In a realm where the human eye could not reach, Lisa was revered as an absolute being. Her orders were absolute and her will was the law. Yet this mortal, this Queen of worthless humans had been looking down on her from the moment she stepped foot on the field.
"You sure have a lot of confidence for a mortal. Do you think the world belongs to you? Let me open your eyes to what the blind man sees."
Lisa dashed forward at a blinding pace, the green liquid dripping down her fingers turning black.
With the force of a raging bull, she slapped Nyxelene across her face from her right cheek.
The slap landed with a sound like a thunderclap, the black liquid on Lisa's fingers sizzling against Nyxelene's skin. For a heartbeat, Nyxelene's neck snapped to the side at an angle no living neck should survive. The black liquid sizzled against her skin, eating through her flesh.
'Did she die standing?' Lisa stepped back as she observed the ruined face of the woman.
Lisa stood over her, breathing hard. "That's what happens when you—"
Then, a low vibration hummed from Nyxelene's throat—a syllable of the Cursed Tongue spoken in reverse. It vibrated through the field as though many voices where speaking the same words.
"Vóhrä nälïn žhürê nihäl,
Käshul vøhrën, käzïl shäræ.
Jørën mīräth vën shälëvïn vøhl,
Nälïn žhørä, nyxä mälë vørö.
Moräth Šëlvën: Žhürø î§ Märné."
Wounds of the past shall exist no more,
No scar shall stay, no bone shall stray.
Hand of death that seeks life from all,
I shall not bend to you, night nor day.
Primal Genesis: Relic of the Past.
Lisa watched in horror as Nyxelene's neck clicked back into place on its own, the bruising vanishing instantly as if time had been rewound for her body alone. The crimson drip from her lip vanished like it had never been there.
However, apart from the deafening sound that echoed on the dark field, the Queen did not break.
'What?' She stared at the single trace of crimson that vanished from the corner of Nyxelene's lips.
"That was your one chance, and you wasted it." Nyxelene said.
'Was that all the damage I dealt?' Before she could make another move, Nyxelene's crimson eyes fell on her. That was the signal.
Five metacarpals slammed into the side of Lisa's face with twice the force she had used to slap the Queen.
The force sent Lisa flying several paces away. She rolled on the rough ground which tore her skin.
But that wasn't the end. Before she could roll to a stop, a being in shadowy mist appeared from her shadow mid-roll and grabbed her neck, stopping her dead in her tracks.
Before she could register what was happening, the being slammed her head into the ground twice before throwing her to Draven's feet.
'I underestimated her, her attack was so strong I bit my tongue.' Nyxelene wiped the blood trail from her lips with a blank expression.
Draven looked at the woman lying at his feet. The skin of her face was peeled off and her head had deep wounds on three different places.
He then turned his gaze towards Nyxelene.
'I see. Each one of those monsters is a high grade corrupted entity. Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to hurt Lisa.' Draven walked past the broken woman on the floor, heading towards Nyxelene. This time, all four entities charged towards him.
"It's true there's some discord between Nyxelene and I. However, it's been a very long time since we've met. There are a lot of things for us to catch up on, leaving no room for uninvited guests." As he spoke the last words, his gaze fell on the anomalies charging towards him.
"So, SCRAM." Draven didn't move a muscle, but it was as if the laws of the world suddenly remembered that these four entities were corrupted.
A sound like a thousand glass mirrors shattering at once filled the field. Ziorm ish'la's ancient bones turned into white smoke as if they had been disassembled from the inside out. Delmon's seven eyes burst into black ink before the beast could even finish its roar. The darkness of Vè-thra was simply wiped away like soot from a clean plate. Mi'lor shattered into several pieces.
Draven didn't destroy them; he denied their permission to be in his presence.
Draven stood there, looking bored, as if he had just swatted a fly that dared to buzz near the third sky.
Just like that, the four terrifying guardians were no more. Nyxelene was now left unprotected. Or so it seemed.
Her gaze shifted to Draven.
He stood where he had always stood with hands behind his back, and his expression bored. He hadn't raised a finger nor had he spoken a word of power. He had simply decided that her guardians no longer belonged in his presence. And the world had agreed.
Nyxelene said nothing.
She didn't summon more. She didn't even acknowledge the loss beyond that single, steady look.
But Lisa saw it. The way Nyxelene's fingers curled, just slightly, at her sides. The way her breathing slowed, not from calm, but from control. She was holding something back. Something that would have broken the field if she let it.
Before anyone could act or say anything, it happened.
As if the world had darkened at once, they felt a gaze—someone watching. Though they only felt it for a brief moment, like a warning that the first to touch Nyxelene was the first to die.
It was the feeling of a predator's eye pressed against the back of their necks.
Lisa, pushing herself of the ground with trembling hands froze. She was paralyzed with fear.
'This feeling… it's definitely him.'
The air was filled with the miasma of dread of a shadow that wasn't even there.
Draven's mordant expression was gone, replaced by an unwavering readiness for confrontation. No one knew where he was, but one thing was certain: he was watching.
Nyxelene smiled. It was the first time her lips had moved in such a way, and it was more terrifying than her silence. Under the cover of that borrowed, crushing weight, she took Blank's remaining arm, but she heard no sound. The man was too terrified to even feel pain.
'It's him. He's here. We'll all surely die.'
'Good thing I saved his presence with the cursed tongue,' Nyxelene thought. 'I didn't know it would be this effective. But I can only use it so many times.'
It looked as though the presence she had used had drawn too many eyes. Nyxelene sensed a lot of unseen gazes on the three of them—watching, and waiting for someone to get injured, so that they could act.
"Draven," she said calmly, "I'll be taking my leave. Next time you lay a hand on my kingdom, I'll be taking more than two limbs."
She faded away like drifting smoke, leaving only the echo of her words.
It was only after she left did the presence lifted.
Lisa let out a breath of relief as she stared at Blank who wore an empty expression.
Draven had the same nonchalant expression, however, it was visible that the tension in his shoulders had lifted.
"Judging by how she used 'assaulted' instead of 'kill,'" Draven said, his voice returning to its usual calm, "it seems the cannibal and the tyrant are still alive. If that's the case, then she owes us a limb. I'm only willing to pay one limb for both of their treatment back to good health."
He walked to Lisa. Her wounds were mostly healed, but the terror still remained on her face. Not only was her deadly attack ineffective against Nyxelene, but she couldn't even get through her guardians.
"Lisa, treat him," Draven looked at Blank as he spoke. The man was a mess and still looked terrified, blood pouring from the stumps.
Lisa's anger boiled, but she nodded.
"After you're done," Draven continued, "take him back to clear his thoughts. I'll be out of touch for a while. Someone needs to attend to those uninvited guests."
With that, Draven disappeared, leaving the two behind in the dead land.
"Nyxelene," Lisa spoke through gritted teeth, her eyes burning with fury, "I won't forget this humiliation for as long as I live."
It was only as she got closer did she notice. The wounds on Blank were more than what met the eye.
'She didn't just take the arm she took the soul arm too. If not treated carefully, his arms would be useless even after it had been attached. Nyxelene, just how did she become this powerful?'