Isadora wanted to end this as painlessly as possible. But Enigma and Sia clung not her like mad dogs, pushing her to a corner where she had to pay the price.
'I'll let them witness everything as I break this man they love, allow them to see him begging for mercy, to spare him, just like everyone else.'
As her conviction further cemented, Isadora pointed her palm at Varian who was sprinting towards her and snorted.
Thanks to his sliver powers, he managed to offset significant portions of her soul and gravity power.
But his resistance against the darkness power was the weakest and her expertise in it was also the highest.
So, with a thought, she released a mass of darkness into the air, which quickly turned into dozens of thick chains that reached him before he could reach her.
Varian raised his sword to break the chains but the darkness chains wriggled and split when the blade was about to cut through them. Then they rejoined again before whipping on him.
Even though he raised his defense at the last moment, it was a painful blow. The chain wrapped around his forearm and with a click, dislocated it.
Varian hurriedly used his sliver power to repel the chain of darkness. But since there's a limited amount of sliver powers he could use, increasing his force against darkness meant decreasing the sliver power against gravity.
As a result, the gravity force on him tripled in a blink and his bones began to crack under the pressure.
Varian's movements grew considerably slower in the heavy gravity. Now, he had a hard time even cutting the chains of darkness which were aided by gravity to move at high speed.
As a result, every few minutes, a chain ended up striking and injuring him heavily. Not a drop of blood was spilled yet, more than ten of his bones were either broken.
It dawned on him that he was in a losing battle.
Even after using all his powers, artifacts and slivers, Isadora still stood at a greater height.
"Come on, struggle more." Isadora's voice was cold and sarcastic. "Don't you consider yourself the greatest? Why are you losing already? Where is your pride?"
Varian paused his fight and withdrew back as he sneered. "…A rank 6 in three paths fighting me, a rank 4 awakener. You're the one to talk about pride."
Isadora clenched her fists, her chest heaving up and down as the words she didn't want to admit were said out loud.
She knew for a fact that even if she won against him, like she should, she wouldn't be able to take any pride in the victory.
Rather, she's afraid that if he reached rank 5, she wouldn't be able to fight him anymore.
Even though she's going to reach rank 7 soon, Isadora was wary of Varian more than she liked to admit.
That's also the reason why she was ignoring Sarah who slowly backed away from the battle.
She initially wanted to take Sarah hostage and force Varian to give up his slivers. But once he revealed himself to be a rank 4, all those thoughts were thrown out of the window.
As she had the memories of Sia, she knew that 'almost killing' Varian or 'thinking he died after falling into a space crack' were the worst mistakes she could commit.
Unless she saw his corpse, shattered his soul and grabbed his slivers, she couldn't rest assured that he really died.
And if he didn't die, Varian's revenge would be a nightmare.
'But why am I fighting him if he's so helpful? With Enigma and Sia, he wouldn't try to harm me. I…'
The thought surfaced in her mind as she looked at Varian's hateful glare. But Isadora quickly crushed the fantasy in her mind with a disdainful chuckle.
Yes, he had been so helpful and loyal to them so far. But how long had it been anyway?
Barely a year if you count their lovers' relationship? Even if all of Sia's relationship with him was to be considered, it's just 10 years.
Isadora too trusted people, once. She trusted others, helped them and in a small corner of her heart, hoped to be helped.
'That bitch must be happy I died…'
A relationship that spanned hundreds of years, the bond of a mother-daughter, was sacrificed just for 'interests'.
Isadora was treated not as a person, as her daughter, but as a pawn to be used to further her goals. When she turned into an uncontrollable variable, she was 'neutralized'.
'Sia and Enigma are naive. Too naive! If even relationships built on such a long period of time can crumble, how pathetic is it to believe this tryst would last forever?'
Isadora knew that no matter how patiently she explained her views, the girls wouldn't accept. They were too lost in the delusion of trust and love.
But time would teach them. A hundred years. Five hundred years. A thousand years. They had all the time in the world.
As the creation destined to reach the top of the divine paths, there's no way she could have a companion.
If she lived a short life, she could think of having normal relationships. But the longevity bestowed on her also cursed her with loneliness.
'Every relationship will last until it breaks. The longer it lasts, the more painful the break. And I…will only have relationships that have broke or will break.'
When she was backstabbed, she thought it was just one person. But no. Friends, Peers and even the people who she saved before.
Isadora would never forget their eyes.
"You need to be punished!" With a flick of her fingers, the chains morphed into swords and reached Varian.
The latter sighed lightly and ripples of time spread out from him. Isadora had an ominous premonition.
Before she could make any changes, Varian's powers suddenly shifted.
Giving up all defense, he attacked.
His time power struck her first, slowing her down. Then, his powers shifted.
[Adept —> Famine: Mid Rank 5
Binder —> Binder
Energy —> Matter: Mid Rank 5
Time —> Space: Mid Rank 5]
He disappeared from his place and appeared right behind her. Isadora wanted to react but the slowing down of her time caused her reaction to be delayed by a moment.
A moment was enough.
His sword lodged straight into her heart. Bone-chilling confess spewed out of the sword and began to freeze her body and mind.
