Chains Of Tragedies (5)

Elena obliterated the pile of mushy red flesh that blocked her path as she steadily made her way towards the man's severed head.

Her entire being brimming with rage for he had killed one of her beloved disciples, Dilet. But at the same time, in order to obstruct her aura from being immoderately discharged out of her body—she is desperately endeavoring to keep her composure despite the seething rage burning fiercely within her heart.

With each step she took, the man's once sweet fantasies shattered like glass. He was reminded of the reality he was presented in. In front of Elena, he was nothing but a mere pest that had agitated a predator.

In a desperate attempt, the man tried to roll his head to widen the distance between him and Elena. Nevertheless to his dismay, the flat ground halted his futile attempts at escaping from his destiny.

While he was certain that his body would regenerate given a few hours or so—he never once took notice of the limitations his healing factor had. Could he survive Elena's wrath? Or, would his body succumb to the accumulated damages it couldn't tolerate any further?

Besides that, the man also had to take moderate consideration with his current state of mentality. If by miracle, he was to somehow survive Elena's onslaught—would he still be mentally stable or would he go insane from the traumatizing event he had to undergo?

Pitifully for the man, just before he could come up with a conclusion to his theories—his vision went dark as all he could see was nothing except for the endless darkness that stretched far and wide across the horizon.

An agonizing pain promptly followed afterwards. The pain the man felt was indescribable. The only solution for another to comprehend the pain he felt was to experience it themselves.

Although temporarily, once the man's vision had come back—he felt Elena's bloodied sword slashing and piercing his head. Elena had an emotionless expression etched onto the face as she swung her blade at the man's head—cutting, slashing, and piercing it—repeating the same actions until all that remained was a glob of bloody mess.

Despite what was left after Elena's onslaught, the man's head began to reform itself—but only to experience the same treatment of being pulverized by Elena.

"W-wai-"

"S-stop-"

"Pl-please-"

Every time the man's mouth reformed, he begged for Elena to stop. Nevertheless, it was in vain as the man's cries and beg for mercy were drowned in the seething vengeance Elena held for the murderer of her beloved disciple.

Elena continued her onslaught for what seemed to be an eternity—before finally stopping and letting out a long sigh from her throat.

Beneath her stood a pile of mushy flesh that was squirming ever so slightly—attempting to reconstruct back to its once humanoid shape. The man's entire head no longer held any humanoid features—but was now just a pile of mess that any janitor would clean up immediately on sight.

Elena gazed up into the starry sky as she contemplated the hopelessness she felt from being unable to aid her disciple. She held resentment towards the murderer—but she resented herself more than anyone else.

She loathed at herself for being weak. She despises the fact that she held too much regard for her disciple. But most importantly, she detest her lack of judgment and blame herself for being unable to avert Dilet's demise.

An exhausted sigh escaped Elena's throat—breaking the long silence that took place for a few seconds. She then redirected her attention towards the pile of flesh that had already reconstructed back into the upper face of the man.

His eyes widened as he saw the rage within Elena's eyes vanishing. All that was left was a muddy-like color that was nearly parallel to Tain's once muddy eyes—albeit tinged with a hint of orange within them.

Elena rose her bloodied blade high into the sky. A faint, yellowish aura began to seep out from Elena's left hand as the aura slowly enclosed the entire sword from the hilt to the tip of the blade.

Once it had fully encircled around the entire sword, the yellowish aura began to glow prominently—illuminating the once dusky, gloomy surrounding she was presented within.

"Dilet…if you're hearing this, it's alright…You don't have to forgive this incompetent teacher of yours…" Elena mumbled somberly.

Tears dripped down Elena's chin, yet the conviction within her eyes never faltered. No matter the consequences she could face later—she was determined to put an end to the life of Dilet's murderer.

Taking one last deep breath in order to compose herself, she soon found the strength to swing her luminescent blade on to the pile of flesh that squirmed repulsively.

