Chapter 243 - Ritual Of Hells ( Part 2 )

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The five Divine Swords burst forth.

Golden light engulfed the entire ritual chamber.

Excalibur howled with the strength of kings—a cry that defied all definition, a call that echoed in the marrow and blood of everything living within a mile of the chamber. Leviathan let out the roar of oceanic ages, releasing power that crashed against the walls like waves battering a dying shore. Tempest released thunder that tore at the very foundation of the palace, while Eclipse devoured the shadows that surrounded it until darkness became a weapon. Gram flared with rage, the sword glowing so fiercely with anger that cracks began to form in the stone underfoot.

And finally, the sixth circle responded.

Six lights. Six powers. Six pieces of something far greater than the world combined.

The Black Capital trembled as a result.

Lightning cracked through the ceiling, and crimson runes burst into life on the walls, spreading like veins in ancient skin. The seven ritual circles roared with energy so strong that the masked figures attending them dropped to the ground, screaming amidst the cacophony of divine power.

But Noctis stood tall.

His cloak billowed around him, shredded by invisible wind in an underground chamber, while his black eyes reflected the chaos around him. For the first time since Jennie had entered the room, Noctis’ expression changed—it changed from impassiveness into reverence.

"At last."

Jennie did not hear Noctis.

She looked up.

Something appeared above the fractured ceiling.

In the beginning, she thought it was a tree—a golden tree descending from the heavens, with massive branches stretching out above the crimson sky. Luminous leaves fell from the tree, each leaf glowing with the brightness of the sun, each of them glowing with the rhythm of a heart. And then the roots descended from the tree, sinking into the darkness above the Imperial Palace like the fingers of God claiming His prize.

But the branches moved.

Jennie narrowed her eyes.

Those were not branches...

Those were scales...

The golden tree twisted and turned, winding itself around its own body as a huge head appeared above the clouds. Two antlers adorned its forehead, while two eyes opened up above the Black Capital—eyes that bore the weight of eternity, eyes that had seen the birth and death of civilizations, eyes that remembered when mortals learned to dream.

A dragon... A golden tree dragon...

Its body spread through the sky so immensely that entire districts were hidden under its shadow. Golden leaves fell from its body, while the roots twisted in the clouds like vines moving through soil. Everything it did rippled through reality, and wherever that ripple touched, the world remembered things long forgotten.

Snow, trapped beneath the chains of Lokiar, raised his head.

He widened his eyes, froze with his nine tails, and held his breath.

"No..."

For the first time in all the years he had known him, even as he went to war and fought and bled, even through the times when he screamed or laughed, the old wolf sounded frightened.

"That is impossible."

Lokiar gave him a look through his silver mask, under which the golden light shone brightly.

"Saw something, little wolf?"

Snow did not listen to him. His gaze still rested on the golden dragon, his crimson eyes reflecting it.

"That is not an animal."

His voice shook—not with fear, but with awe. Recognition.

"That is a memory of the world."

Jennie turned her gaze to him, her heart beating so loudly she felt like it was about to burst.

"What do you mean?"

Snow swallowed. That gesture was visible even through his fur.

"The World Tree."

It seemed the heat left the room with those words, chilling the atmosphere and deepening the darkness. Thunder rumbled from some distant place where there should not be any weather.

"Alas Ramus."

Jennie looked at the enormous dragon.

The ancient World Tree appeared in the sky over the Demon Capital. But it was not the calm image described in old writings any more. Its golden branches twisted like snakes, its roots were hanging like chains. Its dragon-shaped head bent down over the ritual room, looking like it came to see something or somebody.

The six Divine Swords roared again. Golden light began pouring from the chamber, rising through the palace up to the whole Black Capital. Every demon stopped, every soldier raised their gaze to the sky. All over the continent ancient ruins were awakening, their symbols glowing with the power of the past.

And something deep underground began to chuckle.

Softly. Childishly. Humanly.

Then the World Tree transformed.

Its golden leaves turned red.

Slowly, they were changing color into the shade of fresh blood. Its branches twisted violently, and crimson veins were covering the giant tree like the infection of the wound. The golden eyes of its dragon head were turning red—not the color of fire, but ancient and hungry, merciless crimson.

The roots tightened.

