"Before anything, I need to know when you will be leaving this island," Serenity asked.
Ash looked at the sky outside before answering , "Considering the time, maybe five hours."
Serenity raised her voice, shocked after hearing how long he will stay.
"Five hours?! That's too little..."
Ash was startled by her, yet he was smiling; he rubbed her head with his big hands, then placed both of them in his pockets.
"There is nothing I can do; I am their ruler, after all...The three days to rest were proposed by the grand elder, my grandfather. They said for me to rest, but in fact they wanted any excuse to send me away, all so they could do as they like without my interference.... who made the rules like that and who made me stick to it...?"
"I see... the stronger you get, the more envious people around you will get, considering they think you hit the jackpot, not knowing the truth. Truly, stupidity is a grave sin." She looked him straight in the eye, asking, "Which one did you choose to lay down your authority ...is it for fear or respect?"
Ash's eyes widened hearing her question; no one has ever asked him such a question.
"Even if you ask me, I can't answer."
"Why?"
"Because I don't know." Ash, feeling lost, walked away from Serenity and sat on his chair, face up in the sky emiting a majestic vibe deserving of his ruler identity. He kept playing with the ring in his hand, keeping a straight face as he talked,
"You already said it; the nature of my magic and inheritance was the ultimate wall that broke everything. I never meant for it to turn this way or end like this, but ...."
Ash's eyes gloating with rage, just like a hunter who got his prey ," they had to force me and i absolutely can't let them down..."
Serenity leaning on the glass, hands crossed over each other, looking at the ceiling, speaking coldly,
"The mask we wear to protect ourselves ends up being the ultimate truth in others' eyes , even in ours..... There is nothing we can do. Just like they pay a price for their weakness and stupidity, our power also demands a price, but nobody cares about the process as much as they care about the results."
Her words caught Ash's attention; he turned his head slightly, looking at her reflection in the mirror.
"Our world stopped caring about anything but strength long ago; the weak are always afraid anyway. If others are allowed to be strong, why can't we?"
Serenity extended her hand towards him.
"You don't need anyone ; you're already the strongest, the strongest obsessed... As long as they can't beat you, then they're under your mercy, and with me here, I will make sure you will always be the majesty you deserve."
Under Ash's surprised gaze, Serenity stood there just like the moon illuminating his darkest desire , exposing them to the light.
'the greed of those people was just way too big, the slightest resistance always made them unhappy, i had enough of their superior tone long ago ,yet the rules of AVALOR was the only barrier keeping them away from my sword but today .... for the first time someone finally recognized my greed.....'
Serenity's words had a strong impact on Ash; he unconsciously took her hands, not realizing he even moved, but with stern, cold eyes and a creepy smile on his face.
"You just reminded me .....our world used to be called 'CUPIDITAS' we are the land of greedy desires....Who cares about the rules... my words are the ultimate rule because that's what i desire."
Serenity smiled faintly, feeling relieved.
"Congratulations,and welcome back.....my majestic greed. "
She slowly let go of his hand, moving a few steps away from him. Ash's body started glowing in a blinding red light.
Serenity surrounded him in a shell made of her crystal butterflies; it was shaking violently from the amount of strength it was restraining. A minute later the shell stopped shaking, and so she slowly peeled the butterflies away one after another.
Ash was standing in his place not moving even an inch but traces of an explosion was clearly visible under his feet, he was staggering and almost fell to the ground if not for her catching him on time,
-catch-
"Hoo~, next time I will put a reminder to prepare a pillow in advance."
"..."
Ash had a magical ring like circle glowing in his right eye, he was barely keeping them open; Serenity didn't ask anything and calmly put him to sleep on his bed.
After covering him with a blanket, she extended her hand to his ears, and his ear felt as cold as ice. He looked at her to try to speak but his tongue was so numb unable to utter a single word.
His mind was like ,'What are you doing?! Why is it so cold all of a sudden?'
Serenity understood what he wanted to say and patted his head to comfort him.
"A little present for my dear student. Look in the mirror when you wake up and see if you like it."
She took out a black glove from her dimensional sac and placed it on Ash's right hand. She whispered in his ears,
[Men's telepathy]
Ash's eyelids started to get heavier as he was hardly awake; Serenity brushed his hair away from his ears, her cold breath entering along with her low-volume voice, making him shiver.
"I know you want to devour the whole of AVALOR and how deep your obsession is, so I know you want to be strong ... stronger than anyone."
Ash's face turned red from embarrassment; his hearing and vision both became heavier. Serenity smiled at his state before she stood up, ready to leave, but before leaving, she left him a task to do.
"To master the fang stage, you must get over your inner demon, and apparently your inner demon was the AVALOR stupid rules... When you go back, practice the sword moves till perfection. Next time we meet, I am sure we can fly your wings high in the sky."
