To Kill a God by C.S. Wilde

Chapter 31

Azinor’s palmsqueezed Mera’s neck, depriving her of air. “Give me your magic, child. Give it willingly, and I will ease your suffering. Fight me, and you’ll regret it.”

She held down a yelp from the pain stabbing her twisted arm, but it came out as an indignant whimper.

“Fuck… you,” she croaked, trying to breathe as much as she could through a squeezed windpipe.

Mera pushed her magic, and it burned through her veins, splitting into thin rivulets that cracked the air. They spread around them like billions of shiny blue veins, a flower of power blooming to life.

Laughter reverberated in Azinor’s chest. Her attempt at fighting back clearly amused him. “Wrong choice.”

Sapphire lightning bloomed from the bastard’s frame. His bolts crackled, then plunged into her, burning and hissing through her flesh. Mera bit back cries when the lightning dashed into her essence, soon connecting to the power in her core.

Azinor’s magic began swallowing hers, growing stronger. “You defy me, again and again, like a puny bug who won’t give up.” His stinking breath fanned against her cheek, and his palm closed tighter around her throat. “I am eternal. I am invincible. Your fickle attempts bore me, Daughter.”

His magic crackled louder, expanding into a thunderstorm ready to swallow her. Millions of shiny bolts split the air, and their heat prickled her skin before they plunged deeper into her core.

Mera’s entire body clenched, her flesh and muscles feeling as heavy as iron. Exhaustion pressed down on her, and her legs wobbled, but she forced herself to stay standing. She wouldn’t give the dickface the pleasure of seeing her fall.

“Er et tu sa! Er et tu sa!” her whispers urged, but Mera couldn’t understand what they said.

A sharp pain coursed through her bones as she tried to change the flow of magic. Energy, raw and pure, filled every pore in her body, charging Mera to the brim, expanding beyond herself and into his lightning.

“Foolish girl!” he barked, squeezing her neck harder.

His magic blocked hers too easily, but Mera wouldn’t give up, even when her vision began to tunnel and the little air she had left escaped her lungs. With her last strength, she summoned ice daggers that burst from the water behind them, aiming at the asshole’s back.

He didn’t turn, but right before the daggers reached him, they popped into oblivion thanks to his waterbreaking. One by one they disintegrated, but the attack had been enough to distract him. As his grip on her arm and neck loosened, Mera elbowed his stomach, prying herself free.

She dashed atop the ocean’s surface, then made a U-turn to face the asshole. Panting, she steadied her thoughts, ignoring the despair that curled up inside her.

Defeating him would be impossible.

Nevertheless, she would try.

When the last of her daggers snowed upon him, Azinor cocked his head left, watching her. “Get back here, child. You will regret it if you don’t.”

“You can’t subdue me like you did Ariella, Father.”

Opening her mouth, Mera shrieked from the top of her lungs. Soundwaves broke through the air, rolling toward him. The creep barely had time to shriek back. His voice clashed against hers at the last minute, two unseen, deafening forces grappling with each other.

Mera kept shrieking as she pushed herself forward, her steps making ripples atop the ocean’s surface. Yet, she couldn’t scream for much longer; already she was running out of breath.

The moment her lungs gave in, she sank underwater, escaping the blast of Azinor’s shriek. Mera couldn’t falter, couldn’t hesitate, so she sent a rush of frozen water toward him, trapping him in a giant icicle that broke through the surface like an iceberg.

She propelled herself back up, jumping from the water like a flying fish. Taking deep breaths, she steadied her footing atop the lazy waves.

Azinor glared at her from the glazed ice as if she was a fly he couldn’t swat away, not a real threat.

Never a threat.

“Er et tu sa! Er et tu sa!”the voices insisted, louder this time.

“You wish to kill your father?”Ariella’s voice echoed in her memory. “Accept your Regneerik.”

And just like that, she understood what the voices were saying.

Let go.

Let go of herself, of everything, and everyone.

Cracks spread atop Azinor’s frigid prison until he broke through with an explosive bang. A million pieces of ice rained down on him, plopping on the water.

Breathing heavily, he pointed at her, hate beaming from his clear blue irises, which matched the color of the lightning that whipped around him. “This is the end, child!”

A certain calm washed over her. “It is.”

Lightning spread from Mera’s back, growing around her in a sapphire flower of magic. It was as if a door inside her had opened, a door she could never close.

The runes on her skin glowed again, her magic tuning into Azinor’s. His power sung in her ears, and it followed Mera’s voices until their energy reverberated in unison.

“What?” he barked, stepping back, but it was in vain.

He couldn’t run.

