20 mins previous:
Current Location: Castle Asura, Vema Sector
Zervas sat in his room sipping on a cup of king's nectar, a bottle put down for centuries, the last one he made with his father. Yohan's display had shaken him. He never would have thought this was how they would send Ventris a message; neither did he expect his vocabulary to be so colorful but it worked. The entirety of the White apostles were stirring, arming themselves to the teeth and preparing for battle.
"It's finally time, isn't it brother?" He whispered to the stillness of the room solely occupied by himself.
Slowly he got up then filled his glass once more before he headed for the door of his quarters. He was on his way to Gladius. The time to reunite with her parents was finally here.
Ventris on the other hand was fuming. The message earlier was not only broadcasted to her soldiers but to other territories. Other gods that once feared her had now seen it and heard the disrespect.
She knew who they were and she knew where to find them, the only thing that she began to realize her mistakes. She had lamented her inability to catch Aurelius realizing that the man in the video must have been his reincarnation, Solaria also looked different, her eyes carried the ferocity they had once lost, the memory of her eyes staring silently into the camera, even as Yohan kept up his antics, before she even realized who the video was from, all she could focus on were the eyes under the hood, piercing, cold, void of any emotion.
It sent a slight shiver down her spine, her plans had fallen apart and now her public image, maybe her very life was in danger, she paced back and forth in her quarters biting her nails, rage in her veins.
"I thought I told you to be more careful?" a voice broke the silence.
"The next time that he comes back, he'll be more powerful and very pissed. A simple plan really, watch your sister carefully, kill the bastard before he gets his powers back, wash, rinse, repeat. I'm sure you know now that they very well could have been planning this for a long time, millennia between checkups, your laziness is about to cost you child." The voice grew louder, coated in malice, a slight hint of amusement hidden in its tone.
"Just show yourself already Korva, yes I made a mistake but right now you need to help me fix it. Everything we built could come down because of this."
A small child stepped out of the shadows, blood red eyes and jet black hair, the sight of her sent a chill down Ventris' spine, small as this figure was she gave off a dangerous aura, even worse she wore her own face. As she stepped into view her eyes shimmered under the light, a dark smile etched across her lips.
"Little girl, I don't have to do anything, all this is a result of your own negligence, I've already helped you out plenty when you overthrew your sister, you really got comfy didn't you? Now the foundation crumbles, none of this can be erased now that half the universe saw that and if the truth gets out? You could actually be screwed this time." she giggled.
Ventris listened, her blood boiling.
"But no little one, you will have to sort this out yourself, whatever it is you plan to do, make sure to give them a crushing defeat, after all, you're so close to building the Utopia you envisioned, do you not wish your father to return to the paradise you've built?"
She appeared behind Ventris, her hand on her shoulder and a bright glow in her eyes, her smile twisted and evil.
"Make them wish they had stayed hidden." Ventris, eyes hollow, got up and walked out of the room, her conviction renewed.
She gathered her army and left for the black zone.
Present: Castle Barbarus ruins, Black Zone
They could feel it, Ventris was here, looking outside the window of their room they could see outside. In front of the castle there was a large army, clad in white and gold. Yohan counted over 10 thousand, Solaria counted over 50. Yohan's energy flared, his eyes wild with anticipation, every muscle in his body tensed. He wanted to fire himself at them right away but knew that he had to keep calm, for her. He headed for the door but as soon as he put his hand on the knob, Solaria put her hand on his, stopping him from opening it.
"Love, allow me to go first, I need to see her first, make her see that I'm not trapped anymore, make her know that now she can't take anything else from me."
Yohan understood, more than a fight with a tyrant, this was a battle between sisters, they had a hatchet to bury.
"Of course babe, I'll hang back, just give me a signal when you want me to step in, I'll be watching."
"Thank you love, by the way have you seen my shackles?" Yohan was in awe, for the first time he saw Solaria wear a twisted smile making the hair on his neck stand up.
Meanwhile, outside the castle:
The army was in unrest, striking their swords against their shields, stomping their feet, grunting in unison they had been brought here for war and their enemies, 2 people that their goddess had claimed a threat that must be put down at all cost but they dare not move without orders.
Zervas stood on the front, Ventris sitting on her golden throne above them all, Gladius floating behind her.
"Mother, don't you think this is a bit much? Auntie has been quiet for years, this could be a huge misunderstanding."
Gladius asked these questions knowing full well every answer but had to pretend she was not aware of anything going on, after all, for the plan to go through she would need to act oblivious.
"My child, your aunt, while I imprisoned her hoping that she would learn from her mistakes it seems that she has poisoned another soul, raised it up and wants to destroy what i have built, to protect the people, the peace, our peace, I'm afraid I will have to end her here, I tried everything but she's too far gone, so now I shall treat her with the same respect she has shown me, as an enemy."
Her words made Gladius cringe internally, staring up at her with cold eyes, she simply nodded in response
"Yes mother."
Zervas glanced up at Gladius giving her a reassuring nod.
Just then the castle gates opened and out walked Solaria clad in armor.
Sleek, polished light metal armor that hugged her form, her platinum white hair now made into dreadlocks like Yohan's brandishing the sword he made her as well, most of the men in the army in awe at its size of it.
Soon she reached Zervas at the front of their enemies, staring at him with disdain for a few seconds, before turning her attention to Ventris and the hooded figure behind her.
"Hello sister, what brings you here?"
"Dont give me that, where is he?" Ventris was visibly annoyed by her demeanor, cold, calm, vastly different to her usual meekness.
"Well whatever I'll be killing him soon anyway," she muttered under her breath. She took a look at Solaria noticing that her shackles were still on her, smiling at the fact.
