Chapter 66: Yanisse’s Past

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"Hahh… I'm so tired.

Yanisse sighed as she fell from the skies, falling unconscious. The darkness that engulfed her mind every night as she slept absorbed her once more, as she felt like she was falling, not from the skies but towards an endless abyss.

"This dream again..."

She looked down into the abyss and then hit the ground with a loud thud. She opened her eyes, rubbing her face as she looked around her surroundings. Ruins and destruction were everywhere; the sky turned red, houses were burning, and people were screaming.

"Hahh… This…"

It was that dream again.

Or that nightmare.

Nizhny Novgorod was the Russian city where Yanisse was born and raised.

She had woken up like any other day back then, eleven years ago.

Yet everything changed forever on that day.

An explosion of black and red flames erupted from below her foot; the edifice where she and her family were living was completely destroyed.

An explosion of flames consumed everything, including herself.

And this moment, which she was reliving now, was after that.

"Mom… dad…"

Yanisse had seen this nightmare many times now; every time she went to sleep, she would relive this trauma that had marked her entire life.

The charred bodies of her mother and her father were in front of her as she sat over a pile of rubble and burned corpses.

She was the only survivor out of a hundred people who lived in that building.

A pale, purple-colored aura covered her body, protecting her.

The moment her family died was the moment Yanisse awakened her powers, accepting Mana into her body.

The power of the Void protected her, but it couldn't protect what was precious to her.

Tears flowed from her eyes as she heard the loud roar of a monster far away.

"How many times will I have to see this?" She sighed, standing up and grabbing ashes and dirt, covering the corpses of her parents, as her tears kept falling over them. "For how long?"

She continued walking across the blazing ruins; the bodies of children could be seen littering everywhere. Right next to her building, there was a kindergarten.

Naturally, everyone died.

"ROOOAARR!"

A gigantic, scaled monstrosity descended from the skies, over fifty meters tall, covered with black and red scales, looking down at her as if she were nothing but a meal.

"GRRRHHH…"

Its draconic jaws opened, black flames surging from within, and it spread out its wings, glaring at Yanisse with anger!

Why was she alive?

How could she have survived that?

"You again…"

She glared at the giant black dragon, her eyebrows furrowing in anger as she kept crying.

"RAAARRRGH!"

The monster roared, rushing towards her to eat her with a single bite.

"SVOLOCH'!"

As she screamed while crying, her hands were pointed at the beast, a wave of Void Essence surged from them, and a purple beam pierced the monster's head, leaving behind a large, bloody hole where its brain was.

BOOOM!

"…"

The dragon was unable to respond; it was unable to do a single thing, dropping over the floor and dying on the spot.

Yet Yanisse wasn't happy.

"Hahh… Why? WHY?!"

She fell to her knees, crying and hitting the ground.

The monster had already killed half of the city's population in just an hour, and as one of the few survivors, she felt utterly heartbroken and alone.

Everything she loved was gone.

Everything that made her daily life was gone.

Gone were the days when she would walk out of her house to pick up her cousin, who was in kindergarten.

And long gone were the days when she would come back home from high school to eat her mother's delicious karjalanpaisti.

Or when her father would return home after an arduous day at the factory, tired but always smiling and greeting everyone happily, telling jokes, laughing, and then falling asleep on the couch.

Yanisse stood up at that moment, looking at the distance. There were still smaller monsters roaming around, and people were screaming and crying.

She quickly began moving; there was no time for her to stop. She couldn't grieve yet; she couldn't cry yet. Not yet. She had to save as many people as possible before everyone was to die.

As she fought and rescued whoever she could, she saw countless orphaned children, left completely alone, crying as they tried to take the corpses of their parents out of piles of rubble and ash.

Not long after, news about the capital of Russia, Moscow, being completely destroyed arrived in the local news.

The country was in shambles like never before; mostly all politicians were dead, the president was dead, and the military was struggling to even survive.

No weapons worked, and atomic bombs were quickly thrown at several cities to eliminate the S-ranked threats.

"No, what are you doing, you fool? Stop!"

Yanisse's nightmares shifted as she saw herself screaming and crying as she saw the insane people in the military throwing atomic bombs at areas where there were still thousands of people, just to kill the monsters their modern weapons couldn't.

"NOOO!"

As she screamed and saw the destruction, the military men ordered her to shut up, calling her a useless bitch and forcing themselves on her, attempting to restrain her because of her dangerous powers.

"Leave me! I won't let anybody touch me! You bastards! You greedy pieces of sh*t! You know nothing else but to destroy! You've been ruining people's lives all this time, and when your damned tyrant is dead, the only thing you do is bomb our cities?!"

As Yanisse screamed and pointed her hands imbued with Void Essence at them, the men walked back, fully aware of what she could do with such a power.

Yet the surprises didn't end at that moment; reports of the bombs not working reached them as quickly as they exploded.

The giant S-Rank dragons they attempted to kill with atomic bombs were alive.

Their bodies were barely covered in any damage.

Their furious, fiery eyes glared at the cameras and then destroyed them.

"B-Bombs don't work..."

"W-What?!"

"Nevozmozhnyy!!"

"What do we do now?!"

"Chert voz'mi!"

Yanisse glared at the men screaming in frustration as she stood in the middle of it all, inside the military base they had called her to restrain. However, it ended up becoming impossible to do so, and she was simply roaming the area freely.

"I told you it wouldn't work... You never listen; this country was already being ruined by all of you!" Yanisse furiously said. "I'm leaving; I won't help any of you anymore! I will go where it truly matters; I will protect my people, the citizens, the children, the elderly... Not you, you're not my people!"

"Yanisse! You damn whore! Come here!" Roared the general. "You're a woman! You should listen to men and not fight back, you fucking bitch-"

BOOOM!

