The two beasts that Venedix had struck moments ago now writhed violently on the bloodstained earth.
Their bodies convulsed uncontrollably, twitching in pain—yet even as their movements grew more frantic, they did not die.
Instead, something far more disturbing occurred.
Thick, slithering strands of pure black eidra began to coil around their mutilated wounds, wriggling like parasitic tendrils, weaving through muscle and flesh.
Slowly, methodically, the damage Venedix had inflicted—deep gashes that should have been fatal—were being reversed.
Torn limbs began to mend, shattered bones reformed themselves with sickening cracks, and bleeding veins sealed shut.
It was as if time itself was unraveling around their wounds, undoing death through unnatural means.
This must be the same way how the beast that had been struck by Mezra had survived and managed to attack her unnoticed.
"Tch!" Mezra clicked her tongue as she watched the wretched thing heal.
Venedix narrowed her eyes, her sharp gaze shifting to the grotesque display before her.
Her attacks—strikes that had felled countless enemies, that had been enough to level beasts twice their size—were being healed as if they meant nothing.
These creatures did not fall to ordinary Eidra.
Not even hers.
Her brows lowered, and her voice dropped to a low, thoughtful hum. "Mhm."
Something was off.
Something far beyond natural resilience.
She studied them again—their unnatural strength, their distorted forms, and the jet-black color of their Eidra.
And then she understood.
"I see now," she murmured.
Before another breath could pass, she blinked forward—
*crack!
vanishing in an instant with a sharp crack of electricity—
before reappearing directly above one of the regenerating beasts.
*Thud!
She landed hard atop its chest, the heel of her boot digging deep into its ribcage with brutal force.
*Crack!
A harsh crack echoed as bone splintered beneath her, the weight of her presence alone forcing a choked, guttural wail from the creature.
"You are not like the others," she spoke coldly, her voice calm, sharp as a blade drawn in winter air.
"You are something pure."
With no hesitation, she drove her sword down, the blade sinking into the creature's chest with punishing force.
*Fwwzz—
*CRACK!
The sword surged with Eidra—but this time, it wasn't the usual storm of crimson lightning.
Golden arcs of raw energy flared across its length.
They crackled with a deeper rhythm, more ancient in its cadence, like the heartbeat of something greater than herself.
Controlled but untamed.
Beautiful but deadly.
It pulsed—not with rage,
but with clarity.
A presence old and divine.
"Pure black…" Venedix muttered.
"You're a child of the Void Eater—Ikrax."
And then the golden Eidra ignited.
*CRACK! *BOOM!
The energy surged into the beast's core, flooding its insides like a divine firestorm.
The beast shrieked in agony.
*S-SKREEEEEE!
Its body arched off the ground, twisting and spasming as if its very soul was being torn apart.
Black Eidra tried to hold it together—
but it was no match.
*BANG!
With one final convulsion, the creature exploded into a thick cloud of black dust, every fiber of its being unraveled and devoured by the Prime Eidra flowing through Venedix's blade.
Mezra, watching from afar, her bloodied body still propped against the rock, gasped aloud.
Her eyes widened in awe and realization. "Prime Eidra…" she whispered hoarsely.
It was real.
Wasting no time, Venedix blinked again, her form a streak of golden and red light, appearing beside the second beast as it tried to rise.
*Slice!
With one smooth, merciless swing, she cleaved through its torso.
Just like the first, its body didn't bleed.
It disintegrated, the black Eidra unable to protect it.
Its remains scattered to the wind—ash on the battlefield.
Now, only one beast remained.
The final one, at least in the location.
It stood frozen in place, its body shaking.
It had seen what happened.
It felt what had just happened.
That glow…
That power…
That Eidra.
It wasn't just powerful—
it was Prime.
The rarest, most potent form of Eidra to exist.
A force only granted to those who were not merely born strong, but chosen by the universe itself.
It could not be trained.
Could not be stolen.
Could not be manufactured.
Prime Eidra was fate itself—infused into the blood of those beloved by Eidra from birth.
It was sacred.
Eternal.
Unyielding.
And to beings like these corrupted children of Ikrax—
Prime Eidra was death incarnate.
The beast took a trembling step back.
It knew.
This mortal—Venedix—was not like the others.
She wasn't a wielder of borrowed power, like itself.
She was Eidra.
Loved by it.
Embraced by it.
She was chosen.
*S-Skreee!
In panic, the beast blinked away—vanishing in a flash of black smoke.
But Venedix was faster.
*CRACKLE!
Before the beast could fully escape, she intercepted it mid-blink, reappearing above it like a bolt of divine retribution.
Her blades were already in motion, glowing with golden electricity.
*SLASH! *CRACK!
Her swords plunged into its back and tore outward in a vicious cross-shaped arc, splitting its core wide open.
*Skreee…
Its death cry was short-lived, its voice breaking apart as its body dissolved into black dust, devoured completely by her energy.
Then there was silence.
.
.
.
And suddenly—the air shifted.
The oppressive force that had held the Zerafhon soldiers in place vanished like mist in sunlight.
Some gasped for air.
