What remained of the academy and its surroundings was an ashen desert, with rot emanating from every corner.
Aqua suppressed her urge to incinerate the entire continent. She held her elbow and bit her lip, drawing blood.
Her eyes scanned for Azure's body, which she quickly found in the arms of the unconscious Sheira.
Aqua teleported next to the girls and looked over Sheira. "You awakened fully," She said, noticing the lack of the bracelet. It explained why the academy was a desert.
Yet, the girl could not handle her own potential, so she sent herself into a coma. At least Sheira is saved.
If anything, at least one of her dearest friends had survived.
However, the next scene made her eyes widen, and her hands relax. "Azu…" She muttered, tears welling up in her eyes, and she rushed down and lifted the corpse's head, pushing the lifeless head into her chest.
Half of her body was turned into ash, and the traces of rot seemed to be present within her.
Thus, Aqua arrived at a simple answer. Azure had died to the beings of rot, and Sheira had witnessed it, which triggered an emotional burst, speeding up her growth, yet when Azure's egg had resurrected her, the heat emanating from the princess instantly burned and killed Azure.
"Azu…" She held back her tears, hugging the remaining half of her love, the corpse collapsing into ash.
I love you, I love you. Why does everything I love have to be taken from me?!
The sin that was committed against her deserved the worst of punishments. She wished to conduct reorigination; she wanted to inflict suffering upon every beast and every god that sinned against her, yet she could not move from Azure's ashes.
Her ears slumped down, and her eyes opened the floodgates of tears. "Azure… My Azure… I should have done more to protect you!" She shouted.
Do you see it now, Blackflame Twilight…
Instantly, she squeezed the foolish creature with her [Authority of Time]. "Shut up! One more word and I will erase you! Your usefulness be damned!" She threatened the eldritch entity that attempted to seize a moment of vulnerability. In an instant, it slunk back into her mind, hiding from her gaze.
Her eyes lost their shine, and she stood up. "I will bring justice. Valerie, the world needs to be purged of all those who dared use rot against my beloved. I will do it myself. I had made a mistake in thinking it was not necessary."
Without her, Azu, there was no point in mercy. Everyone other than Soleah, Lucia, and Sheira was gone due to the actions of the foolish mortals.
For her friends, she would bring reckoning to all savages. They would all burn in the crimson fire.
The sinners would not need to fear her. They would all be gone.
What was the point of being wary of gods? What was the point of fearing the capabilities of Red Dawn?
There was nothing. She flew into the air.
Her fist closed, and a massive crimson circle eclipsed the sky.
"They will all die, they will all die, they will all die!" She shouted into the nothingness, pushing enough mana to erase everything. Unknowingly, she empowered the spell to such an extent that not only the savages, but the whole world would be nothing but a distant memory.
The planet itself shuddered, and the ground around her split open, creating chasms that reached the core itself.
"Wait!" Valerie appeared behind her, grabbing her by the waist.
She glared back, "Valerie, I am conducting the purge; do not interrupt me."
Valerie's eyes widened, yet she remained resolute.
"Champion! Please listen to me!"
Aqua shook her head. The savages needed to die, even if Valerie and Sun God scolded her. "There is no point. The Reorigination is the only way."
Valerie squeezed tighter. "Please listen to me! I beg of you, please!"
Yet, she could not ignore Valerie's pleading. The circle dispersed, and she turned; her empty gaze fell on Valerie. "Speak."
"If you released that spell, I would have died! Please stop and think!" She pleaded, grabbing Aqua's hand.
"They are all guilty! They used the rot to kill my beloved; death is too good for their species." Aqua snarled at her.
Valerie reeled back, yet she truly did understand what Aqua had felt. "Aqua… when you twisted my aspect, I witnessed your memories, both the darkest and the best." She said, wrapping her hand around Aqua's.
Aqua sighed, deciding to hear out the world soul. "So what?"
"Do you truly wish to purge an entire species? I know you would not. You are a kind woman. I have lost my beloved, too. I know how it feels."
Kindness? What has that brought me? Only loss. She wanted to be kind, to be forgiving, yet every time she had softened her heart and let herself care, she lost everything.
It happened more times than Aqua could count.
Valerie hugged her tightly. "You saved me. I do not want my savior to fall and become what you hated. You promised yourself not to become like a tormentor who hunted you."
Aqua's shoulders slumped forward, and soft sobs escaped her lips. "I… I loved this kingdom, and I loved Azure. I want to avenge her death… I only regret not fully committing myself to being her woman before her death."
"But the spell you were about to do would have turned this world into dust. Would you kill me and not regret it? Would you not regret destroying the home of your surviving friends? Would Azure wish for it?"
The words made Aqua go silent for a moment, her gaze washing over the chasms her power had opened.
She is right. She sighed and wiped her tears, yet despite her best effort, they kept on pouring. "You are right, Valerie."
Before she could react, Valerie teleported in front of her and embraced Aqua. "Cry all you need, champion; I know how it feels," She said softly while patting Aqua's head.
