Yohan straightened, Zervas' body laid gently upon the ground. The deep violet and streaks of cosmic color around him coiled tighter, slow and deliberate, like a predator gathering itself before the strike, all the while never breaking his gaze from Korva.
A pause.
"Even though I don't know what will happen now, I promise you, it will be painful."
The barrier finally broke.
Solaria moved before thought could catch her. One moment she stood beside her daughter, the next she dissolved into wisps of shadowed violet and black, her form gliding like smoke on a freezing wind.
The girl was on her knees, still reeling from the loss of Zervas, her gaze unfocused, lips trembling.
Solaria didn't speak. She only swept her into her arms, the movement so fluid and spectral it seemed she was drifting rather than running. Jagged cliffs and fractured earth bled into a blur as she appeared amidst Yohan's soldiers in the distance.
Without pause, she spread her hands, tendrils of cold, dark energy curling from her fingertips and wrapping around every soldier present. The shadows pulsed once, then the world folded in on itself and they stood upon the frozen, barren surface of a distant asteroid, starlight painting their armor in muted silver.
She was already turning back when it struck her.
A violent surge like ice burning through her veins slammed into her chest, forcing a sharp gasp from her throat. Her body shuddered as a deeper darkness poured into her, cold and crushing, twisting with raw celestial rage.
She knew this presence.
The remnants of the two angel generals Yohan had slain, their power, her stolen power, steeped in ancient cruelty, was forcing itself into her core, reawakening something she had not felt in ages.
Her aura flared no longer just dark violet, but laced with streaks of black and a dim, frost-like shimmer. The air around her dropped in temperature, and her breath came out in a slow mist.
Ninety percent. That was where she stood now almost whole again.
Her lips curved into a razor-thin smile.
"I'll make it count."
And then she vanished, dissolving back into that cold, drifting darkness toward Yohan.
jagged cliffs jutting like broken teeth into a blackened sky. Shadows bled from the ground, crawling across the cracked earth as Yohan's aura rippled outward.
Deep purples streaked with blue, red, and black, swirling like a living storm. Every breath he took was heavy enough to shake loose pebbles from the cliffs.
Korva stood across from him, her own aura a sickly crimson haze that dripped like liquid from her skin. Her eyes gleamed with the hunger of a predator that had been waiting far too long for the kill.
And then the air shifted.
From the far side of the battlefield, Solaria emerged, silent, graceful, her aura whispering like smoke laced with frost. Black edged her presence, Her very step altered the space around her. The cracked earth under her heels softened, the stench of death was chased away by a faint, warm breeze. She raised one hand.
A rush of light spilled across the wasteland as cliffs melted into towering waterfalls, the black sky cracked open to reveal tropical sun, and the jagged spires of rock became palm-lined beaches kissed by glittering waves.
Korva snarled, her crimson haze flickering as she spun in place.
"The fuck!?"
"Lets go hun!" Solaria snarled.
Yohan moved before Korva could gather her thoughts, bursting forward in a blur of light. His sword came hard and fast, wide, arcing cuts that carved through the false paradise, every impact scattering water into glowing mist. Korva barely met him in time, claws sparking against his blade.
The smell of blood thickened. Korva slashed her arms and crimson rivers erupted from her back twisting into tendrils lined with jagged teeth. They lashed at Yohan, each one snapping inches from his face.
Solaria's massive black-ice greatsword, rimmed with red lightning, flashed into existence. One swing cleaved a tendril in half; the ice spread like frostbite along its length before shattering it completely. Another swing slammed into the ground, sending jagged lines of freezing power racing toward Korva's feet.
But Korva adapted. She slammed her palms into the sand. Blood spines erupted upward like stalagmites, forcing both Yohan and Solaria to vault back.
Solaria smirked. "Not enough."
She stepped forward again, and reality warped. The sudden shift made Korva stumble, her footing disrupted mid-attack.
Yohan seized the moment, his fist wreathed in swirling light. He slammed it into Korva's jaw, the blow echoing like thunder. She spun away, blood spraying in a mist before evaporating into more tendrils that lashed blindly.
The fight became a blur of shifting worlds.
One second, jagged cliffs rose around them, echoing with the clatter of shattering stone.
The next, they stood knee-deep in warm ocean surf, the sunlight refracting off Yohan's aura in shimmering colors.
