Aerin was only barely able to leap back in time to avoid Bekka’s fangs snapping closed around her neck.
Even if she was injured, she was still a battle tested warrior and something of this level was never going to be enough to claim her life.
As she flipped backwards in the air, she wondered why her opponent was not pursuing her and simply halted after the initial attack.
“!”
Her answer came when another pitch-black wolf with three eyes leapt out of the shadows from behind her.
‘Damn it!’
Aerin had foolishly assumed that Bekka could only use those clones in her human form and now her hubris was literally coming back to bite her.
Because she was already airborne, she could do nothing but grit her teeth as Bekka bit her remaining wing.
“AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!”
Her screams reached the ears of everyone on the battlefield.
While the demons rejoiced, the phoenixes were distraught and immediately attempted to provide aid to their wounded general.
But this lapse in focus would prove to be most dire for the remnants of the army of immortal flame.
With the phoenixes distracted, the demons were now having a much easier time killing them and reducing their numbers.
The immortal birds were now literally dropping like flies.
A single tear fell from Aerin’s eye.
These were her soldiers and kin. The sight of the brilliant vermillion birds dying out at the hands of mere demons was almost too much to bear.
“AAAAAAGGGGHHHH!!!” The phoenix cried out in pain once more when the two enormous hounds began to chew on her arms and force her to her knees.
As the woman screamed, Bekka emerged from the shadows directly in front of her in her normal appearance.
Aerin mustered up the energy to spit at her feet. It had been centuries since she felt this much hatred for an enemy. She always believed her end would come from an actual dragon not one of his concubines.
Bekka held out a single clawed finger in front of the restrained phoenix.
“I need you to stay still, alright? I still can’t control it that well.”
Aerin had no idea what she was talking about, but she would not allow Bekka to do whatever she wanted so easily.
She began to wriggle and struggle, uncaring about the teeth of the two ravenous beasts that were sinking in deeper with every movement.
Bekka looked down at her hand and sighed before putting down her finger.
‘Honestly, I was going to practice a bit more with the void element, but it seems like I’ll have to get it the normal way.’
Aerin’s eyes widened as Bekka simply plunged her hand into her chest, her large, clawed hands searching for her heart.
Bekka winced in pain. The insides of a phoenix were scalding hot, and she felt burns beginning to accumulate on her hand the longer she remained inside.
She eventually found her heart and wrapped her hand around it.
“Don’t tell me…” Aerin said weakly.
“Hm?”
“It’s… for him?”
Bekka showed the signature smile of a woman in love. “Of course. Everything I do is for him!”
Aerin finally hung her head in defeat.
“Bitch….”
The sound of flesh ripping could be heard as Bekka pulled out Aerin’s still beating heart.
The wolf clones disappeared, letting her dead body fall to the ground as Bekka eyed her prize.
The heart of a powerful phoenix was said to be capable of giving the gift of rebirth to whoever consumed it.
She could not think of a more worthy recipient for such a gift than she man she loved.
Bekka looked up to survey the battlefield.
Most of the corpses of the invading army lay scattered out along the ground and the few that were remaining were either attempting to flee or simply under siege.
Most of the rabisu had already landed and began to eat the corpses of their enemies, causing their aura to receive a massive boost.
Bekka stashed the heart away in her storage ring and smiled gleefully.
“I wonder how excited he’ll be when he wakes up!”
–
“That was… brutal…” Lusamine shuddered.
“I did not realize Bekka was so powerful…” Eris added.
“…” Zheng was silent as always but if his eyes were any indicator, he was rather surprised as well.
Only Asmodeus seemed to be relatively calm after what he’d just witnessed.
For someone like him, Bekka’s display was not very impressive.
At a glance it was easy for him to tell that her control over the void element was crude at best.
Since she had the element of surprise on her side, she could’ve ended the fight a lot earlier if she hadn’t missed with her attack so many times.
