Chapter 356 - The Inbetween

"Idiot!" Lorien yelled, hastily throwing up her most powerful barrier the moment the bomb detonated.

----BBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!!!----

----BBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!!!----

----BBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!!!----

Even as a Cosmic Force, she could sense the device Zeel had created could severely injure even her.

Lorien knew she was far from infallible and maybe Zeel could muster a couple tricks to restrain her, but she never would have guessed he had something so horrifying up his sleeves.

Everyone expected a quick blast and maybe a couple aftershocks, but two minutes later and the explosion was only getting stronger and stronger.

Lorien's strongest barrier was barely able to withstand the explosion anymore.

---CRACK---

---CRACK---

---CRACK---

Soon, fissures started to appear on Lorien's barrier, and she was forced to reduce the size to make the barrier more potent.

Despite the nonchalant look on her cute face, Lorien was panicking inside because protecting everyone from the explosion was quickly depleting all her Cosmic Energy.

She definitely didn't want to be near someone like Zeel with minimum Cosmic Energy because he was as evil as he was pretty, and that was a bad combination given her unique 'interests'.

"Too… Strong…" Lorien murmured, glancing back at Zeel and then Alice as if asking 'Can I eat that one too? I need the strength…'.

However, it was at that time that everyone noticed the confused look on Zeel's face.

A bad premonition was birthed inside their hearts.

Zeel brushed his fingers through his hair, and smiled awkwardly "This isn't the real explosion as yet… it's still growing…"

Lorien suddenly came to a realization – either Zeel was trying to commit suicide, or the idiot had underestimated the destructive power of his own creation.

"Zeel?" Alice questioned, her eyes widened in disbelief at the device Zeel, Elizabeth, and herself had created.

Obviously, it was not something as simple as a bomb.

"This was not in the calculations…" Zeel replied, holding Alice's hands comfortingly – a gesture that was only made when he knew he fucked something up.

"Is this it?" Alice questioned, pulling herself closer to Zeel, leaning on his chest for the final time.

Zeel sighed, not minding Ella and Alle who also joined their embrace…

"I liked Elizabeth a lot… I can't say I love her but Death comes for us all in the end…" Zeel whispered into Alice's ears, speaking his true feelings for the first time "Every day, I wake up feeling the darkness in my soul growing stronger… I am terrified because I can actually feel my death coming…

It's like a song that gets louder and louder the further you try to run from it… At first, I had nothing to lose so I could move without worry… but now, I have you… suddenly, I am afraid to die… I know death is not the end for most people, but it is for me – I'll go straight to Oblivion…

I won't exist anymore… But even if I am not around, I want you to be happy and move on, but I would also hate the idea of you moving on… Love is a complicated feeling… I actually thought about killing you when I die, but for some reason, I cannot do it…"

Alice indulged in the emotions that accompanied Zeel's words, and it was an intoxicating feeling…

"I don't know if you do this consciously or not but…" Alice took a deep breath and continued "It's like a young girl seeing the guy she likes for the first time… just one look at she is caught in every detail of his personality… the way he walks, talks, dresses… an intense love at first sight – so ideal, young and stupid…

And she knows that she will love that guy for the rest of her life, but later, marriage happens, and school, and bills, and kids, and that feeling… that intense love just slowly fades away… Still, when they are having a tough time in the marriage, just the echo of that feeling keeps them going…

Just the memory of how they use to feel reignites a bit of their passion, but it is not enough to keep their love alive forever… Life fights against love… but for me and Elizabeth… loving you was like never losing that feeling of intense love at first sight…

Every day, every morning, every hour, second and minute was like being in that moment of love, at first sight, all the time… and to be honest, it drove us crazy, Elizabeth even more than me since she was so young…

There isn't something you wouldn't do for that feeling… and it was bad for us…"

"Ha Ha Ha…" Zeel laughed unconsciously.

Alice raised a brow "What?"

Zeel wore a confused expression, then a small genuine smile on his face "I don't know why… but… I think hearing that made me happy… For a little while, I felt like nothing else mattered but our happiness…"

"Happiness comes from being a good person…" Alice commented a bit too strongly, showing just how much she believed that statement.

"Are you a good person?" Zeel asked.

Alice frowned and then smiled sadly "I am not… I try to do what I think is best but I have killed innocent people before…"

Alle and Ella were tired of being left out of the intimate moment, so they pushed Alice away from Zeel and inquired about their own statuses in Zeel's heart.

"How about us, father?" they asked hopefully "Do you love us?"

"Nope, not really…" Zeel replied, the earlier feeling of happiness gone, but a sharp glare from Alice made him recant the statement immediately "Sure, I like you guys somewhat… like cute lost, little versions of Lorien…"

"Me?... [And me?] …" Lorien inquired, appearing at her favorite location on Zeel's shoulders.

"If you're here… who is protecting the barrier?" Ahmanet interrupted, causing everyone's eyes to grow wide as a shattering noise was heard.

