Volume 8 : CHAPTER – 8 : THE SWORD THAT RENDS DARKNESS (2)

The new outer dimension that goddess Kaya brought me in was devoid of color and filled with blankness. At the same time, an unbearable sensation coursed through me to make me gulp.

When our magic clashed the goddess was able to harness enough magical energy to open a large portal and pull us both in. No matter where my eyes went the world was all grey.

Finding the goddess nowhere, I could only listen to her voice for now. As for the direction from where it came, even Al failed to determine it.

I stepped forward and felt a strange tug at my feet. Suddenly, I was yanked off the ground and pulled downwards by a swirling vortex of white light below me.

Before I could even react to pull back, I was falling constantly. No matter where I looked, I saw only emptiness - no trees, no buildings, no landmarks of any kind. It was as if I had been transported to a blank canvas, a world waiting to be painted.

Suddenly, a voice echoed through the emptiness. It was cold and sinister, sending shivers down my spine. "Welcome to my world. The place where all malice gathers." the voice said.

The golden chains started raining from every direction. I was confident I could have used my wind magic to maneuver and dodge them all. But it only hit me a little later that my magic did not work here as it should. Most probably it was because the rules of this world were a little different.

Like a whip a golden chain was about to pierce through me.

I pulled out my black sword and with all my strength tried to block the chain.

As a result, I was pushed down at a much greater speed, only to hit a newly formed ground a little later.

“It’s futile. Your magic is useless in this world.” The goddess reminded me of my limits in this new dimension she constructed.

Without responding to her, I tried standing up. I waved my swords and stood unintimidated. I would rather be prepared for a surprise attack than freak out or try to locate her.

It was not only the place that was magicless, but I was also losing my magic from my own reserves as well. A force was pulling it out of me and draining me completely. That was how the ecosystem of this Astel world was set up.

“Tell me what do you know about your past?”

“I have no memories, except for the past four years. You seem to have become quite talkative. People do really tend to talk a lot when they think they are at an advantage. I suppose even gods are no exception then.” I said trying to keep my voice steady.

The goddess laughed, a sound like ice cracking. “And what makes you think that I brought you here to gain an upper hand in this fight? It looks like you have made yourself believe that I brought you here only to toy with you. You don’t need to hide it I already know you are not from this world. Aren’t you just a reincarnation like the True Hero?”

The fact that the goddess reached that conclusion was enough to bring in the right atmosphere of solemnity. One of the possible reasons the goddess brought me to another dimension was to confirm the fact knowing full well that I might have been bound to not reveal such details.

“I don’t remember much of the other world either. I had lost all my memories in an accident.”

The goddess glared, not satisfied by my response.

“You should be able to tell that I am not lying,” I said. The truth was now all out in the open. I was still oblivious to the fact that the Goddess wanted to enquire about my past if she was only interested in the swords.

”Isn’t that convenient for you to say? It makes me feel sick.”

I looked up, and there she was ⸻the goddess herself. She appeared much tall and more imposing than before, with eyes that glowed like amethyst and skin as white as the world around them.

With her triangular sword of Astel gripped tightly, its tip aimed towards me, she unleashes a vertical strike. Her otherworldly gravitational magic empowers the swing, as she brings it down over my head. I attempt to block the attack with my dual swords crossed above me, but the force of the strike sends me flying.

“Those swords might have chosen you, but it belongs to someone else. Don’t even for a second think they were sent to you as some kind of goodwill gift. Because that’s the last thing you would want to do with it.” The goddess said in a forewarning voice.

“These swords are mine and I won’t give them up.” I rushed to the goddess with acceleration surprising her.

With the black sword, I was able to turn some of this otherworldly magic into mine. Turns out my swords could even surpass and reform the laws that constitute an outer dimension. Releasing the black miasma, I was again able to put some distance between the goddess and me.

“Your powers will grow too great that they will break the balance of the world and you will be used just like HER.” The goddess again mentions her acquaintance.

“Those are the words of someone who is my enemy right now.”