Yanisse waved her hand as a shockwave of void reached the man, throwing him away.

"Uwaagh!"

He fell to his butt, shocked and afraid, gasping for air.

Yet he was not dead.

"I won't go easy a second time. Leave me alone… If you ever dare chase me again, I will not have mercy!"

She broke through the military base ceiling and left, flying towards the nearest city, where her people still needed her.

Yanisse continued working for years after years without stopping or resting, constantly pushing herself to her limits and beyond.

She fought dozens of S-Rank dragons, the primary invasive species of monsters that made Russia into a hellhole.

It was only after six years of fighting without stopping that she was finally able to kill the last one, closing the cursed red gates that never stopped pouring more and more dragons.

"Hahh… Hahhh…"

She stood over the corpse of the S+ Rank Black Flame Dragon King, Abyss, as she gasped for air. Her body was in tatters, barely alive. She drank an Elixir and looked into the skies, gray-colored from all the ashes.

"Mom… dad…"

She smiled a bit, although tears quickly began streaming down her face.

"I… I did it…"

At that moment, she thought that this nightmare would finally come to an end.

But she was wrong.

The nightmare never ended.

Monsters kept appearing everywhere, and people kept dying.

And an accursed tower connected Earth to countless other worlds.

Her world had changed completely, and she was never going to go back to how things were once again.

"I'm so tired…"

As she struggled and kept fighting, she realized that Russia would only become worse as the economy of the country pummeled to the ground.

With most of their production farms burned, half the population gone, eighty percent of all politicians' dead, seventy percent of the whole military destroyed…

There was no other option than to bend the knee to someone else, another country that was in a much better position.

She made a deal with the United States of North America.

In exchange for becoming the guardian of their country (as well as Russia), her country would receive economic help, food, and everything necessary for everyone to survive after the terrible cataclysm that took half of the population's lives.

Back then, most of her compatriots criticized her decision. The TV called her a sellout, some called her "America's new dog," and many Russian Conservatives called her a traitor to the motherland.

Yet she did all of this for them, despite how harshly they treated her and how bad her reputation became. She kept struggling.

"I'm so tired…"

And she continued feeling tired and exhausted.

"When is it all going to end?"

As she kept fighting, she only felt hollower inside.

The more she used her void powers, the more she felt one with them.

And with that came her emotions, slowly fading away.

It felt as if her heart was becoming an empty hole.

"Hahh… Mom, dad… I want to meet you again…"

Maybe dying wasn't so bad.

If she fell from the skies and had her head crushed, she would definitely die.

"Bing Xue is here now, so maybe... I can finally take a breather…"

Her suicidal thoughts blossomed from her as naturally as breathing.

For years now, Yanisse has been considering killing herself.

She was so tired of everything.

"Bing Xue…"

As the darkness consumed her, she still remembered someone who had appeared only recently but who had impacted her life for the better.

"I wanted to know you more."

She remembered her charming smile and her bright, rainbow-colored eyes.

She was so mysterious and incredible, yet she also hid behind that cheerfulness a deep darkness.

A past even more terrible than hers, perhaps.

"I…"

FLASH!

Yet a bright golden light surged from the darkness, cleansing it.

The light embraced her as she felt a comforting warmth encompassing her entire body.

"Yanisse…"

And her voice resonated across the darkness.

Yanisse opened her eyes, looking at her.

She was being carried like a princess by Bing Xue as she slowly descended from the skies.

"Bing… Xue…"

"Are you okay? It seems you've overexerted yourself again."

"I'm… I'm fine."

"You're not fine at all; let me heal you."

That bright, warm light covered her entire body. Even that hollowness that consumed her mind faded away as she felt her mind become much clearer than ever before.

As they reached the ground, Bing Xue gently let Yanisse stand back up. She realized the woman carrying her wasn't a doppelganger either.

"I-Is it really you, the real you?"

"I've come here, yes. I decided to shift my schedule a little bit and visit Earth again."

"Bing Xue!"

Yanisse hugged Bing Xue tightly, rubbing her face on her chest.

"Oh my! I didn't know you would be so happy to see me again, fufu," Bing Xue's giggles only made Yanisse feel even weaker before this woman.

Yanisse opened her eyes wide, and as the Russian girl realized she was acting out of character, blushing, she pushed herself away from the beauty in front of her.

"S-Sorry… I was too excited for no reason."

"It's fine! I know how hard it has been for you; don't worry."

"You came at the end, but your doppelgangers could…"

"I know, but I simply couldn't ignore what happened here, so I forced myself to come back. I've brought my entire family as well. There's a lot to do, actually. Let's go."

"A-Ah, yeah…" Yanisse nodded as she saw Bing Xue hold her hand. "Y-You're…!"

"Hm?" Bing Xue wondered, looking back at her.

"N-Nothing…" Yanisse smiled a bit more as she tightly held Bing Xue's hand.

For the first time after the Apocalypse, she felt comforted and protected.

Her heart was beating, and she felt so warm and embarrassed.

These feelings she had weren't just for a friend.

"Bing Xue, wait…"

"Oh?"

Yanisse walked towards her and looked at her in the eyes.

"Hm?"

Yanisse stood up from the tip of her toes and kissed Bing Xue's cheek.

"Thank you for everything…"

As the Russian beauty smiled, Bing Xue blushed back in response.

"It's nothing, I did what I had to do." She smiled. "Yanisse, I want to ask you something now."

"Yes? A-Anything…" Yanisse muttered, thinking that she might invite her to a date.

"Yanisse…" Bing Xue said as Yanisse's heart continued beating faster and faster in anticipation. "Would you like to join my Sect?"

"Eh?"

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