'Seriously? That's your plan? Destroying the entire dimension? Really?'
Despair. Madness. Disbelief.
Izobel wasn't sure what to feel anymore, as her souls became a carnage of negative emotions.
The Figure suddenly dropped her, her unprotected lung threatening to fall, but the pain was nothing to what she felt in her heart.
She simply didn't care about her own life as she limped closer to Caesar's still body, slowly feeling that he was just an empty husk.
His soul has departed. The mad prodigy has died.
Izobel was ready to fight the villain, reinvigorated by Caesar's willpower. Her dream to become a knight stemmed from Caesar narrating his dreams to her. From a lonely lady of nobility to a powerful woman aiming for the sword - Izobel thanked all that to Caesar.
And on their first day of the academy, on their first leap to their dream, a faithful companion has been lost.
She gently touched his cheek, feeling the painful chill of his pale skin. Her eyes were filled with tears, and her body quivered in fear.
'Caesar? Wake up. It's not funny.' Izobel nudged his body, but she got no response, refusing to accept the current predicament.
'Caesar, please. Not now. The joke is over.' Izobel laughed, her sides hurting.
She carefully placed his head on her lap, thick red blood staining her skirt.
'You like it when I touch your hair, right?' Izobel slowly brushed his hair back.
'You like it when I sing, right?' Izobel slowly hummed a tune as warm tears wet her cheeks, with Caesar showing no sign of life.
Izobel stared at his face as the image burned into her mind. She gently placed her thumb on his dry lips, her tears falling on his forehead.
Izobel wished she were dreaming, and she would wake up with Caesar next to her under a tree in the afternoon. She would smile and hold on to him, laughing at his jokes and staring into his brown eyes till eternity.
'Caesar, you might be a human, and I might be a fairy- but you saved my life.' Izobel continued to stroke his hair.
'You showed me what life with adventure means. You and Chalybe saved me from a life of Apathy and sorrow. You showed me light from my darkness.' Izobel glanced back, seeing the Figure stare at her, as explosions and screams rocked the battle behind him.
Izobel looked back at Caesar, his face still gorgeous after death. Her lips parted with an exhale, a word she waited to say forever. She wanted to tell him, even though he wouldn't hear her. She just wanted to say it to him.
'You helped me hide my darkness,' Izobel's lips shook. 'But I need it to make sure I live. I want to live so I can see the world for you. To be a powerful knight, so I won't join you where you are, because I know you won't like it.'
Izobel slowly unbottened her t-shirt, still staring at Caesar's face. Her shirt fell slowly, leaving her with her bra and stomach warmer. The Figure initially showed no sign of fear or awareness, but his calm demeanor was replaced when he saw Izobel's bare back.
A large tattoo, depicting a butterfly gnawing at the remains of a dead insect. The ominous tattoo radiated a strange divine energy, something the figure swore he had felt somewhere.
It clicked, and his mind raced- Chester Mine.
'Where would I start? Your demeanor, the way you defend the lower class, the way you always say nobody is regular, despite race, power, or class.' Izobel winced as she felt a chill on her spine. 'You gave me everything - A goal, a mind... A dream.'
He wished for her to despair, not to obtain renewed hope.
'But I want to say it, and I hate myself for not saying it sooner,' Izobel sniffled. 'From the countless stars in the night, to the infinite possibilities of time. From the 7 moons of the sky, to the 9 pillars of heaven. From the three suns of dawn, to the 1 heart that I have.'
Izobel slowly bent down, her nose brushing Caesar's.
'Caesar Nova Percival the first,' She started.
'I LOVE YOU.' Izobel felt a weight lifted from her chest as she slowly kissed Caesar. His lips tasted of blood and sawdust, but Izobel was lost in her sorrow and pleasure.
Memories flooded her mind - Caesar returning her pet, her and Caesar escaping a noble ball, the young lad giving her a rare spider rose... Caesar convincing and showing her the beauty of being a knight.
She broke the kiss, believing it was the best feeling she had ever felt. She slowly looked back at the Figure, her eyes calm and cold.
'I will kill you, that is my promise to you.'
The Figure rushed over to her and lifted her by grabbing her neck.
'That tattoo, where did you get it?' The figure sounded worried... or afraid.
Izobel chuckled. 'You scared?'
Before the Figure could do anything, he felt a presence. A lot of presence.
As the smoke surrounding him slowly cleared, he gritted his teeth.
Every student and teacher from every class was present, all armed with weapons and malice. The Figure estimated that 1,000 students stared at him with eyes filled with rage.
'Why?' The Figure thought,' Why are their malicious intentions not getting reflected? Is the time up? And how are they here? My barrier of Class 1 should still be up.'
Izobel's smile was filled with blood and satisfaction.
'Damn it. I wasted my time.'
A student made a hand sign, and Izobel was replaced with a snake in his grasp.
'Even though they still can't touch me. My barrier will still reflect their attacks.'
The figure glanced around the horde, sensing each student's titanic amount of grace they commanded. He has to make sure that his vulnerability isn't exposed.
'Hey, bird brain.' Izobel screamed. 'My tattoo is a birth curse, a curse that I will gladly use to end your rampage. Because that's what knights do.'
The Figure succeeded in keeping a calm expression.
