Chapter 21: 50/50

After seeing a sparkling light illuminating in the castle, Athena could not help but smile as she knew some miracle has began to happen.

"What's going on?!" Queen said in fear, wondering what created the giant, illuminating light.

"Oh, it's nothing much other than my dear king becoming powerful and regaining his will and strength to continue to fight for this kingdom." Athena stated as she got up.

"You just never know when to give up, don't you?" Queen said as she focused on Athena, angrily.

"Of course I don't!" Athena said excitingly as she charges at Queen.

The two warriors continue to clash inside the halls of the castle with their blades deflecting each one of their attacks.

Queen swings her blade but her attack misses as Athena swiftly dodges it by a whisker.

"Well I guess it's time to fight fire...with fire." Athena said smirkingly, as she started to generate a ball of fire from the palm of her hand.

"Now this wouldn't be a fair fight, would it?" Queen said angrily.

"Yeah, but..." Athena paused.

"Villains don't fight fairly, don't they?" Athena said smirkingly as she made her fighting stance.

"Shut up, bitch!" Queen said angrily.

"And now you're going to regret that!" Athena stated.

And so, the two female fighters continue their clash, with Athena causing havoc inside the castle with her fireballs flying in each direction and Queen barely dodging the attacks.

"You're not bad yourself." Queen said as she coughed from the smoke, trying to get up.

"Honestly, I could do more damage than you could ever imagine." Athena said as she created an ice spear and launched it towards Queen's direction.

"I'm just wasting your time for you to eventually lose stamina and kill you." Queen said snarkily as she dodged Athena's ice spear.

"You wish!" Athena said angrily.

Athena proceeds to fabricate and threw ice daggers towards Queen's direction but Queen swiftly dodges her attack and swiftly heads towards her direction.

"Since you're quite the nuisance, I'm going to have to make things quick and besides, our cavalry are busy dealing with your friends anyways." Queen said as she plunges her blade towards Athena.

"And also, this blade is quite poisonous so you're going to die pretty soon." Queen continued.

Queen grabs her blade and Athena started to bleed and started to feel weak as the poison from Queen's blade started to affect her body and almost began to collapse.

Meanwhile, Creo and Zion Kishima were fighting against King and his reinforcements in the castle. The Bookkeeper, Zino and the Arquitenen archers were busy handling the outside area with many more Pawn foot soldiers invading Elderith.

"They never give up don't they?" The Arquitenen Leader said as he struggled to fend off the many Pawn soldiers invading the kingdom.

"You got that damn right." The Bookkeeper said as he used his magic upon them.

"I wonder how Creo, Zion and Athena are doing back there in the castle?" Zino said as he pondered about their current situation.

"These guys got us cornered, not to mention King still has the Aethereal Dreamstone Crystal." Zion said as he tried to fend off the Pawn soldiers.

"Well we need to push through and defeat them." Creo said, continuing to fight the incoming Pawn soldiers.

"Damn, she got me real good." Athena stated as her blood started to flow out of her body.

"You'll slowly succumb to this poisonous blade and soon the Light of Elderith, Athena Ardenvain will die." Queen laughed.

"Sorry Artemis, sorry mother and father..." Athena said as she was slowly succumbing to the poison.

"Sorry Creo, but it looks like I'll be the first between the two of us to reach the afterlife." Athena chuckled, eventually succumbed to the poison.

Before dying, Athena had created a dome using her ice powers surrounding her as she was reaching her final moments

"Not bad, in the end she died a pretty clever girl, you have my respect, Light of Eldoria." Queen stated.

Meanwhile in a dark, cold, gloomy place, Athena eventually wakes up and begins to ponder about her whereabouts

"Where am I?" Athena said in curiosity, as she wandered around the area with a small sense of fear.

"You there, my dear are in a place where I like to call, Purgatory." A mysterious voice called out.

"Who goes there?" Athena said nervously, as she has no idea what to do in her current situation.

"Do not fear, I mean you no harm." The mysterious voice said.

It was none other than Lady Death herself.

"May I ask, who are you?" Athena asked.

"I am Lady Death, dear child." Lady Death said in a reassured tone.

"If I'm here, then that means..." Athena said nervously.

"Yup, you're dead, you succumbed to the poisonous blade of your enemy, Queen inside the castle." Lady Death stated.