Lorien had left the barrier unattended to get into the intimate action…

Time slowed, and Zeel watched as dark flames entered the barrier…

He knew everything was over at that moment but…

A strong thug on his consciousness pulled him from his body…

---------------

Aurolana was at her witz end…

The battle against Aurora had gone on too long, and Gabriella, off to the side, playing with a bomb was not exactly reassuring.

Usually, in Purgatory, Aurolana should have been strong enough to kill Gabriella in an instant, but Aurora's presence here complicated the matter.

A split-second concentration lapse to deal with Gabriella would leave her open to Aurora's attacks…

Likewise, focusing solely on Aurora would guarantee that Gabriella releases the bomb just for the fun of it…

After all, Gabriella was the definition of crazy, she was possibly the first person Zeel ever tried his manipulation skills on.

Gabriella was the beta test, but she was a fucking powerful one at that!

---TING---

---TING---

---TING---

A couple more clashes of Apollonian wings and Aurolana found that her feathers were beginning to freeze, courtesy of Aurora, of course.

Dark Energy flickered around Aurolana's wings and a few seconds later, the frozen feathers were returned to normal.

Even Aurora knew to stay away when Aurolana used her gift of 'Nothingness' because it was the bane of all Angels, even more so than Demonic Power.

Aurora just needed a moment of distraction and that moment came…

Aurolana's mind was occupied on two fronts – first, was the battle here in Purgatory, and second, was the barrier that was protecting Zeel just broke.

By the time Aurolana had come to her senses, Aurora's wings were centimeters away from her neck, but that was the least of her problems right now.

Zeel was about to die, and if Zeel died, it didn't matter who won the fight between her and Aurora.

Aurolana flicked her fingers, withdrawing a Mind Flower from her Storage Dimension and activating it.

Once gifted by a soulmate, a Mind Flower had totally different characteristics from an ordinary Mind Flower and that included the ability to switch bodies.

Aurolana felt a thug as her consciousness departed her body…

---------------------

The Inbetween

Aurolana opened her eyes, unfurled her wings, and wrapped them around the person whose lap she sat on – Zeel Crawford.

Each and every one of Aurolana's feathers vibrated with excitement at the feeling of completion once more.

Zeel's head also leaned forward, pressed against Aurolana's forehead as they both sighed in contentment at the show of affection.

Just like a human kiss, Apollonians wrapped their wings around their spouses, while Homo-Superiors entrusted their heads to their spouses.

Cyber-lines pulsed from Zeel's head, attempting to encroach on Aurolana's mind but she never did enjoy such a tradition.

Aurolana leaned back, disconnecting their foreheads, but she still kept her wings cradling them like a mother's embrace.

"The Inbetween, huh?" Aurolana mocked, looking around the white room "It's been a while since we last came here…"

The Inbetween was a unique zone born between where soulmates' minds met, but it was not a favorable location for soulmates to be.

The Inbetween distinguished one soulmate from another, but should soulmates remain in the Inbetween too long, the line between their minds would become blurred, until eventually…

The soulmates would become one person.

Aurolana and Zeel were in love, as much in love as anyone could be, but they were not interested in becoming one person.

Thankfully, this was just a transition point as their minds switched bodies temporarily.

"You used a Mind Flower?" Zeel questioned accusingly, but he could also understand the logic behind her actions.

Aurolana did not have the heartlessness to kill her sister, Aurora, and Zeel didn't have enough strength to stop his own explosion from destroying everyone.

Hence, they could switch bodies… Aurolana would be able to use her 'Nothingness' to nullify the explosion, and Zeel had no problem killing Aurora.

"Aurora is hurting so please show her mercy…" Aurolana requested though the tone of her voice suggested the request was more of a command than anything else.

Zeel pushed Aurolana off his lap, and spun out of the embrace of her wings…

"How many people have we killed?" he questioned sadly, turning his back to Aurolana.

Aurolana shrugged, not caring for the question "Does it matter? Do we count those useless things?"

Zeel glanced back and gazed into Aurolana's eyes "Exactly! We don't care who we kill to get what we want… we are ugly people…"

Aurolana took quick steps to approach Zeel, hugging him around the waist as she pushed her head between his neck and shoulder, searching for that familiar warmth.

"We weren't like this before…" Zeel murmured.

"What?"

"We never embraced or spoke… we used our thoughts to communicate and just stared in each other's eyes… all of this touching and emotional stuff is not who we are…"

Aurolana frowned and threw her body backward, aiming to smash her head against the ground…

Zeel's body flashed and embraced her before she could touch the ground…

"You're right…" Aurolana whispered, touching Zeel's cheeks as he held her in a dip position "You know I wouldn't get hurt but you couldn't help but catch me… it's so…"

"Human?" Zeel questioned.

"No…" Aurolana shook her head "It feels better… like we are no longer stagnant… like we can be-"

"Good people? Ha ha ha ha…" Zeel burst out laughing, clear mock in his voice "What we want to do means we can never be good people…"

Aurolana was about to argue her point when both she and Zeel felt an intrusion into their Inbetween Zone.

"We need to talk, Zeel…" Alice mentioned, walking into the white room as if it was completely natural.

Aurolana and Zeel were stunned because this was a location for soulmates, how could Alice possible be here?