The one with shadow - II

-5 hours ago-

The evening sky was growing dull along with the passing time. Despite the sun setting down peacefully, there was no sign of it. The chaos was overtaking the atmosphere within that room at least.

"Maid Rudia..."

The huge whirlpool of mana swirling around the woman who said that became denser. The strong gush of air releasing a strong fragrance of roses flooded the room.

"No..."

That wasn't the scent of anything else but of her mana.

Through the strong scent, her cunningly adorable smile became visible. With her legs crossed over each other, that person sat on the chair.

A sense of entertainment lit up her pink eyes to spark up within the dark. Rudia could feel a strange suffocation, binding her feet to the ground.

"Should I call you 'Rudia Erynhyes Rudgard', miss maid...?"

Swwissh

As soon as Aliana said those words, a bunch of black pointy things swiftly moved towards her. It happened all within a small fraction of a second.

But then again. The person whom that fatal attack was directed towards was no one else but Aliana Rosenstein. The smile on her lips faded away.

Snap

With a snap of her fingers, Aliana brought the attack to a stop. Steadily, she got up from her seat.

Before taking a step forward, she simply flicked her index finger at the tip of one of the pointy shadow hands. That one action, that seemed futile to Rudia for a second, was enough to raise goosebumps on her arms.

The shadow hands that had stopped right midway before touching Aliana turned into fine dust.

"My, my. As expected of the heir to the throne's former shadow..."

Rudia's fierce, hostile gaze bore its fangs at Aliana. Even though she wanted to fall back and attack Aliana, her movements had been restricted by the thick mana Aliana had enveloped her in.

Aliana moved close to Rudia with a calm smile on her face. The dense mana that just suffocated Rudia became thinner.

Huff huff

She breathed heavily, trying to get a grasp of her situation. But that was of no use either. She couldn't understand it completely.

"Since when..."

Shhh

Aliana's right index finger slowly moved across Rudia's cheeks, then to her lips. Hence making Rudia stop speaking. The immense killing intent was totally directed towards Aliana.

"You should be grateful that I didn't mention a thing to Jaden the last time we met..."

Rudia was an intelligent person. She had more than enough knowledge to understand the real meaning of those words. She bit her own lips lightly.

If it was someone else than Rudia, they might've lost their cool. But Rudia was different.

"... What do you intend to achieve by doing this?"

Rudia came to derive that question from the few conclusions she reached on the spot. Those too were based on Aliana's actions.

If what she was thinking was accurate, then Aliana had known about her since before she happened to help Jaden.

Rudia was strong enough to deal damage to one of the demon generals, but Aliana was on a totally different level.

Not to mention, Rudia sneaked an attack on Lilith. While Aliana had confronted her head-on.

And Rudia still vaguely remembered witnessing that intense battle from a distance.

'If what I'm thinking is indeed how things are...'

Rudia was certain that Aliana had something on her mind, a plan, that made her act that way. Rudia was being restricted the whole time, yet there was something strange.

Aliana wasn't releasing any killing intent towards her at all. She never intended to hurt Rudia.

That's why Rudia was certain that Aliana had a role for her to play in her plan. Of course, Rudia had no obligation to simply go along with it.

That precisely became the reason why Rudia chose not to follow through on Aliana's demands if she found her unreasonable. But then...

"Huh...?"

Rudia could only react with that when Aliana walked a bit further away. Rudia was certain that she heard Aliana whispering in her ears.

Her eyes wide open, as if she had heard something shocking, Rudia looked at Aliana.

"... Are you telling the truth?"

Rudia's calm voice accompanied by her serious expression stayed constant as she spoke. Aliana smiled lightly, gesturing as if she were clueless.

A heavy silence spread throughout the room. Rudia closed her eyes before speaking again.

"If I want to confirm what you said is the truth, what should I do...?"

"You see..."

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

-You see...

