Marcus…
Upon being declared the winner of the match, no one among the audience rose up from their seats to clap or cheer on his victory. Rather, a painfully long silence arose as many of the people stared at him with fear in their eyes.
He had spoken with the voice of an all powerful god, rendered flesh from bone, broken the wills of his enemies, and destroyed everyone and everything in his path without a hint of remorse or mercy.
The only ones that did not share in that fear were those among the Forrosan people, and the three kings who had pledged themselves to him.
They alone met his eyes and a sense of pride was lit ablaze within them.
Yet it was not their congratulations he was interested in.
There was only one person he wanted to celebrate his victory with.
The very same person who freed him from that sense of defeat and spurred him forward to seize victory by the throat.
As he made his way to her, he heard the sound of cannon fire followed by mortars soaring into the sky and exploding with bursts of color.
Perhaps it was a means to ease the people’s uneasiness and tension as fireworks lit up the sky in vibrant light and sparks.
Yet as fantastical as they were to see, he ignored them as he made his way to Selene.
As he climbed the stairs leading up to her seating, the people leaving the stadium did not dare stand in his way as they gave him a wide berth, parting the moment they laid their eyes on him.
When he finally ascended to where she was sitting, her eyes fixated on the fireworks bursting in the sky above, with Artemis sitting next to her silently, he smiled as he approached her without her notice.
“Selene,” he called out to her and she turned around suddenly to look at him.
She had a rather mild smile on her face at first until it faded as her eyes widened slowly to stare at him in amazement.
“What? Is there something wrong?” he asked and she shook her head.
“No! No, its just you look different now. Happier even,” she said.
“I am, and its all thanks to you.”
“M-Me? What did I do?” she asked with a flustered expression on her face.
He put his hands in his pockets as he just stared at her for a moment before saying, “You cheered me on. You alone helped make sure I didn’t give up. If you hadn’t said anything…I might have given up right then and there.”
He then glanced over at Artemis for a moment as he made sure her attention was drawn entirely to the fireworks above before waving for Selene to walk over to him.
Although slightly confused, she walked over to him and asked, “Do you...have something you want to say to me?”
“Yeah, I do…,” he started but suddenly found the words lodged in his throat. He knew exactly what he wanted to say, but for some reason, he couldn’t bring himself to speak.
He has faced down dragons, warriors, assassins, gods, and the worst of his past, yet even after he had defeated all of them, the courage to speak his mind to Selene was absent.
He tried to force himself to speak, but before he could form the words, the image of Yukino’s face flashed across his mind.
He slowly turned his head away from her as he closed his mouth, feeling ashamed for thinking of another woman when faced with the one he was with in that very moment.
Selene then took a step forward, with a concerned look on her face as she said, “Whatever it is you need to say, you don’t need to force yourself. It can wait if its too much for you right now.”
She then gave him a reassuring smile as she started to turn around and look back at the fireworks.
Yet despite her telling him not to worry, he knew better.
If he didn’t tell her how he felt now, then he would never say it at all, and it would be like a crushing weight for the rest of his life.
“Selene,” he said, speaking with a more firm tone of voice as he clenched his hands into fists.
She met his eyes again as she answered him, “Yes?”
He took in a deep breath before saying, “Throughout this contest, I’ve fought through everything that might stand in my way. Whether it was in the field of battle, or just dealing with my past life, I’ve destroyed all of those obstacles, all so that I could finally move on with my life and live it out peacefully.”
He took a step closer to her until he was standing less than an arms reach away from her as he said, “Standing here now, after I’ve won, because of you, I can finally move on with my life.”
Selene went still as she locked eyes with him, patiently awaiting the next words that would come out of his mouth.
“I want to live out my life with you at my side Selene. I want to wake up in my bed and see you there next to me. I want you to be the person that warms up my life every day I return home,” he said to her as he took another step closer towards her and her face became flushed red.
“No more hesitating...no more second thoughts...no more mixed feelings,” he said as he pulled his hands out of his pockets and wrapped them around her, pulling her in and holding her against his chest.
She let out a slight yelp but didn’t push away from him and instead reciprocated it as she wrapped her arms around him as well.
She met his eyes as he asked, “What do you say? Wanna make it official?”