Others collapsed to their knees, overwhelmed by the sudden release of pressure. A few wept, while others clutched their weapons as if waking from a nightmare.
"W-We can move now!"
"Quick! Get medics to Lady Mezra!"
One of the commanders shouted through the renewed chaos.
Amidst the movement, Venedix stood still—swords lowered, breathing steady.
Then, without a word, she turned and made her way toward Mezra, who was being propped against a jagged rock.
Several medics surrounded her, one injecting a numbing agent into her leg while others worked to stabilize her crushed ankle.
"Urgh…" Mezra grunted, biting back the pain.
"Elder sister—Merilyn is still—"
"I know," Venedix said, her tone cutting and composed.
Her eyes shifted westward.
"And I must now go."
The air howled unnaturally in that direction—its tone rising, twisting, disturbed.
Something was wrong.
Venedix's gaze narrowed, her body tense.
"Tch," she clicked her tongue, her irritation barely hidden, and then she moved.
*Fwoom!
Her body surged forward, her cape snapping behind her as the ground cracked beneath her feet with each step.
*Thud! *Thud! *Thud! *Thud!
As she sprinted westward, she caught a blur of movement—
Erenhold.
His chains were tightly coiled around one final beast—the same kind she had just fought—binding it fully.
*Skreee!
It shrieked and thrashed violently, but the chains held tight.
Without pause, Venedix lunged.
Her blade shimmered with gold.
*CRACK!
The sword pierced straight through the beast's skull, and with one final screech, it exploded into dust.
Erenhold stepped beside her and nodded, his chest rising with heavy breath.
"Good," Venedix said curtly, "Come with me."
Without hesitation, he followed.
They ran together, both swift and determined.
As they passed through the blood-soaked terrain, Venedix's eyes flicked toward something on the ground—
a body.
Evaan.
Her gaze lingered for just a moment.
Her jaw clenched.
But she said nothing.
Instead, her eyes turned toward the western sky.
The clouds there were no longer ordinary.
They swirled with violent force, painted in a deep, unnatural crimson.
"There's Merilyn," she muttered.
*BOOM!
A shockwave erupted as she burst into motion once more.
They crossed the shattered landscape, sprinting toward the storm—a colossal cyclone of crimson energy tearing the very land apart.
*VWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
The winds howled like beasts.
Thousands of twisted Atroxian corpses spun wildly inside the vortex, lifted and shredded by the storm.
Venedix's legs tensed, and her body launched forward like lightning, piercing deeper into the chaos.
And then—
within the roar—
she heard it.
Merilyn's voice.
Her grief.
Her rage.
Her soul.
*ROAR!!!
The cyclone screamed louder, but Venedix pushed through it—until at last, she reached the eye of the storm.
And what she saw would stay etched into her soul forever.
At the center of the chaos, a beast lay in pieces, its limbs scattered—but still twitching, pulling back together, its body desperately trying to regenerate.
Above it stood Merilyn—
no longer herself.
She was Galevryn—the Crimson Wind.
A manifestation of her very own eidra, a form that she had perfected to release all eidra her body could manifest.
*SHRAAAH!!!
With every swing of Zaepherax, she unleashed another scream of cutting wind, a slash of pure Eidra rage.
Again.
*Wssshhhh!
And again.
*Wssshhhh!
And again.
*Wssshhhh! *Wssshhhh! *Wssshhhh! *Wssshhhh! *Wssshhhh! *Wssshhhh! *Wssshhhh! *Wssshhhh!
Her eyes were full of tears, her arms trembling with wrath.
"Die... Die!... DIE!!"
*BOOM! *BOOM! *BOOM! *BOOM!
Each strike was louder than the last, each wave tearing at the creature below.
Venedix's eyes shifted toward the battlefield.
There—
on the ground—
were the heads of Merilyn's children.
Lifeless.
Still.
She looked back to Merilyn, eyes softening.
"You must rest now, Merilyn," she whispered.
She closed her eyes subtly as she breathed—
Before opening them as her legs began to poise for a powerful dash.
*Crack!
Then she vanished in a blink and reappeared at the creature's core.
Her sword pierced through it.
*CRACK!
It disintegrated.
The storm wind that surged towards the beast was no heading towards her.
Yet Venedix raised one hand as crimson energy started to whirr between her fingers.
*BOOM!
And there it was, a shield that completely blocked off Merilyn's attack.
Merilyn instantaneously recognized Venedix's eidra, making her completely halt her attacks.
Her eyes then widened.
"E-Elder sister…?"
Her voice cracked, her fury finally fading at the sight of Venedix.
.
.
.
Galevryn finally vanished.
*Thud!
She collapsed to her knees.
And in her arms—she gathered the heads of her children.
She wailed.
"W-Why... WHY!? WHY!?" She shouted towards the sky.
Her cries tore through the wind, louder than any weapon, any explosion, any scream.
It was a sound that haunted the world of Chasmratt.
Her cries carried across the fields of ash and destruction, reaching the ears of even the soldiers who were at Mezra's location.
A sound of a mother who had lost everything.
Venedix stood quietly.
The storm died.
And silence returned.
They had won.
But it no longer felt like victory.
*End of flashback