"Mother..." Archibald breathed out as he stared in disbelief at the figure wearing a white robe and looking just as she was when she was taken away.
He could still recall that incident like it was yesterday despite it being almost five hundred years ago.
It had been a turning point in his life, watching his mother get hunted down by the Paragons for being an Alpha.
He remembered how he’d tried to offer himself in her stead and how they’d kicked him aside like a piece of trash, letting him understand just how useless he was to them.
That night, he lost his mother and he gained his Talent.
Seeing her again, after so many years, no less, Archibald realized at that moment just how much he’d bottled up, just how much that incident had shaped the course of his life.
"Is it really you?" He asked as he took unsteady steps forward, his eyes slowly turning wet.
The dark-haired woman smiled, radiating an almost inhuman beauty.
She stepped forward and once Archibald was close, reached out to cup his cheek with her palm. "You have suffered, haven’t you?"
Archibald gave no response, instead burying his head in her chest as he sobbed silently.
Alex stood in place, not daring to go after the maw because as much as he wished to do so, he understood the limitations of his current state.
It was great as a deterrent, but in actual combat, there was little he would be able to accomplish, especially when considering Nyx’s current state.
Just like the Branches, Nyx was being forced into a slumber and if not for their connection, Alex would have never been able to broker a deal with his memories.
In any case, with the maw gone, Nyx’s presence left just as quickly as it came, causing Alex to stumble to his knees.
Just then, Sayda spoke up.
You bastard, how dare you!?... Do you really think that you can kill me!... You have another thing coming if you really think that!... Do you hear me!
As she said that, Sayda was already trying to figure out other means of escape.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t regenerate due to the cutting effects of the Godkiller Alex wielded against her.
It prevented her from healing and it was slowly sapping away her life force.
But that didn’t mean there weren’t other ways to handle this.
She could tell that the bastard was weakened after the stunt he pulled to drive her mother away and though she couldn’t recall her mother, she could definitely call someone else.
Meanwhile, Alex struggled to control his breathing as he held on tightly to the sword, trying to use the ever-agonizing pain rushing through his body to get him back on his feet.
Of course, it was easier said than done and so ultimately, he dropped the sword, allowing it to clatter helplessly to the ground.
At this point, his skin, despite being light-skinned black, showed clear signs of internal bleeding.
Seeing this, Sayda chuckled.
Don’t die just yet, I still want you to suffer!... You’d best just wait right there!
"Shut your mouth!" Alex retorted only to crash to the ground before proceeding to cough up black blood.
Taking on the pain of Excalibur along with the pressure from the maw and Nyx’s presence, it was already a miracle that he wasn’t dead yet.
The only thing keeping him was his werewolf bloodline, which seemed to receive somewhat of a boost in Twilight.
But even that advantage was already on its last legs, leaving him very little chance of survival.
His sight began to blur, and his thoughts began to fade away, but in that instant, before he passed out, Alex swore that he saw him, though he was completely different from how he remembered.
It was Douglas, running on all fours like an animal, charging at him with killing intent.
How could he tell despite the stark contrast between the Douglas he knew and the animal charging toward him?
Alex felt as he closed his eyes, that it was perhaps one of those things he couldn’t and wouldn’t be able to explain.
Then, a hand touched his back and the pain seemed to vanish for a while.
Meanwhile, Sayda watched, with terror in her eyes as Ulysses stood over Alex’s unmoving body with his hand placed on his back with a mystical card in between his fingers.
There was no way Sayda would forget the reason for her defeat.
It was not Alex’s GodKiller neither was it the perfectly executed plan of Constellations.
It wasn’t even the stunt that Nadia managed to pull by forcing her to regard the Nighteye.
No, it was the lowlife Abyss Wheel Mystic standing over Alex.
He was the one that sounded her death knell and as he stared at her, she had a terrifying thought that he would be the one to end her life.
Just then, a creature swept past her, and though it appeared almost skeletal, it still had enough strength to tangle with some of the largest land animals in Eventide, and what’s more, it was capable of moving faster than anything on the planet.
A loyal pet that would do anything to protect her from adversaries, even at the cost of its own life.
Yet, even with all that, all it, because she would never regard it as a man, all it managed to do was behead Ulysses only for the accursed bastard to return like nothing ever happened.
Sayda muttered, her eyes widened in shock.
Of course, Douglas, feral as he was, did not understand what it meant for Ulysses to return from beheading and continued to attack, cutting, hacking, and biting.
Despite his best efforts, all he managed to do was ingest enough of Ulysses’ flesh that forced the latter to take out another card and exert his Will, causing the bits of flesh to swiftly grow, trapping Douglas in a cocoon made out of bloodied flesh.
Then, turning to Sayda while regenerating, Ulysses coldly asked. "Is that all?"