Blood poured out of Aksha's stumps. It was a gruesome sight. Meera had half a mind to put the woman out of her misery, but having seen firsthand the work of this cruel woman, she couldn't help but feel that she was owed some of the pain she had inflicted on others.

It was a testament to this woman's strength that she was still alive. She wheezed and coughed out blood, but she still clung onto the thread of life, no matter how faint it was.

Kalrina came to tower over her. Washed in her enemy's blood and still holding onto Meera's chakram, despite all the devastation it had caused, not a speck of blood could be found on its shining surface.

"Still alive, eh?" Kalrina said. "Good. That's good." She sat on her haunches and leaned in towards Aksha. "I would hate to see you depart before we've had some parting words."

Aksha tried to speak but could only wince and cough in response.

"Oh, can't speak, can you?" Kalrina said. "No matter, let me give you a remedy for your wounds. I had saved this for this particular occasion."

She pulled out a vial containing a sliver of a green liquid that could only be a Health potion.

"It won't fully revive you, but it will seal your wounds so we can have some parting words."

"Are you sure about this, witch?" Meera asked.

"Never been more sure about anything."

Kalrina held Aksha's head as she poured the liquid into her mouth. It took a moment for the bleeding to stop, and fresh skin sealed Aksha's stumps. Her eyes, which were drooping from the blood loss, opened wide as if someone had just shaken her awake from a deep slumber.

"Ah, there you are," Kalrina purred. "Tell me, how does it feel to be on the receiving end of all this pain?"

Aksha breathed heavily and still coughed up blood, but she spoke. "Y-You think this makes a difference. I am immortal. As long as even one of my daughters lives, my soul will endure…I will endure." She laughed a shaky laugh.

And Kalrina laughed with her. She laughed so loud that Aksha paused to stare.

"That was all I needed to know," Kalrina said, slowly calming down. "I was worried for a moment that when I kill you, all your daughters will die too. Now, the hunters of Akhessai will become the hunted. I will scour the worlds for your spawn and unleash such wrath on them that the worlds will tremble to look upon my handiwork."

Aksha grew quiet.

"But I wonder," Kalrina went on. "What will happen to your soul? Since you will be dead, what will happen to the pieces of your soul that you used to create your precious daughters? Will those pieces of your soul float around aimlessly or somehow find the other pieces of your wandering soul?"

At that, Meera inadvertently looked at all the bodies of the dead daughters of Aksha. She had never realized that Aksha was splitting her soul to make them.

Again, Aksha said nothing and only coughed up more blood. As Kalrina had said, the sliver of the Health potion had sealed her wounds, but the sorceress's insides were quite badly damaged.

"Now is not the time to be quiet, Aksha," Kalrina said, but Aksha remained silent nonetheless, to which Kalrina shrugged and continued. "You know what I think? I think that all the pieces of your soul will roam around aimlessly. Unable to become whole, unable to move on. Unable to reach the halls of Lorendor. That...is a good thing for you, for he would have condemned you to hell, and then, my dear Aksha, the real fun would've begun for you. You would've stood judgment before Lady Numheia for your sins. But alas, there is no reason to talk about what ifs when we can talk about what will be. There will be no one to give you the benediction to ferry your soul to Lady Virelia so she can take you to her husband."

Kalrina laughed once more, and Meera was reminded of the witch she had fought in Cliffshield Valley. The loss of her unborn child and love had driven her to the point of madness, and Meera found it hard to believe she would be any different if she were in the witch's shoes.

"Once, I begged you not to cut up my Eston's body, for he would find no peace, but I said the words. I gave him a chance to rest. Some people bury their dead while others cremate, but they all say the words. The same words…so, despite your best efforts, my Eston got to rest in peace, but you…you will get no rest, and you will pass from this world knowing that I will hunt the remainder of your sisters to oblivion."

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Now, Aksha stirred. "No…"

"Yes," Kalrina nodded. "Once I finish with your daughters, I will go after every single sorceress that yet breaths. I will start with Duinith since she gave the order to desecrate my Eston's body. See, Aksha, I know there is only one thing you truly care about in this world. What was it you said to Duinith—the sisterhood must prevail." She leaned in and whispered menacingly. "I will enjoy hunting them all, and before they pass from this world, I will tell them how you gave them up."

"No!" Aksha tried her best to move, but she only managed to wiggle at best.

"The last thing they will hear as they are dying is how their precious protector, their dear sister, gave them up for an easy death. That will be the true death of your sisterhood."

"I should have killed you with that dog. Snuffed you out like I did that unborn monstrosity you would have birthed from your rotten cunt, you devious bitch. I curse you—"

It was all Meera could stomach. She hurled her chakram and cut off the hateful sorceress's jaw.

