“N-Noirix?” Raven stammered, her voice trembling as she looked at her younger sister after… such a long time.
“B-Big sis… how could you do that to me?” That girl cried out, her voice raw, each word laced with pain and betrayal.
Raven’s face paled as she took a small step back, heart pounding like a war drum. “W-What are you talking about, Noirix?” she asked hesitantly.
The girl looked familiar, yet the darkness in her eyes was foreign, unnerving.
The girl didn’t answer; instead, she began sobbing uncontrollably, her shoulders shaking as her cries grew louder.
Raven, gripped by dread, took another step closer until she was almost within arm’s reach of her.
“Noirix?” Raven whispered, her hand trembling as she reached forward. “Are you… are you really Noirix?”
The girl froze, then tilted her head, a chilling smile spreading across her face. Her gaze locked onto Raven’s, piercing and unreadable, “Then Are you… really Raven?” she whispered, the innocence in her voice twisted with something darker.
Raven’s hand fell mid-air, her heart plummeting. Suddenly,
Drip…
Raven gasped as she felt a blinding pain in her arm—her hand was… gone, severed clean from her wrist.
Horrified, Raven looked at the girl before her, whose hand had transformed into a razor-sharp blade. Noirix held Raven’s own hand with a twisted smile, her eyes glinting with cruelty. “Tell me, big sis… are you really Raven?” she taunted, her voice dripping with mockery.
Fury washed over Raven, replacing the shock. She raised her remaining arm, summoning her own blade. “How dare you—” she started, her voice hard.
“B-Big sis…” Noirix’s face crumpled, her voice breaking, her eyes welling with fresh tears. “Sniff… sniff… are you really going to kill me too?”
Raven hesitated, her breath catching. In the girl’s tear-streaked face, she saw her only sister, broken and fragile. That split-second was all it took for that girl to lunge, seizing the weapon from Raven’s hand.
That girl grinned, her eyes cold. “You should learn to focus, big sis. If you keep getting distracted by little emotions like these… well, you’ll be dead before you realize it,” she sneered, swirling the weapon in her hand.
Then, with a flicker, she vanished.
Raven’s heart hammered as she looked around wildly. “NO! That’s not my sister!” she shouted, the denial clawing its way up her throat. She said it more to herself than anyone else, trying to keep her mind focused. But then,
Drip… Drip…
Blood trickled down from her thigh—her leg had been sliced off, just below the knee.
“Come on, big sis…” The girl’s voice slithered from behind her, amused. “I thought you were faster than this. At this rate, you’ll just bleed out, you know…”
Raven gritted her teeth, barely holding in a groan of pain. Her lips twisted into a smirk. “Why don’t you take off that mask? If you have the courage, face me properly.”
The girl’s grin widened, eyes glinting with twisted satisfaction. “Oh, no… that wouldn’t do at all. If you knew I wasn’t really your little sister, you would have killed me a thousand times over, isn’t that right?”
Raven’s hands clenched into fists, her jaw tight. “You’ll pay for this!” she hissed, vanishing from the girl’s sight in a burst of speed.
The girl blinked, surprised, “Hmm… interesting. You can still move so quickly with only one leg… Truly, big sis, you’ve sharpened your skills,” she murmured, eyes scanning her surroundings carefully. She waited, every muscle tense, “Don’t tell me… you ran away? Hahaha… that would be—”
“My little sister doesn’t talk so much.”
A voice rang out from above, and The girl’s grin only widened. “Gotcha!” she hissed, thrusting her sword upward.
But then,
“You should never trust your ears,” the voice came from below.
The girl’s eyes widened in shock as Raven appeared beneath her, gripping her and slamming her to the ground with brutal force.
Thud!
“Argh!” She cried out, her body hitting the ground with a bone-rattling crash.
Raven didn’t hesitate for a second, her fists flying as she rained down blow after blow, each punch hitting with the force of a hammer.
BOOM!
“Arrgh!” The girl groaned, trying to lift her sword, but Raven’s mouth shifted, transforming into a dragon’s maw as she snapped down on the weapon, shattering it in one powerful bite.
Crack!
Taaaannnnnggg!
The broken shards of the blade scattered to the ground.
Raven’s punches came faster, harder, each one landing with fury and precision, until—
“B-Big sis… W-Why?” Noirix whimpered, her face a bloodied mess.
Raven’s expression twisted with rage, her voice trembling. “Stop… STOP it!” she yelled, her fist flying down with a final, explosive blow.
BOOM!