“It’s up to you if you want to be skeptical or not?”

“So, are you suggesting me to go into hiding and leave everything behind?”

While talking, our fight continued as our swords continued clashing against each other. The space no longer bound us to where we fought from. My movements were slow in this new space, but I was slowly adjusting by absorbing every ounce of magic released into my black sword and releasing them in bursts using the white sword.

The goddess continued, “Maybe so... Tell me how many people have you killed by now?”

“I don’t remember.”

“And are you sure they were all done with the best intention? Have you ever stopped to wonder that you have done more harm than good? You will simply get swept up in the storm that will ruin this world.”

“I am not afraid of killing. It’s just more efficient that way. I should eliminate that which I can.”

“And were you the one who decided this…” The goddess asked me with a vicious smile.

“What kind of question is that.” As I stood before the goddess, her words hit me like a ton of bricks.

I had always thought of myself as efficient; as someone who got things done. Killing had always been a means to an end, a way to eliminate obstacles in my path as I went clearing each floor of the Tathya Labyrinth. Any perceived threats, even if I could restrain them after the damage. I chose to eliminate them. It was a reflex action, a survival instinct that had been honed over time… or was it that it had always been there inside of me.

“Each one of you acts so cold, but at the same time are oblivious to the things that are obvious around you. Do you know how it feels when you can’t save someone who meant the world to you? Can you imagine what’s that like to be completely and utterly ⸻failed.” The goddess shrieked as her throat gets overwhelmed to speak further.

Her slashes now came much stronger at me. I firmly block them while feeling the weight of each of her strikes.

“Yes. Long enough that I don’t want to feel that awful again. I can’t. I will no longer hide in the storm and wait for it to pass. Even if it means I have to become the storm.” I already know how it feels to lose someone time and time again. My memories of everything that I might had hold precious were all gone. And even right now I am suffering unable to find a way to get to Athena. And for that, I will need the power of these swords to protect everyone.

“Even if you wait out the storm or try to fight it. In the end, it only leaves scars behind and regrets.”

“It would be bad for me to not think things through, but I will not lose sight of what I want from overthinking it.” It’s not like the goddess could simply change my mind with words. And the only thing I know to do with bad stuff is to get it over with as soon as I can.

“I am done. I suppose this will have to end here.” The goddess falls back from the close sword fight.

I had been noticing it too, but the Goddess had already collected an awful amount of magic even more than the last time. Without the seal here in this place to keep the goddess’s power in check. I am just lucky enough to come this far without getting severely injured.

Raising her sword of Astel like the last time, Goddess Kaya’s eyes narrowed on me.

“There’s an interesting theory that powerful weapons can devour the soul of their users, deluding them into thinking a weapon’s power is truly theirs. Let me inflict the worst pain of all and see whether that holds true.” Crazy magical power got fused into the sword of Astel which goddess Kaya now held close to herself.

It would be so nice if I could just retreat to my fantasy right now. I bet it could have been the moment where I should have awakened my latent superpowers to defeat the evil goddess and would become invincible any moment now. The appeal is so good, if only it weren’t reality.

But with no magic to cast to counter the attack, I was only left with the option of defending and embracing myself for the attack.

“From the depths of my being, I cast a curse that none can evade - Behold, my super ultra-ultimate malice magic crusade ⸻Calamity Crusher!" The goddess chants waving her sword and going round like a magical girl would on a television show before casting her cute and charming moe magic.

“…Eh!” Instead of being scared, surprised, or marveling at the magic recollection released. I was more shocked and taken aback by the absolutely weird spell chant and not to think about the strange pose the goddess made. And I would just forget the part about how these two things did not seem to fit together at all.

All this time I thought the Goddess of Malice was cool, but the chant of her strongest spell just did not seem like her.

In my puzzled state, I forgot to keep track of the Goddess’s movements when she suddenly showed herself in front of me. Her sword missing and all the magical energy she had collected dispersed into the surrounding.

What is she trying to do now?