Then the land cracked again into barren obsidian, only for Solaria to turn it lush moments later, waterfalls thundering where spikes of rock had been.
Korva's movements grew erratic, her sense of distance breaking under the rapid changes. She retaliated wildly, her blood becoming a living weapon of whips, serrated spears, and coiling tendrils that hissed as their teeth snapped shut inches from her opponents, one whimpering like a puppy as Yohan delivered a sharp jab, shattering its teeth.
Yohan met her fury head-on. He ducked a tendril, driving his blade upward in a vicious uppercut that sent a spray of blood arcing through the false sunlight. Solaria followed, pivoting on one heel and bringing her greatsword down in a two-handed strike that cleaved the ground and the illusion in half.
The tropical island and the wasteland merged for a moment, palm trees rooted in jagged stone, waterfalls pouring into endless cracks. The battlefield looked like two realities colliding, each vying for dominance.
Korva roared, throwing out her arms as every drop of spilled blood rushed back toward her. It gathered into a massive, throbbing sphere behind her, sprouting dozens of thick tendrils tipped with gnashing teeth. The air itself screamed under the pressure.
"Down!" Yohan barked.
He and Solaria moved in tandem, dodging the crushing sweep of the tendrils. Yohan countered with bursts of power, each one detonating against the mass of blood with explosive force. Solaria froze sections mid-lash, shattering them with precise swings of her blade.
For every step Korva took forward, they drove her back two.
Then the sand shifted. A small voice screamed.
From the far side of the battlefield, their daughter had appeared wild-eyed, her aura flaring, bolts of black lightning crackling off her fists. She hurled herself into the fight, weaving between the towering adults with reckless precision. A blast of her energy slammed into Korva's ribs, staggering her.
Yohan's heart surged with pride, and fear.
The three of them pressed together now, an unbroken wall of steel, ice, and cosmic power. The paradise flickered faster now, disorienting Korva completely. With each change, she faltered, each blow from the family driving her closer to the edge of the transformed battlefield.
But victory was snatched away in a heartbeat.
A blood tendril shot from the ground, catching Gladius across the ribs. She gasped, the wind knocked from her, golden blood blooming against her side.
"NO!" Solaria's voice ripped through the air as the tropical island dissolved entirely, leaving only the original jagged wasteland.
Korva's smile was wide and dark, despite the bruises and cuts marring her face.
Yohan caught their daughter before she could fall, his aura burning hotter, sharper enough to make the entire Black Zone groan under the weight of his rage. Solaria stood next to them, greatsword poised, her own aura crackling with lethal intent.
They couldn't win here. Not like this.
Yohan locked eyes with Solaria. "We leave. Now."
In a single motion, Solaria wrapped them in her violet-black energy, the island vanishing completely as they disappeared into the void leaving Korva standing alone, chest heaving, blood dripping from her fingertips.
And in the distance, the Black Zone trembled, as if it knew this fight was far from over.
The void was silent.
Too silent.
Yohan stood with his men gathered close, the oppressive pressure of Korva's approach making the air taste of metal and old blood.
Grevos stepped forward, his sword raised. "We stand with you until the end, my lord."
"No!," Yohan said, his voice steady but heavy. "The end won't be here. Not for you." He lifted a hand, and the energy in his palm shaped itself into a shield, solid and alive with power, which he passed to Grevos. "This will bring you back to me when the time comes."
One by one, he handed out weapons, rings, and necklaces each piece humming with his essence. To his men, they were not trinkets, but promises.
"You'll scatter. Hide. Disappear into the shadows of the worlds," Yohan continued. "Live. When I call, you answer. We will find each other again… no matter what."
Before anyone could speak, the void shuddered.
Korva stepped through a tear in reality, her crimson eyes glowing, the sound of her arrival like the splatter of fresh blood on stone. Her lips curled into a grin that dripped with contempt.
"Sweet," she said, her voice thick with hunger. "I get to kill everyone in one place."
"I might as well introduce myself," she said, her voice dripping with cruel amusement, "since this is the last time you're going to see me."
Her black wings rustled softly as her black hair shimmered in the dim light.
"I am Korva, the primordial goddess of blood. I come from the next universe over. The one who helped Ventris bring down your kingdom. The one who gave her the power to wound your wife."
She stepped closer, a wicked smile playing on her lips.
"I even made the blade that killed you, old king."