'Such pride.' The figure stretched his hands. 'You believe more children will hurt me. I am still untoucha-'
'Shut up already,' a voice said.
Chalybe, Zeus, Fenrir, and Leo stood behind Izobel, their wounds less severe than before.
'You killed my most loyal companions, and you think you are safe,' Chalybe tilted his head. 'You are no longer untouchable, mark my words.'
'You are just a prideful villain who lacks a heart, Zeus frowned. 'So typical and cliché, don't you agree?'
'You look at the dead and disrespect it,' Fenrir chimed in. 'You aren't a villain, you are a devil.'
'Izobel, are you sure you want to do this?' Leo placed her hand on Izobel's shoulder.
Izobel's eyes were still calm, devoid of rage or despair. 'I have never been so sure in my short, boring life.'
The Figure's fear was replaced with an insatiable rage. He was tasked to assassinate the chosen child, but the prince wasn't it. The Synagogue, the woman... Where was the child?
The Figure was tired; he was trapped. He isn't going to slaughter the chosen child -no, he will slaughter every student of the Black Meadows academy. He wished to ensure that Zion would never command an army to their evil bidding.
'Zion', even the thought of the name pained The Figure.
'A thousand children,' The Figure's features hardened. 'All matching into a thousand deaths.'
Izobel's tattoo glowed in a sinister purple aura, casting a bright violet glow. The butterfly and the dead insect jerked, with the ink moving, beaming with new life.
The Insects moved around her skin, from her back to her stomach to her breast.
In a flash of light, the insects left her body as two large, purple avatars danced in the sky with malevolence.
In Izobel's hands appeared a large black umbrella held in her left hand and a mighty cleaver dipped in a purple ooze in her right.
The two avatars dived back into Izobel, her body shaking with pain, but not regret. Her body glowed in a bright light, enveloping the porch with a blinding halo.
The figure stretched his hands, and two ravens whistled out towards Izobel. Suddenly, Martha brought her large mallet down on the birds of prey.
'Keep your birds to yourself, bird brain.'
As the light dispersed, the Figure saw not a student, but an agent of darkness.
She was adorned in a tight, purple leather suit, adorned with various chains and charms with the phases of the Astreas moon. Her suit was layered with various Oberon armour with jagged spikes and markings, each carving drawing a mangled insect.
Various students shuffled backwards, all stunned by the sinister transformation of the paragon.
Izobel took a shaky breath as well-sculpted hands emerged from her back, flaying in different directions and clawing at the air. She shivered as they fell onto her attire, holding her chest, waist, thighs, and calves.
Izobel's body was surrounded by a thick purple aura, with little insect avatars dancing around her body.
The figure stared in disbelief and...fear.
'What are you?' The figure asked
Izobel was busy admiring herself, caught off guard by The Figure's question. Her eyes slowly drifted to The Figure, studying him with her new black eyes.
Fenrir's fangs elongated on instinct, the sky darkened on Zeus' command, Leo's blood rushed faster in her veins, and Martha's pupils dilated.
The new Izobel glanced at her companions with a smirk. With a petrifying tone, she made a hollow laugh, her aura pulsating with her like a heart.
'I am Izobel Kyra Edgar,' Izobel touched her chest, her nails fitted with metal nails. The two tattoos of the butterfly and the insect crawled to her face.
'BUT YOU CAN CALL ME ABYSS.'
...
Warmth. Comfort. Pleasure.
Something is wrong. His hands didn't hurt. He'd felt like a coliseum of knowledge; well-organized and structured.
His eyes were afraid to open. Was he dead?
Countless possible scenarios ran through Caesar's head at that moment, and most of them included unfortunate outcomes.
His eyes were shut, but he forced them to open. The bright light made him wince.
Caesar's eye saw a ceiling with a mural. The mural had too much going on. He saw depictions of various events, but they were recorded differently. The infamous war between Titans and Neptunins was depicted beautifully with striking precision of colors and artwork, but it was strange.
That's strange. Caesar's thought.
Historians confessed that the war ended in a draw, with both parties agreeing to live in harmony. The Mural showed a titan drinking the literal ocean dry. The abstract surrealism looked true, as if it were drawn from experience and memory.
A titan on one knee, held like a sphere of water, and the water fell violently on the titan's open mouth.
A chill ran through Caesar's body. He blinked and stood up. He was wearing a large white and golden robe, with a gloydon chestplate over it, and he felt he was not wearing any underwear.
Caesar looked around and saw rows of wooden seats, divided in the middle by a pathway covered in a carpet of beautiful gradients of color. Caesar was on a stage, standing behind a black glass podium.
He could see the entire room, but the hall stretched endlessly.
In the middle of cobblestone arches on the wall were beautiful glass panels of different Iconic historical figures. The problem was that Caesar knew none of them. He saw panels of a masked man with a large green sword, a king on a horse with a lance, a woman standing on a moon, A man on a throne surrounded by women, and a figure with white and black wings.
The warrior with a green sword felt too familiar to him, as if he was meant...or destined to recognize the man. He fixed his eyes on the green blade, but he couldn't comprehend it.
Caesar was confused, but enthralled. He felt the cool breeze, but no windows were open.
Caesar was sure.
He was in a Synagogue, but a synagogue he had never been in before