Chapter 57: Ch. 57 – The Death of Octavia and Lexa

To say that Iseto's presence was not intimidating was a lie. Not only was he nearly seven feet tall, his body was covered in dense muscle, but it was the well of mana that I sensed inside of him that truly frightened me. It was near my own, if I was rested, but I maybe had a sixteenth of my total mana. My Shadow mana gave me a few more tricks, but I did not have long to practice them, so the efficiency of them were crap against a person with mana.

Using the Shadow Realm against him was also out, because it would open us up to Soul damage if he could infuse mana into his attacks, which was not something easily healed. Soul damage was far more dangerous because it would weaken a person's stamina, mana reserves, and even their control over mana in general. A body could be easily healed, but only time could repair an injured Soul in the story where the power came from, which made it dangerous to use the power of the Naru Darc.

"Of all the ways that this battle could have happened, I believe that you chose the hardest of methods, but I must commend you. The sheer power and skill that you both have shown outclasses my own. If I had to fight both of you in your peak condition, there is no doubt that I would die... but, neither of you are in peak condition, far from it," Iseto said with a bloodthirsty smile as he drew his saber.

"Perhaps, but we'll stop you one way or another," I responded.

"Even you do not believe that," he mocked with a laugh.

My eyes narrowed and I launched a Wind Blade at him. He tilted his head to the side and let his armor take the brunt of the attack. The compressed air blade left a thin scratch across his breastplate, but he was not even pushed back by the impact. Next, I casted another barrage of stone knives at him, trying to aim at his face and joints. He stirred his mana and used his saber to deflect any that posed a slight danger to him with ease, letting the rest hit harmlessly on his armor. It was clear that there was little that I could do against him at my current strength.

Lexa was the next to give it a try, rushing forward as she increased her speed by two or three times. Iseto's body gave off a strong red glow, though it was not his full transformation, and he took a step forward. Despite the fast speed Lexa was moving at, Iseto was only slightly slower and still able to block all of her strikes. It was like when I first dueled against Indra, even using two weapons I had not been able to overcome the difference in skill, and nor could Lexa with how exhausted and injured she was. There was a moment when her arm dropped from weakness, and he took that moment to throw her back with a heavy kick to her chest.

Iseto started laughing as he rested his saber on his shoulder. "Was this battle everything that you had hoped it would be? At this point, you two are the biggest mass murderers in all of our history. Even the Mountain's kill count is lesser than yours, and we have fought them for over fifty years."

"We only killed people because you enslaved their minds and turned them against us!" Lexa snapped as she slowly pushed herself upright.

"Turned them against you? Ha! They already hated you after you abandoned them to die in Praimfaya! All I did was allow that anger to replace all the pain that you inflicted upon them!"

"Not everyone could be saved! The bunkers and Arkadia can only save two thousand people!" I yelled.

"But that wasn't your only option, was it?" he mocked with a laugh. "There was another method that you could have used, hidden under the bunker in Polis, yet you let your fear prevent you from using it! You both are nothing more than pathetic cowards that run away from what you do not know or can't control."

Neither Lexa nor I could argue because it was true. There was a way in which we could have saved most, if not all, of the members of the Coalition if we had used the Anomaly Stone. There were three other planets that could support life fairly easily, even if one was controlled by the Disciples. What we feared, though, was that it was over a hundred years too early for us to make contact with the people of Sanctum and the Disciples, and after Alie knew that Lexa had the second AI chip, we both agreed that Cadogan would also likely know that information somehow. We did not want the Final War to happen no matter what, so we agreed to leave the stone buried and told no one of the possibility.

"All of these powers that you two wield and you are still too scared to step up and face the challenge in front of you. You're just pathetic fools that are playing at being gods while shying away from the tough choices!"

"Tough choices!" I yelled as black flames started to appear on my shoulders and arms. "I had to choose between saving my brother's life or one of my closest friends! I had to kill thousands of people to ensure that my people would be safe from your crazed army! Everything we have done has been for the survival of the human race, and you want to call us cowards! What the hell does that make you?!? Turning women and children into enraged beasts that only want blood! You used human beings as nothing more than disposable pawns to weaken us!"

"So? That is the world. The strong rule over the weak or crush them beneath our boots. You still think you are like them, but the truth is that we are not. We are superior to them in every way! You are only weakening yourself by thinking like that. These powers were given to us to stand at the peak of the world and rule over humanity with an iron fist!"

"My powers are meant only to keep those I love and cherish safe! I don't care if it kills me, but I will not let someone as twisted as you live!" I growled as I instinctually transformed into my Black Fire Demon form.

Echo's sword in my hand was transformed into a wicked-looking claymore and I gripped it with both hands before I launched myself at him with a flap of my wings. Iseto was half a moment behind me in transforming into his hulking red form and he met my charge head on. We were matched on strength when our swords clashed, but his other hand free and he attempted to punch me in the face. My wing blocked the attack and charred his hand, but like his slaves, he ignored the pain and kept pressing closer.

I was forced to jump back, but it was not a clean retreat as I felt his blade cut into my left hand. Still, I did my best to ignore the pain and thrusted my sword towards his gut. He knocked my blade away with his saber, but I used the momentum to spin, sweeping the claymore around with every ounce of strength that I had to deliver a powerful chop to his side. He was forced to brace the blunt side of his saber with his empty hand to block the attack, but I could see cracks forming on the red blade.

This was it; this was the moment that I believed that I could win, only for it to all be taken away from me in the next. It was not his blade that broke, but my own as my transformation collapsed. I had nothing left, no mana, no stamina, nothing... I collapsed to my knees and released a mouthful of black blood. As hard as I had tried, it was still impossible. I had not even injured Iseto.