"Damn, I should have dodged that attack, I guess if I reacted faster and wasn't exhausted much, I would have been able to do it." Athena sighed.

"You know, I could give you a second chance, my dear." Lady Death said as she put her hand over Athena's shoulder, reassuring her with hope.

"Really? You mean it?" Athena exclaimed aftet hearing what Lady Death had offered to her.

"Mhm, rest assure that you'll be back in the land of the living, getting payback, my dear." Lady Death said with a smile on her face.

"Thank you for giving me a second chance, Lady Death." Athena said happily, as she was given a second chance to live by Lady Death herself

"Not a problem at all my dear, let's just say it's like me repaying the way how I helped out a certain warrior like you." Lady Death said.

"You mean..." Athena paused.

"Yup, I know who you mean. Now it is time for you to wake up from your sleep, my dear." Lady Death said.

Back in the castle, Athena begins to regain consciousness and her ice shield begins to shatter from all directions, which makes Queen startled and surprise by the sudden outburst.

"What the hell was that." Queen said as she coughed from the fog.

Standing before her was a fully powered Athena wearing a battle-ready armor with both a blade of fire and ice in her hands

"Impossible, the poison should have killed you!" Queen said furiously.

"Yeah, well. Sometimes life gives second chances." Athena said as she charged towards Queen.

Meanwhile on the other side Creo and Zion managed to defeat the Pawn soldiers, Creo notices Athena regained consciousness and ready again to fight

"I knew she'd never back down from a fight." Creo muttered to himself.

"Come on Creo, no time for distractions, let's stop King right now and get the crystal." Zion exclaimed.

"Right." Creo replied, putting his focus back towards King.

Back to Athena and Queen, Athena begins to use her ice powers and freezes Queen's legs preventing her from fleeing their battle.

"This time, I'm now in control, Queen. And I'm here for payback!" Athena said furiously.

"Damn you." Queen said angrily, wishing to break free from the ice.

"Ice Cold: Frostbite." Athena declared, as she continued to freeze Queen's entire body making her completely stuck in ice.

"Well it looks like you got me, Light of Elderith. Should I tell you our real reason in attempting to destroy your precious?" Queen scoffed.

"What do you mean by that?" Athena said.

"Oh, allow me to break it down for you." Queen stated.

"Before you, or before "Child of the Prophecy" Creo over there was born, it was me, King and my fellow CHESS members operating under this kingdom as elite operatives." Queen stated as she began telling her story.

"We were the best and finest in this kingdom, we thought we would have been irreplaceable and a invaluable asset to the kingdom." Queen continued.

"But then, that one fateful day, the leaders of this kingdom had betrayed us, branded us as enemies, left us into exile and so, King began this entire plot just so we could get even with the ones that hurt us in the first place." Queen finished.

"So the Pawn soldiers that attacked Creo during his coronation, that was also a part of the plan?" Athena said angrily.

"Yes, you're correct." Queen replied.

"Just because a ruler of our kingdom has done something bad towards you, doesn't me the next one would do the same!" Athena rebuked.

"You have no idea how different Creo is compared to the one you're comparing him to, he's the complete opposite." Athena argued.

"But then again, since you fight against government, you and your comrades remind me of someone by the name of Alexander, he too was against the idea of the government and found it to be filled with corruption, and even if I had convinced him, he died believing in his beliefs about the government." Athena stated.

"Interesting tale, well I have one final request from you, please end my life, right here, right now, end my suffering." Queen said, begging for her to end her life.

"Ok, your wish has been granted." Athena stated.

She unfreezes Queen from her ice chamber and stabs her with her sword, ending her life and of her suffering.

"Thank you for setting me free." Queen said, not long after as her body fell down on the ground.

"You're welcome, Queen of the CHESS organization." Athena stated

She eventually left and head off to help out Creo and Zion deal with King.

"Sorry if I'm late." Athena stated as she rushed in to help out.

"You're not late at all, in fact, you're just in time." Creo stated happily.

"Well isn't this quite nice, joining forces just to defeat me, well that's great, but you can try and you will eventually crumble like ashes." King said threateningly.

"We will never give up, we will never back down and we will stop you no matter what it takes." Creo said angrily and charges at King.

"Bring it on, Creo Creatorius!" King said as he rushed in to confront him.