With that being said, Serenity jumped from the window into the sea, leaving Ash deep in his sleep.
Knowing her brother had something dangerous on him, Serenity decided to go back in a different way; first she jumped into the sea, and using her ice magic, she created an icy way for herself, skating her way away from the island.
She even covered her body with a thin layer of ice in case someone noticed her, and when she made sure she was far enough, she shouted her way to her room.
[AVIS]
After she returned to her room, the chanting made her crash on her bed; she held onto her pillow and closed her eyes to sleep.
Someone started knocking on her door startling her awake, she opened the door holding her pillow in her arm clearly annoyed,
-knock, knock,knock-
"What do you want?!?"
The one on the door was Sylvia, wearing a white sleeping gown with loose hair, clamping her bangs backwards using a cute cat clip, and wearing a face beauty mask, and another girl with purple curly hair wearing a teddy bear sleeping gown.
Sylvia greeted serenity by waving her hand awkwardly,
"H..hi !?"
Serenity raised her left eyebrow looking at her in disbelief.
"Did you look at the time before coming here?"she asked
"I know I am the same." Sylvia replied
'Putting me in such a situation, just you wait. When I finish it here, I'm going to fucking slice you alive.', Seeing her holding her pillow, Sylvia felt guilty, but she said what she needed to say anyway,
" Bella is waiting for you on the gates; she told me to tell you something about waiting for you to give an answer," Sylvia said politely.
Serenity scolded them before closing the door in their face,
"So what, am I supposed to go down and meet her?...Get the hell out of here."
-slam-
Sylvia stood there dumbfounded. After Serenity slammed the door shut in her face, She felt awkward, but knew they were the ones at fault, so she couldn't argue.
She looked at the girl standing next to her.
"Jane, I am going to meet my friend at the gates. Go back on your own."
"…"
Jane didn't say a word, but Sylvia also didn't wait to hear her respond and moved on her way.
At the gates Belladonna was restlessly moving back and forth, her face shows how much she's actually worried ,
"Just what kind of answer could make the proud Bellad this restless?" She spoke to herself then called loudly on bella,
"Bella, get the hell over here."
Bella was startled out of her thoughts by Sylvia's words; she quickly ran towards Sylvia, holding her hands tightly while shaking her face full of anticipation.
"Ha, did she agree?"
Sylvia's head started spinning around from the shaking , she pushed bella away and crouched on the ground holding her head ,
"A…are you okay?" Bella asked.
Sylvia gave her a terrifying side-eye, making her jolt away.
After Sylvia calmed down, she stood her ground and told Bella what happened.
"Serenity Alkana threw us away and closed the door in our faces."
"So she's pissed."
"Totally."
Bella felt as if her soul shattered hearing what happened.
"I am done for."
"You totally are."
Sylvia patted her shoulder, trying to comfort her but smiling brightly ,'i should thank her when i have time , not everyday can i see that woman all serious and worried, ...that actually calms my boiling blood'
but they noticed a weird commotion in the building and the rooms' lights turning on one after another. Both of them looked up confused.
Sylvia wondered ,"What is going on up there?...Why is everyone up?"
"There is noise on the fifth floor," Bella said.
Sylvia looked at Bella with wide eyes. "That's Serenity's floor."
"Huh?!?"
It turns out Jane didn't hear a word Sylvia said, and in a fit of anger, she started knocking on her door like crazy.
-Bang, bang, bang-
"Get the fuck out of here. Who the hell do you think you are?...How dare you close it in my face...Serenity, open this fucking door...Serenity...hey."
Serenity trying to sleep covered her head with a pillow trying to stop the sound coming from outside but in vain ,
The entire building woke up from the noice jane was making,and she was like a monster growling on the door, serenity finally had enough ,she opened the door and kicked her to the opposite wall ,throwing her pillow at her head.
-crack-
"Finally came ou-"
-hit...bang-
"Aww—ugh..."
"Finally some peace and quiet," Serenity said and turned to enter her room under the watchful gazes of the other students.
But Jane had another idea; she stood holding her sour back, pointing at Serenity.
"You rude bitch, how dare you close the door in my face, huh?"
"Rude?...Me!?"
Serenity paused at the door on the arrival of bella and sylvia, she turned walking slowly twards jane, with eyes full of rage,
"In my eyes the truly rude one is the one who came knocking on my door in the middle of the night.....; the rude one is the one who didn't give a fuck about others, a person who came raising his voice at someone whom he has nothing to do with, thinking he's going to give him face. I tell you, young lady, the rude one was never me but you."
The more she talks, the more steps she takes forward, and the more steps Jane takes back, but Serenity never backed down from delivering harsh words to her.