And the sky started bleeding.

KRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAACK!

Colossal chains rose from the chest of the dragon. Another. Hundred. They were descending from the clouds above, every link being strong enough to crush the whole fortress, covered with ancient symbols. They pierced the palace roof, surrounded the ritual room, converging in the place where there were the seven circles.

Under the chains there was a human figure hanging.

Young man.

His disheveled black hair was covering his forehead, his pale skin was untouched by the sun. His clothes were nothing but ripped pieces of black fabric, and his bare feet hung a few meters above the ritual platform. Chains covered his wrists, ankles, neck and chest—every of them with the crimson seals that were pulsing with dark energy.

Crimson seal was glowing above his heart.

His head was lowered.

He seemed dead.

Noctis lowered his head. All the Demon Generals present bowed on one knee. Even Lokiar stopped smiling, his face turning into the expression of fear.

"Your Majesty."

The commander put one hand over his chest.

"The ritual is coming to the end."

The young man didn’t reply.

The chains made squeaking sounds. Dragon’s head of the World Tree lowered closer to the palace, opening its huge jaws in the sky above the capital.

Heartbeat filled the room.

THUMP.

Fingers of the young man started moving.

THUMP.

Seal above his heart cracked.

THUMP.

His head slowly raised.

Red eyes opened.

Pressure descended like the fall of heaven.

All the windows in the Black Capital shattered at the same time—a cascade of glass falling like rain. Ritualists were forced flat against the floor, pressed into the stone as if the gravity suddenly betrayed them. Some of the guards screamed as their armor broke under the invisible weight, crushing their bones. Even Noctis lowered his head, his knees bending under that enormous presence.

Jennie’s chains tensed up. She couldn’t breathe.

That was not the magical pressure. It was the fear of standing before something that shouldn’t even exist. Dead thing. Refused to die.

The young man looked around the room.

His red eyes moved to the six Divine Swords. The stolen marks. Blood on the walls.

Then they focused on Jennie.

He smiled.

"Well."

His voice was young and casual, the voice of a teenager who saw something slightly interesting.

"That took longer than I expected."

Crimson chains tightened. He gave them a glance.

"Still clinging to me, are you?"

He moved his fingers.

CRACK.

One chain shattered. Sound echoed in the chamber like thunder.

Then another one broken. And another one.

The World Tree roared. Its dragon-shaped body writhed in the sky, dropping thousands of crimson leaves. Its roots descended around the young man, trying to stop him, hold him, to force him back to the prison of a thousand years.

He only looked at them.

"Sit."

Roots stopped.

For one impossible second, the World Tree listened.

Then the young man started laughing. Clear and delighted laughter, completely out of place here.

"Good tree."

He raised his right hand.

Chains exploded.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Wave of the explosion tore through the ritual chamber. Stone pillars crashed. Seven circles started burning violently, and Noctis had to protect his face from the rush of the crimson energy.

The young man descended. Not falling—descending. As if the gravity decided to accommodate him.

His bare feet touched the stone.

Silence followed.

A teenage boy with black hair covering half his face and red eyes stood in the center of the ritual chamber. He couldn’t have been more than sixteen, perhaps seventeen years old. Definitely younger than Noctis, Snow, and almost all Demon Generals.

But every living being in the room felt the same.

This boy was the most dangerous person in the chamber.

Noctis bent down until his forehead touched the floor.

"Welcome back, Demon Emperor Zuko."

The Demon Emperor glanced at him. His smile grew wider.

"Commander."

His voice sounded almost playful.

"You’ve made a mess."

"Noctis remained immobile. "Forgive me, Your Majesty."

"Blood on the walls. Corpses everywhere. A tree in the sky."

Zuko lifted his gaze to the World Tree shaped like a gigantic dragon hovering above the chamber.

"Well, I like the tree," he said, tilting his head. "Very dramatic."

Then he turned to Jennie.

"And you must be the reason why everybody has been making such a fuss."

Jennie gazed at the Demon Emperor.

The one who had risen from the grave and threatened to destroy half the continent. The one for whose resurrection millions of people had been killed.

A teenage boy with black hair stood in front of her, looking like he had found the wrong classroom.

Zuko cocked his head, his face showing curiosity.

