Ezekiel, still in shock, asked, "Why? This wasn't part of the plan! We weren't supposed to kill him!" Victoria laughed loudly, still with a crazed smile on her face as she said, "I didn't follow YOUR plan, but I simply followed MY plan!" Victoria laughed loudly once more, then said, "You humans are such buffoons! You couldn't even see that your true enemy was always right under your noses!" With that, her maid outfit began to change into a dark red suit of light armor, and horns started to appear on her head. A tail had also appeared on her, and her eyes began to change to a deep red color. Her personality was no longer a timid woman, but instead a crazed killing machine. A shapeshifter? But how? That should be impossible by science, thought Ezekiel. Bear's eye widened, asking, "Are you a demon?" Victoria looked at Bear with a crazy smile and said, "Of course! They call me Victoria the Formless! I am one of the four demon generals that serve under the Demon God himself! And his time is drawing close, for we only need a few more soul sacrifices in order to bring the Demon God about to cause chaos to the world once again!" Victoria pointed at the party, saying, "You will not come in the way of our plans. We bear no witnesses, so for that..." Victoria smiled widely, then shouted, "YOU MUST DIE!"
Ezekiel and his party got ready for combat inside of the throne room, but Victoria was quick. She suddenly lunged forward at Ezekiel, who was the closest to her and drew a knife, ready to plunge it into Ezekiel. However, she was blocked by Tokuda who was intensely gripping his katana with his teeth with a furious look in his eyes as he said, "I'll take her down. I never trusted this crazy bitch anyways." Victoria had surprising power, though, as she easily shoved Tokuda off of her. Tokuda didn't give much ground, as he recovered quickly and prepared for the next attack. Victoria chuckled, saying, "Poor war hero. I know all about your story. How you killed your friend, the man you respected!" Victoria's head suddenly changed into the Red Bear's, and Tokuda was taken aback by this for a moment. Victoria, using the Red Bear's face then said in the Red Bear's voice, "Tokuda, we can be friends in the afterlife! Just let it happen. I promise it'll be painless for you." Tokuda hesitated for a moment, but seemed to snap out of it, shaking his head and shouting, "You're dead, Red! Nothing can change that! And you, you fucking demon! I'll kill you for defiling him even after death, you crazy bitch!" Victoria laughed, reverting back to her former face, but her laughter was cut short when she had to block Bear's axe from above, and Bear angrily said, "Don't you ever wear my father's face again. I'll kill you just for that!" Tokuda, still rather angry, said, "Let's take her down together, Bear." Bear shoved Victoria away and jumped back next to Tokuda, saying, "Right!" Victoria laughed, saying, "How cute! The murderer and the son of the murdered, coming together at last! However, it'll take more than just you two to defeat me!"
Tokuda and Bear both charged and unleashed a volley of quick attacks. The attacks were so quick that their attacks were just blurs now. However, it seemed to be all for naught, as Victoria was quicker, deflecting all the attacks that came her way. Victoria laughed, then said, "Entertain me more, you filthy humans!" Victoria went on the attack, and it seemed that it was taking everything Tokuda and Bear had to block her attacks. However, Tokuda and Bear seemed to be nicked in a few places, but that didn't stop them. They charged again, still powered by wanting to kill Victoria for using the Red Bear's face, but Victoria dodged and blocked all of their attacks once again. This cycle repeated for a couple minutes, with no real damage being done to Victoria. Victoria seemed upset, saying, "You provide no entertainment for me. Begone!" Victoria used air magic to violently push Tokuda and Bear across the throne room, and both Tokuda and Bear slammed into the wall, which knocked the air out of both of them due to the violent impact they both received. Ezekiel shouted, "Tokuda! Bear! Are you both alright?!" Aqua rushed over to Tokuda and Bear and began healing them both in whatever way she could. Ezekiel saw that they looked pretty beat up, despite being in battle for a short amount of time. Is this who we're really up against? An overpowered betrayer like her? Impossible, thought Ezekiel. Suko then said, "They'll be okay! Just keep your eyes on the enemy, Ezekiel!"