Lexa had been in the back while Iseto and I faced off, watching and waiting. She was in no better state than myself, so she knew that she only had one chance, and when my transformation broke, she took it. Pushing her body to the limits of what she could achieve currently, she dashed forward with a single sword in her hand, posed to stab him in the back through his heart. Unfortunately, he had not forgotten about her, and he was still transformed, allowing him to reach speeds near hers. He whipped around and struck her across the face with the back of his hand like he was swatting a fly. She was sent flying away and hit the ground hard, not moving afterwards.

"Katye..." I said weakly as I watched her concerned, but unable to do anything else.

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"Still alive?" Iseto chuckled as he reached down and picked me up by the neck. "Look around Natfaya. This is where trying to do the right thing got you. Thousands dead by your own hands, your friends and family to join them next since you failed them, just as you have been failing them since the moment you stepped onto the world... because you didn't have the strength to step up and lead them yourself. I may be a monster in your eyes, but you are a monster in theirs. You were given the power to shape your future and you doomed them all to death with your decisions."

Iseto words echoed through my mind, mirroring my own thoughts. There were so many mistakes that I had made, so many different decisions that I could have made, and could have completely avoided this battle with just a few minor changes. The problem was that I never wanted this responsibility, so I hesitated to step forward.

Memories started to play through my mind since I knew death was just a squeeze away. Strangely enough, aside from some memories of my time with Tori, most of what I reflected on was my time here in 'the 100' and the bonds that I had made with the people in this world. Monty and Jasper, the goofballs that could always make me smile, Clarke with her compassion and hope that things could be better, Bellamy who only wanted to keep me safe, Abby and Kane, both driven to do what it took to make sure that humanity survived in both body and morality, Indra and Anya, warriors that would sacrifice everything to protect their people... Echo, who had given everything to us and our cause because she believed in Lexa and I... Raven, who loved me despite all of my annoying habits and the secrets that I kept from her.

"You're right, Iseto... I have made countless mistakes throughout my life and many people have died because of that," I said with a weak chuckle. "But lesson three from my seda was to accept the past and learn from it, while not letting the mistakes that I've made define me, to keep pushing forward and keep trying to do what I think is right. If I still draw breath, I can't give up."

As I uttered the words, something inside of me unlocked as the weight of all of my failures and mistakes faded away. I was not perfect, but that was because there was no perfect person. All people made mistakes, but we only truly failed when we gave up on trying to fix them in some way.

Stormy gray flames flickered to life on my arms as I mustered strength that I did not know that I had and grabbed at the arm holding me by the neck. I dug my nails into his flesh while the parts of my body that I could see took on a gray color. The style of my armor changed to look like the diamond scales of a dragon and extended to cover every inch of my skin. My fingertips were transformed into claws, allowing me to do true damage to Iseto that even he felt.

Iseto released me with a scream of pain, and I dropped to my feet. A new strength filled me as I slowly straightened to my full height, which was nearly ten feet tall, not including the two horns on my head. Instead of being coated in black flames, my gray form took on a more draconic feel, fully condensing into a visible and defined appearance. My body was still shaped like a human's, but I had the addition of large, dragon wings and even a long tail, all dyed the same shade of stormy gray.

More through instinct than any true consciousness of my own, I lashed out at him with my claws. My right hand slashed through his breastplate with ease, leaving behind four bloody wounds on his chest. My left hand only had two fingers when I clawed his face which saved his right eye, but I took his left even as he tried to retreat. He swung his saber at me, but I blocked it with a raised forearm, the blade shattering against my scales, as I continued to chase after him like a grim reaper. He kept trying to run away, but I was always a step behind him, toying with him like a cat with a mouse. He quickly realized that and suddenly spun around, casting his magic over me, but it just felt like warm water splashing against me. My right hand shot out, grabbing him by the throat as he had done to me, and I lifted him off the ground.

"My powers are only meant to protect my friends and family. I will never be like you," I growled then crushed his neck in my grip.

With the death of Iseto, I could feel whatever energy that fueled this new form was starting to wane. I flapped my wings and raced to the faintest hint of mana that I could detect. Lexa was covered in wounds and her jaw looked broken, but somehow, she was still breathing. Kneeling down next to her, I channeled what energy I had left into her until darkness claimed my mind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As sunlight spilled into the narrow valley, two women walked side by side through a bloody battlefield. Smoke from the still burning forest rose into the morning sky and could be seen from miles away. Neither of them cared about the fires as they were searching for someone, or rather two, in particular. The battlefield stretched out nearly half a mile wide, but they headed straight to far side where they had seen a beacon of light. When the bodies thinned out to only a few scattered about, the pair separated to look in different directions.

"Echo! I found them!" Raven called out as she ran forward.

Raven dropped to her knees next to Octavia and Lexa who were passed out, laying on top of each other. Both of them were covered in dried blood, both their own and normal peoples, but that did not bother her while she checked them for a pulse. They were weak, but steady, meaning both of them had survived.

"They're alive!" Raven said as tears of relief threatened to fall.

"Of course, they are. Did you doubt them?" Echo asked, slowing down from her run over.

"I never thought that they would lose, but..."

"I know," Echo said gently, placing a hand on Raven's shoulder. "Come on, we should bring them back to the castle and clean them up. If they haven't woken up by then, we'll take them to the island. Praimfaya is still on its way."

"Alright," Raven agreed.

A/N: I promise the title will make more sense with the next chapter, but they are alive!

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