The last team for Angelos storms towards the place ferociously, as their thoughts fill with any possibilities. The sky started to get cloudy as if it could feel what the other two were pondering in their mind. The blonde and silver hair dancing in the air, while the other Lords are confused, following the two figures who rush towards the explosion place at a frightening pace. They arrive in no time, pulling the horses to stop and dismount fast.
However, they all find their bodies stop on their own, seeing the catastrophe in that area. Blood on the ground, even on the tree branches, as if wartime. Groaning and wailing sound like a piece of torture music in their ears. Hector's breath hitched at the sight as the war memories come again, but Natalie slips her hand on his, pulling him away. She was practically cold in sweat, feeling thirsty from the panic.
The Duchess goes to the men's side, some fatally injured and some not on a good side. They died from the impact. Natalie spots Lord Apollo, who is, groaning in pain, touching his legs while whimpering occasionally.
"Apollo," the blonde woman calls him gently, rushing to his side.
"My Lady," the man finds it a challenging task to keep his eyes open.
"What happened to you? Where is Medea?" the ruby eyes look at the man, who is having difficulty keeping his breath while Natalie tries to keep her tears at bay.
Tears escape from his eyes as the man stutters with his words that Natalie and Hector cannot find any clues from it. The blonde woman strokes his hair lightly while the other man taps on her shoulder with a bloody face. He looks slightly better compared to the rest.
"What happened, Lord Marcus? Where is Duchess Medea?" Hector asks the same question immediately, while the ruby and purple eyes desperately look for the woman in sight but fail.
"We got an attack from the intruders with black powder, my Lord. The intruders ignite the spark, causing an explosion," he explains briefly.
"The Duchess?" the Duchess of Light hangs to the last thread of hope.
"Please."
Lord Marcus looks down, avoiding the weight of desperation between the two figures. His gaze turns to where some parts of bodies scatter around, then move to the coats Medea left before she got to blow up. The ruby and purple eyes follow his gaze intently, but they refuse to believe it until he utters the words.
"Where is she, Lord Marcus!" the Duchess of Light eyes glistened in tears, forming a fist on her hand to control her tremble and rage.
Lord Marcus swallows the bitterness of the words before he goes to speak, meeting with two pairs of eyes pooling with tears.
"Her Grace is gone. She uses her body to minimise the impact from the explosion to save us," Lord Marcus said in a low voice, sobbing right after that.
Who would know that Medea would save them, despite her nasty rumours as a cruel person? Whereas Duchess Valimos is far from that.
Natalie crawls to the place where Medea's coat is, as the badges sparkle under the dim light. She doesn't care over the leaves crunching, branches crackling under her knees, or piercing her flesh. Instead, the blonde woman keeps moving to the place until her fingertips graze on the coat.
She pulls the coat from the ground to her nose, trying to inhale Medea's scent with the subtle coffee. The dam of tears finally breaks, letting the tears flow vigorously on her cheeks, feeling the final piece of her heart shatter completely. The blonde woman puts the coat on her chest as she wails loudly, screaming at the top of her lungs at the loss of her love. Her wails sound like an animal rather than a human.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO."
The Marquess had another reaction than her. He is plunging while on his knees, looking down and using his hand to close his eyes. His shoulders move up and down, sobbing loudly from the agony of losing Duchess Valimos. The area is filled with sorrow as the others also mourn losing their friends and the remaining Elestrus.
"HAHAHAHAHA. You said we would be happy this time," the Duchess of Light puts the coat to cover her face, gripping it as much as she wills.
The other couldn't do anything, seeing the two figures grieving over the woman, who practically cannot be identified anymore from the blast.
Time flies as the blonde woman stares with an icy gaze, then a bit warm after Apollo passes by, being carried by the Imperial Knights to the physicians. The same goes for the other, who is injured and cannot join the battle anymore. So basically, everyone who got blasted in the area receives an escort from the arena as soon as possible.
