Verden and Ayame were the only stoic figures within a whirlwind of chaos. Like swarms of locus, spirits swirled around the two figures, a violent ring of energy and pandemonium. The backdrop was a giant spiderweb of unrelenting lightning. Before a bolt could totally disappear, another would appear in its place, wired in a more twisted angle than the previous one. If it wasn't for Verden standing before her, Reyna wouldn't have recognized the earth for what it was.

She locked eyes with him for a second and she saw in his gaze that he had felt his powers return. But why wasn't he moving? Well if he wasn't going to do something about his situation, she was. She raced toward Verden, not yet trusting her teleportation ability to take her where she needed to go. Her footsteps seemed to signal the start of it all. As if realization was of a hive mind, the spirits within view turned and raced to Reyna and the others.

"Reyna!" Gahn's voice broke through the buzz. "We're still under ya summon."

She looked over her shoulder. "Just defend yourselves! Or do whatever!" Reyna didn't have time to give orders to the demons she summoned. Verden was being stupid, and even though he usually had a reason for what he did, he was still being stupid because standing in the middle of a cluster of murderous spirits was stupid.

"This is me doing whatever," Dante said as he ran next to her. Or tried to, for he lingered a few feet behind her. "I see you've gotten even faster."

The smile she had wanted to give him never made it on her lips. A flash of white forced her to leap backwards and a surge of static stole her breath. Reyna thought lightning had struck in front of her, but then she heard a loud cough as Dante was knocked to the ground. A figure twice his size with four spiny arms pinned him down. Thin veins that reminded Reyna of a nervous system bulged out of its back and intertwined and folded among themselves like wings. Some of those ashy threads impaled Dante's arms, but the lack of blood and his confident grin told Reyna he would be fine.

Verden and Ayame were still motionless. It wasn't till Reyna tackled the spirit, something she felt was too easy to do, that Ayame reacted. Verden gave Reyna a concerned glance before tending to the demon portal that was still open, a fiery eye that witnessed the end of the world.

Ayame glared at her, but Reyna was still caught off guard. The spirit shot a set of white arrows at her without a bow. The sting that went up her arms was outdone by the force that knocked Reyna through the air and over a set of trees. She used a thick branch to help her catch her balance to land on her feet, but she stayed rooted when she noticed what she landed next to.

Ram's torso and head was half buried under lose dirt. There were wounds on his face, arms, and chest Reyna hadn't recalled on him when Lys had thrown him down at her feet. More than likely he had been trampled by a temperamental spirit. Or several.

She kneeled next to him and moved the hair from his closed eyes. She didn't know what to feel, but she knew she could at least move him from a bit further from the battlefield. When she did, thankful for the solid stop from her teleportation, she sat him up against a tree. His head titled to the side, giving the illusion he was sleeping. Reyna frowned. Had his black marks always fully encompassed his neck?

An explosion of magika drew her attention. It was fierce and heavy, a nuclear bomb within her chest that dissipated just as violently. Reyna was on the scene and time seemed to slow as she surveyed how empty it was. The spirits, the same entities that filled the skies as thickly as the endless lightning, were disappearing in mass groups. Plucked from the sky, they were there one second but gone the next. Not only would their physical body dissipate, but their magika energy would as well. It took only seconds for what seemed like hundreds of spirits to wane from existence. About a dozen remained, and like magnets, they had all drawn those they were fighting to the same area.

Reyna noticed Erian first because of the giant gash in the middle of his chest. It spat out blood with each twist of his body as he grappled with the attacks of two spirits. Reyna saw while he attacked one with no remorse, he would only contempt himself with dodging the attacks of the spirit with blue skin and hair.

Behind Erian she saw glimpses of Mundus and Radi. Their impressively synchronized movements kept Lina and Jvala at bay. Radi's sword was quick in her hand and able to catch and slash through Lina's whip-like attacks while Mundus' swift movements baited Jvala onto a pathway of his fists. If he overwhelmed himself, Radi's blade was there to reroute Jvala's fiery blows just as Mundus was there to drive Lina's onslaught away from Radi.

Cerus, Gahn, and Dante were too far away for Reyna to literally see what they were doing, but their steady pulses of magika offered a sense of comfort. However, her unease didn't totally dissipate. She couldn't find Verden, and the fact that Lys still hadn't made her appearance didn't help either.

A missile of light pierced her arm. Reyna turned more out of shock than pain. Ayame charged at her, each punch and kick accented with a blur of magika Reyna couldn't sense. The blows she dodged were mostly out of luck, but when daggers of light began to slice at her flesh, Reyna manifested her armor. Her blood felt warm and wet as it plastered to her skin, but, again, a jagged, azure right arm formed to replace her missing limb. It's appearance coursed confidence through her.