As I tried to move back, I found myself frozen in place. Looking down, I saw that my feet had sunk into the ground as if it were quicksand. I struggled, trying to free myself, but it was no use.

So, this was a trap!

“…That’s cheating, weren’t you going to attack me with that super strong spell of yours even though it sounded so weird to hear a goddess say that.” I squealed.

“I am surprised as well that gods could imitate lying from humans. Perhaps I ought to express gratitude to the True Hero for teaching me such tricks in our fight. And that magic spell was something I just made up right now; I'm amazed that you didn't realize it earlier.” Goddess Kaya gave me a vicious smile as if trying to say she got me there.

An improvised magic spell, why have I never thought of this? How could I when I am a magical genius and the thought of being anything other than being perfect and looking cool while casting my magic power felt blasphemous!

“Why you….?” Somehow for the first time, I felt defeated in a battle of magic even though it wasn’t one.

“For now, I am much interested in your memories. Why don’t we find out what happened?”

The goddess at this distance could have easily injured me fatally, and with my legs jammed there was a little chance I could evade it in time. The goddess instead chose to place her palm on my forehead and stick close to me.

I was not the kind of violent girl who would think of headbutting another delicate girl like me. But before I could think of any way to resist, light had already vanished from my pupils.

My brain felt dazed and the feeling of paralysis kicks in as I lose control over my body. I had never fought against a mind-controlling type of magic. So, I did not know of a way to resist it, especially not when it was cast by a goddess. And it would be impossible to escape all on my own.

I had to let her do whatever she wanted to for now till I gain back control.

***

GODDESS OF MALICE – KAYA

Finally, I decided to find the truth myself and get to the bottom of it. Even if the Divine System was behind it. I was also putting my existence in danger by harming the one the Tree of Life chose.

I was willing to take the risk as long as I could meet her again.

Even though I was ashamed of doing such a pathetic thing to a human. But my malice is not so tame that I would be swayed to look the other way.

Finally, the connection was stable and my magic power had seeped into the girl’s neural network looking for the right place where all her memories were stored. Till it finds the right connection, to put it bluntly. The entire space was now connected to the girl’s soul as I proceeded to cast its reflection on this dimension plain.

Because of such a forceful invasion, the girl passed out of shock. But it won’t be long before she regains consciousness.

I am in.

I open my eyes as well, and I was now walking through the memory lane of the human girl. The path was simple and straight, depicting all her memories were fresh and recent.

“Just as she said to me. I think I will need to look much deeper. Her final memory, right after the accident where she lost them.”

First recollection. Release.

I probe my hand in the emptiness and everything played superfast until the final memory came in form of a white wall.

“It’s a strong seal. But something like this will not stop me.” I place my hand on the wall and it crumbled despite its thickness.

My mind was suddenly overwhelmed by the strong divine magic released as a result of taking down the wall.

“No doubt it was HERS, right.”

I reached a translucent metallic door and beyond that, I could see several otherworldly machines placed around a bed.

A small girl child lying on it with several tubes attached to her body. It was Alicia after the accident. My eyes wander to look for other things.

“It’s you!” My eyes stick to the person sitting close to the human. A woman with pure white hair. Even after centuries, she looked the same.

“I finally found you,” I tried opening the door, by turning the knob. But since these were Alicia’s memories her consciousness could only bring me up to here.

“Urza, it’s me Kaya.”

I stopped thinking of trying to knock out the door when I finally noticed.

“How is it possible for you to look sad? Were you finally able to find it?” Water collected at the base of my eyelids as I shrug them away.

***

ALICIA ASCLAON ASHBORN

“It’s already been two days and she has not woken up. Her mother and father did not survive in that mysterious unusual accident.”

“What could a child have possibly done to sustain such injuries.”

Who is speaking? I could trace out voices of two people ⸻a man and a woman. At the same time in the background, I could hear a beeping sound at regular intervals akin to that of a heart monitor.

“Her body looks fine on the outside. But internally there is too much damage. All her organs and tissues are torn apart. It’s a miracle that she is still able to breathe when she came here. If this continues she might not make it. Have you contacted any of her relatives yet?”

