Famine's death

Gently, Elise lifted her hand and caressed the tiny soul Seth held, her eyes expressing a complicated sentiment. Ultimately, she lowered her hand and shook her head, declining Seth’s offer.

“I appreciate it, Seth, but it still feels wrong. As I’ve said, I’m content with the progress I’ve made and the road I’ve traveled. It’s also important to know when to let go, before your dreams change who you are too much. I want to remain a being of the blood race.”

Seth lifted his hand, allowing the soul to drift upward to the Blood Sun floating in the distance. “It’s your decision to make, but just hold on to it. It’s a clean and empty soul. If you ever feel like going back and walking this new path, you should have a way to, even if I’m not around.”

Elise waved her hand, the Blood Sun absorbing the feeble soul inside before asking with a frown, “Not around? Do you plan on leaving soon?”

“Not soon,” said Seth with a shake of his head. “But I’ve already formed my divinity, and the girls are also completing theirs. Once we cleanse this continent of the horrors plaguing it and the rest of the universe of the gods controlling it, nothing remains for us here. We’ll leave the simulation and head to the outside world.”

“What about everything you’ve built here? Are you just going to abandon it?” asked Elise after a quick nod.

“No. Henrietta has a divinity in space and time, while I have one in creation. When it’s time for us to leave, the ascended can follow us to the outside if they so desire. Asteria has long been receiving classes about the outside, so most of them are already aware of it. As for humans, there is no point in them following us.”

“Can Henrietta’s divinity even contain an entire planet?” asked Elise in surprise.

“Easily. If she chooses, she could contain the entire simulation, but there’s no point, since it would consume too much energy to keep so many souls inside.”

Elise nodded and asked, “So, you’re ready to cleanse this world of its horrors… Can I come? Those old bastards have belittled my people for too long. Having them see me by your side as they end up in oblivion sounds fun.”

Seth nodded and allowed his glass to disappear into nothingness while extending a hand toward Elise. “Of course. Shall we?”

Elise smiled and placed her glass gracefully on the side, allowing Seth to take hold of her hand as they both disappeared from her domain beneath the ground. After moving through space briefly, Elise and Seth emerged on the tall hills overlooking Loss’s capital.

“Starting with Loss? I would have guessed you’ll begin with the ones plaguing that little cat in Curse,” exclaimed Elise, a trace of nostalgia in her eyes.

Seth shook his head and started walking through space toward the Academy in the skies high above Loss. Elise glanced at Seth’s hand that was tightly gripping hers before smiling and raising her head, walking with him.

A few steps later, they reached the man headmaster’s office, where a young man came to welcome them.

“Your Excellency, Blood Queen. Welcome to Asteria.”

Seth raised an eyebrow and glanced at Elise briefly but didn’t comment before turning back to the young man and asking, “Where’s Worm?”

Worm stepped out from the portal on the side, relieving the young man from his difficult situation.

“I apologize, Your Excellency. I’ve been securing a path into Famine’s domain and ensuring no risk of his influence outside.”

“Don’t worry. It won’t take long. Let Elise and I inside,” said Seth with an indifferent nod.

Worm opened a new portal, which Elise and Seth took before disappearing from the headmaster’s office.

“Elder Worm? Will we be alright?” asked the young man on the side.

“We should. His Excellency knows what he’s doing.”

When Elise and Seth went through the spatial distortions, they found themselves in a confusing, maze-like area. An infinite number of folds in space were scattered about, resembling a distorted mirror maze.

Looking at Elise, Seth said, “Don’t let go of my hand,” and he squeezed her hand even more firmly as they took steps toward the closest mirror.

Elise kept casting her eyes around at the pictures that were shifting in the mirrors surrounding them, but only caught a brief glimpse before Seth would take them through a new mirror, and everything would change. Elise only got a quick look, but she could tell the images were made up of parts of the continent, set up in a fake space jail.

It wasn’t long before Seth’s footsteps stopped, and Elise moved her eyes to the front, where a giant, frail moose-like creature was being bound into a square mirror prison.

“Famine…” muttered Elise, looking into the eyes full of malice that fixed themselves on Seth and her as soon as they arrived.

The moose stood on its shaky legs, its head lowering slightly as it charged against the space prison before it. Space shook with its charge, its antlers piercing slightly through the barrier, but it was soon pushed back, its legs giving way as it fell back down.

“I still remember his might as he roamed the lands many years ago, consuming all the life he encountered. The mouth of many and the stomach of one. The humans grew feral in the wake of Famine’s power, resorting to cannibalism and feeding on each other to satiate his hunger,” said Elise with a look of nostalgia. “Now just a feeble image of his prowess remains in the wake of its starvation.”