"Why do you look at me like that?"

Jennie straightened her posture and lifted her chin.

"I expected someone taller."

Silence fell over the room. Lokiar looked at her with astonishment. Noctis’s expression became unreadable. Even Snow’s face showed that he wanted to hide under his paws.

Zuko blinked twice and burst into laughter.

"HA!"

He slapped his knee with the sound echoing in the blood-soaked chamber.

"Oh, I like you!"

"I am sorry about that, but I don’t like you," Jennie said.

"Excellent. We already have something in common."

Zuko approached Jennie. The chains binding her wrists made rattling sounds as she instinctively tried to retreat. He stopped at the distance which would put him in her range of attack, but not closer, his red eyes looking at her in a weird way.

Zuko looked even weirder up close. There were no scars on his face, no signs of aging or horns and other monstrous features of Demon Emperors. Only black hair, pale skin and red eyes filled with dying light of thousands of sunsets.

But Jennie noticed something else. His shadow was somehow different from the normal shadow. It stretched everywhere, resembling the roots of a dead tree on the floor and the countless flickering lights were hidden there, like stars buried under the earth.

Zuko noticed that and smiled.

"Ah, you noticed."

"Don’t worry. I am not entirely assembled yet."

"Not entirely assembled?"

"Resurrection is a tedious job," Zuko said, raising his hands and looking at himself with theatrical gesture. "First you need to assemble yourself a new body, then a new soul and then you need enough power to convince the universe you are worthy of existing."

He lowered his hands and his smile disappeared.

"Unfortunately, my resurrection is still not completed."

Noctis lifted his head.

"The final resonance must be secured. The five Divine Swords, Aurelia and the remaining bearers must be consumed by the ritual. Once Jennie Queens and Rudy Kiss perish, the process will reach its completion."

Rudy’s fingers moved on the altar. She was still alive. Barely.

Jennie’s gaze moved toward her.

Zuko noticed that.

"Ah, yes. The little sister."

His face softened into the expression resembling curiosity.

"Or, rather, the little sister who is no longer the same little sister."

Rudy struggled to open her eyes.

"Shut... up..."

Zuko looked delighted. "She’s awake!"

"I hate... this reunion..." Rudy said.

Jennie almost laughed. Almost.

Then she remembered about the blood on Rudy’s chest. About Lilia chained in her coffin. About the swords bound by the ritual and the boy in front of her, talking about death as if he was talking about weather.

Her face became hard.

"If you need us dead to complete your resurrection, why haven’t you killed us already?"

Zuko looked at her. For the first time since their meeting his smile disappeared.

"Because death is complicated."

He turned and started walking to the center of the ritual formation.

"People think that death is the door. You live. You die. You pass through the door into whatever awaits you on the other side."

He stepped over the crimson rune, his bare feet not leaving any marks on the blood-stained stones.

"But death is not a door."

His red eyes reflected six Divine Swords.

"It’s a boundary."

He stopped beside the circle where Aurelia was located, his fingers touching the ancient runes engraved on the platform.

"And boundaries become meaningless if there is nothing on the other side."

Jennie looked at him attentively.

Zuko continued.

"Once I was alive, I thought death was the ultimate weakness. A limitation that had been imposed upon every creature by a world afraid of what it could become."

He glanced at the World Tree with its crimson leaves, falling like blood from a wound that never healed.

"Kings died. Gods died. Civilizations perished. Even the greatest heroes became the names carved into the stone."

His fingers touched one of the ritual symbols.

"So I decided to conquer death."

Jennie frowned. "By destroying the world?"

"By changing it."

Zuko turned to her and looked at her with sincere expression.

"Think of the world where no king can be assassinated, no child has to watch his parents growing old and disappearing, no warrior has to leave his family behind because some prophecy asks him for that."

His voice became soft.

"No more graves, no more goodbyes. No more people thinking that everything ends."

For a moment, the chamber became quiet. The flames of the ritual dimmed, and the shadows became longer, and somewhere far away, the huge heart of the World Tree continued its slow beating.

Then Jennie spoke.

"And no more choice."

Zuko’s smile returned, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

"Explain."

Jennie spoke calmly, every word considered.

"If nobody can die, then nobody can truly risk anything. When you control the border between life and death, you control who lives. Who stays and who goes."