She started stuttering nervously as she said, “Y-You mean...like boyfriend and girlfriend?”
He gave her a wide smile as he said, “Yes, exactly.”
She seemed a little lost for words on how to answer, with her eyes darting around, her mind clearly running a mile a minute trying to find the best response, yet she did not try to separate herself from him.
He quietly chuckled as he watched her struggle to find the right words just as he did, so to help clear her head and focus, he leaned in and kissed her.
She suddenly went still, but as he held the kiss there for a moment longer, she tightened her embrace around him as she kissed him back.
When he finally pulled away from her, she let out a slight gasp as she was slightly out of breath.
“So do I have your answer?” he asked.
“Yes!” she said excitedly with a smile on her face.
Then, without warning, he grabbed below her rear as he hoisted her off the ground and wrapped her legs around his waist.
She let out a startled squeak and frantically wrapped her arms around his head for stability as he laughed and looked up at her.
She then pulled herself away from him and laughed along with him.
Moyako…
While she was leaving the arena floor, she noticed that Malthael had also been revived after the battle had come to an end, yet she didn’t have the energy to go after him and ask what he intended to do now that he was no longer under Marcus’s control.
Upon seeing him leap into the air and disappear, she let out an exhausted sigh and went to the waiting room to change into some new clothes.
While she was trying to clean off the ash and blood on her skin, every time she touched the scar on her chest, even though she was keeping it from opening up, her magic couldn’t erase it or repair it right away like it usually did.
No matter how much she tried to force her magic to get rid of it, regardless of reversing the flow of time through her body, it was like a curse, a constant reminder of how completely she failed.
So rather than rely on magic, she found some bandages and gauze and wrapped up the area before leaving the arena to go look for Marcus.
Even in the face of absolute defeat, she didn’t want to give up on him just yet.
As she stumbled her way up the many stairs to where Marcus had gone to, the blood loss from her wound, paired with the extreme exhaustion of her reserves of energy from her fight, made her feel light headed and weak.
It felt as if all the will and drive that had, that she had depended on to push herself to act throughout the entire contest, had since fallen apart.
It was taking everything she had just to hold on to her will to live.
A part of her knew that it wouldn’t take much more to drive her into complete hopelessness.
One more push...and it was over.
When she finally reached the end of her climb to try and talk with Marcus one last time, her eyes fell upon him as he held Selene off the ground, embracing her completely with a kiss, and laughing happily together.
That should be you mother…not her…, she thought to herself as the hand she was using to prop herself up and remain standing slid down from the wall and fell at her side.
The loss of blood, paired with the overwhelming stress she was faced with, caused her to faint from exhaustion as she fell down the stairs and hit her head.
The force of the impact from the fall was enough to kill her, and although the people around her rushed to her side to see if she was alright, the small scraps of her magic activated to bring her back to life, replenishing the blood she lost, and rousing her awake once again.
Her eyes opened to see the people around her trying to help but she smacked their hands away as she slowly made her way out of the arena.
While walking through the streets of Lycea, returning to her room at the Inn she was staying at, she heard the sound of someone chasing after her but didn’t have the energy to turn around and find out who it was.
“Moyako!” Camilla shouted once she had caught up to her.
Hearing her voice made her stop for a moment and listen to her.
“Yes?” she responded weakly.
A sense of confidence could be heard in Camilla’s voice as she said, “I may have lost my chance to face you during the contest because of my draw, but I haven’t lost to you yet! I still intend to challenge-”
“Don’t bother…,” Moyako said as she interrupted her with a dismissive wave of her hand.
“B-but I…” Camilla tried to say but Moyako shook her head.
“I don’t care anymore… You fought in this contest to earn my assistance and I rejected you, thinking...that I would win against Marcus. To tell you the truth...I never intended to help you with your kingdom because I don’t care for this world if my mother isn’t in it. However...now that I’ve lost, I don’t care anymore,” she said as she turned around to face her Goddaughter, who was looking at her with a confused and heartbroken expression, yet upon seeing Moyako’s face, she covered her mouth as she gasped.
Tears fell down Moyako’s cheeks as she said, “Nothing matters to me anymore…so I’ll do whatever you ask. My life is forfeit anyways...”