Chapter 121: Seven’s Rampage

Chapter 121: Seven’s Rampage "Queen Elena!" The desperate cry cut through the battlefield chaos as three Thornvale warriors witnessed their monarch collapse, her arm dissolving into black sludge. Their faces twisted with rage and horror as they abandoned their current fights, charging toward Seven with weapons raised high. Seven’s lips curved into a wicked smile, black ichor still dripping from her fingertips. "How touching. Loyal soldiers rushing to die for their queen." The first warrior reached her with a wild overhead swing. Seven stepped inside the arc effortlessly, her palm pressing against the woman’s forehead. Decay spread instantly across the soldier’s face, flesh bubbling and sloughing away as her skull became visible. The warrior’s scream died as her vocal cords liquefied, and she toppled forward into a puddle of corrupted tissue. The second attacker tried to flank from the left, thrusting a spear toward Seven’s ribs. Seven caught the weapon’s shaft, decay racing down the wooden handle and onto the wielder’s hands. The warrior tried to release her grip, but the corruption had already fused flesh to wood. She watched in horror as her fingers crumbled away, then her wrists, the decay climbing steadily up her arms until she collapsed into steaming organic matter. The third soldier attempted a more cautious approach, keeping her distance while launching crossbow bolts. Seven plucked the first projectile from the air, the metal dissolving between her fingers like snow. She stepped forward with predatory grace, closing the distance while the warrior frantically tried to reload. "Please," the soldier whispered, backing away with trembling hands. Seven grabbed her by the chest, fingers sinking through armor plating like it was soft clay. The warrior’s body convulsed as decay spread through her torso, organs liquefying within seconds. Her eyes remained conscious and aware until the very end, watching her own body betray her. "Elena!" Elysia’s voice cracked as she gathered wind beneath her fallen friend, lifting Elena’s unconscious form with careful air currents. Blood continued to pour from the ruined stump of her arm, pooling in the snow below. "I need healers! Now!" Two Moonlight soldiers broke from their defensive positions, rushing to Elysia’s side as she gently lowered Elena to the ground behind a protective barrier of compressed air. "My queen, we’re here," the first healer said, immediately pressing clean bandages against Elena’s wound. Her hands glowed with soft blue light as she channeled healing energy into the damaged tissue. "The corruption goes deep," the second healer observed grimly, her own magic probing the extent of Seven’s damage. "We can stop the bleeding and prevent infection, but growing back what she lost..." "Just keep her alive," Elysia commanded, her voice tight with barely controlled fury. Wind whipped around her in agitated spirals as she watched more Thornvale soldiers fall to Seven’s casual brutality. Elena’s eyes fluttered open, a weak cough escaping her lips. "My... my people," she whispered, her gaze focusing on the slaughter happening mere yards away. Warriors she had trained personally, soldiers who had sworn oaths to protect Thornvale, dying horribly while she lay helpless. Elena’s remaining hand found Elysia’s wrist, gripping it with desperate strength. "Help my people," she pleaded, tears mixing with blood on her pale cheeks. "Please." Elysia nodded grimly, her expression hardening into something carved from winter itself. She rose to her feet, air pressure building around her with audible intensity. The wind began to spiral inward, drawing moisture from the air and debris from the ground into a growing vortex. The tornado formed above her outstretched hands, growing larger and more violent with each passing second. Snow, ice, and chunks of stone joined the spinning mass until it towered above the battlefield like a pillar of destruction. "Seven!" Elysia’s voice carried across the courtyard with supernatural force. "Face me!" She hurled the tornado forward with explosive power. The spinning column of air and debris carved a path of devastation through the battlefield, scattering friend and foe alike as it bore down on Seven with unstoppable momentum. Seven looked up from her latest victim’s liquefying corpse, black eyes reflecting genuine interest for the first time. She pressed both palms against the ground, corruption spreading outward in concentric circles. Where the decay met the tornado’s base, the spinning winds began to falter and dissipate. But Elysia was already moving, riding air currents around the weakening tornado to attack from an unexpected angle. She struck with compressed air formed into solid spears, each one aimed at vital points on Seven’s exposed form. Seven twisted and dodged with fluid grace, but Elysia’s assault was relentless. The queen of Moonlight fought with desperate fury, each attack flowing seamlessly into the next. Air blades sliced through the space Seven had occupied heartbeats