Her blade began to descend onto the obnoxious pile of flesh. The closer the blade drew to the pile of flesh, the brighter the prominent light it emitted seemed to become.

As if grasping the concept of death, the pile of flesh began to writhe and ripple—attempting to flee from Elena's ethereal blade that got closer and nearer with each passing moment.

Just as it managed to accomplish perhaps a preposterous feat—moving an inch away from its original location—the tip of Elena's sword had already made contact with the ground.

An intensely bright, brilliant light hurriedly encompassed nearly the entire estate—blinding everything and everyone inside of it.

The light remained brighter than ever for a few moments, and then it all abruptly vanished—leaving barely a trail as to where it had gone to.

In the middle of where the light originated from, a burnt mark was embedded deep into the ground. The pile of mushy flesh that once squirmed so lively was nowhere to be seen.

Approximately two meters away from the burnt mark was Elena—sitting on her knees, holding the hilt of her sword as the blade is buried deep within the ground and gasping for air. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead as sweat droplets began to dribble down her chin.

All of her stamina was exhausted into that one attack in order to ensure that the man would truly die.

Having accomplished her goal of avenging Dilet, Elena couldn't help but to chuckle despite being in a feeble state. She felt a hint of relief that soothed the seething rage once burning so fiercely deep within her heart.

Taking a few deep breaths in order to compose herself, Elena soon stood up from the ground and redirected her attention to Tain—who was a few meters backwards away from her.

Amidst all of the shocking series of events that had passed, Tain was still hugging the once warm Dilet's severed head—caressing his hair and singing the same lullabies Dilet used to lull him to sleep whenever the Duchess was absent.

The tears that streamed down Tain's cheeks had already dried up. His pair of eyes were bloodshot, and his voice was becoming fainter the longer he sang the lullabies.

Elena felt her heart throbbing in pain upon seeing the sorrowful state Tain was in. She recalled the connection and relationship he had with Dilet. Due to the absence of the Duke, to Tain, Dilet wasn't simply a brother, but also a father figure that guided Tain to become the best version of himself.

The attachment Tain held for his brother was comparable to the likes of a child's relationship with their beloved father.

'If only I had saved Dilet…' Elana reflected on herself once more.

With a heavy heart, she steadily advanced towards Tain—to comfort him from the grief of having his precious one stripped away from his life.

Just as she was about to take her second step, a blood curdling roared deafened her momentarily.

'No…this can't be…!' She thought.

Anxiety was scrawled all over her face. Her heart thumped rapidly as she quickly deduced the identity of the creature that could produce such a terrifying roar.

Hesitantly, she turned her head around, and much to her dismay—the beast she had once bested had awakened from its stupor, and it certainly wasn't in a joyful mood.

It was enraged. For a beast feared and revered by many—preys and predators alike—to be defeated by a small creature incomparable to its stupendous figure—it was the greatest humiliation the beast could ever dreamed of experiencing.

The beast's mind was filled with murderous intentions. For his pride to be stained by such a miniature creature unworthy of its attention—it wasn't going to let his guard down again this time.

The beast marched towards Elena with its feet stomping the ground as hard as possible—signifying the wrath it held towards Elena.

"This…might be my last voyage after all…" Elena complained.

Having faced the beast once, Elena already knew she stood no chance at conquering it again—especially taking account of her current frail state.

But, that didn't mean she wasn't going down without a fight. Pointing her blade towards the advancing beast—Elena was ready to gamble her life as many times needed to make it out alive against her second encounter with the beast.

"Come, let's kill each other." She said as she quickly got into a stance and prepared for the worst.

The beast—albeit unable to understand human language—took notice of the provocation hinted in her tone.

Her prideful attitude despite facing it simply exasperated it even more. The obsession the beast held to slaughter Elena burned fiercely than ever before.

Without any prior notice, the beast immediately charged towards Elena at full velocity. For having its pride to be stained not once—but twice and by the same pathetic creature nonetheless—fueled the beast's fury.

The beast won't tolerate any second chances of letting Elena off the hook this time around.

…