Killed Me? Now I Have Your Power-Chapter 261: Ocean of Blood [8]

Chapter 261 – Ocean of Blood [8]

They were losing. And they knew it. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

The combination of Thornspire and Warborn armies couldn’t hold against such an overwhelming diversity of forces surrounding them.

But that wasn’t the only problem.

It wasn’t only that the enemy armies were numerous, with so many different kinds of abilities that combined so perfectly that even the Warborn sometimes felt a cold chill crawl down their spines under their attacks.

It was obvious someone highly intelligent and experienced had placed the abilities with the best compatibility together to kill as efficiently as possible.

And it was working.

But the issue went even deeper. Because among the armies of Thornspire... there were traitors.

Traitors who didn’t hesitate for even a heartbeat to backstab the very people they had been fighting beside all this time. The ones who had saved them from certain death. The ones who had laughed with them before this war had even begun.

And oh... Thornspire was riddled with traitors.

In no time, the armies of Thornspire and Warborn were being eaten alive not only by their opponents but also by those they had thought of as brothers-in-arms.

"W-Why?" one broken soldier rasped, a young white-haired man with soft blue eyes as blood gurgled in his throat. He was kneeling on one knee, a dagger piercing the spot where his heart rested.

The pain was unbearable. He was going to die. But still, he raised his head and locked his pained eyes on the woman standing before him.

She was beauty itself.

Even with the blood of the fallen on her face and armor, it was clear she was someone stunning. Her once-white hair was combed back, smeared with blood. Her face was fair, with a sharp nose, full rosy lips, and golden eyes that still seemed to hold some trace of purity. She wore light white armor made for swift movement.

She was still holding the dagger that pierced the heart of her...

"...my love," she managed to whisper, feeling the cold of death begin to overwhelm Sayid, her lover.

"W-Why? Why Annie? Why betray us? Why do this to us?" Sayid struggled to speak. The more he did, the more he could feel his death rising in him.

The battlefield around them vanished. There was only the two of them, standing upon an ocean of blood filled with entrails and intestines of brothers and enemies alike.

Annie kneeled before Sayid, her golden eyes filled with unmistakable pain. "It was either you... or it was my family," she confessed.

"It was either I kill you or they kill my family, Sayid. I didn’t have a choice. You don’t know how many traitors exist inside Thornspire. Sayid, they are too many. Even... even..." She wanted to speak, to confess more, but her fear overwhelmed her, and she couldn’t manage to say it.

"Why didn’t you tell me?" Sayid wheezed as his breath turned ragged.

Annie drew him closer, pressing his head against her breast like he had always liked her to do. Her tears flowed faster and faster as she felt her lover’s body growing colder by the second.

"They threatened me. They have eyes on all of us. I couldn’t. I wanted to believe in us, Sayid. I wanted to believe in Thornspire’s strength." She shook her head in pity.

"And I did at the beginning. But we were fighting a losing battle. The Cerveau have us under their thumb. We are controlled. We don’t have a choice... we don’t." She kept speaking, and soon she was weeping.

She hadn’t wanted to lose her family, so she killed her lover. But now, as she felt the merciless grip of death take him, her heart was being shredded in real time.

All around, the battle raged on. Brothers betrayed brothers. Lovers stabbed each other. Sisters pulled each other’s hair.

It was complete chaos.

And amid it all, the enemies kept advancing, their formations intact, their will unbroken...but how could it break?

They had no will to begin with. They were mindless slaves who felt nothing even while killing people they had once known.

And Annie, feeling the unbearable pain consuming her whole, wished she could be like them. She wished she could feel nothing. She wished she had no will. She wished she could forget what she had done.

And the worst...

"Y-Your family... over me...?" Sayid gave a small, broken smile. "Fair trade..."

It felt like someone was crushing Annie’s lungs. Her eyes went wide when she heard there was no resentment in his voice.

Sayid pulled something from his space ring. It was a small white metallic box carefully wrapped with a golden ribbon. It was obvious someone had prepared it with love.

Annie’s eyes went wide. "No... no... no, don’t do this to me, please. Please don’t, Sayid. Sayid..." she wheezed. She wept. She cried in agony as the box opened, revealing a ring. A beautiful white ring with golden sigils inscribed on it.

The ring she had once told Sayid she wanted, back when they had just begun to realize they were meant for each other.

"I... would have loved to kneel but..." he smiled weakly, eyes darkening, heart slowing. He was dying.

But he forced himself to say one last word. Ah... maybe it wasn’t one word after all.

