Zain looked at his phone and was looking at a group picture of him, Stella, Zofia, Saya, Miyuna, Kotome, Tia, and Ashe. He sighed a bit and looked at the sky and closed his eyes. Zofia sat beside him and laid her head on his arm.
"Is mom gonna be okay?" Zofia asked.
"Don't know...hopefully she will. I would hate to lose her...especially when we promised we would always be together...after so many years and she's once again at the brink of death fighting in war." Zain said. "The Bushi just can't catch a break plus she's the only Bushi alive."
"Why do people hate mom so much?" Zofia asked.
"It's her ancestors and her parents parents that set the bar. The Bushi are one of the many clans who have direct relations with the Gods and Goddesses. Because of that power, everyone wished to have such a power. Her bloodline was killed out of cold blood." Zain said. "The burden she must carry in her heart must be too heavy for her to speak on...it is because everytime I ask..she dismisses me."
"It doesn't make it any better we are stuck in Genten when we could be helping her out on the battlefield." Zofia said.
"I know. All we can do is wait though." Zain said and held Zofia close. Zofia hugged his waist and closed her eyes.
My group set out towards Uphelia and arrows and energy blasts were being shot. It was all out war in Arcania. I looked at the map that Izumi made for me pointing to the location of the remaining souls. We followed the map and stopped at a cave then I sensed a presence other than our own at the Cave Entrance.
"You will not pass beyond this point." The masked figure said and looked down at us while sitting on a stray branch.
I looked up and saw the person and glared. The person jumped down and stood up then their cloak flowed. The person looked back and grabbed Azami's arm.
"W-What..?! How did you sense me?" Azami asked.
"Let her go!" Aria said and glared.
"I've come to relay a message." The figure tossed Azami to Aria. "From this point on...You will not gain the Kings Souls for as long as I am in combat. If you want the Kings Souls...you will have to get past me."
"Shouldn't be too much of a problem...If I were you, I'd save myself the embarrassment of getting beaten to death." I said and glared.
"I wouldn't underestimate me if I were you. You may be a Goddess, but I am the ultimate creation." The figure said.
"Stella.." Himiya said.
Akiri dashed towards the person and tackled him out the way. I looked at her shocked and she looked up at us.
"Go now! While I still have him down!" Akiri said.
I nodded and ran inside the cave with my group. The person struggled to get Akiri off them then they managed to throw her off and stood up. Akiri stood up and snapped her fingers and her demon appeared behind her.
"I will do everything in my power to prevent the success of the Emperor! This is my home too! To just destroy it...it pissed me off!" Akiri said.
The person took their cloak off and tossed it aside. They then took their mask off revealing the face of a male. He opened his eyes and had a symbol of evil as his pupils. Akiri stood her ground and got in a battle stance.
"I'm not backing down from this fight...Stella and the others...will win these last few battles! They will destroy the souls and Arcania will-" Akiri stopped and was shocked.
"The Soul of Menon, The Soul of Estria, and the Soul of Shikayo...all in my hands. My Absolute Attack ability made it possible to end them in one attack...just I will do to you, traitor." The man said.
"Who...who are you..?" Akiri asked.
"My name..is Unknown. The Ultimate Creation of the Unknown Order. With the Indigo Soul, Yellow Soul, and Green Soul at my disposal, I could use these on myself, but I don't want to because they are all for the benefit of our Emperor soon to be our God of this planet named Utalia!" Unknown said.
"I...won't let that happen!" Akiri said.
"Your attempts won't mean a thing...all I need is the Violet Soul and then Lazlord will have enough power to complete me, so I can destroy Arcania and the other countries then build a new planet called The World of Unknown. That would will be a Superpower and rule the entire Universe!" Unknown said.
"Like I said, it won't happen! Rogrock! Strike him down!" Akiri pointed at Unknown.
"Just give up." Unknown said and his left eye glowed and Rogrock was destroyed in a matter of seconds.
"N-No...I can't let Lazlord win! I won't allow it!" Akiri said and summoned her sword then dashed towards Unknown then Sazuka kicked her away.
"You idiot! You're playing right into his hands!" Sazuka said then jumped away from Unknown.
"Lady Sazuka former member of the Supreme Ten. You also betrayed Emperor Lazlord. Fortunately for you, you aren't my target...so I advise you to leave the area while you can." Unknown said.
"And let my friend die by your hands..?!" Sazuka said and stood in front of Akiri.
"Why do you all do this..? I'm showing mercy to you but you force my hand to kill you when I don't need any excess blood on my fingertips. Last warning...Leave now." Unknown said.
"No.." Sazuka summoned her katana and glared as her white aura surged.
"Sazuka...go please...This isn't your fight.." Akiri said and stood up.
"Shut up! This is my fight if it involves me saving my home and the world I live in!" Sazuka said and glared at Unknown. "Running won't stop him from destroying...so I will fight until I fall and face the light from the heavens.."
Unknown sighed then dashed toward Sazuka then went for a strike then I appeared and and caught his fist. My dark aura surged and pushed Sazuka and Akiri back. Sazuka looked surprised and I looked back.
"Go assist Aria...I will handle Unknown..." I said.
"O-Okay..!" Sazuka grabbed Akiri's hand and ran into the cave and saw Victoria running out of the cave to assist me in battle.
I jumped back and Unknown dashed towards me and went for a strike. I blocked the attack then grabbed his arm and pulled him forward then struck his stomach. He grunted then I gave him a left hook then a right hook and finished with a direct strike to the face. Unknown slid back and growled lowly and looked up as his nose was bleeding. I started to rush him with attacks. He attempted to block and dodge but some of my attacks hit him hard. I blasted him away with a chaos element beam then he hit the wall of the cave and grunted.