“We were finally able to contact the child’s aunt and she was heartbroken by the news.”

“Let’s monitor her condition for now after every hour.”

I was not able to see, rather I had no control over my eyesight or particularly my whole body. I was only able to hear the voices around me barely.

From the sound of the footsteps, the two-person makes their exit.

Also, from the ragged breathing and the heaviness on the nose I felt, it was an oxygen mask I was wearing.

There was pain all over my body just like the person described.

There’s no way. Is this a hospital? I came to the realization.

And the only time I could recall is the one that followed the accident, during which I remained in a coma for a period of two months.

So, why am I here now? Is the goddess doing this?

The door swung open once more and a person walked in, shutting it behind them before taking a seat on a chair adjacent to the bed.

Why I could tell without seeing was because of the imposing and calm presence of this person. And most important of all, since I know how to sense magical power now. It was the overwhelming magic power just on the exterior which far surpassed mine.

“I know you do not know me and will not remember me. And even though I have no right to be here…” A woman’s voice.

Is she speaking to me?

As her words reached my ears, a rush of emotion flooded my heart, causing it to swell with an indescribable feeling. At that moment, a sense of peace washed over me, and my pain seemed to fade away into the background, no longer at the forefront of my thoughts.

Despite any obstacles or difficulties, I had a sense that everything was going to be all right, and a feeling of inaccessibility left me completely present at the moment.

"I missed you, my sweet girl." She whispered to herself not knowing I was listening, and now gently started stroking my hair.

Who is she… to me?

Is this just a dream or are these my real memories? The goddess did say she was going to look into it. No matter, I couldn’t help but want to continue this for a little longer.

“You look just like your mother when she was your age. Mmm! I think we all actually look the same.” The woman chuckled.

Did she know my mother, how old is she really? From her voice, she seemed young. My brain sent me chills and my breath again becomes unsteady. The unbearable pain came back as well.

“You see our family is a little weird because of me. I have been irresponsible from the start and I am not pure knowing all the things I have done. I still don’t have a good grasp of what it means to love someone… but you see I have been feeling a little lonely for a while and I miss you all. So, it’s alright if I talk with you for a bit even if you can’t hear me.”

I can hear you. No matter how strongly I wanted to say and ask her why is she saying that to me.

My questions will be unanswered and I could only grip myself and let this unknown memory play itself.

“I cannot ask you to forgive me since I promised Kazuki that I wouldn’t let anything happen to our family. And that’s why I decided to leave this world and get as far away as I could.”

Kazuki… I remembered it being the name of my grandfather in my original world. But while I hesitated to confirm it as I wasn't completely sure if I had remembered it correctly.

“I want to hug you right now and hold you close to myself but I think I can’t because of all the wires and tubes they have put around you.” The woman gripped my hand gently and then I felt a little press.

“If only I could explain to you now that the accident was not your fault…”

My fault…

Who knew the coldness could travel this fast? And the dreadfulness of those words she said would make me feel numb. The emptiness now born inside me was killing me.

“I am just a being incapable of experiencing any emotions.”

“You see I can’t even cry right now. ⸻I can’t.”

The short silence that followed made me feel I should leave now. I should go away and vanish since I have always been good at doing that.

“…And in the time I have lived here, I have only come to yearn for more of it even though I fail to comprehend why emotions can be so painful?” The woman’s voice was overwhelmed.

“I know what I am going to do now won’t fix anything. And it’s because of me that you have these powers. But this will surely ease some of your pain. I will seal all your powers forever and in the process, your memories will be wiped off even from the System. This is the only way I know now I can protect you and then you will never have to see me again.”

The woman now holds my palm in both of her hands and magical power flows inside of me.

It's divine magic, with the same touch as mine.

The physical pain vanished from me within a second and then my mind went blank. I started to feel empty, just like the way I usually felt back in my original world after the accident.

“It’s done.”