Her back split open with a wet tear, four blood tendrils snapping outward. The ends lined with teeth that clicked and ground like they had a will of their own.
Yohan didn't wait. "Go!" he barked. Grevos hesitated for only a heartbeat before activating his pendant, vanishing in a streak of light. The others followed in rapid flashes gone into hiding.
Korva's grin widened. "Ah, spoke too soon i guess."
Her tendrils whipped forward but a wall of black-ice exploded between them, shards glinting blue in the void. Solaria stepped into the open, her greatsword humming with cold. Red lightning crackled over her black-ice armor as her dark-violet aura spilled out like twisting wisps of shadow.
The ground under Korva's feet changed one instant jagged stone, the next, soft golden sand. The void was gone, replaced by a tropical island alive with sunlight and the scent of salt air. Waves crashed against black volcanic cliffs in the distance.
"Oh, not this shit again!"
Korva's tendrils lashed, but her footing faltered as the terrain shifted again stone peaks rose from the sand, stabbing at the sky. Then, in another blink, the island returned.
"Enough tricks!" Korva snarled, blood gushing from her hands to form spears she hurled toward Solaria.
The queen spun her greatsword in a deadly arc, shattering each spear into scarlet mist before pressing forward.
"Confused already?" Solaria's tone was cold, almost mocking.
The ground changed again, this time jagged obsidian cliffs surrounded them, the sky a dark storm. Korva's eyes darted, trying to anticipate the change, but it came too fast. Sand. Cliffs. Sand. Cliffs.
And in those moments of distraction, Yohan was there striking from behind with a blast of energy that smashed Korva into the shifting ground. She recovered instantly, blood spraying out in a spiral, forming a barrier around her.
They pressed her hard. Solaria's greatsword cleaved through her defenses while Yohan's strikes hammered her from all sides. Every time Korva tried to plant herself, the battlefield transformed beneath her feet.
But then, the shadows twisted. A tear opened.
Yohan's instincts screamed this was their chance to get away. He grabbed Solaria's arm, and together they stepped through the tear, leaving Korva's snarl behind.
They emerged into the Assiah the eternal river of light. It flowed endlessly through the void, its waters carrying the countless souls of the dead toward their next lives. The calm here was almost crushing after the fight; no sound but the current, no feeling but peace.
Solaria's armor dimmed as she held their unconscious daughter close, brushing a hand over the child's hair. "We'll stay here. Rest. Then-"
She didn't finish.
A presence appeared behind her so suddenly it was as if it had always been there. No ripple, no warning only the cold, cursed voice.
"Still running, sister?"
Ventris stood close enough to breathe on her neck, the cursed blood blade already buried deep into Solaria's side. Black-ice cracked and shattered as the blade's corruption burned its way through. Solaria gasped, pain stealing her voice, her grip loosening on their daughter. The child slipped from her arms, tumbling toward the river's glow.
"SOLARIA!" Yohan's roar tore through the calm. He slammed Korva aside, she had followed, slipping through unseen with an eruption of force, then sprinted for his wife. But Korva's tendrils shot out, wrapping around his limbs and chest, holding him in place.
"How poetic, now you get to watch her die."
Ventris raised her blade again, aiming for Solaria's heart.
Yohan stopped holding back.
His aura exploded into a storm so bright it burned the edges of the world. Korva screamed as her tendrils turned to ash. The blast hit the Assiah itself, and for the first time in eternity… it cracked.
The great river's light shattered, its current going wild, fragments of pure soul-energy spiraling into the void.
Ventris and Korva staggered, their bodies burned and broken. They didn't linger they dissolved into shadow and blood, retreating to whatever dark corner would let them heal.
But the river was no longer safe.
The chaotic current seized everything. Yohan saw his daughter, still unconscious, being swept toward the edge only for a figure cloaked in shadow to appear, catching her mid-fall. The stranger gave Yohan one unreadable glance before vanishing with her into the broken light.
"NO!" Yohan lunged, grabbing for Solaria. She reached back, her gauntlet sparking with red lightning.
The pull of the shattered river was too strong.
They were wrenched apart, flung in opposite directions as the Assiah's current hurled them through infinite space. The last thing each saw of the other was their eyes; hers, fierce even in pain, his, blazing with rage and grief.
Then both were gone, their souls scattered to random worlds, torn from everything they knew.