Chapter 107 : Battlefield 2

Karenina

Xavier stood slightly hunched over, his fine hair flowing around his angelic face, almost hiding his expression from her. Blood dripped down across his chin from his mouth - a mouth that she couldn't help but remember kissing and getting lost in - but what brought tears to her eyes was the dagger that had stabbed him in the back, protruding out of his body for her to see.

While his blades were partially sheathed in the ground, a line where the daggers had cut into the ground was beyond them, as if he was trying to use his daggers to stop his forward motion.

One dagger was stuck in his right leg, stuck firmly, most likely adding to the pain that he was experiencing. Another dagger dug into his left shoulder, and another pierced his left side. A large amount of blood stained his white shirt. Staring into the face of the man she was growing to love, despite her difficult feelings for him, tears spilled from the corner of one eye as she watched his fierce expression as Xavier curled his upper lip in a snarl, narrowing his eyes in anger. However, it was the pain that she saw etched on his face that made her heart bleed for him, as the fierce mask disguised his suffering.

However, Xavier made no sounds of pain other than his heavy, agonized breathing. Somehow, it seemed much worse that he was suffering in silence.

Her own pain meant nothing when dealing with Xavier. She would live with her broken bones and bruised body, while Xavier... He's not going to die, is he?

"No!" She shouted even as she heard Nathan chuckling behind the Alpha of Westwood Pack.

With a horrifying realization, she knew that Nathan would try to suck his body into his. Regardless of how her movements made her broken bones jostle even as she could feel her breath puncturing her lungs, deflating them, making it difficult for her to breathe, Karen lunged forward, her heart racing as she rushed towards the man she loved with her arms outstretched.

Xavier! Her heart screamed, and so did she.

She grabbed the dagger sticking out of his side and poured her combined power into the dagger. Because of how much she loved Xavier, her strike didn't hurt him any further as her energy waves flowed through the dagger and to its source. She couldn't see Nathan with Xavier in her way, but she could hear Nathan's shocked screams of pain and anger as her attack struck.

Xavier's body jerked and he staggered towards her, and she knew that Nathan had been howling to get away from her brutal attack. Xavier didn't seem to be in pain although she knew that Xavier must be in pain, Xavier turned around, raised his blade, and attacked Nathan with a devastating blast of his weapon's power. She had seen this brutal attack before. Nathan didn't have time to escape, he was too close, and even when he tried to set up a defense, the blast of Xavier destroyed it easily, and kept heading towards Nathan.

Nathaniel howled angrily as the bomb slammed into his chest, his scream turning into a roar of pain as a bomb exploded inside him. Instead of pieces of flesh, blood, and gore scattering around them from the blast, the pieces disintegrated, leaving nothing left of his body, not even ashes. The blackened gemstone fell to the ground, undamaged by the explosion, but Xavier wasn't done yet.

Before she realized what he was doing, Xavier pulled out the three remaining objects protruding from his body and blasted them with the same force from his blade. She screamed, about to scold Xavier for his stupidity, because he was bleeding more now after seeing Nathan's dagger shattered, and the gaping hole still remaining. He could have bled to death! But her scolding never left her clenched lips as she realized what Xavier was doing when he blasted the remains of Nathan's fallen body pieces around the clearing that used to be part of Nathan.

That's what made Xavier's blade so powerful, and why Nathan feared it, because once Xavier used his power to kill an enemy, the explosion of his blade affected every living part connected to his body, making it impossible for Nathan to reabsorb his severed flesh.

It was the only - perhaps the only - weapon capable of killing him for real.

And like that, it was all over. All that was left of Nathan and his black magic was destroyed. Not even his blood remained.

Nathaniel was dead... That thought kept running through her mind. Everything was over. Finally .... Nathan was gone - forever. Somehow, she couldn't believe that her most hated enemy had finally been destroyed. Nathan had been a huge thorn in the side of Karen and her loved ones for the past few years... And he was dead. She should feel relieved... kind of. However, she was numb.

Until she spotted Xavier stumbling towards her, almost falling to the ground. When he dropped his blade and fell to his knees, she snapped out of her frozen state and ran towards him, screaming in alarm. She knelt before him, her trembling hands on him, afraid to touch him and hurt him further, and yet, dear Moon Goddess, how should she touch him? There was blood everywhere - his blood. Is he going to... die?

‘Please, God, no!’

"Xavier," she said in an agonized whisper, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Are you okay?"

‘Stupid question. Of course, Xavier wasn't okay!’

"Karen." He looked into her eyes with such an intense emotion, she had never seen anything like it before. Pain. Agony. Sadness. Regret. And somehow, she knew Xavier wasn't thinking about his wounds, but her. She was not sure how she knew, but Xavier silently apologized to her.

He knew what he had done to her, what he had taken. And he was truly sorry for it.

Emotion crushed through her, her resentment - for now - evaporated, and she didn't fight Xavier as he pulled her into his arms, holding her lovingly, despite his injuries. His cheek pressed against the side of her neck, and like her, Xavier wept silently.

For Karenina.

"I'm sorry," he whispered in an agonized tone of voice.