The Angelos are now in the lead with eight badges but are left with four members. Natalie looks away when the Imperial Knights put every piece of Medea's corpse out from there, but Hector looks at it with longing.
As their team is still weeping for the lost ones, Haden ambushes them in their lowest state while they are going to retreat back to the North. But unfortunately, the situation is not in their favour. Four people against twelve. Yet, the Angelos are many more skills than Haden.
However, Hector loses his mind, not wanting to put up a fight, feeling each of his purposes in life vanish and go away with Medea. Which leaves the other three to put a battle against the Hadens. Natalie struggles to fight against them as her mind also fights against her heart.
"I lost her--"
Nonetheless, she won't give up. She knows Medea wants her to keep fighting against all of the challenges. So Duchess Smith fights with all of her might, learning the tricks from Medea to fight with someone who's more experience than her. She must finish this and hang to the last thin thread to stay sane.
Luckily it paid off, with them fighting against the Hadens. Four Hadens knock out of cold, but they are eight more to go. They fight against each other, but the odds against them are many skilled fighters, causing the other two Angelos to be injured from the slashing sounds.
Natalie ducks over at them, giving a roundhouse kick at the head, causing his eyes to roll back from the blow with a thud.
The other fought with all they had, injuring the other two to the ground. Natalie then steps on the enemy's knee, climbing on him before knocking on the other.
Lord Killian lures the man to slowly back away at the Duchess, and it gives her to gain the upper hand, knocking the other out of the cold with the back of her swords. Lord Cassius takes advantage by kicking the enemy's knees, causing him to fall and put the blades on his neck.
The other bounced back on his swords, giving no intention to surrender. Natalie could smell his dangerous aura, wanting to kill the blonde woman. So be it. Not gonna lie. Natalie really wants to kill someone right now. Bloodshed sounds nice this time. This man will be the place she sets her wrath first.
The sounds of their swords clash around each other as Lord Killian cannot swing his sword anymore. He can feel his shoulder's muscle tear and rip away from the impact. The more he swings, the more he feels his hand about to fall off. Killian feels helpless as Cassius's hand trembles on the man's neck.
The man seizes the opportunity to counterattack, but luckily Natalie has already finished the other man on that. She stabs directly at his vital point. Duchess Smith slides forward immediately when the man is about to slice Killian in half, piercing his heart completely. The man's eyes rolled back from the excruciating pain as Natalie retracted her sword.
"Go in treatment. You are both will lose arms at this rate," Natalie dismisses them immediately, wiping the blood from her face.
"How about you and the Marquess?" they try to argue back.
"We will survive," Natalie lies to save the others from this war for the first time. She cannot drag any people any longer.
The men stand there, contemplating leaving the unstable ones behind. Their eyes glue on the bodies, with blood splattering on her coat. She stops for a while, roaring at them.
"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? GO!" the men had no choice but to ride their horses away from there with a heavy heart.
The ruby eyes turn over at the silver-haired man, losing his mind. His hand slither to his side, slowly wrapping it around the sword's handle.
No fucking way. She cannot lose another person again today.
"Hector, no!" she swings her sword, knocking the sword from Hector's grasp.
She had had enough!
"Hector! Look at me! We have to survive this madness!" the blonde grits her teeth as her hands clutch Hector's head side to side while the tears from her eyes cannot stop flowing like Hector's.
He lost his mind the moment he found out Medea was dead. He cannot believe it. But what's the point of living now if the one he wants to protect the most isn't there and has died already?
"She is-- she is gone. What should I do?" Hector yowls on the ground from the agony of losing the woman.
The Duchess of Light cannot hold back her rage, causing her magical power to soar even more. The situation at the Angelos' team is rocking now, and the only enemy left is the Vazoels.
If Vazoels finds out about their situation right now and ambushes them, it will end. Their team left off with two people, Natalie and him. But, what's more, to fight anymore? Natalie forms a fist as she swings her body to the side, landing a punch on Hector to snap him out of the trance.
