Azrael…
The arena fell completely silent as the audience stared upon Marcus’s mutilated corpse as it fell flat upon Ares’ body, of who tried frantically to peel himself away out of startled panic.
Frosk, Nashandra, and King Razel Aldia as well stared at Marcus’s garish form in wonder and astonishment as they heard the voice of their god speak through him.
“Is-Is he truly-?” the king asked as he struggled to form the words.
“Yes. He is the successor of Dagon and the God of Wrath,” Azazel confirmed.
Hearing this, Frosk and Nashandra both stared at him as if they could still hardly believe what they were hearing.
All the while, King Razel’s arms began to shake as he muttered to himself, “To think that...upon first meeting him and listening to his proposition, I had turned him away. My first thought was to deny his offer when I was met with the very god I had pledged eternal service to. If not for your intervention, I would have-”
But Azazel held up his hand to cut him off and said, “It was a trivial matter, of which I am certain he shares the same opinion of. In fact...as he is now, I doubt he is even aware that he is our god. The way he is right now, he might as well be as indistinguishable from a human.”
As he said this, he was staring down at Marcus’s body and getting impatient.
Why is the spatial battlefield’s healing magic not going into effect?
But then, he focused his sight on his soul and felt a pit of despair open up within him as he realized Marcus’s soul was absent from his body.
“Oh no…,” Azazel muttered as he gripped the railing in front of his seat and jumped onto the arena floor after him.
Moyako…
Without a moment’s hesitation, she jumped onto the arena floor after her father, and in the corner of her eye, she spotted two others who had done the same.
Azazel, Forrosa’s patron advisor and Selene.
“Stay back! Both of you stay far away from him!” she shouted and they both paused yet Selene stared at her as if she were speaking nonsense.
However, looking at Ares as he tried to walk away from Marcus after getting out from under his body, already appeared sickly as his skin was turning a sickly shade of pale green.
Then he suddenly covered his mouth with his hands and fell to his knees as he vomited on the ground.
Shit. I thought he was supposed to be immune from the effects of his own weapons. Looks like that isn’t completely the case in regards to radiation poisoning.
“Ares! Come here, now!” Moyako ordered him and rather than argue with her, he immediately did what she asked.
She swept her hand through the air and reduced him to a pile of ashes in an instant, to which the audience shouted in surprise.
She then snapped her fingers, and a pillar of flames erupted from the pile of ashes.
Within the flames, Ares stepped forward and looked at himself, surprised to find that he had been brought back to life, free from the radiation poisoning.
“Thank you-” he tried to say, but Moyako had grabbed him by the throat and started choking him.
She then pulled him close as she said, “If you ever use nuclear weapons like that again, I will find you and put you down for good.”
With a flick of her wrist, she sent him flying into the arena wall and he slammed into it with a loud crash.
Selene saw this play out and had a nervous and angry expression on her face as she started walking towards Marcus again.
Moyako glared at her and said, “I thought I told you to stay back! Do you want to die?!”
Selene tilted her head in angered confusion before her armor appeared on her body as she pulled out her sword and replied, “You had best explain your intentions right now Moyako. I will not treat you with the same kindness that Marcus has if you refuse.”
“I don’t have time for this,” Moyako muttered to herself impatiently as she snapped her fingers at Selene and she was sent crashing into the arena floor as well.
Not wanting to anger her by getting closer, Azazel spoke from a distance and asked, “What are your intentions if I may ask?”
“Marcus’s body has been bombarded by radiation and I need to save him. Is that good enough for you?” she said as she reached his corpse and knelt down to pick him up.
“O-Of course. Please save him,” he pleaded with her as he bowed his head to her.
I fully intend to.
She then teleported the both of them into a room in the infirmary and gently set him onto the bed.
But the moment she laid him down, she started to feel dizzy herself as the radiation was beginning to affect her as well.
She shook her head as she focused her attention on healing her father and placed her hands on his chest.
She would need to reduce him to ashes to bring him back to life, however therein lied a problem with that.
Both her father and herself were immune to heat and could not be burned. She wasn’t fully convinced that her power could even work to bring him back to life but she had to try.
A stream of flames was then released from her palms and washed over his chest, more than hot enough to melt steel in a matter of seconds, yet it did nothing to his corpse.