before, while pressurized bursts forced the decay master to constantly adjust her positioning. "Impressive rage," Seven observed, deflecting an air spear with her forearm. Black blood ran from the shallow cut, but her expression remained amused. "Maternal instincts driving you to such heights." Elysia responded with a concentrated blast that sent Seven skidding backward across the frozen ground. "You killed my son’s innocence," she snarled, gathering more air around her fists. "Corrupted him into something unrecognizable." "Your son?" Seven laughed, regaining her footing with predatory ease. "So you killed my mother, and now you want to kill her daughter? How pathetic. And you still want your precious boy back, don’t you?" Seven lunged forward, her corruption-tinged fingers reaching for Elysia’s face. The queen twisted away at the last second, but not quickly enough to avoid all contact. Seven’s fingertips grazed the tip of Elysia’s ear, and the flesh immediately began to blacken and flake away. Elysia pressed her hand to the ruined ear, wind currents carrying her beyond Seven’s immediate reach. "The war that killed your village," she said through gritted teeth, "it was all planned. Your master orchestrated every battle, every border dispute. She manipulated both our kingdoms into conflict." "Liar!" Seven’s composure cracked, revealing the wounded child beneath the corruption. "My mother died because of your arrogance! Your need to claim territory that didn’t belong to you!" "Kaida played us all," Elysia continued, pressing her advantage. "She needed death, needed suffering to fuel her power. Every life lost in those wars fed her rituals." Seven’s attacks became wilder, less controlled. She reached for Elysia repeatedly, but the queen’s air mastery kept her just beyond the decay master’s lethal touch. Their dance of death continued across the blood-soaked courtyard, destruction following in their wake. But Seven’s corruption granted her inhuman strength and speed. Without warning, she feinted left then pivoted right, grabbing Elysia by the throat and hurling her across the battlefield like a ragdoll. The queen crashed into a pile of rubble with bone-jarring force, air rushing from her lungs in a painful wheeze. "I prefer to kill you slowly," Seven said conversationally, stalking toward the fallen queen with unhurried confidence. "Rather than waste my power against your elemental tricks." From across the battlefield, a young voice screamed with desperate anguish. "Mother!" Lyra broke from her engagement with Selene, water spiraling around her as she tried to reach Elysia’s side. But Selene moved to intercept, mercury-water forming barriers to block the younger woman’s path. "Where do you think you’re going?" Selene asked coolly, her weapons gleaming with that organic light. Lyra’s face contorted with pure rage, her composure finally shattered at seeing her mother in danger. The air around her began to change, crackling with energy that had nothing to do with water manipulation. Her eyes went completely white, pupils disappearing as lightning began to dance between her fingers. "You’re in my way," Lyra said, her voice carrying harmonics that made nearby warriors step back in instinctive fear. Selene launched her mercury-water attack, the substance forming into deadly spears aimed at Lyra’s heart. But instead of dodging or countering with water, Lyra reached out with her newly awakened power and simply took control. The mercury substance stopped mid-flight, then began to flow backward toward its master. Selene’s eyes widened in shock as her own weapon turned against her, wrapping around her throat like a liquid noose. "How—" she began, then her words were cut off as the water tightened, cutting off her air supply. She clawed at her throat, but the substance had hardened into something resembling metal, impossible to break or dislodge. Selene’s struggles grew weaker as oxygen deprivation took its toll. Her perfect composure crumbled into desperate panic, but Lyra showed no mercy. The water ball around the woman’s neck pulsed rhythmically, crushing her windpipe with calculated precision. Finally, Selene’s body went limp, her lifeless form crumpling to the frozen ground. The mercury-water dissipated, leaving only bruised flesh and bulging eyes as evidence of her death. Seven paused in her approach toward Elysia, clapping her hands in mock appreciation. "Oh, I do love family drama," she purred, black eyes gleaming with delight. "Nothing quite like a daughter’s rage to spice up a battlefield." Across the chamber, hidden in the shadows of the ruined architecture, Kaida’s kaleidoscope eyes blazed with reflected light. Her smile was sharp as a blade’s edge, filled with anticipation and dark satisfaction. "Things keep getting better and better," she murmured to herself, watching the chaos unfold with the appreciation of an artist viewing her masterpiece. The pieces were falling into place exactly as she had planned, each death and betrayal feeding the greater ritual that would soon reach its climax.