Serene threw her knives again, but they were met with the same result as all the times before, a wall made from dirt, the surrounding area was littered with walls similar to the one Aster just put up, Serene dashed off again, she knew that she couldn’t stay in one place to long, that would give Aster the chance to hit her, she weaved her way through the quickly forming maze of walls that were being generated, Throwing knives at Aster with every passing glimpse she got of him, but all of them failed to reach their mark,

“ this is becoming rather annoying”, Aster said, turning to black another knife with his hammer,

“enough of this, serene we don't have to fight, just give up the Pillar and everyone else can leave”, Aster pleaded, raising his foot and stomping into the ground, causing all of the walls formed to become flattened, revealing a cluster of Kiara’s corps surrounding her,

“like hell I will, would you sell out Levant, or Polaris, or Barak”, serene retorted, but aster just stood silent, not giving her an answer,

“thought as much”, Serene said, as a small smirk made itself known on her face,

“regardless, you still follow a coward, she is hiding behind ll of you will you all fight me, how is that fair to you all, a leader should fight at the front, not cower behind their troops”, Aster Stated,

“ohh you thought I was hiding”, Kiara said, as she stepped out from behind the group of women, her sword in hand,

“finally feel like fighting”, Aster asked,

“no no no”, Kiara replied shaking her head, “i’m not going to fight you I’m going to kill you”, Kiara continued, dashing towards Aster,

“fine by me”, Aster said, dashing from where he stood, KLIING, the metal clashing together rang throughout the surrounding area, Kiara had swung her blade downwards towards Aster”s neck, only for it to be blocked by his hammer, Aster began to push her back, swinging his massive arm, shrugging her off like a mere fly, He could feel his body brimming with power, but in the back of his mind he felt it, this small but concerning feeling, something felt off,

Kiara flew backwards coming to a halt, landing on her feet, “your becoming a bit over confident there, using that smart ass yumi’s technique”, Kiara stated,

“why are you so judge mental on everyone ?”, Aster asked, lifting his Hammer in the air and swinging down with as much force as he could muster, sending a ripple effect outwards, causing large spikes of the earth to point to the sky, severely injuring a few of the girls who were fighting them,

Kiara, gracefully landed on top of one of the spikes with serene in her arms, “i’m not judge mental, in my eyes there are but a few people in this world who stand up to or surpass, master Aluric”, she commented, placing serene down gently out of her arms,

“but you I see as nothing but pathetic”, Kiara exclaimed,

“the day after that little incident in the capital, I had this one, serene, tell me all about you and you little group, oh and how can I forget, how she laughed at how confused and sad you looked when she attacked with her little boy toy”, kiara continued, as she held her head, laughing at Aster,

Aster lunged forward, Swinging his hammer at where serene and Kiara stood, his hammer striking the spike destroying it,

“ohh did I strike a nerve again”, kiara taunted, throwing her Sword and chain at Aster, the sword piercing his now grey flesh, in the back of his shoulder,

Aster grit his teeth as the pain seared through his body, he jerked his shoulder forward causing the blade to pull away from his flesh, in the distance he could hear and feel the after math of what felt like Barak’s power,

Aster spun around tossing his War Hammer at Kiara, this caught her off guard, as she tried to evade the oncoming hammer, but she wasn’t quick enough, the hammer slammed into her arm, knocking her to the side, Upon seeing this the remainder of the girls attacked him, but with the power of the unholy wrath reaching its peak, aster felt confident, taking them out with his bare hands, as he landed a series of punches and kicks to his enemies, he quickly dispatched them, knocking many of them unconscious, and severely injuring the others,

the only two that stood against him now were serene and kiara,

“mistress, its only the two of us left, what should we do ?”, serene asked, helping kiara to her feet,

“how about we put an end to this fight”, Aster said as he walked towards them,

“like hell”, serene screamed, as she flung her knives At Aster, she dashed towards him punching and kicking in his direction, but to no avail, was she able to hit him as he dodged all of her attacks, and as she threw another punch Aster caught it,

“i don’t want to fight you, just tell me why you decided to follow a bunch of mass murderers”, Aster asked,

“mass murderers ?, spare me your hypocritical bullshit, your an enforcer for your family, I have worked with you before, you have just as much blood on your hands as they do, and it scared me to see you like that cause I didn't know when that same murderous intent could be turned on me”, serene exclaimed,

“i wont deny that, but I don’t enjoy doing so, you are actively…..”, Aster stopped, as blood ran down his mouth, he looked down only to see kiara’s sword pointing through his stomach,

“enough with that mushy shit”, kiara said, pushing on the sword, causing the sword to slowly push deeper into Aster’s body,

“the reason, there is no reason, the weak follow the strong, and we were simply stronger than you”, kiara said,

Aster could feel the energy leave his body, as his skin slowly went back to it’s normal state, he could see the golden glow of his divine energy slowly start to fade away,

“fun fact about these chains of mine, they slowly drain the divine energy of anything they come into contact with and adds that energy to mine”, kiara said, as she pulled the blade from Aster’s abdomen,

his eyes were stuck on serene, she was smirking, the look of accomplishment, spread across her face, “now that I’m seeing you like this I wonder why I was ever scared of you”, she commented,

as Aster heard these words, he had a sinking feeling in his stomach, thats when he realized, he realized that there was no coming back for serene she was fully committed to her cause,

“hahahahahahahahahahaha”, Aster began to laugh, his eyes wide with amusement,

“ has he lost it now that he knows he is going to die”, Kiara asked, scoffing at Aster,

“i get it now, I get it, there’s no saving you”, Aster said, as he struggled to his feet,

“and since there is no saving you there’s only one ting to do”, he said, sticking out his hand in serene’s direction,