That said, the wounds from the void element were just as bad as he remembered them to be.
Aerin had expended so much energy trying to stop the horrible bleeding she’d suffered that she burned through her mana reserves.
Such a thing made it much easier for Bekka to make the fight a close quarter brawl.
Asmodeus stood up suddenly when he felt a faint but easily recognizable presence.
“The three of you, leave right now.”
Zheng, Eris, and Lusamine all looked at their lord with confused faces but after a moment they did not disobey his request.
He stood alone on the wall for a moment, overlooking the end of the battle while his insides were in turmoil.
Suddenly the wind blew his hair, and he knew he was no longer alone.
“I’m a bit surprised, I thought you’d take another day or so to recover.”𝗈𝚟𝗅xt.𝒸𝑂𝑚
Asmodeus turned around to see his son standing in front of him.
He was wearing a simple black fur coat draped over his muscular shoulders and dark pants.
His daughter was seated comfortably in his arms and Audrina was standing next to him, their hands interlocked.
“Though I suppose with a background like yours, recovering a little soul damage must be easy.”
Exedra said nothing, still taking time to process this moment.
His father was right in front of him, walking and talking and he seemed to know a great deal more than he’d anticipated.
Asmodeus looked at the human child in his arms and the beautiful vampire at his side.
“Do they know?”
“…They do.” He answered solemnly.
The primordial demon confirmed his suspicion that his son had told his family about his transmigration since he’d been in a coma.
“Then I just have one question…”
Asmodeus moved to stand directly in front of the man who was supposedly his son.
“I have almost all of your memories but i was never able to figure it out. Are you Carter or are you Exedra?”
That question was one that he expected, yet it did still give him pause.
He opened his mouth to answer, yet was surprised when his consciousness was pulled into his inner world.
–
He opened his eyes within a black space.
In it he saw two people already there waiting for him.
One was a human boy with a chubby face and glasses. He wore a simple black hoodie that said ‘Deaf Row Records’ and dark green cargo pants. His black shoes were so old and dirty that they looked like the soles would come off if he took even another step forward.
He had a simple yet dejected look, as if he were utterly dissatisfied with the world around him.
The other was a young dragon who appeared to be rather sickly.
He had black hair that came down to his shoulders and was styled in a rather messy and unkempt fashion. He wore a simple buttoned shirt and dress pants that despite being a small size were still a bit baggy on him.
The dragon had a hopeless look, as if he could not bear the burden of living another day as such a colossal disappointment.
Suddenly, a voice none of them recognized asked them a question.
“Do you recognize the man in front of you?”
The two boys slowly looked at each other and nodded.
Carter : “He is me.”
Exedra: “And I am him.”
“”We may have been apart, but we are all that has ever been and all that shall be.””
The two of them suddenly had a hopeful look, as if the lives that they had been living up until this point were no more than a bad dream.
They suddenly walked toward the third and most current version of himself and entered into his body, never to be seen again.
A shudder passed through his body and he felt as if he had gained some sort of clarity.
“Do you have your answer?” The voice asked.
Before he could respond, he was pulled from this dream world and thrust into the world of consciousness.
–
“Are you Carter? Or are you Exedra?” Asmodeus asked.
The man who was supossidly his son smirked.
How could he not have seen the truth before?
The answer was right in front of him and yet he had never noticed it.
“We are Abbadon. The two of us are of shared minds and wills who exist to protect and avenge the other.”
Asmodeus pondered this answer before finally nodding in acceptance.
“Then.. that means part of you is my son, correct?”
Abbadon nodded, unable to refute that claim.
“Then… let’s talk for a moment, shall we?” Asmodeus said as he gestured to the ledge.
Abbadon prepared to accept when a strange system prompt flashed across his retina.
[ You have accepted your true name : Abbadon!
[ You have partially recovered your fated name : T******!
[ You have come one step closer to understanding your past and rewriting your future!