Chapter 116: The Hand of Death, the Voice of Life

Nairo lay on the ground.

Blood dripped from his nose, stained his mouth. Every breath was a struggle. Yet, slowly, painfully, he tried to rise.

Grafay, worried, stepped forward, his voice trembling:

— Nairo... man, that's enough. You don't have to keep going.

— You barely hurt him. Look at him... he's still standing, intact.

He paused, his gaze tense.

— If you keep this up... you're going to die. Do you hear me?!

— NAIRO!

But Nairo did not respond.

His eyes were completely white, devoid of pupils. As if... he was no longer there.

In his mind, there was emptiness.

A thick, unfathomable void.

Nairo wandered there, standing, disoriented. Silence reigned, oppressive.

— What's happening to me...?

Suddenly, a voice echoed, distant, like carried by the echo of a memory.

It was Grafay's:

— Nairo! Wake up! Nairo!!

But Nairo did not understand.

He looked around, not recognizing the source of the voice.

Then... she appeared.

A familiar silhouette. Radiant. Soothing.

Standing in this void, his mother looked at him tenderly.

— My son...

Nairo opened wide eyes.

— Mom? ...Is it really you?

She smiled, gentle as in his memories.

— Of course it's me. What did you think?

He ran to her, hugged her tightly, desperately.

— You see, Mom?

— I kept my promise. I never cried again, since that day...

She held him even tighter, placing a hand on his head.

— You were so brave, my boy...

— But now... it's over. You no longer need to suffer so much.

In the real world, Sally, still pinned to the ground, watched the scene with a troubled look.

— This is... weird...

She fixed her gaze on Nairo, who was rising, falling again, then trying once more.

His eyes white, empty. His body animated by something else.

Gaius, with a mocking look, sneered.

— Pathetic.

— Look at him... it's laughable. Why do you try so hard, microbe?

In the void, still.

Nairo, arms still around his mother, raised his eyes to her.

— Mom... are you proud of me?

She smiled tenderly, tears in her eyes.

— More than you can imagine.

— I am proud of my beloved young king...

Then she stepped back slightly. And held out her hand.

— But now, Nairo...

— Come with me. Come live in a world where there will be no more suffering. No more war. No more loneliness.

— Just you and me, forever.

Nairo stared at the outstretched hand. Silent.

— But... Mom, you've been dead for a long time. Where do you want to take me?

She answered with infinite calm:

— To eternal rest.

— There, you will have no hunger, no thirst. You will no longer bear this crushing weight. You will finally be free, my treasure...

He froze, his gaze lost between the reassuring warmth...

...and a chilling premonition.

— A world where I could finally rest...

Sally, still on the ground, struggled against the crushing gravity that held her pinned.

Teeth clenched, she stretched her arm toward her swords.

— Hold on, Nairo... I'm coming! she whispered.

Her fingers brushed the hilt of her weapon, and just as she grasped it...

A dark red mana, almost black, exploded around her.

A heavy, swirling energy, imbued with black lightning, rose like a living flame.

Everyone looked up at her.

Grafay squinted:

— What's that thing?!

ErMut, his face marked by worry:

— That mana... there's something monstrous about it.

Standing straight, the black aura vibrating around her, Sally murmured bitterly:

— I never thought... I'd have to draw on your power one day, damn demon...

Gaius's heavy gravity no longer affected her.

With a single sword slash, she cut the air... and the gravity vanished.

As if that invisible burden had never existed.

Grafay and ErMut suddenly felt their bodies grow light again.

Freed.

Gaius, intrigued, watched the scene with rare seriousness.

— That mana... is unnatural. It's...

His eyes narrowed.

— ...dark mana.

Shooting like a meteorite, he rushed toward Sally.

— I'll crush you before you use it again!

— SALLY! WATCH OUT! shouted Grafay.

But she turned calmly.

Her swords raised, the same swirling red-black mana around her again.

Her gaze had changed. Cold. Sharp. Resigned.

— To think I swore I'd never return to this form...

One movement.

A simple horizontal strike, almost lazy.

Gaius disappeared.

Erased.

As if he had never existed there.

Grafay and ErMut widened their eyes.

— What was... that? whispered ErMut.

— Who is she, exactly? murmured Grafay.

Sally, without a word, dissipated the mana around her.

She looked at her hand with sadness, as if she had just crossed a boundary she had long imposed on herself.

Then she turned her back and ran toward Nairo.

— Nairo!

She shook him.

— Nairo, wake up!!

In the void.

Nairo still held his hand half a distance from his mother's.

His hesitant, moved gaze.

— Very well, Mom...

He smiled.

— I will come with you.

But suddenly, a voice.

Distant. Like an echo lost in a sea of mist.

— Nairo... Nairo!!

He jumped.

— Is that Sally's voice?

His mother, gentle, elusive, still held out her hand.

— Their world no longer concerns you, my son. Where we go, there is no war, no fear, no pain... only you and me.

Her finger approached his.

A hair's breadth from contact.

— Nairo... don't die!!

Sally's voice, louder, clearer.

Nairo's eyes opened wide, shocked. He jumped back, heart pounding.

— Mom... tell me the truth.

— This world you speak of... it's not... death?

She stayed there, frozen, the same benevolent smile.

Silent.

Nairo looked at his hand, then his mother's.

His legs trembled.

— If I touched you... I would have left this world, wouldn't I?

In the silent void, Nairo remained frozen before his mother's silhouette. His gaze oscillated between hope and suspicion. He squinted, searching for a clue, a word... but she no longer answered.

She remained there, the smile fixed, the hand outstretched, like a frozen image in time.

Nairo stepped back slightly, frowning:

— Mom...? Why don't you say anything? Answer me...

Still silence. A gentle, almost fake warmth enveloped him.

But something inside him twisted.

He suddenly screamed, his voice broken by confusion and fear:

— Damn it, answer me!!!

And then...

His mother's silhouette began to dissolve into gray mist, as if she had never been real. This gentle presence slowly faded until the illusion fell — revealing what truly hid beneath that maternal mask.

A colossal being appeared.

Wrapped in a long black cloak, he towered over Nairo in all his height — nearly three meters of shadow and bone.

His face was nothing but a white skull, bare, without flesh, without emotion, but his empty eye sockets seemed to burn with infinite knowledge.

His voice resonated, deep, abyssal, as heavy as time itself:

— I am not your mother...

— I am Thanato, or rather... one of my countless avatars.

He stepped forward, and the void around them seemed to waver.

— I came because you were suspended between two shores: that of the living... and that of the dead.

— I offered you the choice, Nairo: my hand for eternal rest... or refusal, for a return to the world's pain.

— You chose life... So my role here ends.

But as he began to dissipate in turn, his words took a darker turn:

— But remember well, little king...

Thanato's body slowly disintegrated, like black smoke sucked into the void.

— All things are born, grow, decline... and join me.

— No one escapes their own end... no one.

He stopped, and with one last chilling breath:

— So prepare yourself... for we are destined to meet again...

A sinister laugh, heavy and inhuman, echoed in the void.

— Hahahahahaha...

Then nothing.

Thanato vanished completely, as if he had never existed.

Silence returned.

Nairo remained alone, trembling, his heart pounding as if it would break his chest.

— Was that... a nightmare?

But no.

For the void began to fade... and reality slowly reclaimed its place.