Victoria laughed and looked at Suko, saying, "Perhaps you'll provide more entertainment?" Suko then said, "Why not just surrender and I can take you somewhere nice? You're quite the looker!" Ezekiel then exclaimed, "Are you seriously flirting with the enemy right now, dude? She literally just fucking killed the king!" Suko shrugged, saying, "I gotta try, man. you never know!" Victoria then said, "You'd make a fine specimen, dragon-man. I wonder how your insides would look, and feel, and taste! I'll rip you open and find out!" An arrow was then suddenly shot at Victoria, who caught it in midair, saying, "Tricky, tricky elf. I'll have fun toying with you later. I'm interested in the dragon-man right now." Rina said to Suko, "I'll back you up! You get in close and I'll attack from a distance!" Suko hardened his entire body with dragon scales and said, "Got it!" Suko rushed at Victoria, picking her body up and body-slamming her into the ground. However, this didn't seem to faze Victoria, as she clenched Suko's hardened arm and began to slowly crush it. Suko saw that she had a tremendous amount of strength if she was able to crush his dragon scales with just her hands, so using his free arm, he punched her, but his scales flew off of his fist and actually ended up hurting himself as if he was hitting something that his scales couldn't penetrate. Victoria laughed, and Rina fired a volley of arrows, but Victoria, using her tremendous speed, caught them all and snapped them in half with one hand. Rina got desperate, so she drew her knife and came in close to Victoria to try to stab her, but Victoria was still quick, as she dodged everything that Rina could do. Victoria laughed, and right when Rina was about to deliver a blow on Victoria using her knife, she used Suko as a human shield. Rina couldn't stop herself, and she seemed to see the knife going in slow motion, falling towards Suko's stomach. However, Suko quickly hardened his stomach, and Rina's knife was broken in two. Victoria seemed a little disappointed, saying, "Tch. You weren't supposed to do that, dragon-man!" Victoria, still holding onto Suko's arm, crushed Suko's arm more, then there was a loud snap, and Suko yelled out in pain. Victoria then said, "Demons are not fragile like humans! We have tougher skin and we were bred for conflict! That is why demons are the superior race!" Victoria laughed as she threw Suko at Rina, and both of them flew backwards, hitting the wall so hard that they left a crack in the wall.
Victoria then looked at the remaining party members, which were Ezekiel, Mia, and Kairi. Victoria smiled, saying, "I can smell your fear! Tremble before the Formless one!" Mia stood up straight, saying, "No! Formless one, you shall bow down to the true Fallen Goddess, Mia!" Mia summoned a large army of skeletons, and Victoria said in a disappointed tone, "Skeletons? They have no flesh for me to rip off of them!" Victoria used powerful wind magic to blow away the army of skeletons, and Kairi used a magic wind shield to protect them from the impact of the wind. However, she wasn't fast enough to protect Mia from the blast, so Mia went flying across the throne room, hitting her head hard so hard that it knocked her out on impact. The wind shield took up everything she had just to protect everyone, and after she cast it, she fell to her knees, looking rather exhausted. The powerful winds from Victoria died down, and Kairi released the wind shield, but she couldn't cast any more magic. Ezekiel tried to cast some magic of his own, but Victoria simply deflected all of his magic with ease. Victoria then said, "Because you were nice to me, Ezekiel, I'll do you a favor and grant you a quick and painless death, but I'll play with your body afterward!" Ezekiel shivered in disgust, not wanting to know what exactly she would do to him. Ezekiel tried to put on a brave face and said, "I appreciate the offer, but I'm not going down so easily." Victoria then laughed and had a crazy smile once again and said, "Good! Good! Hunting is much more fun when the prey is struggling to survive!" Victoria then quickly lunged at Ezekiel, but Ezekiel barely dodged, and he was slightly nicked in the side. Ezekiel felt the sharp pain and he winced, but he knew he had to keep fighting. Victoria let out another powerful gust of wind, but Ezekiel let out his own wind magic at the same time. Victoria's wind magic overpowered Ezekiel's and pushed him backwards, but it dampened the effect of how far it pushed him back. Ezekiel stood up and made a fireball in his hand, but Victoria quickly used wind magic to blow out the fireball. Ezekiel stood there, shocked to see that she could react so quickly. How the hell do we beat someone like her?! She's like a final boss we're trying to fight with low-level gear! What the fuck are we supposed to do, thought Ezekiel.