Reyna also summoned her fans of swords above her head as extra protection against this spirit whose energy she couldn't sense. The reason why she could try and figure out later, but right now, Reyna figured she couldn't do anything until she got Ayame off of her back.

A barrage of light came at her that Reyna dodged. Ayame met her with a punch to her face and a kick that swept her off her feet. An arrow manifested in the spirit's hand, aimed at Reyna's face. She grasped it with her hand, a sharp force shooting down her arm that left it numb. She was able to break the arrow before jumping out of the way from another of Ayame's attack.

The spirit drew away and Reyna faced another assault of arrows. Reyna raised her arms and summoned a shield that sphered over her entire body. She charged through the attacks, the projectiles bouncing off her defense with blows that left her dizzy despite the fact they weren't physically hitting her. With a sweep of her arms, she disposed of the last one. Reyna locked eyes with Ayame and willed an illusion to hold Ayame in place while she approached from behind.

At least that was Reyna's plan, but when she reached out for Ayame, Reyna felt herself fall. Her initial thought was she accidently fused with Ayame, but this felt different. The environment around her had changed. The forest with lightning filled skies was gone and in its place was an ocean, endless below her, above her, all around her. Reyna sighed. The end of existence wouldn't be complete without a little realm jumping. However, this was the first time Reyna did it while nude.

"What the hell?" Reyna said. Her words came out loud and clear even though they were accompanied by what she guessed were air bubbles.

The area in front of her lit up with an unknown source and she saw Ayame. She too appeared nude and was curled up with her arms pulling her folded legs against her chest. Her eyes were closed, dark hair floating as one would expect when underwater. Bubbles escaped her lips.

"Reyna," Ayame said. Her voice sounded disembodied, all encompassing. She held her arm out to Reyna, palm up. "Here."

Reyna didn't will herself to move but she found herself floating to Ayame's outstretched hand. Her eyes remained closed, head bobbing.

"I can still feel a bit of myself here, so take it." A flurry of bubbles left her lips as her eyes opened.

Reyna saw it and took her hand. It felt so small and delicate.

The world spun.

Reyna jerked away, gasped. Her eyes darted around to see the dreaded lightning in the sky above her. The furious sound of battle droned in her ears, and the smell of a wet forest stung her nostrils. She was back.

Ayame was on her knees with her head in her hands. When she looked up at Reyna, her black eyes were soft with recognition. "Reyna," she said.

"Ayame?" Reyna crouched next to her.

The spirit smiled, and Reyna understood she had now tamed Ayame as her spirit. Accidently.

"This isn't going to last long," Ayame said. "I can feel my mind slipping."

Reyna bit her lip as she surveyed the area. "Do you know where Verden is?"

"I don't know exactly, but I know he's fighting Lys and lured her away from here. She's trying to kill him and you. You need to help him, Reyna. He took it on all alone," Ayame gripped Reyna's hand. She couldn't feel the warmth of her touch through her armor, but it felt just as tiny and fragile as before.

Reyna stood and concentrated on sensing Verden. She found it surprisingly easy considering how far away he was. She attempted teleporting and although she stumbled into her footing, within seconds she was standing in the middle of a decayed neighborhood. The road was pierced with patches of grass and shrubbery. The houses were broken foundations with crumbling walls pierced by looping vegetation and flowers. However, the sky above was a peaceful gray undisturbed by the coarse flashes of lightning.

She felt it before she saw him. Verden crashed through one of the walls close to her. Debris and leaves sprayed the air. Reyna raced to his side, raising a shield against the projectiles aimed at them.

"She is pissed off," Verden said, raising to his feet.

Reyna raised her hand and cast a veil of healing waves over Verden. "I have an idea," she said. "Keep Lys distracted."

"What are you up to, Reyna?"

"Just do it!" she said.

Reyna knew the fight with Lys wasn't going to be a physical battle but having someone distracting her with one would help. When Verden's hand fused through Lys' skull, immobilizing her, Reyna didn't waste any time. It had been an accident with Ayame, but this time, she knew exactly what to do.

The feeling was familiar, but while Ayame's realm had been soothing, this atmosphere held a trampling energy. A giant orb of light was all there was, its brilliance shadowing anything else. It also couldn't be mistaken. Reyna knew she was staring at Lys' being. She approached it, her legs a functioning aspect in this realm, her steps telling her of what was on the floor. Shards of glass pierced her bare feet, and her skin blistered with pain the closer she got to the orb. Reyna closed her eyes, but the light penetrated through with searing force. When Reyna's fingers brushed Lys' manifestation, it was like touching the sun.

She opened her eyes.

A constellation of stars she didn't recognize twinkled at her. There were only five stars arranged as if thrown carelessly into the dark sky. They fell, each one a tug on her heart, a string of muscle pulled to diminish its existence. For every star that died, two more appeared only for them to fall and have two more appear. And each continued to unwind Reyna's heart until the sky was the glimmering mass the earthen sky was familiar with and Reyna was a heartless mass whose only existence was pain.