"She said the b-word." Meera motioned to the woman, twitching in pain. "Finish her."

Kalrina gave Meera a small smile that said, thank you. She gave Aksha a disdainful look but didn't move. She simply watched the woman bleed out. Aksha convulsed, shaking her head side-to-side, with no arms or legs to crawl away on. No one to give her any comfort.

Aksha died alone and the worlds were better for it.

Kalrina fell to her knees, with tears streaking down her cheeks. They started slow and then all at once. "I did it. She's gone. I avenged them…" Then she lay her face in her hands and wept loudly.

Meera went down and put her arms around her, and the woman hugged Meera for dear life as she sobbed into her shoulder.

"Thank you, Meera," she cried. "Thank you. Thank you." She kept crying again and again. Her tears didn't dry for a long time. Meera held her as she cried, and she was reminded of Narikas. He, too, had held her like this as he wept from the relief of being free from his prison. Kalrina, too, was in a prison. A prison not made of a cursed armor but of the mind, where she couldn't leave this place behind until she had avenged her loved ones.

"Did you mean what you said?" Meera asked when Kalrina quieted. "About hunting down the daughters and the sisterhood?"

She nodded. "Of course. First, the daughters and then the sisterhood."

Meera sighed internally. Maybe she's not yet free of her prison.

"Do you really need to?" She asked.

"I meant every word. My revenge will not be complete until I kill them all. No matter how long it takes."

Meera placed a hand on her shoulder and felt something. It was hard to explain, but something spoke to her, indicating that she was destined for some great tragedy or greatness. She didn't know which one or where this feeling came from. Then, with a start, she realized it was her new Essence attribute.

She had been thrust into the fight with Aksha right after Darthin vanished, and she didn't have time to examine what her new attribute did. But that was not all her new attribute did. She looked down at the deceased Aksha, and she could see a very faint white glow around her body.

This must be her Mana releasing into the environment as raw essence.

She swiveled her head around to the dead daughters, and they glowed with a similar white glow, so faint that it was almost imperceptible. She noted that her shadow warriors had faint, twinkling, starry strings attached to them that were connected to her.

Is that the color of my Mana? She wondered. She remembered that the essence attribute also allowed her to see the color of Mana, but all the lines were extremely faded. If she wasn't concentrating on them, they faded away. She figured it must've had to do with her low Essence stat.

Kalrina waved a hand in front of Meera's face. "Are you still here?"

Meera shook out of it and figured she would have to investigate her new abilities later. "Yes, I'm here."

"Then can you please be a dear and heal us?" Kalrina said. "I feel like a house of cards ready to fall over if the wind blows too fast. Speaking of the wind blowing," she shivered and hugged her arms. "You wouldn't happen to have another coat on you, would you?"

Meera sighed. "It's my last one, so I want it back."

Then she paused and activated Mirrorbound Sight. She noticed she couldn't find her level 3 chakram anywhere.

She glared at the witch and produced a hand. "Give it back, or no healing, and I'll let you freeze to death."

"Oh, that." The witch chuckled as she reached into her Belt and took out Meera's glowing chakram. "I dropped it in there as it was sucking up too much Mana. I was always going to return it to you."

"Yes, I'm sure."

Kalrina brought it forward with difficulty. "What if you just lend it to me for a month?"

"What if I just let you freeze to death and pry it off your cold, dead hands?"

Kalrina shivered and dropped the chakram in Meera's hand. "Now, the coat, please. I'm freezing."

Meera stored the chakram in her Belt. She gave the coat to Kalrina, who immediately put it on, rubbed her hands, and blew on them.

Meera held Kalrina's hand and activated Greater Vitalize. Thus, healing herself and the former sorceress, but her mind was elsewhere. In all the skill upgrades, the new class, and the race change, she had forgotten about one thing—she could change the size of her chakrams. She no longer had to carry the level 2 chakrams on her back. She could shrink them to the size of the regular chakrams. But before that, she would make as many level 2 chakrams as she could. She no longer needed the regular ones, and given her Mana stat, she could make another level 3 chakram, but for that, she would need to wait until her Mana was refilled fully and she had another Mana potion on hand, just in case.

Then Meera felt it. It was hard to describe, but a dread washed over her. The wind beat down on them so hard that the falling snow was like bullets pelting their skin. She put up a large Tower Shield overhead, and they both took refuge underneath it.

Then, the sky darkened.

Through the Mirror Tower Shield, they saw a huge shadow descending from the clouds. It had massive bat-like wings, but only three limbs, and its snow-white scales almost made it invisible in the snowstorm.

Meera and Kalrina exchanged worried glances.

"What is he doing here?" Kalrina trembled.

"I finally found you." The archdragon boomed.

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