These thoughts were interrupted by Tokuda suddenly jumping into the fray once again with his wounds fully healed. Tokuda struck Victoria, catching her off guard, but did little damage to her. A small cut was left on her, but Victoria simply looked at the cut and laughed, saying, "Impressive, war hero! I see now why they call you that!" Tokuda shouted, "Shut up, bitch!" Victoria and Tokuda got into it, with Tokuda and Victoria looking like blurs once again due to how fast their movements were. For a second, it seemed like Tokuda was gaining the upper hand, but Victoria smiled and punched Tokuda hard in the stomach. Tokuda leaned over, but he didn't fall. Victoria brought her knife down on Tokuda, but Tokuda dodged and put space between the two of them. Tokuda then crouched low and got into a runner's position, quietly said, "Ghost Walk" and disappeared in front of Victoria. Victoria smiled, sniffing the air, then reached out behind her and grabbed Tokuda by the throat before he could finish his attack, choking him a bit. Victoria then said, "Good try, war hero, but you can't fool my nose, you stinky, filthy human." Victoria tossed Tokuda to the side, and Tokuda felt his sword slip from his mouth's grip as he hit the throne that King Ziam sat on. Tokuda struggled to get up again, as he knew he couldn't fight for much longer. Victoria laughed, saying, "Yes! Struggle for life! Keep fighting until you have lost the will to live!" Tokuda slowly got off the ground, used his levitation magic to get his sword back in his mouth, and charged once again. One look could tell you that he was exhausted and beaten, but yet he kept fighting. Tokuda swung his katana, but Victoria easily dodged with no added effort needed. This occurred a few times, and Victoria said, "I've had enough fun with you, war hero. I want to play with another toy." Victoria quickly stabbed Tokuda in the stomach, and he doubled over in pain, somehow still standing on his feet. Victoria then pull the knife out and looked at Ezekiel, who still seemed ready to fight. However, Tokuda wasn't exactly finished. Tokuda started to fall over, but he used his sword to keep him on his feet. Desperately trying to keep fighting, he lodged his sword into the ground and held himself up by using his teeth to grip the sword's handle to keep him from falling to the ground. He looked like a right triangle with the way he had done it, and he used his inner strength to keep himself going. He pushed himself back onto his feet and charged at Victoria once again, but she used wind magic to shove him aside, saying, "I told you, war hero. I desire to play with another toy. You no longer amuse me." Tokuda hit the wall and didn't get back up, and Aqua quickly rushed over to heal Tokuda.
Victoria noticed that her toys weren't dying, and her question was answered when she saw Aqua healing the wound in Tokuda's stomach. Victoria laughed, saying, "You think you're healing your friends, but really, you just prolong their inevitable death!" Aqua trembled, desperately firing some water attacks at Victoria when she got close, but Victoria deflected them all too easily. Aqua kept trying to desperately heal Tokuda too, but Victoria suddenly grabbed Aqua by her throat and began choking her. Aqua realized just how powerless she really was as she struggled to break free from Victoria's hold. Victoria smiled, ready to play with Aqua a bit, but she was interrupted by a fireball from Ezekiel, which hit Victoria's back and said, "Please, just stop, Victoria! Why do you have to do this?" Victoria turned around with a smile, and said, "My personal reason is that I take pleasure in doing this! Watching everyone suffer, watching their eyes become lifeless, watch as they lose their souls, it's very pleasing to me!" Victoria then turned serious for a moment, saying, "But the main reason is that it is a demon general's duty to revive their master, the Demon God. And for that, we needed souls to harvest and collect to revive our master." Victoria, still holding onto Aqua, then said, "The Humanity War was the best thing that could've possibly happened to us! You stupid humans and demi-humans, fighting over the smallest thing! Poisoning that stupid human elder of yours was the best thing that I could've done!" Bear, who was still recovering from his injuries, shouted, "That was your doing!? You're the reason that the Humanity War was started in the first place?" Victoria laughed in a crazy manner, then said, "Of course! What better way is there to gather a bunch of souls than a war? It was so simple to do, even an idiot could've figured it out!" Tokuda was barely conscious when he asked, "You're the reason why I had to kill Red? I'll kill you, I swear that on my life." Victoria laughed, then said, "Your life is almost over, so you better make it quick, war hero! It's a shame you won't be able to see the second part of the Humanity War!"
Ezekiel quickly asked, "Second part of the Humanity War? What second part? That war ended ten years ago!" Victoria smiled creepily, saying, "Oh? But what will the humans say when their beloved king has been murdered in cold blood? And that 'Freedom Legion' of yours is looking awfully suspicious of murder when attempting to attack the king's castle. Surely the humans will want revenge against the demi-humans once more after this." Ezekiel then realized what happened, shouting, "You scheming bitch! You set us up! You set us all up!" Victoria smiled widely and said, "Of course! I'm a demon! It's what we do!"