She was on her knees, held up only by her fingertips that had burned onto Lys' orb. A bloody string hovered over it and singed before it could fall on its surface. Her lips opened, and Reyna felt she was breathing for the first time in her life. The orb exploded. Reyna slid across the floor that tore up her flesh with its glass teeth.

"No," an angel's chorus spoke.

The orb shrunk and morphed into the outline of a human body Reyna recognized as Lys. Rays of light bent behind her back and head as if the hands of invisible gods could not help but caress her.

A weak, bloody arm held Reyna's trembling body up. She looked down to see a hole emitting light over her heart.

"No," the chorus repeated.

The hole widened, swallowing her left breast and collar bone.

"So simple." The being inched toward Reyna.

She waited, watching how each tentative step Lys took melted the glass on the ground into a glossy pathway. When Lys was within her reach, she grabbed hold of one of her golden ankles. Flashes of cobalt jutted from her fingers like crystals. Lys' other foot retreated but Reyna gripped it with a jagged sapphire hand. Red eyes were reflected on the melted glass on the floor.

"You—" Lys looked up as if distracted by something.

Cobalt gathered on Lys' ankles where Reyna held them. As it spread up the spirit's legs and snuffed out her golden hue, the hole that had now taken over all of Reyna's chest started to diminish.

Lys recoiled, distraught as she looked back and forth between Reyna and something above her. Like a river, the blueness flowed over Lys' body and Reyna could feel her own essence overcome Lys' realm. She rose to her feet, her body whole and unblemished to see Lys' final ray of light disappear under the cold wave of her blue energy.

Reyna gasped, back in the deteriorated neighborhood where Verden stood before an immobile Lys. The spirit's body, dimmed, was staked through Verden's bladed staff. Reyna knew the spirt wasn't dead, but she was radiating energy similar to Reyna's, the mark that she had tamed Lys as her spirit.

"I can't..." Reyna collapsed to her knees, a familiar burn overtaking her body. The stronger it flared, the weaker her essence was emitted from Lys' body.

Verden threw the impaled spirit to the side and met Reyna with healing hands though Reyna felt no relief from them. She gripped his shirt, urging him to turn to see the sight behind him. Lys was hauling herself up. Reyna mimicked her.

No you don't, you bitch.

She yelled and launched at Lys. Reyna's blue hand reached inside Lys and gripped the orbed essence she now knew resided inside the spirit. Manifested blade in her other hand, Reyna sliced off her golden head. Both arms were severed from their elbows, forearms falling in a spray of light. She stabbed her sword through Lys' chest and brought her blade up to split her torso in half. As the golden chest split like a misshapen block of gold, Reyna watched as Lys' brilliant light dimmed and entirely disappeared.

Reyna pulled out the orb she had kept encaged through her slashes from Lys' body. She had felt its protests against her palm when her blades has sliced through Lys, but now it pulsed weakly. It managed to do so once before Reyna squeezed it in her palm and it shattered into golden dust that disappeared between her fingers.

There was no certainty it was over. She stood, tensed, feeling Verden's unease as well. It was well deserved. Vines of black bled through the cracks on the road around Lys' decimated body. They rose, dripping with what looked like tar. The countless tendrils wrapped around the bleach white body pieces, mending them together with black glue. A headless, limp body dripping black was hauled in the air as it was crowned its missing head.

"Shit." Reyna took a small step back.

Verden, however, stared at the scene with serene eyes that seemed to understand everything, but before Reyna could ask anything, she felt it.

The darkness engulfed the entirety of Lys' corpse and her signature yellow eyes bled through it. "You cannot do this." The harmony in her voice was strained and broken.

A glob of black pulled away from Lys' shoulder and familiar jade eyes cut through the darkness. "There is nothing to prevent me from taking you. You yourself made sure of it."

"Umbra," Reyna whispered, recognizing more inside those green eyes than she understood.

A sickening splat crushed Lys' body. When Umbra released her, only an orb remained trapped between two inked fingers. When released, it floated into the sky and disappeared.

"A spirit as powerful as hers has returned enough raw magika to buy you the precious time you need," Umbra said.

Reyna frowned. Time for what? She and Verden already held the Dark Blood power and Lys had been defeated. That's what was needed, right?

No. One of the pillars needs to be a full-fledged demon, and neither one of us is.

"We'll get right on it," Verden said in a way that told he already had the situation planned out.

She sighed. There was no way she was going to remain a pillar of magika for long. But that wasn't fair. Verden didn't deserve this. Reyna had made her decision to take this on. As her eyes darted between Verden and Umbra, a plan of her own formed in her mind.

