The Reaper's Wicked Obsession-Chapter 242: I’ll Run To You No Matter What

"I-It’s okay L-Lo," Marek stuttered. The blood filling his lungs made it difficult to speak.

"It’s not okay! You’re dying and I can’t save you."

"Y-You know this is for the be-best. I-I took care of my ma-master myself. Y-You wouldn’t have do-done it and neither wo-would Isadora—" He coughed, blood smearing his face. "Be-Because you know, no matter what, he’s still my ma-master."

"Don’t speak," Logi pleaded, unable to watch him suffer through this.

"The Dis-Disciple must carry the si-sins of his ma-master." Marek held Logi’s hand tightly, almost like he feared leaving him behind. "I don’t regret what I did." He forced out, quivering and rasping.

Logi’s bottom lips trembled. "I can’t do this without you, Marek, not again."

Marek forced a smile on his lips, tears sliding down to the back of his head, but it was tainted with blood, and his eyes turned red.

He collapsed, but Logi held him.

"No, please, please, dear gods, please!" Logi buried his face in his neck. "Don’t take him away from me, please."

Isadora sniffled, gripping his hand tightly; they were too big and covered her own entirely, and what broke her heart more was how cold they got.

Daudi was reaching for his soul.

Marek gave her a weak smile. "Ev-Even though it was just a little wh-while—" His teeth clenched as he forced the rest of the words out. "It was an ho-honor to fight on your si-side."

Isadora shook her head as the tears fell endlessly. "Marek," she rasped.

"Take care of my—" His sapphire eyes dulled, the vibrant blue fading to glass like a jewel robbed of its light.

"Marek!" Logi held him in his arms and cried.

Isadora turned away, breaking into a fit of tears. His hand became too cold to hold onto.

The sudden pulse grabbed their attention. The vortex was bigger than before, and soon, everything along with it would be devoured.

"We’re too late," Logi whispered, holding Marek’s lifeless body tightly. "Kraven’s gone too."

Isadora turned her head back to the vortex.

"He will erase everything in sight." Logi gently placed Marek’s body on the ground and used his fingers to close Marek’s eyes. "What we feared has come to pass."

"We have to do something."

"There’s nothing we can do, not even you can stop him."

"No," Isadora said faintly, rising to her feet.

"Trust me, Isadora. The only thing I can do now is protect you." His teeth clenched, it killed him to say his next words. "We have to leave."

"I can’t leave him, Logi." She took a step forward.

"Isa—"

They were distracted when a howl shook through.

Kraven took his head back and gripped his hair on the verge of ripping it out of its roots. The vortex got more unstable.

"What’s happening to him?!" Isadora demanded.

"When we knew Kraven would go berserk. It wasn’t just about him destroying everything but himself. When the insanity takes over, even he can’t escape his own ruin."

Isadora swallowed thickly. "He’s in pain."

She couldn’t bear the sight of him going through this. He might be the end, but he was suffering the most; his own darkness was eating him up from the inside out.

"I have to—"

An earthquake shook, and the debris was dismantled, sending boulders flying down to them as everything disintegrated once again.

Isadora coughed as she tried to grab her bearings. "Logi!" Her eyes searched for him and found him struggling to stand, then he crawled to the hole where Marek’s body was pulled to, but before he could reach it was too late.

His lips trembled as he watched Marek’s body disappear into the abyss, forever.

The vortex pulsed with an ear-piercing roar before expanding violently, intent on devouring everything in its path.

"Isadora!" Logi yelled. "Get away! There’s nothing we can do!"

But Isadora didn’t listen; she forced herself to her feet, her chest heaving as she stared at what lay before her—what kept her away from reaching Kraven.

"No!" Logi forced himself to his feet; he wasn’t about to lose her, too, but the fierce wind’s vehemence, compelled by the vortex, pushed him backwards.

Isadora released a sharp breath, her legs moving—walking, then quickening—until she broke into a run. Her pace surged as desperation took hold, coursing through her as speed beyond her will was enforced.

She gasped when boulders dropped from the skies like falling wrath.

Isadora yelped and leaped out of the way, her body colliding harshly with the ground.

She grunted, forcing her legs back up, her muscles screaming, and she cried out from the pain. Even so, she ran again.

The wind was blasting through her, slicing cuts all over her body—dulling her movement, bleeding out. But she never stopped.

She fell, got back up, dodged boulders, and ignored the cuts until she was closer to the vortex, and it screeched into her, covering her entirely.

Isadora screamed as her body came apart, the darkness wailed, eating away at her essence, clawing at her soul, and attempting to devour her whole.

"Kraven, please!" She begged, called him, and cried to him.

Her knees buckled, dropping to the ground. She hugged herself as the gut-wrenching pain tore her apart, her breath growing unstable.

Suddenly, the clouds came apart when the vortex reached the skies, allowing a ray of sunlight to stream down and descend directly on Isadora.

Her eyes flickered open when she felt the sun against her skin.

"I will not abandon you," she said softly. "Your burden is mine, too." She forced her body to its feet.

Logi’s eyes squinted to get the details, but then they widened. "Dear Almadra!"

Isadora’s body was glowing, but he couldn’t tell if it was from the light coming from the skies or if it was just her strangely absorbing the light.

The energy of the sun guided her, reducing the pain, and fueled her with an energy unlike anything she had ever felt before.

Her golden-blonde hair unraveled from its braid, swirling around her in waves of radiant gold as her body beamed the same color along with her eyes, void yet bright like the sun.

She became a spark of light within the heart of the vortex. The vortex screeched from the burn as her light took over.

Isadora stretched her hands for him and caressed his cheeks. She brushed her lips against his softly.

"I love you."

The light consumed everything in sight, blinding. Logi was forced to turn away.

And then it shrunk and dispersed.

Logi’s chest heaved; he took his hand away and turned back to the scene.

There was no sign of the vortex, just what was left of the place.

Kraven held Isadora in his arms, his shaky hand reached and caressed her cold cheek.

"Isadora?" he said softly, searching for any sign of movement—but she was as still as a tree, and her heartbeat was gone.

"No!" He placed his forehead on hers and squeezed his eyes shut, his chest felt like it would rip apart from a newfound pain, unable to contain it, he unleashed it into the skies in a pained roar.