Ria’s pupils trembled at the false eclipse that was slowly fading away.
The moment she lost herself to that voice, to that call. . . An eclipse appeared and she didn’t even know what had happened.
She could tell that line of destruction was her doing.
And worse of all, it had almost struck Luke.
Ria could feel a rising heat in the back of her throat.
"My my, so you do have it in you. But it seems like your ties to the Eclipse are far deeper than I thou-"
"No it’s not!" Ria interrupted, refusing to be associated with the cult.
"You say that but the link is undeniable. Honestly, if you let yourself go a little I might even get a little interested." Astrelya grinned, licking her lips.
Ria frowned but before she could say anything, Astrelya flicked her wrist.
An array of stars manifested around them and a scene began to play out.
Ria saw herself, sitting with her eyes closed.
She saw the afterimage of her blade being broken into fragments but it didn’t dissipate. Instead, she saw it continuously multiply. From one to two, from two to four. From four to eight and so on.
With each second the false eclipse manifested above her head, the afterimage continuously multiplied.
Then she saw the ritual marks slowly manifesting on her body.
Burning lines of black and red.
Markings that were present on her body during the blood pits.
They never left, they were simply hidden.
Waiting for the moment she accepted the inner eclipse.
Even though she couldn’t feel any energy from the replay, Ria could see the growing worry on Luke and Rosalyn’s face.
Once the marks were completely covered in a blood red, every single shard of her afterimages snapped towards the blade!
Rosalyn panicked, Astrelya lunged towards.
Blood converged into a barrier, the stars reinforced it and Isolde quickly dragged Luke to the side.
With the barriers barely being erected in time, the line of destruction struck forth. A blade of lightning that won’t stop at anything. Blood evaporated in an instant, shocking Rosalyn.
A piercing power like no other.
As the blade struck the star barrier, it began to falter.
A collision that would end up in an explosion within the carriage had Astrelya not yielded and allowed the attack to pass.
"What did I say? If you let yourself go a little I might become interested." Astrelya chuckled.
Ria was silent. She wasn’t even conscious of what she was doing at that moment. Simply letting her instincts take over while she was fighting the voice inside her own head.
Yet. . . just listening to that voice was able to transform her two fold lightning into something. . . abnormal.
An afterimage that kept multiplying, stacking up power until the moment of release.
A power beyond that of a simple three fold lightning.
Was she truly lacking this much power if she didn’t listen to the voice inside herself?
"I appreciate your words of advice for Ria. But choices like these are up to the individual rather than having someone skew their opinion from the side. Just letting them know of the path is enough don’t you think?" Rosalyn interrupted Ria’s train of though.
She could tell that Astrelya was pushing Ria towards the path of power. A power that she herself was wary of and something that dove deep into Ria’s path.
And Rosalyn could see the struggle within Ria’s mind.
Astrelya lost her smile for a moment. She stared at Rosalyn in silent while Rosalyn felt a creeping killing intent.
If she had to fight, she’ll fight. But the collateral damage a fight between them could cause. . .
Rosalyn would rather avoid such a confrontation if possible.
"No need to be so serious, I’m just suggesting a possibility. And I’m sure you already saw the hint of power that she is capable of haven’t you? If she wants power, why not suggest a path that’s opened up?" Astrelya shrugged with a laugh.
Rosalyn let out a sigh of relief inwardly.
But at that moment, Rosalyn felt signature on the edge of her detection.
"Arm up! It seems like Ria’s attack woke something up." Rosalyn clicked her tongue.
"No need, I’ll deal with it." Astrelya spoke up before turning to Ria.
"You showed a pretty interesting application of power. But since you didn’t see it properly, I’ll give you a quick demonstration." Astrelya chuckled.
In the distance, they could see an approaching silhouette.
A three headed beast radiating a menacing aura that dyed the world in darkness.
However, due to the distance, they couldn’t quite make out the details of the beast.
"Watch carefully girly." Astrelya grinned.
Stars began to converge around her hand, slowly transforming into an arrow.
Cracks appeared across the body and it shattered, leaving behind a spectral shadow.
