As the forest parted ways, a band of female elves erged, each brandishing either a sword, spear, or dagger. They all donned identical attire to the one who confronted Freya. Eryl let out a low growl, her eyes narrowing at the increasing presence of elves.
"A trap...we’re surrounded."
"Maybe surrounded, but not outnumbered," the young elf said with a smile. "But considering your main force consists of about 5 people..."
"It will only take one person to deal with all of you."
"And then you will beco our enemies. I think we are at a dead end."
The clash between the two parties grew increasingly intense until the mont the elf made a sudden gesture. In response, all of her comrades, much to Freya’s group’s astonishnt, obediently lowered their weapons.
"One more thing and we’ll see how to deal with you. Who are you and what is your reason for being here?"
The elves observed every action, their gaze focused on Freya. Their deanor indicated that they recognized the girl’s position as the leader among the trespassers.
Freya felt the weight of their expectations on her. She inhaled deeply and proceeded to detail everything about the Twilight of Gods.
anwhile, a shrill cry pierced through the adow, the dagger plunged into Eric’s body, unleashing a different kind of power that paralyzed the boy’s ability to regenerate.
His body convulsed in agony, but this ti there was no healing. With a single tearful eye, Eric gazed into the depths of Dora’s eyes before his heart ceased to beat.
Eric stopped moving, finally freed from perpetual torture. Lilith in turn fell to the ground, observing this horror in shock, then, under their gaze, a bright light rose.
Floating above the dead flesh, a soul stone, brighter than the norm, shimred and floated above Dora’s hand as he pointed it at rcy.
"Take it."
The young girl gazed up at the young man, her expression frozen with fear.
"This soul stone was made to craft an unbeatable body. You are the only helpless one here, so take it."
"...What?"
Dora crouched in front of her, bringing the stone closer to her face.
"There is no other choice, you are strong but you are a magic user. Wrath’s pressure seems to affect , so don’t even think about performing a miracle here. Use this.
rcy stood frozen, her head twisting in revulsion. Desperately, she looked to her friends for assistance, but the trio stood motionless, their arms hanging limply by their sides.
The mission was already a failure, and they were now at the rcy of the most powerful version of Dora. Moreover, the massacre indicated that giants had the ability to erge from the earth.
What other surprises awaited them? Iris surveyed the scene, noting the scattered limbs of her companions.
"...Please...Do it." She said, her head bowed.
"What?!"
"We... at this point... we need him. We can’t get help from Wrath and... even if we found Envy, he would just attack him. There’s nothing we can do. .. and you will die if you are so vulnerable."
Lilith and Morgiana looked at her in confusion, deep down, Gamma smiled mischievously.
Iris looks at Dora while biting her lips.
"If we follow you... will you at least tell us what happened?"
The girls flinched, looking worriedly at Iris then at Dora, who nodded, his eyes returning to rcy.
"Yeah, I will, it’s not that impressive anyway, you’ll be disappointed."
He grabbed the soul stone and gripped it tightly, holding it in front of his face.
"I understand you’re too shocked to take it right now, so I’ll make sure you fight to get it... Aurum Serra."
A flash of lightning invaded the landscape, bringing an eerie silence to the place, then a marvelous spectacle presented itself to the young girls. Above Dora’s hand, not one but two soul stones were floating, Eric’s was shining with a more powerful glow and the second was gradually disintegrating into fine particles that covered the first.
"It’s...Peter’s soul stone."
rcy’s heart stopped beating, or maybe not, but upon hearing this, her soul almost disconnected from her body. She looked at the stone covered in a brilliant red aura, sparkling like a wonder of creation.
Her spirit had been broken since the mont they arrived on this earth, and now it was simply broken.
"This is the last proof of your brother’s existence in this world, will you immortalize him now, or will you let him go?...like that day."
Oga narrowed his eyes as he muttered.
"After losing so much..."
"Probably better than losing a perfect candidate." Gamma sighed.
