Path Of Blood - 93 Chapter 85
(A/N: Before you read the chapter I need to let you guys know that my power is still out, so I’m currently staying at a friend’s house. The schedule of the release will change from 10 a.m. GMT +8 to 5 p.m. GMT +8 For a little while. All that aside enjoy the chap.)
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She was all alone from birth…
Not even her parents would look at her filled with love. She was stared at with fear, Her intelligence and sharp wit was unlike any kid in the village. So she was shunned.
All she had as a young girl was hate and the will to survive. She wanted to share her knowledge, to share the joy of truth…
And yet no on ever loved her…
She screamed towards anyone to look at her. Begging to be loved, She wanted to belong. To fit in with her family. She deeply wished that she was the same as them, ignorant towards the truth.
She thought that she could, but she was very wrong. When the Grimm attacked, she was shoved towards the gaping maw of despair. They looked at her as if they don’t know her.
One thought raced across that girls mind,
‘Hate’.
‘I HATE THEM ALL’
‘I HATE THEM ALL! I WANT TO KILL THEM!I HATE THEM ALL! I WANT TO KILL THEM!I HATE THEM ALL! I WANT TO KILL THEM!I HATE THEM ALL! I WANT TO KILL THEM!I HATE THEM ALL! I WANT TO KILL THEM!I HATE THEM ALL! I WANT TO KILL THEM!I HATE THEM ALL! I WANT TO KILL THEM!I HATE THEM ALL! I WANT TO KILL THEM!I HATE THEM ALL! I WANT TO KILL THEM!I HATE THEM ALL! I WANT TO KILL THEM!I HATE THEM ALL! I WANT TO KILL THEM!I HATE THEM ALL! I WANT TO KILL THEM!I HATE THEM ALL! I WANT TO KILL THEM!I HATE THEM ALL! I WANT TO KILL THEM!I HATE THEM ALL! I WANT TO KILL THEM!I HATE THEM ALL! I WANT TO KILL THEM!’
As she stared at her parents lifeless corpses, she could only see blame in their eyes. Not an ounce of love. Not a single drop.
Did she love them? She thought to herself.
“I don’t know…
But in the end they were still the ones who gave me life. This miserable and accursed life.”
As life slowly drained out of her, she heard a voice. A calling… A purpose.
“Come with me… I can grant you what you wish for the most.”
She responded to that voice, weirdly enough it wasn’t drowned out by the seemingly endless rain.
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Aergia looked towards the two Maidens. The both of them raised their arms, as if telling her to come at them.
“Have you ever experienced that feeling… that welled up inside your heart and filled you with indescribable pain?”
The two stared straight at her. They both responded in unison. “Yes, I have.”
Aergia sighed and looked down on the ground, “Maybe I was looking to be saved. To find a purpose for all this madness.
But it did make me want to go on living. For the first time, I had clarity. I had purpose. I… had a goal. A feeling I’d never had before.”
She laughed softly, “It’s weird… You two were the first people I could talk to like this.
It feels like we share similar souls. That’s why I need to destroy you. A fearsome reminder of what might’ve been if I was saved…”
She looked towards the gray skies and smiled, “To prove to the world that I’m not weak. That I don’t need any kind of saving at all.”
Neo was the first to make a move, A small step turning into a full Sprint. She pulled out the needle sword from her umbrella and slashed towards Aergia.
“That’s right! Fight me! I am for the two of you, a scary reminder of what you to could’ve been. If he wasn’t there. If you were all alone, stuck inside the prison of your own mind!”
Solitas morphed and turned into a shield, To block Neo’s Strike. Cinder immediately followed up, Multiple Balls of Flame assaulted Aergia in every angle.
In an instant Aergia morphed her weapon into a katana.
“Pull from Record 8: Kazama Haruki.” She parried off the attacks of the two, and she smirked towards their direction.
“Let’s make this a little interesting shall we?” She said as she adopted Haruki’s stance. Neo and Cinder opened their eyes wide, But soon followed by a glare.
“Let’s see if you two could handle fighting your Lil ol’ hubub. Hahahahahahaha!!” She charged towards their direction. A swift stab in Neo’s direction, followed by a spinning strike, and a leg sweep. Aergia pulled off those moves in quick succession. Although it lacks the normal vigor when Haruki strikes. Her movements were a close second to his.
Neo blocked the strikes perfectly. She jumped upwards and flipped in the air, kicking Aergia in the shin.
(You may execute his moves flawlessly, but in the end an imitation is still a flawed copy at best.)
Cinder stood besides Neo as she covered the area with glass shards.
“And besides, I have always wanted to pay that bastard back. And you’re just the perfect punching bag.” She snapped her fingers and the entire area exploded.
Neo followed by freezing the entire area, as the smoke receeded Aergia was still standing. Although she had Burns and her clothes were a little tattered she was still smiling jovially.
Neo narrowed her eyes and Electrified the ground. Aergia jumped and morphed her weapon to a spear, “Pull from Records 11: Pyrrha Nikos.” She threw the spear towards the two’s direction.
She created a bunch of magic circles around the two and summoned rock spikes. The spikes shot forth trying to fill the two with holes. She speed through the debris and picked up her weapon which turned into Gauntlets. “Record 15: Yang Xiao Long.”
She barraged Neo with punches, But she narrowly dodged all of them, without a fraction of mistake or misstep. She spun around Aergia like an agile ballerina, She hooked her leg on Aergia’s neck and flipped her body, slamming it to the ground.
She then put her palms into Aergia’s face and channeled lightning. Fierce electric currents coursed through Aergia’s body. Her body convulsed, and yet she gripped Neo’s hand and fiercely slammed her forehead into hers.