“what are you”, she stopped as a sudden force propelled her in Aster’s direction, landing her neck in Aster’s hand, she struggled to to look at him, and what she saw truly terrified her, the look of true unadulterated rage was on his face, he reached behind her taking his hammer from where he reached, He slammed her into the ground, blood spurting out of her mouth as she made contact, he lifted her up again, then back into the ground, she felt a hot sensation wash over her, as one half of her vision, darkened into a red hue, Aster looked at serene, half of her face covered in blood, her hands tightly squeezed around his hand that held her by the neck, she wheezed on the ground, taking deep breaths trying to muster the strength to say words,

“don’t bother trying to say anything, you’re finished, so stay put”, Aster said, letting go his hand from her body, he slowly walked forward, facing down kiara, he slammed the bottom of war hammer into the ground, the orbs on the top of the hammer began to glow with intensity, as the top of the hammer morphed into a clear crystal like material, the each face of the hammer grew jagged sharp edges,

“lets finish this”, aster said, dashing forward towards Kiara, Kiara gripped her sword with both hands doing the same, as they ,met in the middle, metal clashing against each other, this time kiara taking the first strike, attacking aster with a knee to the gaping wound on his stomach, Aster winced in pain, as one of his knees buckled slightly, he used this to his advantage dropping on that knee, pushing kiara over his head and onto the other side of him, he spun turning around and using that momentum, he held his hammer by the end letting it out at its full length, landing an attack on kiara, knocking her through some nearby spikes, as dust flared up, but before the dust could settle kiara launched her sword and chain at Aster catching him off guard, the sword flew pass his face cutting him above his eye,

Aster reacting quickly, caught the chain, before she could pull it back yanking it, pulling her towards him, he grabbed a hold of his hammer with both of his hands swinging it at her with his full might, Kiara helpless to do anything raised both of her hands to block the incoming strike if even a little, as Aster Struck, blood flew through the air, kiara’s limp body spinning it the air,

as she landed with a loud ‘THUD’, Aster dropped to one knee, blood streaming down his abdomen, he could feel his breathing getting heavier and heavier, he turned around to face his downed opponent, but to his disappointment, kiara was already struggling back to her feet, with her sword in hand, blood pouring down her face, bruises strewn about her arms, she lunged forward at Aster once more, her arms raised as she struck downwards towards her opponent, Aster thew up his hammer in retaliation, blocking the blow from her, but he was surprised, the strike had enough force behind it to push him onto one knee, he saw her grit her teeth, as she began to apply even more pressure to her sword, and once again he could feel his divine energy being slowly pulled towards her, Aster clenched his teeth together and tightened his grip on his hammer, slowly he began to resist the pressure she was exerting over him, as he struggled back to his feet, putting the weight of his body behind him he pushed her off of him once more,

he swung his hammer downwards at her, causing kiara to evade the attack, but Aster used that momentum as he did before, changing his trajectory, he spun he body, striking kiara in her side with the now jagged edges of his hammer, however this time kiara held onto the hammer, dropping her sword and locking her hands onto it and in a quick movement tugged the hammer out of Aster’s hands, sending the bloodied hammer elsewhere, jumping towards him afterwards punching him in his face but aster recovered quickly from the shock, responding with a punch of his own, sending her flying into the air, using his powers he used the earth to launch himself into the sky, as he stuck out his arm calling for his hammer, as the hammer quickly came he grabbed it in one hand and kiara in the next,

swing his hammer at kiara, she raised her hands once more to block the incoming blow this time covering one arm in her chains, but that wasn’t enough as the blow sent her rocketing towards, the ground, BOOOMMM, a thunderous sound was heard as she collided with the earth, as the dust settled kiara coughed up blood, her body numb from the onslaught of attacks, Aster landed back on the ground, he made his way over to her,

“before I end it, tell me, why, why did you create this corps of yours ?”, Aster asked,

cough,cough,“shit”, kiara said, as she coughed up even more blood, her vision going in and out of blurriness, she could tell that she reached her limits, she knew she had little fight left in her, she looked at Aster, blood streaming down his stomach, bruises all over his body, blood running down his face, and mouth,

“fine I’ll answer you, since you seem so desperate for an answer, I just stole the idea from a mentor I had when I was growing up in a place where the women are seen as the protectors”, kiara said,

“that’s all I’m telling you now get it over with, at least I didn’t go out without a fight”, she finished,

“is that it, your final answer is, that it wasn't your idea to begin with, well die as you lived, following in the footsteps of others”, aster said, as sharp crystal tipped spikes grew around her, and Aster raised his hammer, she could tell he was aiming for her head, as he swung down,

SCHLIK, SCHLIK,SCHLIK, three knives flew out of nowhere, two hit aster in his arm and one buried itself into his side, Aster couldn't perceive them, as the blood from the cut over his eye had trickled down blocking his vision,

he lowered his hand, turning to see who had attacked, him, and there she stood, serene, struggling to stay on her feet,

“there I finally hit you”, she said, dropping down her knees,

“splendid, miss serene, just wonderful”, an unfamiliar voice rang out, and seemingly out of nowhere a man in a purple mask, with a cross covering one eye appeared out of thin air, behind serene,

“don’t be surprised”, he said, appearing next to Aster, kicking aster into the spikes that were meant for kiara, as the spikes dug into Aster’s back, the masked man appeared over him,

“now you just stay there”, he said, disappearing again, this time reappearing next to kiara,

“mistress kiara, I’ve been explicitly told by the orders of the prince of Dracht himself that none of the pillars are to die here today”, he said, throwing her over his shoulder, he disappeared once more, this time reappearing where he first appeared, next to serene, he placed his hand on serene’s shoulder,

“let us take our leave miss serene”, he said, as the three of them disappeared,