Despair and Hope (3/10)

As she lay there, floating in the middle of nothingness, Drakavar suddenly has a brief moment of sanity, and her madness briefly recedes.

Looking out into the vastness of space, Drakavar can sense all the new souls she's just devoured. Her senses are completely tied to the framework of the universe, so after uprooting the World Tree, she can feel the universe slowly crumbling around her.

'Obviously, nobody could've caused this sort of destruction except for me…,' Drakavar sighs. 'Do I feel sorry for what I did?'

She closes her eyes and feels the countless galaxies and worlds, which are in ruins or destroyed completely. 'I suppose a normal person would feel regret of some kind… right?'

'…But… I don't feel sorry.'

Drakavar's eyes suddenly tear up thinking of her two, adorable children. 'They deserved a better mother. They deserved to have someone with a conscience. Those two children are far too pure for this world. If they'd stuck around me for much longer, they would've become terrible monsters, like me.'

Drakavar takes a deep breath and delves deep into her own mind – desperate to scrounge up any semblance of regret for her monstrous actions.

…

Long, long ago, when Drakavar was just a little girl, she remembers standing on her tip toes, looking out a large window and gazing curiously at three, glowing streaks in the night sky. One streak was bright silver, the middle one was bronze colored, and the third was golden.

As young Drakavar looked curiously up at this sight, a tall, grey skinned man with pointed ears suddenly picked her up from behind and set her on the windowsill. "What're you looking at, Drakavar?" Mora asked her as he fondly brushed her long, black hair.

The little dragon girl pointed her chubby finger up at the sky and asked curiously, "What's that?"

"Those are the 3 Rivers of Souls," the God of Creation answered happily. "Each of those rivers are made up of countless stars, and each star is a glowing soul."

"What's a soul?"

"Eh…?" Mora shook his head. "A soul? A soul is a person. Rather, is the thing about a person that makes them special." He reaches his hand up and gestured toward the 3 rivers. "Those 3 Rivers represents everything I've ever made."

"Oh…," Little Drakavar rolled her eyes, "Don't go bragging now. I'm tired of you prattling off about your latest creations."

"But I'm telling you about my projects for a reason!" Mora insisted. "I made you into a possessive person for a reason too! After all, I intend to leave everything I create in your hands one day!"

Drakavar perked up at this, "REALLY!? You can't take those words back!"

Suddenly gaining a new interest in his creations, Drakavar leaned her little head onto her Father's shoulder and asked in a wistful voice, "What's it like, out there on the World Tree? What does the outer universe look like?"

(This is a good question, since Mora hadn't let Drakavar out to explore the universe after she'd been Created. He insisted on keeping her close for the duration of her childhood.)

Mora gets a warm look on his face. "The outer universe? The stars there glitter like my finest jewel box, yet they burn hot and bright. They even give warmth and life to countless people."

"The galaxies? Nebulas? My words alone can't do justice to how beautiful they are. Even the most talented artist could never capture their colors and shapes."

"And the mortals? They have flawed and short lives, but that's part of what gives them their beauty. Like a flower that blooms and withers, you won't be able to help but want to shelter them!"

Mora sets his daughter back on the ground, and he affectionately ruffles her hair, "And all those things will belong to you, when you're a grown up."

Drakavar scrunches her eyebrows, "But why would you give it to me? Didn't you work hard on making it?"

"That's because you'll be stronger than me, one day," Mora replies with a smile. "I know that you're the type of person who'll die first before she lets her possessions be harmed or stolen. Naturally, if I give the Universe to you, then you'll be it's most loyal protector. If it's you, then I can trust you with my Legacy."

The little dragon girl went to bed that night feeling warm in her heart. She never talked much with her Father, but being told all of this, she began to feel that he treasured her greatly. It felt good to be trusted so much.

---------------------

Many years later, when Drakavar had long ago left her Father's Realm and entered the Universe, she began to get a sour feeling in her heart.

Mora had always told her that the galaxies, nebulas, and stars are the most beautiful jewels and paintstrokes in existence. Yet, when she looked upon their splendor, the only thing she saw was clouds of dust and space gas.

What was worse, is that when Drakavar began mingling with the Mortals, she quickly came to hate them.

Mora had promised that these Mortals were flawed, yet beautiful existences that must be cared for. However, when Drakavar looked on them, she only saw petty, selfish animals who murder and rape each other.