The cracks that formed split and multiplied in a similar manner to Ria, surprising her.
While Nyzel’s three fold lightning wasn’t a unique ability to her race and rather a skill that she created, it was still a unique application that Ria hadn’t seen elsewhere.
The method of multiplying then slamming everything together to create a force bigger than what she can originally achieve.
Yet after seeing it briefly, Astrelya could now replicate it to some extent.
"Hmm, it’s still lacking a bit of punch but this should do." Astrelya chuckled before taking aim.
A single line of light that pierced through the horizon. No explosion, no earthquake.
Just a single raw concentrated beam of light that fired the instant the shards converged back into an arrow.
In the distance, the beast froze. Its wings were no longer moving and the body crashed towards the ground. It’s ominous presence disappearing with its demise.
But the people in the carriage weren’t concerned about the beast dying. What they were most concerned about, the danger that’s looming over them in this moment, was Astrelya’s whims.
Judging from Rosalyn’s initial reactions, it was clear that Astrelya was not to be messed with. She was a walking bomb waiting to explode if things didn’t go well.
If all of them gathered up to fight her, death was guaranteed. It didn’t matter if Rosalyn won or if Astrelya won.
The issue was how many of them had to die if that was to happen.
"My my, what frightful stares you all possess. Are you perhaps worried about whether or not I’ll kill you? Don’t worry, I won’t. You are all so very important to dear Alice after all.
"Killing you wouldn’t serve my purpose, even if it might make dear Alice focus her attention on me. It’s not the kind of attention I want." Astrelya shook her head.
She had already tried this method before with other people.
To kill the ones they love most, to butcher and taunt. To do their worse fears in front of their very eyes in an attempt to make them chase after her.
Sometimes it succeeded, sometimes if failed.
When it failed, her subject’s mental was broken by her actions. They no longer had the fire of passion in their hearts, they gave up.
When it succeeded, the joy was fleeting.
Sure they chased after her, sure they accumulated strength faster than usual.
But it wasn’t ’pure’. The levels they stooped for power was extreme to the point they were willing to abandon everything about themselves. At that point, it didn’t matter if they were the one to kill Astrelya or if someone else did.
She simply had to die.
And that wasn’t what Astrelya wanted.
She wanted a pure pursuit. A consensus between two individuals that their battle will be one to the death.
A battle where they reveal everything about themselves. A heart to heart ’talk’.
And this ecstasy couldn’t be achieved by simply killing their loved ones.
No, one had to be patient. One had to wait their turn, to allow their target to set aside the time needed for a direct confrontation.
And the reward at the end of her patience would be the transcendental death she so desired.
Thankfully, time was something she had in an abundance.
The only thing that was limited in quality was those with the potential and those with the willpower needed to help her reach that moment.
"If you’re just waiting for Alice, surely there are other methods than to around." Rosalyn asked with a frown.
"Oh of course. But while I may not be averse to waiting, it doesn’t mean I’m not a victim of boredom. Boredom is the worse enemy of people who live long after all. Boredom is what kills the mind, weakens the spirit." Astrelya chuckled, sitting back down.
She almost had her fill of entertainment.
Had Ria accepted the call of the eclipse, THEN her boredom would’ve been fulfilled.
She would’ve been interested to see what kind of devastation she could cause, the kind of bloodthirst that runs in her veins.
But no, she rejected it at the last moment.
’Disappointing.’ Astrelya sighed inwardly.
She wanted to mess around with Alice but she was occupied.
And showing up would simply ruin Alice’s current objective.
With Alice, she was shown surprise after surprise.
Anomaly after anomaly.
She was someone who’s true to herself and followed her guts.
The kind of person Astrelya wished she could have a final battle with.
But for now, she’ll make do with Ria.
She was also interesting in her own sense but she kept turning away from it.
If Astrelya could find a way to convince Ria to explore that wellspring of power, she could prove to be far more interesting than initially expected.
And so Astrelya prayed.
She prayed that Ria would become a target of her amusement, of her affection. She prayed that Ria would match the potential that she saw inside her.