She looked at Rudy. At Lilia. At the stain of blood on the floor.

"You are not conquering death, Zuko. You are becoming the one deciding who has worth to live."

The teen did not say a word.

Jennie looked straight into his eyes.

"This is not salvation."

She added harshly.

"This is just tyranny with slightly improved PR."

Lokiar put his hand over his mouth. He was either trying not to laugh or not to draw attention to himself. Noctis stayed still.

Zuko stared at Jennie for several seconds.

Then he laughed. It was not an amused laugh, not anymore. Now it was quieter. Even lonely.

"Leonis told me something like that."

Jennie tensed up.

Zuko directed his gaze toward her.

"Not exactly in the same way. He used to say it irritably."

A slight smile appeared on his lips.

"He always believed that the value of life lied in its limitations. In the possibility to lose something."

Zuko looked up at the ceiling.

"He always believed that a mortal life could be worth more than eternity."

He looked back at Jennie.

"And then he died."

This was a stone hitting her. Jennie could imagine the face under the teenage face. A face that saw the burning of kingdoms. That saw the ruin of what it had tried to protect. A face of one who believed in saving the world.

The teen’s voice softened.

"Tell me, Jennie Queens. Do you even understand what death is?"

She stayed silent.

"It’s the ultimate insult."

He touched his heart, his fingers pressing to the glowing crimson mark.

"You devote your whole life to building something. Love someone. Protect someone. Make mistakes, regret them, try to improve."

He made a fist.

"And when you finally learn the things that really matter, the world takes them from you."

The crimson light surrounding Zuko started to flicker. For a second, the teenage boy looked old. Incredibly old. Ancient in every sense of this word.

"Death does not care how good you are. It does not care whether you deserved another day. It does not care that somebody waits for you."

For the first time, the teen’s face showed his true age. Not the age of an emperor. Not the age of a monster. Just the age of a child living with something he cannot accept.

"Tell me, Jennie."

His eyes turned red.

"If you could save everyone you loved, would you give them a world where they do not need to die?"

Jennie thought about Arthur and Elena. About Lucas. About Roxy standing in Seraiya with a missing charm on her wrist and with an unanswered promise. Snow lying under the chains. Rudy who fights with a monster to give Jennie some time.

And about Lilia. Lilia who was waiting for her. Lilia who had surrendered Aurelia, unable to look at the death of one more person.

Jennie lowered her eyes.

"I don’t know."

Zuko blinked.

She raised her head again.

"But I know that I will not sacrifice my loved ones just to create such a world."

Her voice regained strength.

"I will not force them to live in the world they did not choose. I will not turn them into a means to build my dream."

She looked straight in the eyes of Zuko.

"And if saving everyone would make me the one making decisions about the fate of everybody, maybe I am not the one worth saving them."

Silence fell in the chamber.

Zuko stared at her. And then he smiled. A genuinely smiling smile.

"How annoying."

He turned away.

"You really are like him."

Jennie’s hands clenched in her chains.

Zuko paused.

Jennie held his gaze.

For several seconds, Zuko did not say a word.

Then he began to laugh.

"Wonderful."

He opened his arms wide.

"Absolutely wonderful!"

The World Tree howled above. Crimson leaves began to fall down in the chamber.

Zuko turned to Noctis.

"Do you see? That’s why I wanted to meet her before the ritual completed."

Noctis bowed his head. "Your wisdom surpasses ours, Your Majesty."

"Of course it does."

Zuko waved his hand dismissively.

"You are all so boring."

He turned back to Jennie.

"But there is a little issue with your philosophy, Miss Queen."

He pointed toward the five Divine Swords.

"You talk about choice as if choice will help solve every problem."

He pointed with his finger toward Rudy.

"But your friend is dying."

Then he pointed to Lilia.

"And your queen has surrendered her sword."

Then toward Jennie herself.

"And you are chained up in a room surrounded by the people wanting to kill you."

He smiled.

"So tell me, Jennie Queens."

Red lights flashed in his eyes.

"Will your choices help you now?"

Jennie did not reply. Because she had nothing to say. Not yet.

It seemed to satisfy Zuko.

"Good. Think about it."

He turned toward the ritual formation.