"HECTOR! I NEED YOU. WILL YOU GIVE UP LIKE THIS? HE IS LAUGHING AT US! DON'T YOU FEEL FURIOUS TO THE POINT YOU WANT TO KILL HIM? SO PLEASE, GET THE HELL UP AND FINISH THIS BATTLE LIKE SHE WANTED TO IN THE FIRST PLACE!"
Natalie grips his collar as the dilated pupil's eye refocuses again before the woman lands another punch on Hector's face for another time.
"WILL YOU REMAIN HELPLESS LIKE THIS! WHEN OUR LOVED ONE GET KILLED WITHOUT ANY JUSTICE AT ALL! LOOK AT MY FUCKING FACE!"
The purple eyes meet with the raging, burning ruby eyes that can't stop flowing. Then, out of instinct, they both hug each other and cannot handle it anymore.
"Lady Medea," he sobs loudly at her shoulder, followed by Natalie.
"I promise you, we will kill him. But first, let's get out from this hell," the ruby eyes darken at the thought.
The Vazoels' troops stop, making a fire as they move to another venue for the final. The venue is smaller than before since it will be much easier to finish the battle as soon as possible. It is night, but the Angelos waste no time making a trap for the Vazoels after spotting them.
Hector sets fire around the Vazoels' serene place, causing them to alarm.
"An ambush!" Queen Cecilia announce, alarming the others.
Natalie lets the horses go, raiding over the place, carrying fire on the side, causing them to try to trample on the Vazoels. But instead, they react faster, retreating with their horses together.
Nevertheless, Hector intervenes in them, drawing out the swords to knock down some of the Vazoels. He shows his justice to be one of the best knights within the Empire, striking the men like nothing. Until it left with only four men in the Vazoels except for the Queen. Natalie fights as well with them and manages to crash two adult men. She wastes no time targeting Queen Cecilia by using a ruse that Medea teach her.
The battle ends when the blonde lands right behind the Queen, putting her swords around the Queen's neck.
"My apologies, Your Majesty. But I need to win this. So please forfeit," the Queen looks around at the other two, who are already swordless in front of Hector.
She swallows her saliva, gulping hard at the moment. The murderous intent from both of them is sending goosebumps along her body hairs. It is night already and a long day for them. For the sake of the good of everyone, they better forfeit to avoid bloodshed.
"Yes, I forfeit," she takes the badge and gives it at the side for Natalie.
The blonde woman lets go of her sword, kicking the Queen's sword. She puts her badge around it, giving the coats to Hector. He should be the one who leads right now. The blonde woman feels her legs turn to jelly, going on her knees, feeling other boulders rolling off from her shoulders.
She did it. They did it. Hector goes to her side, helping the Duchess of Light. She cannot walk any more; her last energy is being used to raid the Vazoels. The Marquess is also in conflict with the Duchess.
"She had to be strong in a crucial moment, although she was also in misery. What have I done? Look at her hands, tremble from over-exhaustion."
Thus, the silver-haired man slips his arms around the blonde's body, which looks lifeless. Her eyes are so distant, like the Marquess, puffing and filling with so much pain that she couldn't even describe. As if the ground swallow everything out of her, leaving no mercy. Natalie leans her head on Hector's firm chest, feeling the man's slow heartbeat.
Queen Cecilia senses something off about both of them. The murderous aura turns to people mourning death, the pain of losing someone they love.
Something clicks in her mind, looking for a certain purple-haired woman in sight, but she never comes. She heard the explosion but never knew who was involved. Perhaps Medea is badly injured? The Queen wants to ask, but after seeing Marquess Alwyn and Duchess Smith, she cancels her intention to ask in the very first place.
After putting the blonde on the horse, they departed from the arena to the original place, claiming conquest. Natalie couldn't move any muscle, leaning her body against Hector while her hand gripped tightly on Medea's coat and inhaled the scent from it again. Marquess Alwyn doesn't rush to return to the area, feeling slightly warm from having a person by his side on this mad day.
We win, my love.