Pure chaotic energy rampaged through my body, tearing it apart, even while it fueled my flames. The wings of fire on my back were in a constant state of flux as every two feathers created, one was shattered to heal the new injuries.
Irene looked incredulous at first but then started laughing as the sea of blood formed around her. “You have lost your mind, Aurielle. Even if your talent can withstand the chaotic energy ripping apart your insides, how long can you resist the corruptive nature of that energy?”
“Long enough to kill you,” I replied through gritted teeth.
“You still dare to look down on me!” Irene roared as the full force of her domain attempted to bear down on me. “I have spent my entire life preparing to kill you. Some borrowed energy will not be enough to stop me!”
I felt her domain crash down around me and shook my head. “That is the difference between us, Irene. I hated your father just as you hate me, but I always knew that he was not the goal I was striving for. You and me, we are nothing more than ants. Until you understand that, you will never be stronger than me.”
As I spoke, the flames of the burning buildings began to change color. The world was bathed in green light. My own domain flared to life. A space completely under my control, like an extension of my hand. Everything my domain touched bent to my will as a sea of green fire spread in every direction.
The two domains clashed. It was not something that could be seen, only felt. There was no blast or crackle of thunder. It was a silent battle. A clash of will rather than one of blade or flames but no less violent.
Irene spouted a stream of profanities as her domain was steadily pushed back, becoming smaller and smaller. The blood around her began to spin as a series of glyphs were formed. A torrent of flames rained across the courtyard, not aiming at me but towards my family.
I narrowed my eyes as my domain reached out to surround them. I smothered the torrent of flames as it entered my territory, but in doing so I had to split the power of my domain. Irene did not miss this opportunity and an invisible force struck towards me in an attempt to push me out of the rift that fueled my power.
Irene laughed maniacally as my domain was pushed back. “You cannot protect them and fight me at the same time. They will die and you will watch as I do it!”
Irene’s undead began to move in unison, all charging towards my family. I could feel the energy boiling inside them as the undead prepared to self-destruct. Exhausted and pushed beyond their limits, I knew my family would not be able to survive such an onslaught for long. I exerted the will of my domain down on them, forcing them to be still. With each individual undead, my domain split once again. Irene gained even more of an advantage as her domain started pushing me down.
I tried to calm my ragged breathing as I struggled to suppress so many creatures at once. I drowned out Irene’s annoying laughter as she got closer and closer to overwhelming me and focused.
I had to end this quickly. Not just because of the chaotic energy rampaging through my body, but because of the rift that supplied this energy. Drawing energy through the rift and into this realm was stabilizing it. If I could not end this fight soon, something far worse than Irene would be able to step through.
I ignored the growing pressure of Irene’s domain and felt the green flames I had spread at the beginning of the fight. Irene’s laughter came to a sudden stop as a big smile spread across my face.
A stirring of movement began to form at the peripheries of the courtyard. Glowing green eyes blinked open. There were not just one or two pairs of eyes. No, with the strength of the rift fueling me, I could do so much more than that. Irene had slaughtered hundreds in her effort to drain their blood.
“Irene, you really should not have killed so many people before fighting me.”
“You think a few undead can save you?” Irene screamed as she formed a new series of glyphs. A new torrent of flames rained down on the courtyard, spreading in all directions.
Dozens of corpses were turned into burned husks in an instant. The fire seared their skin and muscle away, but the undead still began to rise. Those at the front shielded the ones from the brunt of the flame as they marched towards Irene’s imitations of my talent. Soldiers, merchants, beggars, they had all been slaughtered by Irene’s undead. Now they moved to take their revenge. When one fell, two more rose to take their place.
With Irene distracted by my little stunt, the pressure on my domain lessened slightly. I raised my hand and a blue flame flickered to life.
Irene paled as her domain smothered the blue flame before it could reach her, but my goal was achieved. My undead had begun slaughtering Irene’s relieving the pressure on my domain with each one that died.
“No, no, no, I will not be overpowered like this!” Irene shouted furiously. The pressure from Irene’s domain vanished as it stopped struggling for control over the area with me. Instead, Irene condensed the energy around herself like a suit of armor.
The blood that surrounded Irene also began to gather towards a single point. Condensing into a bright red solid, the blood formed a large scythe covered in complicated glyphs. Irene screamed like a banshee as she flew towards me with the scythe held high.
With no domain to suppress me, I filled the courtyard with as much fire as I could create. Both blue and green fire circled around me, a hair’s breadth from touching.
Irene’s eyes were wild with rage and fury as she flew directly into the flames. The condensed domain she wore began to dim as it battled against the fire, but it did not break.