"Stella." Victoria said.
"Why are you out here..?" I asked.
"To assist you, but I see there isn't anything to worry about." Victoria said.
"I refuse to lose to you, Stella. I refuse to die by your hands!" Unknown said and the three souls appeared above him. "I will reach absolute power one way or another..."
"Not on my watch!" I said and summoned my bow then summoned three arrows then shot them at the souls.
The arrows directly hit the souls and shattered them. Lazlord felt it and grunted as three more of his ancient arms shattered. Unknown looked at me and his eyes was full of hatred.
"Once all the souls are gone...we win and you lose. Even if you do manage to get the last soul, it won't be enough power to complete you or enough power to destroy Arcania let alone the entire planet. So rest assured that once we win this war...you will no longer exist." I said.
"...No...this war isn't over. Not even in the slightest!" Unknown snapped his fingers and two people appeared in front of us. He grabbed his cloak and mask then vanished.
"Who are they?" Victoria asked.
"Himiya looks like them...these must be her parents. We have to dispose of them!" I said and changed my bow into my sword.
"What?! You want us to kill them?!" Victoria said in disbelief.
"They are already dead, beyond saving..look at them. Just an empty shell...the least we can do is put them out of their misery." I said then watched them walk to us.
"U-Understood..." Victoria nodded.
We both ran to the parents of Himiya and stabbed them directly through their hearts. They let out one last exhale before their bodies fell limp and lifeless. I took my sword out of them and desummoned it then laid the mother on the ground. I looked at her and closed her eyes.
"Rest peacefully with The Mother...she will take care of you for the rest of your afterlife." I said and held her cheeks and a faint light shined on my hands.
Aria and the others came out with the last soul, the Violet Soul. Himiya saw her parents on the ground and froze. The wind blew gently and I looked at the bodies and stood up. Himiya walked towards them and fell on her knees and closed her eyes then tears fell from her eyes. I looked at Himiya then walked towards her and crouched down and rubbed her hair.
"It was for the best...There was no saving them." I said.
"How do you know..?! How do you know they couldn't be saved..?!" Himiya asked.
"Once the Unknown Order has their hands on someone they become a puppet. Even if the puppet master dies, the puppets will remain lifeless beings and the only thing to do is to put them out their misery." I said and looked at her.
"Why..? Why my parents..? What have they ever done..?" Himiya asked softly.
I rubbed her head and held her close to me then closed my eyes. Aria crushed the soul and Lazlord grunted loudly and fell to the ground as Calamity shattered and he looked around frantically. The barrier fell as Lazlord no longer had enough power to keep it up. Unknown walked up the stairs to the throne room then walked in.
"Unknown...help me..!" Lazlord reached up towards him.
Unknown took his hand and threw it down then stomped on his shoulder and dislocated it. Lazlord yelled in pain and grunted.
"I no longer have use for you. I will finish the process myself." Unknown said.
"Don't do this...I've been nothing but good to you. My creation..!" Lazlord said.
"Goodbye, Father." Unknown stomped down on his head multiple times until he heard nothing coming from Lazlord's mouth.
He walked to the machine and started pressing buttons and held up a strand of my hair and placed it in the machine and walked towards the capsule and stepped in then pressed the start button and threw the remote and closed the capsule. His desire for absolute power overshadowed everything he knew.
"Alright we finished taking down those two...Now what's the left..?" Kielazar asked.
"We just wait for the good news." Sol said.
Kielazar got a call from Victoria and he answered then Victoria started speaking with excitement.
"The Seven Souls are gone! We practically won the war!" Victoria said happily. "Wait- what happened?! Listen I'll call you back!"
Kielazar looked at his phone and at Sol. Sol looked at him then rose an eyebrow. Kielazar decided to retreat back to Arthvia and Sol went off back to Lost Astra.
"No this can't be happening!" I ran towards Arthvia and everyone followed me. "Please let this be a sick joke..!"
We soon reached Arthvia and stormed into the hospital and ran to the room Kanon sent us through text and I opened the door and my heart stopped for a second.
"M-Mom?" I said.
I saw Lina in the hospital bed and the machine showed a flat line and I walked towards her and held her hand then my legs nearly have out. The doctor held me up and tears streamed down my cheeks and Kanon looked at me sadly. Everyone who was with me knew how important Lina was to me. Adriesta walked in the room and looked at Lina and sighed.
"Lina...it wasn't your time to go, yet the illness took you down." Adriesta said.
"Illness..?" I looked up.
"Lina's been fighting an incurable sickness named Verpisis Verica since birth. To live this long with it was a miracle and without treatment. She kept it from everyone because she wanted everyone to stay happy around her genuinely. She was the bright star of Arcania I can tell you that much. Your mother was a strong woman to fight it for so long." Adriesta said.
I looked at Lina's face and couldn't stop crying then Himiya walked towards me and looked up at me. She hugged me and I sniffled and looked at Himiya then rubbed her hair.
"Are you gonna tell Zain the news?" Adriesta asked.
"Yeah..he needs to know." I said.
"Alright...I'll give you some time to yourself." Adriesta left the room.
"Thanks." I said and looked at Lina and wiped my eyes.
Losing Lina like this destroyed a part of me. I lost a piece of me that made me whole again. A part of my Indomitable Will was gone and I sat there looking at her in sorrow.