"Seraphina Aetheria Solaria Asura, mother of darkness, sister of chaos, queen of nothing, destroyer of Barbarus."
Ventris was trying her best to berate her sister but held back not wanting to look bad in front of Gladius, if only she knew the rage boiling inside her.
"Sister, I've tried to be lenient with you but this time you've gone too far. Your little spectacle has brought disarray to my kingdom and I can't have that, bring him out so we can get this over with and then we can discuss your punishment." A long pause followed, Solaria looking up at her sister, the stars in her eyes burning, suddenly Ventris' head exploded, the blood splashing all over solaria who smiled intently even licking some of the golden blood off her hands.
"Don't make me repeat myself sister, bring him to me and be quick about it."
Solaria snapped back to reality and looked up at her sister, annoyed by her demeanor and thought inwardly "Is this how she always behaved with me? Was I so pathetic where she could just demand me to bring my husband for her to slaughter?"
She took a deep breath, calming herself, she needed to send a message to her sister and her army. The people were watching and if she wanted to tear her sister down she would have to do so calmly, she took a brief look back at the castle, more specifically at the device Yohan had set up to record the whole ordeal, setting it to live stream but at a weaker wavelength, current viewership had now numbered in the billions. The title of the stream was Saving Solaria. Kings and queens, nobles, commoners and gods alike watched in anticipation and silence, whole worlds over half the universe paused to pay attention.
Inside the castle:
Yohan looks into the camera and takes a deep breath.
"Hi, you guys may know me from the last video but now I'm going to add context to what I did and why I'm doing this. Currently this is my 756th reincarnation at least according to my wife's counting. For the past few eons my wife has been trapped here in this desolate place." He turns his camera around showing the viewers the outskirts of the castle grounds showing Solaria standing in front of the army." She has been stuck here alone for so long, all while her sister kept bringing my incarnates here, killing them in front of her over and over again but by some miracle my soul was sent here when I last died and since then we carved out a little life of our own, getting back some semblance of peace, she was in chains, bleeding, hurting on the verge of mental break. Today I'm going to share a story with you and ask that wherever you are, whatever you're going through, that you find the courage to fight back just as I'm fighting now to save her."
Yohan then proceeded to tell the audience the same story Solaria told him when they first met as well as divulging on some of his own experiences being here.
The people listened to his story, some of them brought to tears, gods and mortals alike were rooting for him, they first enjoyed the spectacle thinking that someone had just grown the balls to fight and mock Ventris but now they saw just a man. A man who had offered peace but suffered it's consequences, a man who lost everything and is fighting to free his love. At the end of his tale he looked into the camera, tears welling in his eyes with a wide soft smile. "To our child, if you're still out there, papa will come for you, just gotta help mommy first but if you're watching. I hope you enjoy the show."
With that he turned the camera to the window facing outside, showing Ventris and her army, he used some of his magic to create a forcefield around the device to both keep it in place and protect it should the battle spread to its position. He then got up and fixed his clothes before making his way downstairs, it was almost time.
Back outside with Solaria:
Sister, you've taken so much from me, my husband, my home…..my baby" Solaria said while holding her stomach.
Ventris with a bit of fear in her eyes told Gladius to leave telepathically, Gladius seemingly listening gave a nod and vanished but what she did was more of erasing her presence staying in the exact same spot she was.
"Why? Just what did I do to you that caused you to turn on us like that? You killed millions of people who did nothing but love and adore you, you killed Aurelius and his entire family even turning his own brother against him and left our world to rot, left me to rot. All we ever offered was love and you made us pay for it but now, I offer you a blade, a blade to end this."
Solaria raised her sword skyward at her sister, her eyes burning blue, welled with tears.
"I really do appreciate your vigor sis, I haven't seen your eyes burn like that in eons…. I always did hate it. Sadly I don't think you'll be able to do much in those shackles, did you finally get some bravery after a little dick?"
Ventris had to keep face, her sister despite her weakened state was no pushover, she could still easily take 80% of all her forces before tiring but luckily for her she was still wearing the shackles, meaning she had control, or at least so she thought.
Solaria scoffed "Of course, that's how you should be, this way I won't have any regrets killing you."
Ventris' eyes went wide "Kill me!? Listen here you little bitch, I hold I hold your life in my hands! I will fucking-."
Her voice caught in her throat at Solaria's next action. A sharp cracking sound, like glass being crushed. Solaria had grabbed the shackle on her neck, crushing it effortlessly, the sight of this sent a shiver down her sister's spine.
"H-How? They were made to never come off, she said they would never come off, how fucking dare you try to fight me, do you want me to cripple you again you little bitch?"
"DONT YOU DARE TALK TO MY MOTHER LIKE THAT."
It was Gladius, eyes blood red, hair flowing with dark flame. Solaria almost couldn't believe what she heard. "M-Mother!?"
She met eyes with Gladius, and for a moment it seemed like the two were the only ones in that space, as her eyes and hair returned to normal she knew, she knew this was her baby, with tears welling in their eyes they sprinted to each other falling to their knees in each others embrace.
The white army itself seeing this couldn't help but feel a tug in their hearts, but not only that, some of them were beginning to question Ventris. For all they knew Gladius was her daughter so why was she calling the enemy 'mother'?
Ventris seeing the display between the two women was about to say something when she felt something fly past her face, the object flying past the black zone barrier into space behind her, causing a massive explosion bright enough to be seen behind the dark barrier, the event was even enough to halt the mother and daughter's reunion. As everyone turned to look at the blast, golden blood streamed down Ventris' cheek and a chill washed over them all.
"Oh? It seems you've pissed him off."