Chapter 156: The Shadow of Unconsciousness and the Scorched Cries Within the Magic Cage
The purple mist coiled like a massive serpent around the courtyard, strangling every spark of light. The black rain poured down in torrents, mingling with the golden blood streaming from Diyari's mangled body. Rina stood in the center of the courtyard, her hands stained to the elbows with the blood of the man who had given his entire existence for her. Her eyes remained like two black hollows, but her body had begun to tremble strangely. From above, the Grandmother watched with her terrifying eyes; she felt the spell beginning to crack under the weight of such immense agony, for Rina's soul was screaming from within. Thus, the Grandmother decided to take her final horrific step to completely sever Rina from the world of reality.
The Grandmother shouted in a threatening voice: "Enough! This foolish love is still making your mind waver! Rina, you do not deserve to be a queen if your heart still beats for this 'ugly' beggar!" With immense force, the Grandmother struck her cane against the ground, and a thick purple smoke erupted from beneath Rina's feet. In that instant, Rina felt the whole world spinning around her. The black radiance in her eyes suddenly extinguished, and like a fallen autumn leaf, she collapsed unconscious onto the cold crystal floor. The Grandmother had cast the "Death's Sleep" spell.
Diyari, whose body had become a true ruin of wounds and blood, tried to take a step forward upon seeing Rina fall. Every movement for him was like thousands of knives turning within his flesh. He used the "imaginary power" he possessed only to grant himself a moment of respite, closing the deep gashes on his chest that Rina had carved with the purple blade just enough so that his lifeblood wouldn't fully drain away. He leaned back against a crumbling wall in a corner of the courtyard. His heavy gasping was the only sound within that terrifying silence. He watched Rina lying unconscious; a girl who was fundamentally kind and pure, yet whose body the Grandmother had turned into a weapon to kill the love that was this world's only hope.
While Rina lay unconscious, the Grandmother began preparing a new spell called "Cold Vigil." She knew Diyari was trying to rest and gather his strength, so she refused to let him feel peace for even a single second. She turned the air around Diyari into a sheet of ice, so that every breath he took cut into his lungs. In that silence, Diyari felt the piercing agony.
Meanwhile, in a dark corner of Rina's mind, she began to weep deeply. Although her body was unconscious, her soul was crying bitterly within the cage of the spell. The memories the Grandmother had distorted were beginning to return. In her vision, Rina saw Diyari allowing her to tear him apart without resistance. Every teardrop from Rina's soul was like a burn to the Grandmother's own body, yet the Grandmother held the spell tight to keep Rina from waking. Rina huddled in a dark corner, her hands over her face, moaning: "What have I done... how could I make 'ugly' the man who only gave me beauty...?"
As Diyari rested momentarily, he looked at the wounds on his own hands. The hand Rina had cut still emitted a faint light. He knew this was only the beginning of the trial. From the balcony, the Grandmother said in a mocking voice: "Rest, you foolish beggar! Rest until you see how Rina, when she wakes, delivers the final blow to your throat! Do you think love has a place here? Here, there is only my power and the hatred I have planted in Rina's heart!"
Diyari said nothing. Through his silence alone, he demolished the walls of the Grandmother's pride. He knew Rina was weeping inside; he felt the tears falling from her soul. Diyari gathered his "imaginary power" and sent a very faint golden light toward Rina's unconscious body—not to wake her, but only to provide warmth to her soul so she wouldn't suffocate in that cold weeping. It was a scene that made every stone and crystal in the courtyard weep in grief: a man on the brink of death, protecting the person who had just tried to kill him.
Seeing that light, the Grandmother went mad. She began chanting the "Absolute Loneliness" spell. She made Diyari feel as though no one remained in the world; she made all the insults previously hurled at him—like "fool" and "ill-mannered"—become the voices of thousands screaming in his ears. But Diyari only looked at Rina. For him, only Rina existed, and only Rina was enough for him to accept all the pain in the world. The agony had reached its peak; Diyari rested in his own blood while Rina wept bitterly within her soul, and the Grandmother danced like a triumphant demon in the center of this devastation.
This chapter ends here, as Diyari gathers his strength for an even greater confrontation, and Rina, in the world of unconsciousness, in a dark corner, is shaking the throne of the Grandmother's magic with her heartbreaking cries.
Written by: Dlin_myth