The soul stone glowed in rcy’s hands, giving her a warmth that she didn’t know if the origin was just energy, or a celestial presence. Unconsciously, a tear fell from his left eye.
Dora stood up and turned towards Oga, Zuri and Gamma, her right hand raised towards the sky.
"Alright, enough wasting ti. The operation begins now."
The three nodded and a black magic circle ford above them and they gradually turned black before disappearing.
Dora glanced at rcy who continued to stare at the stone as if hypnotized. He shook his head and led the way, passing between the girls.
Iris, looking first at rcy, turned to him.
"Wait, you’re not going to explain anything about what happened?"
"If you want to know, don’t slow down. I’ll talk when we reach them."
He led the way through the mist, leaving the girls behind speechless. Morgiana looked at his back, stunned, then at Iris, too lost to make a decision for herself.
Iris bit her lip and turned to rcy once more.
"...rcy...he won’t wait for us."
"Why...why are you doin’ this?"
Her voice carried across the country, reaching Dora who stopped, without even looking at her. Her face reddened, she wiped away her tears.
"I’m tired of this situation... why are you so cruel? You told that... that you would keep him... that it was a reason for you... to take care of ...why are you doing this now?"
She brought the stone to her chest, her voice hoarse.
"I’m really tired...I don’t know who you are anymore...I don’t know why you...why you always try to force ...using my brother...you learned "I want that I let go, so why are you still playing with it? Why do you continue to use it to control ? "
Dora finally turned to her, a look devoid of any emotion. He observed Lilith and Morgiana respectively then placed a hand on his hip.
"Because you are all too stupid. For three years I have listened to a bunch of hypocrites without any consideration for the opinions of others. Soone forced to leave my family, soone forced to evolve the evil in , soone used to be stronger, soone used to solve the problem of the past. Do you know how much I lost because of you all?"
The girls looked at him with trembling eyes, finally facing the dreaded mont.
"I lost everything I cared about. My family, my freedom, my mories, and even myself. You all took everything from over and over again, have you ever thought about ? Let’s erase his mory so he can have a good life, and then let’s make him a monster so that he saves us again, and then you ca to us and blad us again for the consequences of your actions. And now you bla ? For using your brother’s na?"
He began walking towards them, each step releasing an ounce of aura.
"Listen carefully, your only chance here is that I have no feelings in . Whoever is in charge can choose which emotions or mories we have access to. I don’t know if that explains it, but I rember everything, and surprisingly, I feel nothing. No anger, no hatred, no remorse... because I know that the mont we beco the real Dora, we will regain everything we lost, and even more."
He stood in front of rcy, the girl giving him a broken gaze.
"You lost your brother? I lost my sister a few days ago... but unlike you, I don’t have the privilege to cry, and you know why? Because I know deep down... that the mont the real Dora of this world appears, death will be just a word... for my family and your brother."
He gently grabbed the girl’s chin, both of them looking into each other’s eyes.
"If you truly wish to see a light through this hell, help us beco the real Dora...even if it ans killing yourself."
****
On the beach, Freya had finished telling the story of their exploration. She ntioned everything about Twilight of the Gods, the players, and their desire request. However, she chose to say nothing about Dora, Gloria, and Rhea, thus limiting their resources in the face of a helpless Candace.
The young elf scratched her ears and looked at her comrades and after a few nods, she turned to them.
"I see, it seems you two aren’t enemies...yet. Well, we saw your pathetic attempt to talk with the gladiators but to think you were so desperate."
"...Gladiators? These people?"
"Yeah, that’s the na of the Fool Warriors. I can’t believe soone would be stupid enough to try to talk to them."
"We saw how much smarter you were than them," Eryl said, glancing at her dual swords.
The girl gave her a smile.
"This was just my way of welcoming you to Kalaharis. My na is Apophis Nefertari and I am pleased to announce that our Queen is waiting for you."
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