It was three words. Eight letters.

And at that moment, the weight behind them could have crushed the world.

"I... love... you..." Sayid barely managed, and then his body went limp in Annie’s arms.

He had loved her till the end. He had loved her even when she pierced the heart that had beaten only for her. He had loved her even when she chose her family over him.

Even though he would have forsaken the world and everyone in it just for a smile on her beautiful face.

She had been his light. She had been his life. She had been his everything.

And he died giving her the only thing he wanted her to remember him by...his unfathomable love.

"ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Annie screeched in pure agony. Her tears blurred her vision red. She took Sayid’s cold body, leaned her face to his and kissed him on his cold lips, feeling the weight of his death settling inside her chest.

It was heavy. It was unbearable.

"I love you too... I love you too... I..."

She couldn’t finish. It was so wrenching she thought her own heart was being shredded. But it was no metaphor. It was truly being shredded.

An enemy soldier mercilessly tore her heart apart, and without even looking at her body, continued his slaughter.

Annie’s body fell upon Sayid’s. The pain inside her heart should have been another level, but the physical pain of her heart being torn was nothing compared to what she felt at her lover’s death caused by her own hand. And she found herself smiling amid this pain.

Because...

’I am going with you... my love. Will... will you forgive me? I lo—!’

She couldn’t finish her thoughts as she died on top of her lover.

She couldn’t finish it. But the meaning was clear.

I love you.

I love you even though I tore apart your heart. I love you even when I chose my family over you.

I love you, Sayid.

And...

Forgive me.

...

"Cough... cough..." Eliot wheezed as he slowly stood, his body torn open in multiple places, blood flowing freely. His eyes were blurry, his limbs exhausted, yet he was smiling.

Beneath him lay the corpse of Matthew, his body riddled with thorns that had eaten him from the inside out, leaving nothing but a hollow husk.

Eliot had been left with no choice but to unleash his Epithet’s Aspect to win, catching Matthew by surprise.

The use of his Aspect left him drained, but at least the battle was over.

’I just need three minutes of rest. Luke will be able to lead the soldiers to victory...’

He thought as he began to lower himself to the ground when he suddenly heard the sound of footsteps crushing the rocky floor, drawing closer.

He turned his head sharply and saw a tall man with white hair tied in a ponytail, red eyes glinting in the gloom. His features bore a strong resemblance to Eliot’s own.

It was his brother, Luke Thornspire.

Eliot frowned, confusion flickering across his tired face. "What are you doing here? You were supposed to lead the soldiers to victory," he rasped, his throat dry from exhaustion.

He had already taken a health potion, but it did nothing. The strain of using one’s Aspect went far deeper than mana.

Luke, in return, simply smiled and waved his hand dismissively. "There’s no need to worry. The outcome of this battle is already settled."

Eliot’s eyes widened faintly in surprise. "That’s wonderful. I expected nothing less from you," he said with a smile, approaching his brother and patting his shoulder.

He was honestly impressed. He had thought their armies, even with the Warborns’ help, would either lose outright or scrape through with catastrophic losses. But if Luke had won...

He couldn’t help but admire his little brother’s ability to lead. Smiling wryly, Eliot let out a thought that had weighed on him for years.

"You could have been a better Patriarch if you had been born before me." He confessed it freely, with no jealousy. Just a truth he had always believed.

But silence fell after his words. A silence too unnatural.

And then it was broken.

The sound of flesh, bones, and tendons shattering echoed out as a black rune flared suddenly on Eliot’s chest.

For a moment, he didn’t react. His mind lagged behind, unable to process what had just happened. Slowly, he lowered his head to see his brother’s hand pressed against his chest. Then he raised his gaze again...and froze.

Luke’s red eyes glowed with a sinister light as he stared at him without a shred of warmth, as though Eliot were nothing more than a pebble in his path.

"You’re right. I should have been Patriarch. And now, I will be," Luke whispered as Eliot’s lips began to spill blood. He leaned closer, his voice brushing against Eliot’s ear.

"Rest in peace, brother. I’ll make Thornspire the powerhouse it was always meant to be."

"Me. Not you. Not my niece Rea."

His gaze was cold, detached and utterly devoid of kinship.

"Me, Luke Thornspire. So go, brother, and know you’ve been a failure... both as a leader and as a father."

Then, for a fleeting moment, a strange hint of something unknown touched Luke’s smile.

"But not as a brother."

With those words, Eliot collapsed like a broken puppet.

—End of Chapter 261—