She grit her teeth in anger and desperation as she increased the temperature of her flames to see if maybe there was a certain point where his immunity would reach a limit but it would not budge.
“Dammit, come on!” she shouted as her flames were not enough to burn him but she then saw a crack form on one of his obsidian bones.
“No! No no no no no!” she stammered as she toned it down but realized that no matter how hot she made her flames, it would never be enough to burn him to ashes and bring him back to life.
Just as she was about to pull her hands away from him, the door to the room flew open as Selene stood with her sword out and stared at Moyako.
“Are you...trying to kill him?” she asked as she gripped her sword with both hands and approached her with rage in her eyes.
Dean…
Throughout the entirety of the contest and every battle he had witnessed during it, he had not expect things to reach such a level of absurdity resulting in planets and infinite planes of battle being annihilated.
Yet the least of his expectations was witnessing Marcus pull out a victory from the grip of death against a god of war and be reduced to a corpse like something that came out of his worst nightmares.
He had never seen a person’s body be reduced to such a state and still continue fighting to the end.
To make matters even more stressful, not only did the advisor of Forrosa chase after him to see if he was still alive and okay, but Selene and Moyako as well went after him, with the former being sent flying into a wall.
Seeing this, he had rushed to the infirmary after Moyako in case a fight between her and Selene broke out. Surprisingly, Artemis had started running alongside him as they made their way there.
Yet just as the two of them had stepped into the hallway leading into the room Marcus and Moyako were in, Selene was sent crashing through the wall and fell to the ground.
Before she could stand up and go after Moyako once again, a mass of flames and ashes appeared and took the form of the same warrior who had been summoned against Nashandra.
Akio Takahashi stood above Selene and grabbed her by the throat before pressing her against the wall and kept her pinned against it.
Seeing this, Artemis shouted in anger and tried to go after Moyako as well to defend her daughter only to be grabbed by the back of the neck and slammed into the ground by Alan Mercer as his spirit held Hoffnung in his hands and raised it above her head.
Before Dean could even think of doing anything, another summoned warrior appeared, Julio Fernandez, as he pressed the barrel of one of his revolvers at Dean’s head. He tilted his head up and stared at him, as if daring him to move as he pulled the hammer of the revolver back and pressed him against the wall as well.
In a matter of seconds, Moyako had taken all three of them hostage to keep them away from Marcus.
“I told you to stay away from him or you would die. Did you think I was threatening your lives? No, I was warning you because the radiation emitting from Marcus’s body might kill you. I told you fools to stay away for your own safety,” Moyako said as she was looking down at Marcus and trying to burn him.
“Even if I were to believe that were the case, then why are you trying to burn Marcus?” Selene asked.
“Were you not paying attention when I burned Ares to ashes? I can bring people back from the dead when I burn them to ashes but...I can’t burn Marcus. Now matter how hot I make my flames, I can’t burn his flesh,” she said, with her voice sounding more and more desperate by the second.
Why was she getting so emotional over him? What could this man mean to her that a woman like her would be this bothered by seeing him in this state?
“Can I lend you a hand then?” said Camilla as she walked past Dean, giving him an amused smile as she saw him pinned against the wall as she said, “Hey little brother.”
“H-Hi…” he said, with his voice trailing off as he noticed the color of her eyes, which were once green, were now blood red.
What the hell happened to you…?
“Camilla? No, stay back! The radiation-”
“Yes, I’m aware. The ionization of particles resulting in an emission of energy as waves. I can negate that,” she said as she stepped into the room.
She then looked at Moyako and frowned as she said, “The radiation is going to kill you eventually if you don’t get it removed from your body.”
“I know that but who cares, I’m immortal. Just do whatever you can to heal him!” Moyako shouted at her, to which Camilla’s eyes widened slightly but she nodded.
“I’ll have to push time through his body to reverse the effects since no amount of healing magic would be enough to fix what’s been done to him,” she said as she held out her arm and Marcus’s body began to change as it reversed the damage that had been inflicted on him and his body had been put back together.
When he had been completely healed and back to normal, Camilla put down her hand and sighed, “He should be fine now...oh…”
“What? What’s wrong?” Moyako asked as Camilla was staring at something near Marcus’s waist. Moyako followed her eyes until her face suddenly went red and she shouted in a strange manner and quickly looked away.