Seth smiled and asked, “Do you miss those times?”

“Sometimes. It was a horrible time for humans, but it was a time of plenty for us, the scattered wills of the world. I wonder what would have been our end if the Council never sided with them….”

“The end would have been the same,” said Seth. “The purpose of the simulation is to create beings with souls, able to grow strong and one day maybe subjugate the invader known as World Sovereign. The entire world was against you from the start.”

“Maybe,” said Elise, watching as Seth let go of her hand and slowly approached the horror inside.

Seth placed a hand on the space prison, which shattered like glass, allowing Famine’s power to wash over him and Elise.

Seth’s divinity easily destroyed the influence of its power, the feral instincts seeking to possess his soul disappearing as he turned to Elise to see if she could handle it. To Seth’s surprise, Famine’s power just passed by, leaving her completely untouched.

“It only affects the soul,” said Elise, walking closer to Seth, watching Famine once more struggling to sit on its four legs. “Put it out of its misery. Its mind had been long consumed by hunger.”

Seth nodded and blocked the moose’s charge with a space wall, using his destruction to surround it, slowly allowing it to consume the horror’s body.

Famine’s legs were the first to be devoured, and its body fell to the ground, unable to charge anymore and forced to watch as Seth’s energy kept consuming its body.

All that was left of the body after it was consumed by the destruction energy was a small glowing white sphere that fell to the ground.

Seth also directed his energy to consume Famine’s core when the horror’s voice rang throughout the space prison.

“Wait.”

Seth and Elise raised an eyebrow, and Seth stalled the energy consuming the horror, saying, “I didn’t expect you to speak still. Any last words?”

“Last words?” a trace of irony appeared in the voice from the core lying on the ground, “If you could kill me, I’ll more than happily let you do it….”

Seth looked confused at the orb and said, “I’ve already destroyed you once. No matter how powerful you horrors are, you’re still nothing before a god.”

“Destroyed? Horrors? Gods? What ignorance…” exclaimed the moose in lamentation. “Do you, child of the blood race, also think the same?”

Elise frowned and said, “I do not know what you’re on about Famine, but gods have killed horrors before. Don’t you remember what happened once you tried to leave this world?”

“We have failed, it seems…” The core’s voice heaved a long sigh before shattering right before Seth and Elise, the power surrounding the space fading into nothingness. The shattered core pieces then disappeared into sparkles of light, leaving no trace of the horror’s presence anymore.

“What was that?” muttered Seth in confusion, but Elise appeared just as puzzled as Seth was.

<Host… that core… >

‘Huh? You know something?’

Instead of an answer, Seth felt a short headache, and a small shining orb left his energy body hovering before him.

“What…?” muttered Elise, frowning as she looked at the orb of light.

“It’s my system… I don’t know why it came out,” answered Seth, not understanding why his system would suddenly leave his soul.

As the orb of light went forward and hovered right before where Famine’s core had disappeared, Elise’s eyes suddenly widened, and she beckoned with her hand.

A small version of her Blood Sun left her chest and hovered before her. She stared intently at it before looking at the system nearby and muttered, “How did I not notice this? We are the same….”

“What do you mean?” asked Seth with a frown. Feeling like the only one there who failed to understand what was happening.

Elise ignored Seth’s question and asked, “Where did you get that ‘system’? Why do you have one inside your soul?”

“Don’t you already know? I received it from the Tower. I think it was called a stabilizer by it.”

“Stabilizer?” muttered Elise, having a trace of blood to leave her body and surround the system’s core nearby. Seth wanted to stop her, but Elise quickly said, “Don’t worry. I’m not doing anything to him.”

Seth frowned, but when he noticed the system didn’t move, he also didn’t act. A few minutes later, Elise retracted her blood and her Blood Sun returned inside her body as her eyes shone bright red with a complex look.

The system also returned to Seth’s soul, and a notification quickly appeared in his vision.

<Host. Everything is wrong. >

“Seth, that’s no stabilizer,” added Elise right after.

“Can you explain what you two are on about?” asked Seth in frustration.

Elise nodded and said, “Don’t fight back,” as her body dissolved into pure blood and covered Seth’s body.

Seth listen to her and didn’t fight back despite feeling Elise’s will invading his soul. Once all the blood covering his body was gone, a notification written in blood red appeared in his vision.

<Do you understand now? He and I are the same. We’re both horrors.>

A new notification appeared shortly after.

<Affirmative. Miss Elise also appears to be a system, unlinked to the Tower. I’ve scanned the remains of Famine and it also appears to be the same type of being as the two of us.>

Seth fell on his behind, his eyes fixed on the two notifications in his vision. ‘But what does that mean? What are you two?’

<I don’t know.>

<I don’t know.>