She kicked Neo in the stomach, She quickly stood up, blood covering her face, Yet the same crazed grin was plastered in her face.
“I’m not one for fights, But this does bring a smile to my face.” Aergia said as she morphed her gauntlets into a sword. “Pull From Record 3: Eris.”
She charged towards cinder’s direction. She sent a kick towards her jaw, Cinder tilted her head to the side and Slammed her fist on Aergia’s stomach. It made her step back a few meters. She slashed downwards, she was met by Cinder’s Glass blades. Every exchange would break her sword that was made of glass.
She held Aergia’s hand and flipped her from behind. After slamming her opponent down she moved back and snapped her fingers to detonate the glass shards.
*Boom!!*
Multiple explosions rang across the area. This time however there was a barrier shielding Aergia. She was smirking, “Don’t you think by now I don’t know how you do things?”
“Pull from Record 10: Cinder Fall.” She said asher weapon morphed into a bow, and a sword on the other hand. With a taunting smile she closed the distance between them. She threw the bow towards cinder’s face. She ducked, but before she could counter a blade slashed towards her upwards. She could only take it and use her aura to defend.
She rolled on the ground, when she regained her footing Aergia was already on her next barrage of attacks. The tried to party the strikes, but Aergia swatted her fists away and kept hammering cinder with her blade. She jumped and gave cinder a roundhouse kick in the face. She tumbled across the ground.
Aergia was looking down on her opponent, “How does it feel?” She said as she stabbed Cinder in the shoulder.
“Aaarrrghhh!!” Cinder howled in pain. Aergia kicked her in the stomach once more, But as she was about to strike her down. A blade light out of nowhere stabbed through her heart.
Aergia looked towards her assailant and grinned. “Pull From Record 9: Neo Politan.”
She held the blade and banged her head on Neo once more. She held Neo in place and kept assaulting her with her fists. Neo’s aura flickered. Aergia took this chance to punch her in the guts.
She was thrown and slammed towards a nearby building. This caused her to puke blood. It almost knocked her out too. It felt like Aergia was just toying with the two of them.
Aergia just stood still, a good distance from the two maidens. “Is this all the Maidens could offer? I fucking expected more of a fight.
Well since all of us are now on listening terms, I want to ask you weaklings. Why do you struggle to fight change?”
She brushed her hair backwards and continued, “Why can’t you see that we’re purifying this broken world? To Rid all of this pesky squabbles. A Paradise, where everything is equal! A Brand New World under our reign, there will be no more conflict. Mankind will finally be able to call down the gods. So we could take their powers for our own, And Take more world’s like this! Imperfect and Flawed! And what would be left is a grateful world, filled with life.”
She held Neo’s face close and spoke, “Don’t you see? We’re the heroes! All your doing is delaying the inevitable!
But don’t worry I won’t kill you two, Were quite similar after all, you and I.”
Neo held her ground and spat blood on Aergia’s face. Aergia frowned and kicked her in the face.
She wiped the bloodstain off of her face, “I will break down everything you stand for.
Starting with everything you care about.”
Cinder was clutching her shoulders, “Frankly dear, I don’t give a damn.” She winced from the pain and yet she mustered up the strength to Make one final pillar of flame, catching Aergia off guard, Burning her alive.
Cinder fell down on the ground panting Heavily. Yet the fire in her eyes hasn’t been exhausted. She glared at the tall pillar of flames. Neo was the same.
Laughter echoed from the flames, and once the flames disappeared Aergia stood there slowly regenerating the fatal damage. “Don’t you see? It’s futile! Haven’t I proved it to you awhile ago?”
Aergia looked at the two of them, but all she got was silence. “Stop looking at me with those eyes!
I don’t need your sympathy! Why do you still keep fighting!? What do you get out of this!? Isn’t this just an excuse to pretend that you’re good!?
Why do you keep fighting for that man!? What has he brought you? Aren’t you still suffering from the pain? Has your life gotten better since then?
Fucking answer me and stop looking at me with those eyes!!!”
She screamed towards the two. Panting in exhaustion not from the fight.
Neo struggled to sit up, she leaned on a nearby debris and spoke, “He was always alone, always by himself. Never anyone to share the burden of his thoughts and actions. It was as if he was living in a different world. He was that kind of man.
I could see it in his eyes, struggling to see reality for what it really is. But not even for a second did he stop caring for others.”
Aergia raised her eyebrows, “And that makes it better?”
Neo shook her head, “My point is, He tries to fix everything. Even though the one that needs fixing the most is himself.”
Aergia could only laugh and cover her face with her palms. She morphed her weapon into her blade.
“Solitas, Clear all the cache.” Her weapon turned into a hovering blue ball near her shoulder. Magic circles appeared beneath the two.
“The words that we can’t say… It hurts doesn’t it? Like fools on a circus.
A purpose? Stop kidding yourself, you’re just filling that endless empty hole with ideas you barely give a damn about.”
Cinder said, But Aergia scoffed. She snapped her fingers and the Circle disappeared.
“We’re not done here. The next time we meet, Will be the last you hear of the kingdom of Vale.” She looked behind her as she started walking away.
“If you survive this, find me. I will keep telling you two the same thing. I am your worst enemy, yet I’m the one who understands you the most. Because you And I are cut from the same cloth. No matter where you run I will always catch up.
The two laid on the ground stared at her departing back. It looked so lonely and desolate. Like their past. Before he came for them…
When there was no light could be found, where bitterness and anger, were the only thing they know to fill that gaping void.