Killed Me? Now I Have Your Power

Chapter 434: Chapter 434: Meaning

Chapter 434 – Meaning

The voice fell into deep, solemn silence. Alchemist didn’t need to see her face to feel the deep dismay pouring out of her.

It was more than understandable, for at their level of power, anything that happened could be a sign of something deeper at play.

He didn’t know if it was the simple, annoying human habit of seeking meaning in anything... but this time, Alchemist knew it was real.

The Warborns were getting problematic.

"How," the voice continued, managing to regain a false calmness, "how is it possible I was not aware of it until now?"

"Do you think many knew the identity of the Godkiller?" Alchemist said. "Even you don’t know how she looks. Her current look is nothing more than her original one."

"And you do?"

"I have seen The Sovereign," he said, moving his hands across the air, causing runes to shift continuously. "So, of course, I have seen the Godkiller. I knew her when she was nothing but Scarlet."

"Yet you didn’t do anything when she rebelled against the gods, creating her own Pathway." The voice was accusatory. "And thinking about it, Forbidden, weren’t you the creator of..."

The voice trailed off, as if searching for the word through the libraries of her memories. However, after seconds of nothing, Alchemist lost his thin patience and answered directly,

"Waverith." He spat, still manipulating his runes, as if looking at something.

"Yes," the voice replied, stronger, "the same place those Warborn lived. The place you created with those two. You cannot tell me, Forbidden, that you did not have any part in whatever is happening."

"If by part, darling, you are talking about suffering loss at the hands of this family," he snickered, "then sure I do. But I would have rather not."

"A lie."

"Are you now a Truthful?"

"I do not need to be part of Them to sniff out your lies," the voice retorted, visibly irritated. "I have been with you since before you were given the epithet Forbidden."

"Then you must know that I do not lie."

"You do not tell the truth either. What does that make you?" the voice coldly asked.

"I speak truth."

"You speak half-truths."

Forbidden’s answer was a faint smile. He continued his runic work, making the voice’s annoyance peak dangerously.

After barely seconds of silence, it echoed once more,

"What, then, will you do about Prometheus?" the voice inquired, giving up the matter of Waverith.

"He is not the only one," Alchemist said. "He is with Her."

"Her?"

"Sorrow."

"You mean Sorrow or Sorrow?"

Alchemist smiled at that. "Both of them. But mainly, Sorrow."

"This is getting worse," the voice breathed loudly. "If any of them — or even you — are unwilling to act..."

The air around Alchemist’s room instantly tightened, as if a god had clasped his fist around the room with wrathful fury.

"...I will take care of them myself."

"You won’t." Alchemist shook his head. "All is in place already. Stop being impatient, Katherine."

"How?"

"The two profane lovebirds are on the Frosted Bridge, in the Eight Mountains of Perception."

The voice’s sudden silence was ominous. It took her a couple more heartbeats before she spoke again, her tone strained,

"Wasn’t it the place where the Angel of Death battled with..." She refused to continue, not wishing to draw their gaze upon her with the mention of their name.

"It is indeed there." Forbidden nodded. "And if you remember well, I spent quite some time in that place."

He smiled.

"I had all the time to do so many things there."

"So..." the voice whispered, her tone eager like a snake trailing two harmless bunnies.

"Yes, Katherine," Forbidden said, then clenched his right hand tightly into a fist, causing the runes around him to brighten sharply, white mist spilling out of them in cascades.

In one heartbeat, the room was blanketed by it. It was so thick that nothing could be seen.

But the voice of Forbidden could be heard very well. Oh, very sinisterly well at that.

"They will not get out of the Frosted Bridge alive."

The room shook on all sides.

"Not after what they have done. And what they are becoming."

Or rather, what they are getting back.

...

Simultaneously, inside the chamber of the new Empress of the Sun, Sora Asterion was still unconscious.

Inside the depths of her mind, her consciousness was painted in gold, with a golden sea, as vast as the eye could see, flooding all over the ground.

Overhead, a scalding golden sun sat unbothered in a pale sky.

Sora Asterion was standing on the living, moving, waving ocean, her body swaying in rhythm with it.

Her eyes were clenched tight, trembling continuously as she tried to waft away the memories trying to enter her mind.

It was getting harder and harder, and she felt like she was going to lose. At that thought, a surge of anger flooded her.

She bit her lip and tried even harder, groans erupting from her lips from time to time.

"It’s useless." A cold, regal voice echoed.

It came from a woman standing in front of Sora, wearing golden empress clothes, with a sun-shaped crown hovering over her head.

Sora didn’t even look up at the voice, clearly showing it was not their first interaction.

"Just accept the memories, sister," Shamsi Apollonia said, annoyed and losing patience. "These are yours."

"Can you shut up?" Sora growled, snapping her eyes open and locking them into Shamsi’s arrogant ones. "These are not mine."

"They are yours," Shamsi insisted, "from a different timeline. But still yours. Accepting them will grant you many things. And only by accepting them can we proceed to the next step."

"At what cost?" Sora shook her head. "I didn’t manage to stop some memories from getting through. And now, I feel like someone else."

She bit her lips.

"I see many things differently now, and this is not me!" she shouted, angry and afraid. "I hate dogs, but now I like them? I hate painting, I suck at it! But now I like it? For what? Because of someone I don’t even know?"

She slammed her foot on the ocean in ferocious anger, water erupting skyward.

"This. Is. Not. Me!" Sora said each word with enough intensity to set a house aflame. "I won’t accept memories that are not mine."

"Understandable," Shamsi said, waving her hand, causing the water to transform into steam. "The memories will change you, but that’s the point of all this. You need change to be greater, sister."

"I am not your sister."

"You are," Apollonia said. "No matter how hateful you are, no matter how you hate me in the two timelines. We are sisters. Not just any sisters, we are twin sisters, Sora."

Shamsi paused, seeming to internally come to terms with something, before continuing,

"Didn’t you ask yourself why I never killed you despite having the power?" she said, walking toward Sora. "Why all I did was curse your voice and cast you aside, despite knowing you would seek my downfall?"

"You are talking to the wrong person," Sora said, despite knowing the futility of it.

She could sense it — she would lose. The memories would soon flood her, changing almost everything about her.

Already, Sora was beginning to forget some of her own memories under the weight of Lady Sora’s.

That realization frightened her to the bones and made her understand something she had never even thought of.

Memories against memories... weren’t they the nemesis of each other?

She sucked in a deep breath, only to realize that Shamsi was now an inch from her.

The Sun Empress stretched out her hand and settled it on Sora’s shoulder. She shivered.

"Think of your goal, of our goal," Shamsi said. "The First Celestial is using you for his own wicked plan. Will you accept this fate? This fate of being used again? This fate of not being able to live your own life?"

"You..." Sora scowled. "You are no better than him."

Shamsi grinned. "Oh, sister. I am a gorydamn toddler in front of him. You do not even know the depth of his cruelty. Aster’s heart is sick with greed and hatred."

Her hand tightened on Sora’s shoulder.

"You will end up worse than me if you don’t escape, if you don’t rebel. And you can only do so by accepting everything of your past self."

Sora fell silent, looking at Shamsi with tired yet angry and determined golden eyes.

It was true. She no longer wanted to be powerless and be used as a weapon against Kaden.

Too many times she did wrong to him. Too many times he forgave her.

But even if he forgave her again after she attacked him because of Aster, Sora would not forgive herself.

There was only one path left. A path of uncertainty.

Sora knew she was stepping onto a path of no return. But the price of power was a steep one.

The price of freedom even steeper.

—End of Chapter 434—