Not willing to risk a melee with whatever that scythe was, I rocketed myself out of the rift between realms before Irene could reach me. I gathered my family in my domain as I landed next to them.
Blinded by the fire surrounding her, Irene did not see my hasty retreat. Her scythe sliced through where I was standing a moment before while glowing with an effect I could only guess at.
“Goodbye Irene,” I said as I closed my eyes.
With a single thought, all the blue and green fire that had filled the courtyard converged on a single point. My domain condensed into a small hardened bubble as a flash of gold blinded the city.
The shockwave hit before the sound did. I could feel the bubble I created to protect my family crack even before the flames reached us. Now my power was no longer fueled by the rift, I could feel the chaotic energy drain away by the second.
As always, it was Nox who saved us. As the golden flames began to leak through my protection, Nox swallowed them whole. Even when I could feel his discomfort at eating too much, Nox persevered.
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As the flames burned past us, I could not resist laughing. I laughed until my stomach hurt, but even then, I kept laughing.
“Wren… Are you ok?” my mom asked with concern.
“How can I not be?” I shouted, “The last of the Corvus family is finally dead! After all these years they are finally completely gone. I could not be happier.”
I paused for a moment as she looked at me, her words were barely a whisper. “Then, why are you crying?”
I froze as I reached up to touch the wet stain on my face. I stared at my hand for a moment, then at the haze of smoke where Irene had once stood. “I hate the Corvus family. It has been a rage that has consumed most of my life, but the one I hated was not Irene.” I closed my eyes as I sat down on the broken ground that had once been a road. “I understand her hatred. If not for my teacher, I might have become her. I do not regret what I have done. I just… wish I did not have to do it.”
“How very touching,” said an unfamiliar singsong voice. A voice that echoed from the smoke where my explosion had just detonated.
I jumped to my feet as I gathered what little power remained of my domain. With a push from me, all the smoke cleared from the courtyard to reveal a small lithe woman walking out of the rift. Her long, bleach-white hair fluttered behind her as she stepped into the courtyard. Her eyes were closed, but somehow it still felt like she was looking at me.
My blood ran cold as I recognized the woman that stepped through the rift. One of Envy’s seven generals, she was a true Demon that had lived for hundreds of years.
The woman smiled while hefting something in her arms. It was a sweet smile painted a picture completely contradictory with the horrors I knew the woman had committed over her long life. So distracted by the smile, it took me a moment to notice the thing in her arms. Missing two arms and a leg, it was a corpse charred completely black.
No, not a corpse. Not yet, anyway. The weak remnant of a familiar domain still radiated from the mutilated husk. It was Irene. Or… what was left of her.
“I have to thank you,” the Demon said, her eyes still closed as she spoke, “If you had not stabilized the rift with your little battle, we would not have been able to come through.”
“We?” I said, dreading the implications.
The woman nodded towards the rift as six more figures stepped out. Each one that appeared grew the horror building in the pit of my stomach. Seven in total, all seven of Envy’s generals had stepped through the rift.
“Unfortunately, our master could not come through such an unstable rift himself but he will be joining us soon enough,” the woman said with a smile.
I felt a lump in my throat as I looked at the Demons. I could barely even breathe under the weight of their gaze.
One of the Demons, a thin vile looking man with razor-sharp teeth was practically licking his lips as he eyed me. “Why are you bothering to talk to these humans, Berith? Just kill them and be done with it.”
The woman, Berith, shook her head. “No, it is not worth the price we would have to pay when that oversized cat decides to self-destruct.” Nox roared furiously at the woman, who just smiled back in acknowledgment. “Besides, it is not worth killing someone that already has one foot in the grave. They walk the path to their own death without our help.”
“We just leave them?” The vile demon asked in surprise.
“For now,” Berith replied, “After all, one of them will open the door for our master to come through.”
“If that is your command, mistress,” the Demon said reluctantly.
“It is. Now, take this thing from me. Our master will still have a use for it later,” Berith said while handing the charred remains of Irene to one of the Demons.
Her eyes were still closed but her eyebrows creased in confusion for a moment as if she was looking at something only, she could see. “It seems another like me has spent quite some time in this realm. I will need some time to untangle the web they have created. Seir, take us from here.”
The vile looking Demon raised his hand over his head as a domain several times stronger than Irene’s spread across the courtyard. A tear in space ripped open in front of them, showing rolling hills and a small village on the other side.
I reached out, wanting to speak, wanting to stop them, but the words got stuck in my throat. For all the threat I knew those seven represented, I was in no condition to try and stop them. My hand fell limply to my side as I watched on in helpless silence.
The Demon, Berith, smiled sweetly at me. “Do not worry child. We will see each other soon.”
One by one, the seven Demons stepped through the portal and just as quickly as they appeared, they were gone.