It was as if she were cursed. Every time she had grown to love something, it would inevitably be taken. She wrapped her hands around Valerie, and her tears poured for many minutes.
Soon the tears stopped, yet she could not separate herself from Valerie. Why me?! Why am I the one losing everything?! Why do I deserve this?!
After some effort, she separated from Valerie and landed on the ground, her fists clenching. When she had lost Umbra, she was weak, yet now, despite grand power, she could not protect her home nor someone she loved.
Then a thought formed in her mind. A heretical thought that would most certainly cause even greater calamity if she had made a single misstep. Aqua quickly wiped her tears again and sniffled. "I… I can bring her back, I want to bring her back, I want to bring everyone who died in this attack back!"
She had methods to resurrect the dead, yet she was on the verge of doing something drastic.
I wasn't thinking straight. The moment of shock made her forget that she was not the helpless girl she once was when the exterminators took Umbra. "Thank you, Valerie."
"I told you, I am here to support you," The world soul smiled at her.
"I will fix this. There is something I never wished to resort to, but I refuse to let myself lose everything again," Aqua spoke solemnly, the light returning to her eyes.
Valerie tilted her head.
"I will make sure only the elven kingdom is affected. Go to Vilas. I do not want you to be caught."
Valerie was about to ask, but was quickly interrupted by Aqua.
"I will do something I was terrified of doing all this time, but for my Azure and my new home, it is the only way," She turned toward the sky. "I will rewrite history itself; I will grasp the time in a way I never dared before… for my new home."
Valerie dared not speak; instead, she quickly disappeared, leaving Aqua alone.
Aqua placed her hands on her chest. These sinners would not escape her righteous fury; the gods that orchestrated such an attack would be consumed, and Red Dawn erased and savages eradicated; they would be broken, but her love took precedence.
She was not a helpless little girl anymore. She would not lose Azure like she lost Umbra.
Thank you, Valerie. I almost made a terrible mistake. Yet, what she was about to do was even worse and far more dangerous than purging the savages.
I am such a hypocrite.
She stretched her arms to the sides, and a large spectral clock appeared behind her. She needed to go above and beyond for her new family.
The time was something she dared not dabble in on a large scale; even now, she wished to avoid affecting the whole planet, much less the cosmos. Instead, she focused her effort on the elven kingdom alone.
I will deal with consequences, no matter what they are.
[Altered Time]: She activated her spell, yet she would not use mere rewind. While her current grasp on time was quite advanced, she needed something deeper.
Aqua lacked the information on what transpired, but she had a hunch that it was caused by various groups of savages. Now that the World Soul was empowered, she could give her attention and purge them all before they dared threaten her home.
She would need to rewrite history and force the enemy into her grasp.
The strands of time stretched before her.
She gripped them, forming and bending the timeline to her will. A massive temporal barrier appeared over the ruins of the elven kingdom, isolating the effects of her [Altered Time]
"[Altered Time - Rewrite History]," she uttered her new spell, delving deep into the realms of Time. As soon as she delved deeper, one strand turned white, the second red, and finally the third black.
The attack happened while she was asleep under the world tree. She would make sure that the time of the elven kingdom was restored just before then.
"I want to see my Azure, I want to see Sheira! I want my new home restored!" she shouted, and the spectral clock appeared in the skies of the elven kingdom.
She felt the gaze of an unknown entity, heavy and unyielding, yet she ignored it.
She wove and guided the threads of time; the red and black danced around her hand while the white fiercely resisted her influence. A grand bronze tapestry surrounded her. It was intricate, and the threads flowed with elegance befitting the most masterful art. Aqua reached toward it and, with a single swipe, the tapestry shattered, and the visions of the timeline flooded into her head.
The unknown gaze intensified; Aqua gritted her teeth, her knees buckling under the pressure; she was being judged.
The reality became unstable, threatening to return everything within the temporal barrier to nothing, yet she did not stop.
Just as the time unravelled around her, the strange presence intensified; the threads restructured around the white strand, reforming and stabilizing.
Aqua did not notice the strange correction; instead, she fully focused on the goal of rewriting history. She gripped the newly reformed strands and tore them apart once more. "I will do anything for my family! Even if this cosmos shatters!"
Yield to me, come on! She struggled to force the white thread to obey her.
For a moment, it seemed as if the white strand was completely immune to her influence, yet Aqua kept giving everything she could; sweat poured down her brow, and her heart felt as if it were about to explode from the infinity pressing down on her.
However, the pressure that threatened to crush her wrapped around her, guiding her will. Instead of her shattering being corrected, the white thread joined the red and black, finally yielding to her will.
The pressure of the unknown gaze softened, and she exhaled in relief.
Her hands clasped together, and the time rewrote itself; where once stood a ruined kingdom, now was the same home she had just left, yet she did not find herself above the academy.
Instead, a quiet ticking of the clock echoed through a massive hall. Aqua looked around, taking in the view of beautiful white columns and the crimson carpet that led to the throne.
On the throne sat a man clad in white.