Aqua was still attempting to free herself, but Victoria was just too strong. Victoria turned her attention back to Aqua and said, "This healer is rather annoying. If I let you live, you'll only continue to prolong the inevitable. Besides, killing the healer is a standard tactic in war." Aqua's eyes widened in fear, and she struggled one last time, but it was no use. Victoria smiled with glee, laughed, then pulled back her free hand into a fist, winding up a punch. Then, Victoria punched Aqua through her stomach, and Victoria's hand went right through Aqua's body. Ezekiel shouted, "NO! AQUA!" Aqua looked down, seeing that Victoria's arm was going through her body. Aqua coughed up blood, and Victoria, still laughing, pulled her arm out of Aqua and dropped her to the ground. As Aqua fell to the ground, everything felt like it was happening in slow motion. She saw Ezekiel running up to her, and his face was one full of shock, as his eyes were wide and full of disbelief. Bear was also in shock, as he seemed to try to be getting up to run to Aqua. Kairi was still kneeling down, exhausted from the wind shield, but Aqua heard her shout, "NO!" Suko and Rina were also running to her, with Rina showing some tears in her eyes. Mia just woke up from being unconscious, but when she saw Aqua get a hole punched in her by Victoria, she was stunned, so shocked that she couldn't move. At long last, Aqua hit the floor, bleeding out from the hole left in her stomach. She was looking at Tokuda now, who was next to her, still bleeding from his knife wound in his stomach. He looked horrified but tried his best to crawl to her.
Ezekiel was the first one to make it to Aqua. Victoria laughed and said, "Now that the healer is down, I'll take my time dealing with you all. Feel the despair as your friend slips away from you!" Ezekiel kneeled down and looked around, desperately thinking of a way to stop the bleeding. Ezekiel then remembered the healing potion that he had received from Aqua so long ago, and he pulled it out and dumped it on Aqua's wound. He waited in anticipation, waiting for the wound to close and for Aqua to smile and say that she was alright. But that never happened. The wound only closed a little bit, and Aqua still looked in pain. Ezekiel desperately tried to think of something else that would work, anything that could save her. Ezekiel's thoughts were interrupted when a hand touched his. He looked down and saw that it was Aqua's hand that was touching his, and Aqua silently said, "P-Please hold me." Ezekiel did just that, taking his hand into hers and then gently lifting Aqua's head using his other free hand. Ezekiel forced himself to smile, then said, "Save your energy, Aqua. We'll save you, one way or another." Aqua then quietly said, "I-I... always loved that about you, Ezekiel. Always a... positive thinker. B-But you already know... that deep down... I can't be saved." Ezekiel's forced smile faded, and he felt himself starting to tear up, realizing that she was right. Deep down, he knew that something like this couldn't be patched up simply. If a healing potion couldn't fix it, what could? Ezekiel then said, "I was supposed to show you the wonders of science. I've barely shown you anything. I'm sorry." Aqua felt a tear hit her face. She smiled then silently said, "You've shown me more than enough. I was happy.. to be with you... and to be with the others. So please... don't cry, Ezekiel."
Ezekiel looked down at the ground, tears still rolling down his face. He suddenly remembered all the time that he had spent with Aqua. The first time that he met her, the time he made an ice chest with her, the time that he made her ice cream, every memory with her came back to him. Ezekiel looked back at her, but to Ezekiel, she was a blur, as the tears in his eyes would not let him see her face clearly. Aqua wiped away his tears, and Ezekiel could see her face clearly once again. Ezekiel then said, "It's not fair. You were one of the nicest people I've ever known. You don't deserve this terrible fate. You deserve something much better, like living a long life and being with the one you love!" Aqua then smiled and quietly said, "I-If that is the case... then I can at least say... I did about half of that." Ezekiel looked up, confused about what Aqua said. Aqua then took her last breath and said, "I-I... love... you... Ezekiel." Ezekiel felt Aqua's grip on his hand loosen, and Aqua's hand then fell to the floor. Ezekiel could only stare in shock, motionless like a statue, as he held Aqua's lifeless body in his arms as his tears fell on her.
Another life was lost because I wasn't strong enough to save them. No matter what I do, no matter in this world or my old one, it doesn't seem to be enough. First her, now Aqua? Why does history repeat itself? Why does life have to be so cruel? Is this my punishment for something I did? Is this Hell, thought Ezekiel. The world around him seemed to fade away from existence, as he now only focused on the lifeless body of Aqua. He couldn't think straight anymore, as his thoughts were clouded by grief and anger at himself for being so weak. Tears continued to fall onto Aqua's body, and still, he held onto her, not wanting to accept the reality of what had happened before him. He could feel that his mind was close to breaking, and break it did, as he heard a loud shattering like glass being broken, and darkness quickly enveloped his mind.
Suddenly, the world around him faded away, and he found himself in a world of nothingness. Only pitch-black darkness is what he found around him, inside an infinite room of darkness. Ezekiel looked around, tears still falling from his face and still holding onto Aqua's body. Then, a deep, evil, powerful voice rumbled overhead, asking, "Do you want power, boy?"116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRBRWK1yAeW