She clenched her right fist tightly together while taking a step back. Burying her feet into the ground, the shadows covering her body began releasing a purple mist.

-I need you to use all of your abilities...

The faint green transparent barrier, forming a dome over the Aranthia Kingdom, was just in front of her.

-And...

The words Aliana had said to her a few hours ago repeated in her mind. Like some hymns. Like some sort of encouragement.

-Break the barrier covering the Aranthia Kingdom.

Rudia closed her eyes for a moment and took a long breath. She was unsure if what she was attempting would work.

But there was no place for failure. She couldn't stop there.

-If you want to know the truth to 'it', you will need to do it...

No, she shouldn't stop there.

'I need to do this...'

BAAMM

The purple mist turned momentarily red. Rudia was punching the barrier as hard as she could. Sharp pain ran down her bleeding fist.

The barrier, which was supposed to be unbreakable, didn't show any signs of weakening at all.

'If one fist isn't enough, then...'

BAMMM

Her left fist joined in to attempt to destroy the barrier. The pain in her hands intensified with every hit she landed on the barrier. But that pain wasn't even comparable to what she had to go through in the past.

Rudia could remember the dangers she had faced once.

If someone asked which was heavier among the pain she went through in the past or the current one, the answer would've obviously been the one in the past. And the culprit behind it was still alive.

"If what she said is the truth..."

BAAMMMM

The never-ending parade of punches kept on violently hitting against the barriers. The seconds evolved into minutes. All the hits Rudia had landed were at the same point.

-Follow me; I will let you have perfect revenge.

Rudia could see the faint ray of hope in front of her. Glimmering through the barrier.

Trrk

Rudia could tell that she was close to it. Too close. A bit more, and she would achieve the impossible. The ages old history would shatter because of her fists.

The cracks formed in the barrier widened with every passing second. But was it supposed to be that easy? Surely not.

That barrier was never meant to be broken. The way it kept on recovering from the further parts proved that fact to be true.

Only strength wasn't enough to break through it. That's why Rudia instinctively moved her body even faster. The point where her attacks were focused had already weakened a lot.

Rudia wasn't actually aware of it, but she had a strong intuition.

Craaackk

The sound rang aloud, shattering the silence. She was hitting the barrier faster than the rate of its repair.

As soon as she saw the cracks getting more profound, she grit her teeth. The moment she had been waiting for had arrived.

The hands of shadow rampaged on the ground before grabbing the broken parts of the barrier. The recovery of the crack had stopped at the moment.

That was an opportunity. The very one Rudia created for herself without relying on anything else but her own fists. Grasping everything she had experienced and learnt all this while, she pulled back her fist.

Closing her eyes for a split second, she moved the shadows around herself in one place. The maid uniform became visible as the shadows formed a purple-red orb.

Swissh

The orb, within a millisecond, changed into a crescent-shaped weapon. Rudia grabbed it by its long handle in her bloodied hands.

-Shadow Arts; Reaper's Scythe

That technique was one of the strongest techniques belonging to the shadow arts users. 

Her orange eyes glowed purple for a speck of seconds. All of this was happening within a span of a minute.

Rudia was quick with her actions. She put the scythe's tip into the crack that the shadow hands kept open. With a calm look on her face, she gazed at the night sky.

"Ah..."

Unintentionally, she let out that sound. The sparkly, twinkling pieces of light reflected in her eyes. Countless stars were moving as if fascinated by her actions.

She smiled lightly to herself before spinning around smoothly with the scythe in her right hand.

CRACCCCCK

TINKKKKLE

The white-orange stars mixed with the green pieces of the shattered glass. The strongest barrier in history had been broken.

Enthralling the announcement of that achievement, the crystal-star fall graced the citizens of the Aranthia Kingdom with a spectacular piece of art.

The night sky was being painted with orange, white, and green colours. The stars bowed in front of Rudia. Her black hair fluttered as she mumbled to herself.

"Am I a step closer now..."