Her bolts shot at him, plunging into his thorax. The prick shrieked, and his back arched as her magic lifted him from the water.

Clenching her jaw, Mera strained to keep control. His power flooded her, mingling with her own. Her blood boiled, her flesh roasting from the inside out, but she didn’t stop.

With a cry, her lightning pierced deeper into his essence, and though his magic thrashed and snapped at hers, Mera engulfed it as easily as a thought.

His screams intensified the more she syphoned his energy, taking from Azinor all that made him what he was. The tattoos on his body began ripping from his skin, flowing through the lightning, and leaving behind scarred patches. They rushed into Mera’s core, becoming one with her.

“Kitten!” Bast’s voice rang from above, his figure a speck in the distance as he zinged toward them. “Stop!”

Not yet.

Gritting her teeth, she let go a little more. Power, raw and unending, flowed through her; a force larger than life, larger than herself. Whether it belonged to Azinor or not, she couldn’t tell—the lines between their magic blurred with each passing second.

A rivulet of all that power dove into the ocean beneath her feet, and a giant dome of water swelled around them, turning to ice in a flash. The water under her feet solidified, too.

Thumps came from the thick ice ceiling seconds after, and Mera spotted Bast’s shadow on the other side. His fists and shoulder slammed against the dome. Her power blocked his winnowing, preventing him from coming inside.

“Mera!” His shouts sounded muffled. “Let me in!”

Suddenly, a storm of night and stars swallowed the structure, drenching the dome in rumbling darkness. If not for the sizzling blue glow of Mera’s lightning, she wouldn’t have been able to see a thing.

Bast could try as much as he wanted. She wasn’t using only her power; she was using Azinor’s too, and he couldn’t fight against them both.

“Kitten!”his voice echoed in her mind, the cold sting of his desperation piercing his tone. “Take from me!”

If she did, who could say when she would stop? How much would be enough? The faces of the lackeys she’d killed by accident flashed in her mind. After what had happened at the isles, Mera wouldn’t let Bast fuel her; couldn’t risk it.

Especially now.

Closing her eyes, she smiled. In her mind, she stamped a ghost kiss on his lips. “Thanks for everything, partner.”

“No!” he bellowed, his attacks growing stronger. “Mera! Don’t!”

She closed her side of the link.

Azinor’s screams died in his throat while he thrashed against her lightning. His once bulky and strong body deflated, as if she wasn’t taking only his magic, but every ounce of strength he had.

She was almost done—there were only a few glowing runes left on his skin. Dark circles spread under the asshole’s eyes, onyx veins crawling up his neck.

Their power scorched her from the inside out, eating her up bit by bit. Mera’s time neared, she could feel it the way one felt coming rain on a cold autumn morning.

“Take everything from me, if you wish.” Azinor hissed in pain as her lightning lowered him to the icy floor. His legs shook, struggling to keep him standing while Mera swallowed what little was left of his power. “When you’re done, I’ll still be here. I shall remain, and you will be dead.”

Mera gave him a fierce grin as patches of her skin burned. Their combined power sizzled in her veins, its weight crushing her. Her flesh and bones slowly began turning into dust.

“You’ll be mortal when I’m done.” Trembling, she glanced at the roaring storm of night and stars that tried to break through the dome. “You will survive, but you won’t survive him.”

The asshole glared at Bast’s darkness rumbling outside the dome. Loud thunders of night lashed against the ice, thunders that echoed Bast’s screams. His magic channeled his pain, his fury, and turned them into sound, building a gut-wrenching melody to her final moments.

A painful yelp escaped Mera’s lips as she fell to one knee, hitting the cold, harsh floor. Her body was giving up.

“More,”her whispers demanded, so more she would take, until every bit of her turned into dust.

Snarling, she fueled up on the creep’s energy. Soon, she would reach the peak of her doom, her own Regneerik. As long as those she loved were safe…

Mera smiled through the pain.

The icy floor ahead suddenly cracked. She lost a breath, panic rising inside her as the crack opened into a hole. She stared in disbelief as Mother pulled herself into the dome, the magic enhancer in the palm of her hand.

“No,” Mera croaked, despair taking over.

She couldn’t syphon Azinor’s power, stop Bast, and fight Ariella at the same time, especially since the bitch had the enhancer. If Mother helped the asshole, then all would have been for nothing.

Kneeling on the icy floor, Mera begged, her voice weak and barely there. “Please… don’t.”

Up ahead, Azinor laughed loudly, his joy overcoming the pain her magic was inflicting, because he knew. He knew he’d won. “A pointless end to your pointless life, child!”

Paying him no mind, Ariella stepped between them, facing Mera. Her expression had always been full of hate and anger, but this time, Mera swore Mother looked at her with… kindness?

