1048 Abyss Of Soul

Varian's mind went blank as the ghost ship exploded into pieces in front of his very pieces.

"No." He muttered blankly, ignoring hundreds of metal pieces flying out of the ghost ship and out and piercing his flesh.

The world went dark and only the broken spaceship remained in his vision. Or what remained after the explosion.

A charred crater.

"Boo…" Varian collapsed onto his knees. "This is a bad dream…a nightmare." He lowered his head and dug his fingers into the flesh of his thighs as his entire body shook. "This is just…a nightmare."

"It is real." The merciless voice of Haedon caused him to look up in anger.

"You!" Varian's anger surged and his killing intent condensed into a red mist that swiftly enveloped Haedon.

Even the abyss emperor felt his skin tingle facing the killing intent. But that feeling only lasted for a moment before his eyes blazed with fury. "How many of mine did you kill to grow this much killing intent? How many?!"

Varian didn't reply. Using the last of his strength, he was about to reach for his storage ring when Haedon suddenly laughed.

"Your hell is just beginning."

Varian's hand froze and he looked up in panic.

Haedon's body flashed and he disappeared. Then somewhere in far space, dozens of explosions went off and in a breath, a golden light landed on the asteroid.

Sia and Sarah were drenched in blood. As Haedon held them by their hair in his bloodied hands, their limbs were limp and broken. They were like rag dolls about to be discarded.

Their weak eyes, flickering with the last bits of vitality, stared at him. Those pair of golden and blue eyes, the eyes he saw every day and every night, the eyes that filled him with love and peace, told him now not to blame himself. They told him not to feel guilty because they knew him more than anyone else.

'W-Why?!' Varian lips quivered as his eyes grew wet.

He told them! He told them to run away! He told them to escape! Why did they do this? Why die for him?

As if sensing his inner turmoil, Sarah moved her lips with the last of strength and mouthed the words she couldn't voice.

Her voice was silent but her words shook Varian's heart.

'I love you.'

Varian's heart stopped beating for a moment before it thrashed against his chest.

'I love you too,' He wanted to scream but his mouth wouldn't even open.

'V-Var…' A weak voice on the verge of vanishing sounded in his mind, freezing him in place.

'S-Sia! Call Enigma! Teleport! Do anything! Go away both of you!' He screamed inside his mind.

'I…I'm not leaving you behind.'

Varian's mind stopped working. His heart thrashed against his chest and his body began to stand up by itself.

He promised. If they were all supposed to die, he'd go first, trying to save them.

"C-Come fight me," Varian's bloodied hand shook as aura flickered in his hand, trying to coalesce into a sword. But his state was so bad that he couldn't even do something that simple.

So, Varian took a step forward. He couldn't fight now. Then the only thing he could do now was to die with them.

"Stand down and watch your nightmare come true." Haedon snorted and a wave of golden starlight enveloped Varian and pressed him to the ground.

Varian's head flew back into the air due to the sheer force of the collision but his eyes remained fixated on his lovers.

Only them and nothing else.

"They tried to save that ship until the last moment and finally teleported. If they abandoned you instead of stupidly risking their lives, they could've survived." Haedon sneered, his every word driving a nail down Varian's heart.

"L-Leave them alone…" Varian gritted his bloody teeth and raised his upper body.

But Haedon simply smiled and the golden starlight's pressure on him doubled.

Varian crashed to the ground hard and his bones snapped.

"L-Let them…go!" He didn't care about his pain, injuries, fatigue, and even death. He once pulled every inch of strength from his body and tried to stand up.

"Cry more, beg more, despair more!" Haedon said and the golden light suddenly went blindingly bright.

Varian let out a blood-curdling scream as the light gripped him from all sides and crushed his flesh and bones. He exerted all his body to thrash and wriggle, but Varian remained immobile, unable to even move an inch.

Like a bug wriggling under a shoe, he struggled desperately and to no avail.

Unable to do anything, he watched in endless despair as Haedon yanked Sarah and Sia by their hair and then slammed their faces into the ground.

Warm, flesh blood splashed on Haedon's face and the already weak breaths of the girls grew fainter, like a candle flame about to disappear at any moment.

"Arghhh!" Varian's heartbreaking screams filled the sky as every nerve in his body screamed in agony.

Haedon paused for a moment and stared at Varian's face. The grief in his eyes, the rolling tears on his cheeks, the despair on his face…

Haedon laughed and laughed before he started crying.

"Finally!" He yanked their heads back by their hair and showcased their bloodied faces to Varian.

"Sarah! Sia!" Varian stared at their battered faces in tears.

Hearing his scream, they opened their eyes and looked at him weakly. Their eyes were dimming.

Varian tried to break out of the golden light and save them. His skin cracked as his body exerted every bit of strength and his bones and flesh began to tear apart under the intense struggle.

"This is exactly the grief I experienced when I watched my daughter and wife die," Haedon said and slammed their heads back into the ground, with more force this time.

The blood that splashed on his face from the last time didn't even dry and new blood splashed again.

Then, Haedon did it again. And again.

"No! NOOOO!" Varian screamed out of his lungs to the point his throat broke. Blood spilled out of his mouth and his voice came out no more.

Every time he brutalized them, their eyes would dim a bit, and their breath would weaken a bit.

"I…" Varian stared at their fading eyes and cried. They were bidding him farewell.

Their breaths were hanging on a thread.

They're about to die!

Varian tried to move, even as his bones broke and his flesh tore. He tried and tried. But it's as if his body was frozen. It was frozen by the golden light. He couldn't move.

'No…' Varian's heart constricted as Haedon raised their heads again.

Two years ago, on that night, he was in the same position.

Frozen on the ground and powerless to stop as the wolf was about to take his mother's life.

Two years later and after everything he had been through, he ended up in the same position.

'No.' Varian decided it shouldn't the be same. It mustn't be.

A black-light began to leak out of his right eye and devoured the golden light in a flash.

'Not again!' A white light came from his left eye and poured Sia's potion into his mouth.

"Huh?" Haedon suddenly paused and blinked in confusion. What just happened? Why was Varian suddenly standing?

'I will not lose anyone again.' Varian eyes flashed and the black and white lights rushed into his origin.