"You say I am rude but don't consider that your actions are the cause; before accusing me of something, you better see what you did first....you see i have a bad habit of not tolerating bad behavior and absolutely punish it "
Under serenity's terrifying gaze Jane gave up and collapsed on the floor. Serenity extended her hand, about to touch her face, but Sylvia interfered at the right moment,
"Wait!!?"
"Hmm!!?" ,Serenity rolled her eyes twards sylvia then back at jane.
"Wait...Jane is a DIVIANA person; only I as an INVICTUS am qualified to punish her."
"How will you do it?" Serenity asked, unbothered to even look at her.
"Don't worry; I will provide a satisfactory explanation to the Voldemort queen."
Only after hearing that did Serenity let her go not from fear but out of respect for her mother ,'fine ,let's give the old woman that much respect'
"You're lucky" , she said and turned around pointing at Belladonna.
"You...follow me inside."
"U...uh...excuse me."
Serenity didn't respond and moved on her way bella as a person used to such treatment from working with his majesty felt awkward ,' why os ash's type becoming popular? '
Bella pulled the pillow from the ground and followed Serenity inside; just like that, she closed the door behind her.
Sylvia, after seeing Serenity get inside finallt took a relieved breath ,'my god a war was about to start just now....iam glade it was a false alarm'
Sylvia rolled her eyes glaring at Jane, who was already scared. 'Why would she explain to Voldemort? Who the hell is Serenity? And why the hell did Sylvia turn out to be INVICTUS, of all people,'
Sylvia began removing her mask and hair clips , she messed her hair, her tone and expression turned cold,
"Do you know where you were wrong?"
under the watchful eyes that started to judge them, and eagerly waiting for the melons; after all, they never knew Sylvia is an INVICTUS; all they ever knew was that Sylvia is a Diviana.
Jane didn't dare look up and dared not speak a word; she knows and everyone knows whatever she says next will be used against her. Afraid of implicating her family, she decided to shut up.
Sylvia noticed what she was doing ,'trying to protect the ship, huh....there is no use the ship is bound to go under'
"Very well...", She said only one sentence before she walked away ,"report what happened here in detail, and we will determine your family's punishment accordingly."
"Understood."
With that, the busy night outside came to an end, and the image of the kind Sylvia crashed into that of a merciless royalty as well as the image of the easygoing idiot Serenity turned into one idea, 'fright'.
"A person who could scare the upright INVICTUS—who the hell is Serenity?!"
On the other hand, as Serenity entered her room, Bella stood at the door watching as Serenity changed into a black lace nightgown.
Bella's mind wandered around stunned.
'Is this still serenity?...Honestly speaking, without that pouring dress and four-eyed glasses, she would attract many people to her.'
Serenity took a blancket from her closet and threw it on bella's face ,after she caught the blanket serenity said,
"Stop staring and sleep on the floor."
After that, she got under her own blanket on the bed, closing her eyes without a care in the world.
Bella kept staring at her for a while, but seeing no reaction, she placed the blanket beside the window, sitting on it and leaning her back to the walls, staring blankly outside, holding a small box in her hands.
Maybe an hour later did Serenity finally make a sound, startling the girl.
"Why aren't you sleeping?"
Seeing her unbothered to even open her eyes bella hesitated for a second ,
"U...uh... I...I can't."
"Why?" Serenity asked.
Bella curled beside the walls from exhaustion, placing the box in front of her on the ground.
"Sigh....how would you react if you suddenly discovered you know nothing about anything including yourself?!!"
"There is no such thing; it's all in your imagination."
"Really?...you're the one saying this..are you even convinced yourself?!"
Serenity slowly opened her eyes, staring at the empty ceiling.
"I am...there is no such thing as 100% perfection. You know who you are and what you want, and that's enough."
Serenity changed her position from lying down to sitting, looking at Bella.
" don't destroy everything just because one truth turned fake ...this is not how life goes on and this is certainly not what you want"
Bella turned her face at Serenity, her eyes full of tears, hardly controlling them from going down.
"The truth you're talking about as nothing was all my life ...my reality... my only worth and only hope in my family but suddenly i was made to realize that even that ray of light doesn't exist."
Serenity frowned, seeing how miserable Bella was right now. "If a family connection is actually built on such foundations, then I am better off without them."
She removed her blanket and moved to the edges of the bed, crossing legs on the floor, leaning on the pillow in her hands.
"What do you actually want?...Do you want to be a caged mariposa for the rest of your life or the living being Belladonna who wants to live...?"
"But I am not a mariposa."
"Again with the mariposa.." ,Serenity said in disappointment, "Does that mean you choose the cage?"
Bella hurried to stand and defend herself.
