Chapter 26

  Karma

  Aaronn materialized a sword and charged at the Light Warrior. Manve?n parried his opponent’s flurry of strikes with elegant precision, then drove him back with a brutal heel kick to the stomach.

  Aaronn’s body shot downward in a blazing arc and slammed into the ground. The earth erupted in a violent tremor, thick smoke billowing into the air. He burst from it like a shadow hurled at full speed.

  “Already back on your feet?” Manve?n said. “Prince Magnus warned me about your so-called regeneration.”

  Aaronn closed the distance again, blade raised to strike. Manve?n lifted his own sword to counter—but a chain suddenly materialized around his wrist and yanked him backward. His right flank exposed, Aaronn brought his blade down.

  The momentum of his strike was halted by a beam of energy. Aaronn raised his sword in defense, but the beam shattered his weapon and struck him full in the chest. He was hurled back several meters before regaining his footing. Pain contorted his face. Blood streamed from the wound in his chest.

  He reformed his blade as his regeneration began to mend the injury.

  “You manage to surprise me despite the gap in power,” the Eyes said. “Impressive.”

  “I don’t understand your goal,” Aaronn shot back, catching his breath. “Why hide your powers from the king? Why not inform him that one of his daughters was in that amarite mine?”

  “Why are my motives so important to you?” Manve?n replied. “Trying to buy time?”

  Only partly. Aaronn shouldn’t have been winded so quickly, but the pressure Manve?n exerted on him was immense.

  “I simply wonder how a great king like Julius Castus deserves not to be able to trust his loyal servants.”

  Manve?n burst into loud laughter.

  “Julius Castus? A great king? Everything tied to royalty rots from within! They fear their own powers and wield them over the weak to feel some illusion of control!”

  “What?”

  “Yes, you heard me, Aaronn! The extermination of the Half-Chosen is a disgrace! I can see it with my own eyes, you know? All Eleusians share the same DNA! There are no divine blessings—no transcendent quests!”

  “Then why oppose us? Why fight the resistance?”

  The brief fervor in the Eyes’ voice faded.

  “I was the only Chosen in my family to awaken powers strong enough to join the Light Warriors—at thirteen. It was an honor. But it was also when the early resistance cost me my brothers and sisters. The assault on Eile?n by the world below was meant to expose the elimination of the Half-Chosen. During that conflict, my entire family perished.”

  So he acted out of vengeance.

  “And that was when I learned we were all the same. If divine blessing does not exist, then I will embody my own justice. I will wait patiently—until I can bring down the king and take his place. Lunamilla’s very existence proves the king’s partiality toward his people. Add to that the betrayal of his daughter Anastasia and the location of the resistance base—and he will have no choice but to grant me a Duel of Light for the throne.”

  “And what will you do once crowned?”

  “I will make the world below feel a fraction of my suffering. So that all… may stand on true equal footing.”

  Manve?n’s answer caused Aaronn’s sword to lower. His posture relaxed. The pressure he had felt since the beginning of the fight vanished.

  “That’s it?” he said at last. “That’s all your eyes can see? How disappointing. You’ve just lost all my interest.”

  Aaronn could not see Manve?n’s face beneath the helmet, but he would have wagered fury had twisted it. The aura around the warrior’s body bristled.

  “I begin to understand Magnus’s words about you. Such arrogance!” Manve?n spat. “You who claim to hold the ultimate truth—what should I do in this meaningless world?”

  “Move forward,” Aaronn replied sharply. “If you truly want everyone to stand equal, then spread love. Because it’s the only thing that exists in enough quantity for everyone.”

  “Spread love!? How do you expect me to spread love when all I’ve been given is suffering!?” Manve?n roared, slashing his sword through empty air. “The universe took everyone I loved! Who will give her back to me!? Who will give me back my family!?”

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  “No one but you.”

  “That’s enough,” the warrior declared, voice edged with irritation. “I’ve heard enough. You will be my first victim.”

  Manve?n slowly raised his sword. The iridescent blade intensified in brilliance. Aaronn steadied himself. This was his only chance to win.

  “Farewell, Aaronn,” the warrior said. “Ray of Light.”

  “Stop!” Lunamilla and Linart cried from the ground, helpless.

  A massive beam of light burst from Manve?n’s blade and hurtled toward Aaronn with unstoppable force. He raised his sword to block—but it was useless. He was swallowed in a raging celestial judgment that thundered like a cataclysm striking mountain peaks.

  “Aaronn!” they screamed.

  When the light faded, Aaronn’s silhouette appeared through the smoke like a wavering shadow. The metallic walls he had materialized to shield himself shattered into glittering dust before vanishing completely. The smoke dispersed under the residual energy.

  His clothes hung in burned and torn shreds over his battered body. He swayed, barely able to stand—yet his tense, defined muscles testified to his raw strength. His eyes shone brightly as his regeneration slowly activated, closing wounds and bruises bit by bit, rebuilding him piece by piece. His body refused to yield.