“A-Are you going to kill—”
BOOM!
“Me?”
BOOM!
“STOP!!” Raven’s voice cracked. “Stop pretending to be her!!” Her voice was raw, torn from somewhere deep within her.
BOOOOMMMM!!!
“A-and… cough took my identity?”
“W-What?” Raven’s voice softened, and for a moment, there was a glimmer of vulnerability in her eyes using this moment the girl whispered, “W-What do you mean, big sis? You stole my identity… You took everything from me so that you could live in my place. Why did you do it, Raven? Why?”
“N-No…” Raven’s face paled as her own words faltered. “I-I didn’t mean to… I… it wasn’t… it was…”
Before Raven could finish, Noirix’s face morphed into a twisted smile. She pushed Raven down with sudden force and,
BOOM!
Noirix landed a punch squarely to Raven’s chest, her voice a broken shout of anguish. “How dare you steal my life? Live as if you were me? How could you?” Her voice cracked, dripping with venom. “What about me? Am I just… forgotten?!”
BOOOMM!!
Raven was silent, her mind reeling, unable to respond to the accusation.
Seeing her hesitation, Noirix reached for the broken sword’s edge, gripping it tightly.
“YOU STOLE ME!!!” she screamed.
Chuccckkkk!!!!
….
…..
“… Come on, dear… Hug me,” the woman said, her voice trembling with what sounded like genuine sorrow.
Helena stared blankly, her brows knitting together as she took a cautious step back. “N-No… I’m not… Yo-You aren’t my mother… No!” She shook her head, her eyes flashing with fear.
The woman’s expression softened into a look of deep sadness. “What are you talking about, my dear? I am your mother! Don’t you remember? All those times we played together, how you saved food just to help me make ends meet?”
Helena’s heart skipped a beat. “H-How did…”
The woman smiled gently, her eyes brimming with warmth, “Because I am your mother, Hele. I’m sorry… I never wanted to leave you, but I had no other choice. My hands were tied back then… I didn’t want to go.” Her face fell, clouded by regret.
Helena’s eyes glistened with tears, “You don’t know… how much I’ve longed for you, Mom. I really thought I’d lost you forever. Even after I became a saintess… I searched everywhere. Every single day, I hoped, prayed you’d still be alive somewhere…” She took a shaky step forward, then another, finally wrapping her arms around the woman, letting herself fall into the embrace she’d craved for so long.
“My dear child… sob, sob… I missed you so much… sniff, sniff…” The woman’s body shook with her crying, her arms clutching Helena tightly.
Helena flinched slightly but then closed her eyes, sinking into the warm, familiar embrace. It felt real—comforting as if her mother’s presence had finally come back to her, bringing with it a peace she hadn’t felt in years.
But the woman’s eyes glinted dangerously, her expression shifting as she hugged Helena. A twisted smirk crept onto her face as she raised her hand, now morphing into a gleaming, curved axe.
Her grin widened, “Yes… I missed you sooo much… Forgive me, dear Helena Sunfire!”
Chuccckkkk!
…
…
BAM!
BAM!
BAM!
The sound of brutal punches echoed as Thalia pounded her fists into the figure before her, rage distorting her face.
“YOU MOTHERFUCKER!” she screamed in disgust, her voice raw and trembling. “I knew my family was gone, and you dared to impersonate them? You sick, twisted piece of shit!”
“Die, die!” she yelled, her voice cracking with fury.
BAM!
BAM!
Her hands were slick with blood as she kept punching the figure beneath her, her movements wild and unrelenting.
“Die! Die!
“Die! Just die already!” Her fists slammed down again and again as hot tears streamed down her cheeks. Her voice choked with rage and pain, she screamed, “What kind of sick game is this?!”
BOOOMMMM!
“Huff-Huff-Huff….” She panted, her breaths coming in jagged, shallow gasps, before finally staggering to her feet, her fists dripping with blood. She stared down at the mangled, lifeless figure—an orange-haired person whose face was now unrecognizable, completely destroyed by her blows.
“Well, fuck off,” she spat, casting a final glance at the body. She turned away, searching for Raven, but then—
Ssssnnnnggggg!!
A brilliant red light burst from the corpse, and Thalia spun around, shocked, just in time to see the figure vanish, leaving behind only a small, strange piece of paper.
“What… is that?” Thalia muttered, frowning as she bent down and picked up the paper, turning it over.
500(600(650)…) PS=1(1(1)…)Ex/ 50(100(120)..) GT=1(2(2)…)Ex