⸻Ah! So the pain’s finally going to end. I say to myself still lying motionless with no thoughts.

“This is goodbye. I am sorry it took this long but I wanted to say this for a long time. Sachi, I will always love you.” The woman then pressed her lips on my cheeks.

What’s going on here? How does she know my real name? How did my parents die?

Was it really my fault?

Al tell me.

I screamed at the top of my voice.

[SYSTEM BREACH IDENTIFIED]

[GRESSUS SYSTEM OVERRIDE]

[OVERRULED]

[OVERRULED]

[OVERRULED]

[ACTIVATING STASIS MODE]

***

DUNGEON OF MALICE

“Where are they?” Regis asked loudly knowing full well that Alicia and Goddess Kaya were then fighting right in front of them. When the light flashed from their swords, the next second they saw, the two had vanished.

“They were right there,” Asher spoke with uncertainty.

“I can’t sense their magic anywhere.” Leafa tried tracing each of their magic power but could not find anything.

“Was the goddess able to break the seal and escape?” Thorne wondered.

“No Alicia would never lose.” Regis said showing no sign of doubt and surprising everyone else.

“Alicia’s barrier is gone too.” Galen pointed out.

“Master is not here.” Hana looked like she was about to cry.

Regis worried more knowing that Hana with the strongest connection to Alicia did not know how to find her.

“I am going closer.” Regis said heading to the front where the battle took place looking for clues and others followed behind her.

Only a few steps and the seal on the place produce a cacophonous sound. As if the strain was going to make it collapse.

Light from it dropped like lightning everywhere and a final pillar of light brought back Alicia and the Goddess.

When their eyes adjusted a sense of ghastliness broadened their pupils.

Alicia and the goddess stood there motionless.

The goddess did not have her sword. But Alicia’s black sword went right through the goddess’s belly.

Regis without thinking ran towards her only to notice Alicia holding the sword expressionless but her eyes flickering between shades of red and blue.

“Alicia…” Regis cried out, her heart heavy with worry and concern.

And finally, the color of Alicia’s eye was restored to normal.

Alicia finally looked like she came back to her senses and so did the goddess. But the pain in her chest was intense, as if needles had been stabbed into her heart, and her blood burned like fire.

The goddess falls to the ground and Alicia held to her.

“Tell me do you know who I am?” Alicia shrieked.

Goddess Kaya smiled looking at Alicia. She puts her hand to her belly and felt the warm gush of blood pouring out.

“That was a lie wasn’t it.. what you showed me. It didn’t happen.”

“This is not your fault.” the goddess replied.

“I did not want this to happen. No...no.no…”

With kind eyes that she may have only revealed once in centuries, the goddess places her hand on Alicia's cheeks and gazes at her.

“I am sorry. I failed to save you either. My beloved….”

With those words the Goddess finally broke, the power of the black sword released black miasma into her body and poisoned her soul completely.

The seal inside the dungeon starts to shatter and break into fragments. The formation of the dungeon supported by it after losing its energy source starts to collapse as well.

All that energy converges into a pillar of light and its light ring withdraws. The body of the goddess vanishes along with the seal in front of everyone’s eyes.

The air was thick with silence as if the weight of the emotions was too heavy to bear. Everyone stood there shocked and helpless not knowing what to say.

“Alicia…”

Only listening to her name being called, Alicia lets her eyes wander.

The panic in her eyes slowly receded as she looked at Regis, her eyes were then filled with an emptiness that seemed to go beyond words.

Alicia slowly makes her way toward Regis, her blades clanging against each other with each step. And then, without warning, she threw herself at Regis, wrapping her arms tightly around her.

Regis had so many questions, Alicia knew, but right now… she couldn’t bring herself to speak.

I have so many questions for you. But how can I ask you when you appear to be in so much pain and yet I don't see any tears in your eyes?

***

Hello there, just wanted to know whether you enjoyed reading the chapter. I don't know what kind of ending you expected or predicted to be here or the chapter just surprised you in the end. All I hope is that you got to feel some joy and sadness with it.

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