"No!...That's not true. I don't want to stay in that place; I get suffocating just remembering the one and only misery in my life."
Serenity had a smug look in her eyes. "Then what's wrong with you being just you?...I think it's better and more lively, not to mention it suits you best."
Bella lowered her head, looking at the ground, feeling all helpless. "Who would want a frak like me if not for me being the holder of the mariposa?"
Serenity raised her hand in Bella's face.
"Stop right there; if a mariposa is the only way to determine your worth, then your actual worth would be zero."
Bella exploded her anger and pent emotions on Serenity.
"Easy for you to say; you haven't been where I am, so how can you even know how I feel?...a spoiled princess with a loving family who treats her as a treasure. Wherever you go, someone will care to ask, unlike me...who has no one."
"Get out." Serenity's eyes turned scary, full of rage; her deep and cold voice made Bella freeze.
'She's actually angry.'
"I have no intention to sympathize or help someone with no self-respect, thinking he is miserable without caring to even look around and see what he truly has...go rot with that rotten mind of yours; I won't help you," Serenity said.
Bella clenched her fists so hard, feeling wronged. "Do you have to be like that?...All I said is that I was lonely."
"Are you?"
Serenity left her bed and started moving toward the window totally ignoring bella. She placed one hand on the glass, staring at the bright moon outside.
"Do you even understand the meaning of the word ?"
The expression in her eyes was so empty it scared Bella. 'What the hell is wrong with that look in her eyes?'
Serenity asked Bella two questions: "you say you're lonly but Do you still remember how you got to me in the first place, or how you ended up in my room...?"
Those questions made her realize something: 'The one who convinced me was Daniel, and I came here with sylvia so what?..... ,wait!!!'
Her eyes widened as she raised her head at Serenity, "I...I..."
Serenity had a soft smile on her face. "From beginning to end that word was never applied to you; just like a trapped mariposa, you focused on getting out of the cage at all costs, but forgot you're already free."
Serenity turned her gaze at bella ,"stop treating other people as your cage bars "
Standing in front of Bella, looking her right in the eyes, she spoke full of confidence.
"In this world there is nothing more common than those who don't give a fuck whether we live or die; on the contrary, their true happiness comes from our misery...but still there are those who wish nothing but to see you smile happily."
"You were never alone, Belladonna; you were just so hurt to notice what you really need, and if it keeps going like that....if you keep carrying others' sins on your back you will end up truly alone, in a trap you set for yourself."
She thought ,'That's right why do i care when they don't...why should i be so eager to gain a recognition from someone i know will never recognize me....after all they did to me why didn't i realise i stopped loving them ...?'
Bella collapsed on the ground ,finally she stopped holding back and decided to let go her tears started pouring her anger her eyes turned red as she finally let go of her chains.... for the first time she acknowledged herself, with only three words repeating non stop in her head,
' I HATE THEM. '.
Not a second after she started crying, the mark on her legs glowed in a bright red color that surrounded her body.
The tears coming from her eyes started turning into blood.
As her fangs started growing longer,her eyes turned bright, high-clarity shine, a color that evokes the serene color of a clear daytime sky.
while her hair turned dark bloody red, and a red eye symbol was engraved on her forehead.
Bella stayed still till the third eye absorbed all the excess red aura around her, while Serenity started in amusement till the end.
Serenity clapped with her hands while saying,"Congratulations on your awakening, 'manducans sanguinem.'"
Bella moved her eyeballs, glaring at Serenity. "You know me?!"
Serenity smiled giving know it all face,
"Of course I do, and since you opened the third eye, you also do." Serenity pened slightly twarsa bella smirking ,"a word of advice, don't use seduction on me ...i won't be the least affected "
Bella blushed at her words and quickly turned the other way , but seeing her reflection on the glass ,she felt scared,"is that still me?....and that..."
She touched her third eye that was glowing on her forehead. "When the third eye opened, all there is to know about my powers came pouring into my mind; things I was oblivious to suddenly became so clear that it scares me."
"You don't need to be scared. When you finally came face-to-face with your true self , that pure love you once had turned into pure rage and your blood finally recognized your anger .... reacted with your hatred, giving you your 'sangrias,'" Serenity said.
Confused, Bella asked, "What is a sangria exactly?!"
"Just a combination of the beginning and end of two words, which is...unimportant to you, but what really is would be the meaning 'blood memories.'" She pointed at the glowing mark on her thigh. "This mark contains the legacy of your race. Congratulations on awakening the power of the vengeful race, the only one of your kind neither human nor a ghost."
"A power that reacts to hatered and anger .....is it supposed to be a blessing or a warning?!" ,Bella looked at the cold, unbothered serenity in front of her and found herself suddenly asking,
"Did you know I am like you...?"