She then realized that Camilla was still staring and smacked her in the face, of which, much to Dean’s surprise, actually connected and knocked her down to the floor while Moyako quickly grabbed a blanket and put it over Marcus’s lower body.
Camilla shook her head as she got back on her feet and looked at Marcus once again as she said, “I’m impressed that even after dying, he’s still holding onto that sword...wait, that’s your sword. Why is he holding onto your sword?”
“It still belongs to him by right of being the head of the Kaneko family. I stole it from his house and brought it with me before I came here to Erebus,” she explained.
“That’s neat and all...but can you please let us go?” Dean asked nervously.
“Hm? Oh...sure,” she said with a disappointed tone in her voice.
She snapped her fingers and Alan, Akio, and Julio disappeared.
As soon as they did, Selene got to her feet, still angry, but somewhat more understanding of what was going on.
“So…that radiation was going to kill me if I came too close to him?” she asked.
“Yes. Radiation poisoning is an extremely excruciating way to die. I may not like you, but I’m certain that Marcus would be mad if you died because I didn’t keep your dumb ass away,” Moyako said with a bitter tone.
What the hell is the deal with these two…?
Before he could take the time to figure that out, he heard footsteps from behind him and turned around to watch as Thalia, Alta, and Fayebel were running towards the room.
“Is my brother okay? Is Marcus okay?” Thalia asked frantically.
“He’s in there. He should be fine, he’s just asleep,” Dean said as he waved to the room.
Thalia walked past him and went into the room, looking up at Moyako and staring at her for a brief moment before she stood at Marcus’s side and put her hands on the bed.
“Y-You saved him?” she asked her, to which Moyako shook her head.
“No. My power can’t work on him properly, but Camilla did. You should say thank you to her,” Moyako said politely with a faint smile on her face.
“Thank you,” Thalia said before turning back to look at her brother.
“Of course!” Camilla replied as she beamed from praise.
Thalia’s hand grazed Marcus’s hand and a sharp gasp left her mouth as she said, “He feels cold...and hollow. I can’t feel anything from him.”
“What…?” Moyako muttered as she looked at Marcus again before a look of dread flashed across her face as she rushed to the opposite side of the bed.
“What’s happening to him?!” Selene asked.
“I-I can’t feel his soul!” Moyako shouted as her hands hovered over Marcus’s body frantically.
“What-I…I thought I…,” Camilla stammered as she took a step back and covered her mouth in horror as she realized that even her magic didn’t save him the way that she had intended it to.
Despite all their efforts, Marcus Wright’s body remained as lifeless as it had been when he had been brought into the room, and none of them could do a thing to fix it.
Thalia…
This is my fault…
This is all my fault…
I couldn’t bring myself to support my brother any further and this is where it led...with him lying dead in front of me.
Damn it.
Damn it.
Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it.
She wanted to pull out her hair, cry, and scream her heart out at the fact that she couldn’t do anything to bring her brother back and she blamed herself for it all.
The logical part of her told her she was being ridiculous for blaming herself but the horrible emotions flooding her head was drowning that out that she couldn’t seem to place that blame on anyone else.
If she hadn’t felt this way then maybe…
What am I even thinking…? I couldn’t have done anything to stop this from happening regardless! Why am I so weak?!
While these thoughts were flooding her head, a strange scent reached her nose and she looked down at her hand to see that the ring on her finger that limited her spiritual energy and kept her magic sealed was steaming.
I...I have to try something. Anything at all.
Thalia then turned and looked at Dean, Artemis, and Selene and said, “I’m going to try something, so I think you should leave for a moment. I don’t want to hurt you.”
As Selene noticed Thalia’s fingers brush against her ring, she understood what was going on as she teleported the three of them away.
Thalia then looked up at Camilla and said, “I don’t know how this might effect you, but you should probably go as well.”
Camilla did not smile as she looked her in the eyes and answered, “There is nothing you can do to me that might harm me. I will be just fine.”
She then looked at Moyako and said nothing. If her hunch about her was right, then she would be alright too.
Thalia took in a deep breath as she prepared herself before taking the ring off of her finger as the ends of her hair was lit ablaze and hellfire filled the room.
Camilla grit her teeth in pain but stood firm in the room in spite of it, with red lightning flowing through her body.
She then looked at Moyako once again and said, “I don't know if this will help but please do whatever you can. Just save my brother.”