“Don’t stop,” Ariella whispered with a smile, then lifted her closed fist, the enhancer tucked safely in her palm.

A green aura of magic flowed around her, like a flame igniting around a torch, but the color quickly changed to sapphire. Her eyes began to glow bright blue as she took the power flowing between Mera and Azinor, acting as a buffer.

Shock coursed through Mera. She couldn’t believe or particularly understand what was happening.

The former queen’s scrawny figure thrashed as Mera continued syphoning Azinor’s magic, yet it was Ariella’s body that took most of the blow. The heat threatening to eat Mera from inside out slowly vanished—Mother was taking it away.

Ariella winced in pain, her lips pressed in a line, but she never screamed.

“What are you doing?” Mera mumbled.

“Wench!” Azinor barked from the distance, unable to move. He couldn’t get to her because Mera’s lightning kept plunging into him, sucking the last of his runes. “Free me! Now!”

Ariella kept her back turned to him as her rotting skin started puffing into ashes that went up in the air. It was too much power for her. Too much for anyone, even with an enhancer.

“Be happy, child.” A smile cut through her lips while chunks of her thighs and arms turned into dust, flowing with the energy that gushed around her. “I am free of him… I am proud of you. And I am sorry.”

When the last rune left Azinor’s flesh, Ariella’s strong demeanor crumbled, and she screamed in pain. Lumps of her quickly disintegrated into dust, their rivulets curling in the air. Her screams died midway, in a throat that didn’t exist anymore, and just like that, she was gone.

The magic enhancer fell on the ice with a thick clank, spinning towards Mera. The emerald encrusted in its middle had cracked.

She glared at the ashes that danced in the air, ashes that had once been the queen. The pile-up of magic which took over Mera started to dwindle.

Azinor watched in shock from the opposite side, crumbling to his knees on the icy floor. Once muscular and strong, his flesh now stuck to his bones. The mighty Poseidon resembled a living skeleton.

He stared at the spot Mother had occupied not a moment ago, his eyes glistening. “You stupid wench…”

Bast’s night and stars retreated from above, letting in sunlight. With one loud kaboom, he broke through the dome’s ceiling, landing right next to Mera. No surprise really, since the magic was ebbing away, dispersing in the air.

Free.

Kneeling at her side, her hart cradled Mera in his arms, his fingers digging into her skin. “Kitten!”

She held him back, feeling his body shake against her own.

Ahead, Azinor pushed himself up on trembling legs, then summoned an ice sword from the floor with what remained of his magic. “You will pay.”

Mera blinked, drowsy, exhausted. She couldn’t fight, couldn’t even stand.

Cupping her cheeks, Bast kissed her forehead. “Rest, min hart.”

He turned to the prick, and his eyes became pitch-black. With a snarl, his fangs sharpened, and when he glanced back at Mera, she understood the silent plea in his stare.

Let him finish it…

Rushing toward them, Azinor raised his ice sword, an angry howl filled with sorrow bursting from his throat. Before Bast could fight him, Mera summoned the little magic she had left and slammed both hands on the frigid floor.

Her waterbreaking zinged through the ice, until a giant stalagmite broke through the surface, crashing right into Azinor’s chest. Its slanted, ragged point impaled his skeletal frame as it grew, lifting him into the air. His feet dangled above the ground, and his ice sword crashed onto the frozen floor, shattering into a million pieces.

Azinor’s cold blue eyes filled with shock and rage while he spat black blood. “You pitiful… damned…” he croaked, unable to finish the sentence.

Life vanished from his eyes, and his body fell limp. Just like Ariella, he was gone from one moment to the next.

A storm of night and stars immediately burst from Bast’s palm, engulfing the prick. In an eye blink, her hart’s power retreated into his core, leaving only a pile of wet ashes in Azinor’s place. They floated atop the puddle of meltwater that had been a stalagmite only a moment ago.

Mera turned to the spot Ariella had occupied. She couldn’t understand why the former queen had sacrificed herself for her. Ariella didn’t know love; wasn’t particularly fond of it.

Bast hugged Mera closer, pressing his face against the curve of her neck. “It’s over. You’re safe.”

A sob threatened to push through her lips as she kept staring at Ariella’s final stand. Her fingers clawed at Bast’s back, her breathing rushed.

She fought against the sorrow creeping up her chest, against the irrational pain chewing at her soul, but Mera was weak and tired, and she couldn’t fight any longer.

A heart wrenching sob escaped her, and she finally let go, doing the impossible.

Mera mourned her tormenter. Her villain. Her savior…

Her mother.