Chapter 223: Your Worst Nightmare
[Music recommendation: Yoruichi’s Shunko: Raijin Senkei「Bleach TYBW Season 3 Episode 13 OST」Epic Orchestral Cover]
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With both Ivan’s and Evelyn’s senses heightened from their awakening, they became acutely aware of every dark entity lurking in and around the palace. Before anyone could react, the pair turned, each looking over the other’s shoulder.
"Time for payback," Evelyn murmured, her gaze locking onto the vile witch Viva, the woman responsible for nearly costing her Ivan’s life.
Meanwhile, Ivan’s eyes fixed on the grotesque excuse for a man, if one could still call him that, the one who had dared to lay a hand on his Eve. "You stole the words right from my lips, baby."
With their eyes blazing with the fire of retribution, the two launched themselves in opposite directions, ready to bring an end to it all.
Soon, the people around them watched with wide eyes as Ivan seized a man by the throat and slammed him into the ground with such force that it left a crater where he landed.
When they snapped their heads in the opposite direction, they found Evelyn with a fistful of Viva’s hair, yanking the witch around before slamming her into the ground so hard it rattled the rubble beneath them. Viva’s shriek tore through the air, and everyone watching swallowed hard at the sight of the deadly pair, each dealing with their targets like they were taking out the trash.
Damien let out a low, impressed whistle. "Well, well, well....can’t say I’m shedding tears. Not a single one."
Cece chimed in, "I concur. Serves them right and far worse."
"His Highness is famous for his torture methods. Valen’s evening is far from over," Alex added with a smirk.
"What can I say? My star pair have learnt from excellence," Dante said, flashing his megawatt grin.
But they didn’t get to enjoy the fights for long. The ground rumbled, cracked open, and because the night apparently wasn’t chaotic enough, the army of the dead clawed its way back up and immediately charged at them.
Edward stared at them, flabbergasted, "What....what is that?" He and Damien had missed this earlier disaster while dealing with Evelyn, and now they looked like two tourists who had taken the wrong turn.
Dante sighed as if he’d been waiting all evening for someone to ask, "Courtesy of our resident evil witch. Welcome to the hellhole we’ve been babysitting." He unsheathed his sword and added, "Oh, and in case you’re wondering, they don’t die from normal weapons. You’ll need to charge your weapons from Lumen magic. Preferably quickly."
With that, he turned to Oliver. "Lord Oliver, if you would do the honours, please?"
Without a moment of delay, Oliver’s eyes flashed pale green, raising his hands, he ran it through Dante’s sword, charging it with his lumen magic and with that Dante leapt to where others were, and in one swift move he sliced through two of the dead soldiers coming at one of the academy students.
It was then that Edward noticed something different about these ones. Instead of bleeding like the others, the dead soldier simply crumbled, their bodies disintegrating into drifting ashes.
Damien’s lips turned up in a wicked grin, "At least they’re tidy. I was really not in the mood for zombie slime tonight."
With that, he swung his twin swords through the air before raising them in front of Edward with a grin. "Now let’s get this done with, shall we?"
Edward’s lips curved into a smirk, his eyes flashing pale blue. Lifting both hands, he charged his blades with light magic.
He then did the same thing to his own swords and, as if moving in perfect sync, they surged towards the dead soldiers creeping up behind Cece, cutting down one each with clean precision.
Cece’s brows shot up in surprise as she took in the unexpected camaraderie between Damien and Edward, a sight rare in itself, especially where Damien was concerned, for he never paired with anyone other than Ivan.
She watched them swiftly cut down more soldiers surging towards them. She was about to ask someone to charge her blade with magic as well, when another soldier lunged at her, and this time it was Councilwoman Amara who struck first, tackling the threat aside before barking, "Quit slacking off unless you want to be killed!"
Before Cece could respond, Lucian appeared next to Cece and charged her blade with his light magic. "Lady Cece, it seems, your old friend has decided to pay you a visit again," he smirked at her before pointing in the opposite direction, upon seeing her give him a confused look.
Turning around, she heard Lucian add sarcastically, "And I must say....he looks far too.....thrilled with this little reunion." Her crimson eyes landed on the man named Jareld, who turned into another darkrot, glaring at her with a wild grin on his distorted, grey face.
"Of course, he ended up like this. With how deep he was in that witch’s mess, I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner," Cece muttered under her breath. And before she knew it, the darkrot turned Jareld surged forward with his deadly blackened claws, but before he could get close, he received a hard kick on his solar plexus, sending him crashing against the ground. With her eyes shining bright red, she charged at him.
As the battle between the dead and the living raged on, elsewhere Ivan had slammed Valen into the ground with such force that a cloud of dust billowed up from the crater.
A painful groan slipped from Valen’s lips as, for a few seconds, he couldn’t quite register what had struck him.
All he remembered was the burst of bright golden light that had erupted before the Vault of Ages, where he had already spent precious moments recovering from his repeated clashes with Damien. Valen was reckless, but he was still sharp enough to sense danger thrice in a row today.
The first was when he heard the blast from the other wing of the castle, powerful enough to shake the very ground beneath them.
The second came while he was facing that maniacal mad wolf, with whom he had been clashing again and again. As he fought Damien, he realised that rather than trying to defeat him outright, he might attempt to turn him into one of them....if he could manage it, that is. Damien would make a formidable addition to their growing dark ones.
But before he could drive his infected claws into Damien, the mad wolf seemed to read his intent. Damien struck him with a brutal blow, knocking him momentarily unconscious. That was when the lumen, Edward, joined him. Valen heard faint voices as he groaned in pain and forced his eyes open.
Before his vision could settle, he sensed something so strong and unbearably pure that every cell in his corrupted body urged him to run as far and as fast as possible from whatever was coming. He didn’t know what it was, only that it was the most intense surge of danger he had ever felt.
Instinct took over, and he lurched to his feet and bolted in the opposite direction with everything he had, barely escaping the bright golden blast that erupted seconds later.
Even from a considerable distance, the blast still caught up with him, hurling him into the air and knocking him unconscious. As a result, he missed most of Evelyn’s awakening and everything that followed. When the ground finally stopped rumbling, he knew he needed to warn his mother and escape before they faced the full brunt of whatever had been unleashed. Forcing himself upright, he headed in the direction where he believed he would find her, unaware that fate was guiding him straight into the jaws of the very beast he had once dared to provoke, convinced he had finally rid himself of it.
Now, as he lay on the ground with his throat still trapped in the unrelenting grip of whatever had struck him moments ago, he wondered who it could possibly be, as he hadn’t even had the chance to see the person who had hit him so hard.
Whining in pain, he forced his hollow, blood-red eyes open. His blurry vision slowly sharpened, and as the dust around them began to settle, the first thing he saw was a pair of molten orange eyes burning like hot lava. Valen’s own narrowed eyes widened as more of those blazing eyes came into view, and dread started to coil around his hazy senses.
"You... you are..." he croaked in his distorted voice.
Only then did the corner of Ivan’s lips curl into a cold, lethal smirk as he tilted his head ever so slightly. "Yes... Your. Worst. Nightmare."
With that, Ivan rose to his feet, lifting the stunned Valen effortlessly in his tight grip. He raised his free hand and delivered another devastating blow straight to Valen’s twisted face, sending him crashing hard into a nearby tree.