  In that final surge of life, Aaronn drew upon his last reserves to unleash the only chance he had to win.

  With a sudden motion, his hands moved toward each other as if pulled by a magnetic force at their center. His aura flared, intensifying, white lightning erupting between his palms.

  “The karma of this world is my domain! All that is taken shall be taken in greater measure! All that is given shall be returned more abundantly! I accelerate the ‘giving’ and the ‘taking’ of the universe!”

  Manve?n stepped back, startled by the renewed surge of combativeness. The wind slammed violently against his armor.

  “What are you doing, Aaronn!?”

  “Manve?n! Men like you are the worst of all! Dragging others into your own fall is an unforgivable blasphemy!”

  Manve?n shielded himself as the gale intensified.

  “Prepare yourself! You gave me ‘violence’—so the universe will return to you… ‘violence’!” Aaronn shouted as a burst of light and electricity exploded from his hands.

  Two armored hands—bearing the colors of the Light Warriors—tore through space before him, forming a circular opening like a dimensional portal. Manve?n’s own silhouette emerged from it and raised an iridescent sword toward him.

  “How—?” the Light Warrior gasped.

  A beam of energy—at least twice as massive as the original—crashed down upon the Eyes, engulfing him in a celestial judgment of light. When the attack ended, the phenomenon Aaronn had created dissipated.

  Manve?n’s helmet was half shattered, long blond hair spilling down his neck, silver eyes visible in the shadowed visor. On that same side, the upper portion of his armor had been blown away, blood pouring from the exposed gaps. His right hand still held his weapon braced against the attack. The two white veils behind him were half destroyed.

  “I underestimated you…” he breathed.

  Aaronn, meanwhile, fell toward the ground, drained by his last attack. He had failed to eliminate the Eyes with his final hope of victory. Lunamilla and Linart needed to get away.

  He struck the earth. His two companions rushed to him.

  “Aaronn!”

  “Aaronn!”

  He forced himself upright. His wounds struggled to close. Pain and exhaustion flooded him.

  “That was a fine attack, Aaronn!” Manve?n shouted from the sky. “My behavior is an unforgivable blasphemy? Then I’ll make sure you never take back those words!” he finished darkly, rising again.

  With that, he dove at blinding speed and seized Linart by the throat in an iron grip. Lifting him like prey, he ascended into the air, holding his captive suspended by the neck. His other hand raised the sword, its tip aimed directly at Linart’s chest.

  “Stop, Manve?n!” Aaronn screamed, his voice breaking.

  Tears streamed down Lunamilla’s face as Linart struggled.

  “No! Stop…” she pleaded, trembling.

  “Look closely, Aaronn!” Manve?n roared. “This is the fate of all who dare stand against me!”

  Aaronn sprang to his feet.

  “Stop, please!” he cried.

  A beam of light burst from Manve?n’s blade, piercing Linart’s torso and leaving a gaping hole. The Eyes released him at once. Linart’s lifeless body fell through the air like a broken puppet.

  Despair ravaging his features, Aaronn followed his friend’s fall—then leapt after him. He caught him at the last instant, cradling his motionless body in his arms. Tears poured freely, his heart filling with fury. How could he forgive such cruelty? How had he allowed this disaster to happen?

  A visceral grief surged from the depths of his being, tearing from him in a desperate cry:

  “AALIYAH!”

  By the time Aaronn’s scream split the heavens, Aaliyah Karselfeni was already running at over Mach 2. She had not heard her brother’s call with her ears—but felt the desperate surge of his energy rip through space to reach her.

  The wind shattered in a deafening countercurrent as the rings of air formed by her supersonic acceleration collapsed in her wake. Her face was set in a severe expression, betraying growing alarm. Never had she felt her brother sink into such profound distress.

  Manve?n sensed her—drawn by the colossal pressure of her determination. The Light Warrior caught sight of her five kilometers away. Confusion flickered within him as he raised his sword toward her, dark murmurs in his soul urging him to annihilate this threat at any cost.

  A powerful beam of light shot toward Aaliyah. She materialized a sword and met the attack, splitting the beam into a myriad of radiant fragments. She did not slow. Driven by unshakable will, she surged up the incandescent torrent itself, carving a path through the attack, each step bringing her inexorably closer.

  “Kill him!” Aaronn roared.

  She struck Manve?n at devastating speed, dragging him violently into the Forest of Destiny. Trees were torn from the earth in their wake, the entire region trembling under the thunderous impact.

  Manve?n’s body, hurled by the force of her charge, smashed through trunk after trunk without stopping. His trajectory carried him hundreds of meters before ending brutally against the bark of a colossal tree. Barely recovering from the impact, he coughed violently, blood splattering the ground.

  Aaliyah slowed, her feet touching the earth with fluid grace. Her cape unfurled behind her, lashed by the remnants of her momentum, as she raised her sword with unwavering certainty, ready to strike.

  “Who… are you?” the Eyes rasped, struggling upright against the tree.

  “The karma.”