Chapter 528: Friendship rekindled?
Vergil turned, wiping the blood from his chin once more with the back of his hand. His shoulders were heavy, but his tone remained firm, mocking:
“Well, do what you want, just don’t involve me in these things. I have to master this forest.” Her voice echoed through the rubble, dry, defying the suffocating silence that Naberius’s power had imposed.
Her sword still burned, red and gold flames flickering like hungry tongues. Naberius tilted her head, observing him as if he were a rare piece on a board known only to her.
“Do you really think you can ‘master’ this forest?” Her voice was low, but so penetrating it seemed to sink into the skin of all who heard it. “It’s not just a mass of trees and mist, boy. This forest breathes. It moves. It adapts. It was built like a living labyrinth, a matrix of confusion to deceive even the eyes of the heavenly.” Vergil paused for a moment, turning slightly to face her again.
“So what?” he replied, his tone teasing. “A labyrinth, a forest, or an entire hell… everything bends when you cut hard enough.”
He raised the katana and swung it, letting the cold glint of the blade reflect in the flames still dancing around Naberius’s sword.
Katharina watched the scene with parted lips, almost mesmerized. She could feel the palpable tension between them. The clash of personalities was so brutal it seemed ready to set the clearing ablaze on its own.
“You two…” she murmured, biting her lip. “I don’t know if you should be on the same side or if you should just burn each other to ashes.”
Roxanne, beside her, snorted.
“They already tried to kill each other, Katharina.” Her eyes remained fixed on Naberius. “And the result is that the entire prison was destroyed.” I don’t know if the world will survive a second round.
Vany and Rize were still in a trance. They both took deep breaths, as if inhaling Naberius’s own aura. Their faces were glistening with sweat, but their eyes had that stupid gleam of someone faced with something they can neither comprehend nor resist.
Vergil noticed and grimaced.
“Are you two drooling over this crazy woman now?” he asked, spitting on the floor. “Are you kidding me?”
Rize looked away, blushing, as if caught in an intimate act. Vanny, on the other hand, shrugged, still smiling strangely.
“She’s… magnificent.” The word came out as a sigh.
Titania stepped forward, her voice trembling with indignation.
“Have you lost your minds?! She’s Naberius!” Lilith created her to be a disaster on legs, and Lucifer himself sealed her away because even he couldn’t stand her arrogance! She pointed an accusing finger at the woman who was stroking her sword like a child. “You think that’s something to worship?”
Naberius slowly turned his head toward Titania. The smile that spread across his lips was so calm, so peaceful, that it seemed even more menacing.
“Lilith created me, yes.” His voice sounded almost sweet. “And Lucifer sealed me away because he feared I would take his throne. Authoritarian? Perhaps. But only those who fear call power arrogance.”
Titania shuddered. Her mouth opened to retort, but no sound came out.
Vergil seized the opportunity, chuckling softly.
“So, Titania… if you haven’t understood yet, no one here is going to put that woman on a leash. She does what she wants.” And if you try to boss her around… well, there’ll be fairy dust on the floor.
The little fairy widened her eyes in fury, but didn’t respond.
Zuri, curled up in a corner, lifted her head and let out a low, bored whistle.
“You’re all making too much noise.” Her tone was drawled, disinterested. “Whether this Naberius destroys the world or sleeps with her sword, it doesn’t matter. Neither of those make me hungry anymore.”
Vergil laughed.
“Finally, someone who says something worthwhile.”
Naberius raised her sword, running her fingers along the edge that still burned like raw flesh.
“You’re all small, noisy, and interesting.” She took a deep breath, letting her aura seep through the broken walls of the prison until the air seemed to vibrate around their bodies. “But don’t be fooled. It doesn’t matter what you think of me.” I don’t belong to either of you.
Vergil crossed his arms defiantly.
“Good. I don’t belong to anyone either. We’re both unowned problems, then.”
Her eyes sparkled with amusement.
“Maybe that’s why you amuse me so much.”
A heavy silence hung heavy. The distant sound of chains still breaking echoed through the depths of the forest. The matrix that hid this place was definitively ruined, and Naberius’s colossal aura rose through the air like a beacon.
It was at that moment that everyone felt it.
A chill ran through the clearing. A distinct, different power was emerging from the surrounding forest. The matrix of confusion that had turned the Lost Forest into a labyrinth was finally breaking apart, and in the void, something—or someone—was advancing.
Naberius looked up, his eyes narrowed, as if recognizing the signature of that power. A slow smile spread across his lips.
“Ah… so even the dead remember me.”
Vergil tightened his grip on his katana.
“More visitors? Great. This day just keeps getting worse.”
Roxanne and Katharina exchanged a nervous glance, and Titania swallowed. Even Vanny and Rize, finally awakening from their trance, felt the weight of the new aura.
It was dense. Ancient. Familiar, somehow.
The forest groaned, the ground vibrated.
And for a moment, no one dared speak.
Vergil broke the silence, spitting on the ground again and glaring at Naberius.
“Whoever’s coming… I hope it’s for you, not me.”
Naberius laughed, the sound echoing like soft thunder. She kissed the blade of her sword again, as if in a gesture of welcome.
“It doesn’t matter. Whether enemy, ally, or just another lost fool… let them come. I’m tired of silence.”
The air shifted.
Suddenly, there was no more wind, no more heat or cold. Only pressure. A crushing pressure, as if the entire forest were gripped in the grip of an entity that would soon decide whether to close it or not.
The silence was shattered by a dull boom, like thunder in the bowels of the earth. The trees of the Lost Forest bent, groaning, as currents of energy erupted in all directions, tearing through the ground and sky.
And then it happened.
A flash of white and black exploded in the heart of the prison, piercing through stone, roots, and mist, shattering what remained of the magical matrix. It was as if the very fabric of the forest had been torn apart. The pressure of the energy was so great that everyone—Roxanne, Katharina, Vanny, Rize, Titania, and even Vergil—was forced to shield their faces, their bodies pushed against the ground or against the cracked walls.
Zuri only curled into herself even tighter, her scales clinking under the impact, but her cold eyes watched without emotion.
Vergil gritted his teeth, digging his katana into the ground to keep from being thrown. Blood ran down his mouth in another gush, but he laughed nonetheless.
“…Hah… you’ve got to be kidding.”
From the epicenter of the explosion, shadows tore apart. And then she emerged.
Sepphirothy.
Her footsteps crunched over the charred roots and unstable ground as if nothing could stop her. Her black cloak fluttered amid the flames of destruction, and her eyes, blue and sparkling, swept the area.
Her body emanated that colossal aura that had made the entire forest tremble, an energy that wasn’t just demonic—it was the weight of fallen royalty, of ruin and vengeance incarnate.
Everyone held their breath. Even Vanny and Rize, still gasping from Naberius’s aura, felt their hearts skip a beat.
Sepphirothy stopped. Her presence alone seemed to crush the air. Her eyes fixed on the center of the destruction.
In Naberius.
The flaming sword was raised, shimmering with a life of its own. The woman who wielded it smiled as if she had been waiting for this moment since the beginning of time.
“…Naberius.” Sepphirothy’s voice was low, drawn out, filled with disbelief and resentment in equal measure. “After so many years… you’re really here.”
Naberius’s smile widened, cruel and warm as fire in the night. She raised the sword and twirled it, letting the edge sing in the air.
“My ungrateful friend…” she said, her voice a sweet whisper, yet vibrating like hidden blades. “I thought I would never see that look of fury in your eyes again. Though I’m sure this fury is for another reason.”