"After all, you still have something to learn."

He stepped into the middle of the seven circles.

"Death is scary not because it will end your life."

His shadow was spreading across the floor. Growing in all directions like the roots of a dead tree.

"It’s scary because it makes all your choices important."

The six Divine Swords started to tremble. The stolen marks began to shine brighter. The roots of the World Tree were tightening around the sky.

And the ritual began to accelerate.

Jennie felt it instantly. Pressure in her chest intensified, pulling her soul to something deeper. Her five swords shuddered, fighting the crimson energy around them.

Zuko’s figure flickered. Jennie saw something gigantic standing behind the teenager for a second. A colossal silhouette with horns. A shadow with too many limbs. Something so huge that the whole chamber existed only because it has not decided to destroy it yet.

The vision faded.

Zuko looked at his hands.

"Incomplete."

He sighed.

"How embarrassing."

Noctis appeared.

"Your Majesty, the ritual is done. Once the other two bearers have been sacrificed, your resurrection is complete."

Zuko looked at Rudy. And then at Jennie.

"No."

Noctis stopped moving. "Your Majesty?"

Zuko’s face assumed a thoughtful expression.

"I changed my mind."

The commander lowered his head. "May I ask why?"

"Because I wish to see something."

Zuko moved toward Jennie. Stood directly in front of her and reached for Excalibur.

The Sword of Kings flared. Golden energy erupted between them. Hot and blinding and enraged. Noctis took a step backward. Lokiar’s expression changed.

But Zuko only smiled at the power of the sword.

"Very interesting."

He touched the sword with his finger.

Excalibur screamed. For a second, the whole room was filled by the noise of a thousand swords being drawn at once.

And the golden light retreated.

Zuko pulled his hand away.

"Yes. I understand now."

Jennie stared at him. "Understand what?"

Zuko’s look shifted to the six Divine Swords.

"You are missing one."

Jennie’s heart jumped.

He looked at her.

"Jennie Queens, tell me do you know what is the name of the last Divine Sword?"

She didn’t say anything right away.

Then she smiled a little.

"Genesis."

There was silence in the room. Noctis’ eyes widened. Even Lokiar stopped smiling.

Zuko stared at Jennie for some time.

Then he burst into laughter.

"HA! HAHAHAHAHA!"

The noise echoed in the room.

"Oh, that’s perfect!"

He hit his forehead.

"Everything I’ve done. Everything I’ve sacrificed. Everyone I made running around collecting swords..."

His laughter grew even louder.

"...and no one thought to find out where the first sword was!"

Jennie studied his face carefully. "Where is it?"

Zuko stopped laughing. His smile stayed.

He put his hand on his chest.

"Right here."

Jennie’s expression changed. "What?"

Zuko pressed his palm on his chest. The crimson seal under his skin started glowing.

Noctis immediately fell to one knee. "Your Majesty, what are you doing?"

Zuko ignored him.

An incision appeared on his chest. Another one. His skin ripped open, revealing the darkness of the Abyss darker than any other in the room.

Something shined inside of him. Golden. Ancient. Alive.

Jennie could feel reaction of all five of her Divine Swords. Excalibur was trembling. Leviathan was roaring. Tempest was crackling. Eclipse was consuming light around it. Gram was pulsing with such an intense rage that its shackles cracked.

Zuko reached inside of himself. His fingers disappeared inside the Abyss.

He smiled at Jennie.

"You were looking for Genesis."

He grabbed something inside himself.

"Allow me to introduce you."

Then he pulled.

A golden sword came out of his chest.

Its edge shined with the light of creation. Runes ancient even to the world swirled across its blade. They changed their shapes before Jennie’s eyes. The sword contained all of existence—the very first and the very last moment of it, a weapon created in ages before there were any other weapons.

The Sword of Creation.

Genesis.

Zuko held it with ease in one hand as if he just found a pen inside of his pocket.

The World Tree screamed. Crimson sky ripped apart. And every Divine Sword in the room bowed before Genesis.

Zuko looked at the sword with something close to fondness. Then he turned his red eyes toward Jennie.

"Now, my dear successor..."

His smile grew even wider.

"...shall we talk about what happens when a world finds out that its creator hides inside the monster it feared all the time?"