The God of Creation had promised all these things to her, yet Drakaver began to detest this gift. Everything in this universe is far too ugly to even look at! She didn't want it!

---------------------

It was only countless eons later that Drakavar finally found something that she could love with all her heart. It was two, gorgeous children; one was a White Wolf, and the other was a Black Fox.

'But… those children are dead now – tortured and devoured by the mortals that were supposed to belong to me!'

Just thinking about how those children must have been crying for her in their final moments, Drakavar starts to feel her mind fog over again.

'Yes… who cares if I destroy my father's stupid garden? The only beautiful thing inside it is already destroyed, so this universe is useless now!"

She then looks down on her own wounds, and she feels the catastrophic damage in her body. 'I'm probably going to die, huh? Well, whatever. Makes no difference. I'm not a beautiful person either. I'm just a monster, so it doesn't matter if I die.'

'In fact, it's probably better for me to die. If I'm going to die, then I'll destroy as many gods as I can before the end.'

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-The Present-

After seeing that the Time Locking won't work very well anymore, Haalfrin realizes that there's not much else his soldiers can do to delay Freyya any longer.

Coincidentally, Freyya actually fixes her gaze on Haalfrin in that moment; it seems that she's finally found him again.

Narrowing her eyes, Freyya unleashes another torrent of fiery breath in his direction.

The moment before her attack hits him, Haalfrin extends his hand, and the Death aura making up his arm morphs into a shield.

As soon as Freyya's Spiritual fire touches his arm, his Advanced Fel Name converts the mana, which was making up her fire, into a thick cloud of Death Aura.

Before Freyya even realizes what's going on, Haalfrin has already absorbed her attack and added the abundant Death Energy into his body.

Freyya realizes that throwing mana charged attacks will do nothing against her opponent, so she materializes a necro-crystal spear, and she throws it at him.

Haalfrin keeps his necro-crystal shield up just in case while he uses his Advanced Yiir Name to take control of the Death Energy in her spear – ripping the Deathly Aura right out of it and pulling it harmlessly into his own body.

Freyya grows even more frustrated seeing this, so she whips out her silver spear and comes in to kill him up and personal.

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-The Far Future-

After Laura and her Enchanters perished, the next to go is Queen Fina, along with several other Rehkin gods with whom she had made close ties over the years.

Still, her allied gods are devoured almost immediately, so it's fair to say that this skirmish in particular is only between Drakavar and Fina.

Right now, Drakavar is lunging at the Queen of Arra and tearing the Ant to bits.

Of course, Fina has already spread out her summoned clones far beyond Drakavar's immediate sight. In fact, the Ants aren't technically living things with their own mana pools, so Drakavar can't sense the energy within them, making them effectively invisible to the Goddess of Power.

Plus, when her clones are summoned, they all show up wearing gear identical to the main body. This means that they're all wearing the same pendants that are enchanted to help them survive and travel in space.

And so, Fina isn't worried at all, even as the Dragoness rips her limb from limb. She immediately comes back to life by moving her soul into one of her clones.

Unlike Laura, Fina has no special way of dealing great damage to the black Dragoness; Drakavar's scales are far too tough for her strikes to pierce through.

Fina even tries using Spirit magic to try bespelling the dragon, but it seems that after gaining a Spiritual Connection with the Gods of Rehwyn and Rehvar, Drakavar has become largely impervious to Spiritual manipulation.

It's just… no matter how great Fina has become, she's no match for Rehkavar and Rehkawyn – the Elder Gods of her race.

With no other option, Fina is still forced to throw all of her power at Drakavar in order to keep the dragon's attention fixed on her.

Of course, this tactic is using huge amounts of mana, and she'd quickly run out, if it weren't for Drakavar constantly breathing huge beams of energy at her.

Fina, of course, has a power in her Fel Name that lets her devour mana. So, whenever Drakavar breathes flame at her, Fina just eats up the attack and regains her fighting strength.

Bit by bit, Fina chips away at Drakavar's mana this way. Bit by bit, Drakavar devours more and more pieces of the Ant Queen's soul, every time she eats one of the clones.

Fina may have dealt no damage to the Goddess of Power…, but after holding the mad monster back for nearly an entire year this way, she is, by far, the one who delayed her the longest and forced her to expend the most strength.

Even still, after finally being devoured 10 million times, the last of Queen Fina is eaten whole.

At long last, the Ant Queen is no more.