her scream tore through the Eternal Grave.

The souls screamed with her.

She hit the ground.

Blood spread beneath her.

Dark.

Thick.

She tried to push herself up.

Her leg wouldn't move.

Her arm wouldn't move.

She was missing a hand and her leg was shattered.

She dragged herself forward with her teeth gritted.

Blood welled up and she forced it to clot, wrapping the wounds with her own crimson to stop the bleeding.

"I don't... I don't want to die..."

Her voice broke.

Mortivar walked behind her.

"You keep crawling."

"How sad."

Outside the Domain

Back in Eryndor, Nyxhen reached Yumiko, Iris, and Yuuiki.

He was covered in dust and dried blood from the Gravemaw Behemoth.

Above the city floated an enormous black sphere.

Silent.

Rotating.

Wrong.

"What is that?"

Nyxhen asked.

Yuuiki answered.

"Mortivar's domain."

Nyxhen froze.

"Where's Mina?"

Yumiko lowered her head.

Wings trembling.

"Inside."

Nyxhen's grip on Noctesgrave tightened until his knuckles went white.

"...Inside that?"

Iris nodded. Tears on her face.

"We can't reach her."

"Then break it."

"We've tried," Yuuiki said.

"It's a one-on-one. From the outside, nothing gets in."

Nyxhen stared at the sphere.

His jaw clenched.

"We have to trust her."

"But we also have to find a way to get her back."

Yumiko said nothing.

She just looked at the black orb.

And prayed.

Eryndor's Fear

In the streets, citizens whispered.

"What happened to Eryndor?"

"Are the Gods fighting?"

"Is it safe to go back?"

No one had answers.

Nemi stood with the evacuees.

Her threads were still.

Her chest felt heavy.

A bad feeling.

A crushing, inevitable feeling sat in her ribs.

She looked toward the black sphere in the distance.

"...Mina."

Her fingers curled.

"Something terrible is coming."

Back Inside the Eternal Grave

Mina kept crawling.

Her body was numb.

Pain came in waves, then faded.

Then came back worse.

She wanted to go home.

She wanted to live.

A dark blade came down.

It cut across her back.

Mina screamed.

Her body jerked forward.

Blood poured from the new wound.

She couldn't feel it as much anymore.

Everything was going cold.

Everything was going distant.

Her thoughts scattered.

Why did I come here?

Why am I going to die again?

Why me? I'm trying my best to live.

Why am I so weak...

A tear fell.

It mixed with the blood under her face.

She didn't notice the pendant around her neck.

It cracked.

The light inside died.

It fell to the ground and shattered.

Her eyes were barely open.

I just wanted to be stronger...

Silence.

Then a voice.

Cold. Mocking. Inside her head.

"You want to be strong?"

Mina's eyes twitched.

Who... are you?

The voice laughed.

"You've always been weak."

"Look at you. You can't even protect yourself. You can't even escape."

"Let me show you the true power of this world."

Mortivar raised his weapon.

He brought it down.

Over and over.

Piece by piece.

Mina's body broke apart beneath the strikes.

Silence.

Mortivar lowered his weapon.

He waited.

The domain did not close.

The black moon did not fade.

The souls did not stop screaming.

Mortivar frowned.

"...Strange."

On the ground, something moved.

A fragment of flesh.

Then another.

Then another.

They pulled together.

Bone reconnected.

Blood flowed backward into veins.

Skin stitched itself.

Mortivar took a step back.

For the first time in a thousand years, his smile vanished.

"...What?"

The air grew heavy.

The darkness thickened.

An enormous aura spread across the Eternal Grave.

Ancient. Furious.

The domain itself seemed to recoil.

Mina's hair lifted.

Crimson faded.

Black replaced it. Strand by strand.

Until it was pure black, falling down her back like a waterfall of night.

Her skin turned pale.

Too pale.

Like death.

Her eyes opened.

Mortivar stared.

Then he laughed.

Low at first.

Then louder.

"Hahaha!"

He looked at the girl standing before him.

Dripping with black aura.

The souls had gone silent.

"It's been a millennium."

His grin widened.

"The 42nd Gods of Eternia."

"Velhara."

The Eternal Grave trembled.

Velhara laughed.

The sound was wrong.

Not human. Not divine.

It echoed across the Eternal Grave like broken glass scraping bone.

"Ahhh... finally."

She tilted her head back, black hair falling to the ground.

"I broke from that little pendant seal."

Her eyes opened fully.

Pure black.

No iris.

No white.

Dead.

Empty.

She looked down at her hands.

At the small, broken body she now wore.

"The bloodmage girl..."

Velhara touched her face with pale fingers.

"So this is who you picked to die in?"

She looked up at Mortivar.

"Did you kill this girl?"

Mortivar stared at her.

His weapon lowered slightly.

"...Why is the God of Emptiness inside a little girl's body?"

Velhara smiled.

Blood was already drifting up from the ground, black and thick.

"Obviously?"

She laughed.

Crazy.

Unhinged.

"I got sealed too.. God of Death~"

The black blood twisted.

It condensed.

Hardened.

Became a sphere of dark metal iron, spinning in the air beside her.

She lifted one hand.

The sphere shot forward.

BOOM!

Mortivar barely raised his weapon in time.

The impact sent him skidding back across the black earth.

Cracks split the ground beneath his feet.

Velhara was already moving.

Aggressive.

Fast.

Relentless.

No grace.

No poise.

Just pure, murderous speed.

She swung her arm.

Another sphere formed.

And another.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Mortivar blocked, parried, dodged.

But she didn't stop.

She pressed forward, driving him back with every strike.

"Too slow."

"Too weak."

Velhara snapped her fingers.

Her reflection split off from her body.

Then another.

And another.

Clones.

Five of her.

Ten.

All with black eyes.

All smiling.

They attacked from every direction.

Spheres.

Spears.

Blades of solidified blood.

The Eternal Grave shook under the assault.

Mortivar was forced on the defensive.

For the first time in centuries, he was struggling to keep up.

One clone slashed his arm.

Another drove a spear into his shoulder.

He roared and swept them all away with a wave of death aura.

Velhara stood in the center, watching.

And laughing.

"You killed my vessel,"

she said, voice dripping with mockery.

"How rude of you, God of Death."

Mortivar wiped black blood from his mouth.

"You were sealed for a millennium."

"And this is what you do? Possess a child?"

Velhara tilted her head.

"Yeah."

"It's boring."

She twirled another iron sphere around her finger.

"The Battle of Gods turned into a massacre. Killing each other over thrones and domains."

She looked at him and smirked.

"So now I'll enjoy killing you. Piece. By. Piece."

She moved.

The fight turned savage.

Velhara didn't fight like a God.

She fought like a beast that had been caged too long.

Every strike was meant to maim.

Every spell was meant to break.

Mortivar struck her chest.

She didn't even flinch.

The wound sealed with black mist.

She answered by slamming both fists into his ribs.

Bones cracked.

He cut her leg.

She laughed and used the blood to make three more weapons.

CRACK!

Velhara caught his next strike and twisted.

Mortivar's left arm snapped.

She didn't let go.

She drove her knee into his elbow.

SNAP.

His left hand hung useless, bone jutting out.

Velhara leaned close to his ear.

Her black eyes were inches from his.

She was smiling.

"I'll end you right here."