"Do not think Lys' has been totally eliminated," Umbra said. "As long as the spirit realm remains connected to the worlds, she can find her way back. Though between Reyna's taming and my reaping, she is weak. But you must excuse me. I have other spirits to return to their realm."

"Is that something that will also help keep Lys at bay? Grant us more time?" Verden asked.

"Yes. However, do not think the land will fix itself as quickly."

Reyna glanced at Umbra. She remembered Ram had told them she was dying, her powers transferring over to him as she passed. It was only obvious she stood whole and mighty now that Ram had ceased to be. That thought with the solid proof of it standing in front of her made Reyna's chest feel hollow.

"We need to go back to the demon world and fix the magika between us," Verden told Reyna as he picked up his weapon from the floor and willed it to disappear into the air.

"You mean find a demon to take my place," she said.

"Yes."

Umbra stretched into the sky and gave them one last stare before leaving.

  ~ ⁂ ⁂  ⁂ ~    

It irritated Reyna that Verden arrived a few seconds before her when they raced back to the portal he had opened. She had tried teleporting but when she landed on her butt a few yards away from her original spot, Verden laughed at her and suggested they simply run back.

"You're not going to magically learn how to properly use your new powers. Some will be harder to master than others," Verden had said.

"And here I thought it was magic," she said.

"You know I can always teach you."

She smiled, the thought of that warming her in a way she thought she would never feel again. "Yeah."

When they arrived, Reyna was surprised to see that everyone had lingered waiting for them. Dante was the first to greet her. The feel of his body enveloping her was safe and warm and real and it was enough to bring tears of relief to her eyes. Reyna saw Gahn come up and squeeze them together. She laughed, but within the suffocating scent of their sweat she also smelled blood.

"Gahn. Dante." Reyna pulled away from them. "Let me heal you."

"Don't worry about me. You know it takes forever to heal me up, and I'm not really hurt that badly," Dante said.

She placed a hand on his cheek before turning to Gahn and took in the multiple wounds he had over his body and face. His right side looked like a demonic bear had mauled it—and it may have been such had happened. His ribs peeked through like tiny pebbles within his slowly healing flesh. Reyna could only imagine how the wound appeared when it had been fresh. She didn't know how he was standing, but the fact that he was eased her. She touched his forehead with a healing hand that also brushed his bangs from his eyes. He grinned at her, and Reyna's heart sank knowing what she saw in his smile was something she could never heal.

"Thanks, cutie," he said.

Verden shared Reyna's idea, quietly healing the demons and spirts alike. Radi eyed him with solace as he mended her leg that displayed her shin bone. Flow bounded between Lina and Cerus. His enthusiastic yelps drowned out the delicate silence and encouraged conversation to flow between them.

Reyna kneeled by Mundus. She swept her palms across the unsightly slashes on his chest and burn marks across his arms and neck. "This is why you shouldn't go into battle with your chest all bared. Don't think I didn't notice you took off your shirt in the middle of the battle."

"It was a confining thing. Besides, I rather think baring my chest in battle flatters me," he said with a small smile.

His words surprised her, but she gave him a smile of her own.

"We have to go," Verden said and Reyna's heart sank again.

"Wait." Umbra was heard before appearing next to the portal. "I still have spirits to collect from here."

"Our spirits are going to stay with us," Verden said. "We have tamed them again."

"Those are not the spirits I talk of. Since the start of this battle, reality had been skewed. In order to help restore the balance of magika between the living and the dead, I have to reap the spirits of those that remain here that shouldn't."

The silence was crushing as the meaning of Umbra's words settled over everyone like a suffocating, heavy blanket.

"Are you saying...one of us...died?" Cerus was the one that spoke. He stepped up to the black spirit and though his stature overwhelmed Umbra, he appeared like a child.

Umbra nodded and stepped past Cerus to stand before the sitting Erian.

"Wait! No!" Cerus ran up to them. "Verden healed him! Everyone here is okay!"

"He died before Verden's aid came, and I must take him."

"Mundus!" Cerus turned to him with a wet sheen to his eyes.

The demon prince grabbed Umbra's arm. Reyna expected him to spew words of protest but instead she saw his shoulders slump as he squeezed the spirit's arm tighter. Umbra stood silent and allowed it.

"Please," Mundus whispered.

"I am sorry," Umbra said and pulled away from Mundus.

"No!" He threw himself in front of the spirit's pathway, but Umbra phased through Mundus like a ghost. He froze, his mouth open only enough to see the tips of his fangs, before he fell to his knees. His head slumped down. His arms were limp by his sides. But his shoulders twitched with the tiniest of movements.

"Erian!" Cerus lifted a hand Reyna knew wouldn't be able to save him.

"Stop, you idiots," Erian said.

Mundus and Cerus turned to their friend. The anguish in their eyes manifested a pain in Reyna's chest she was becoming too familiar with.

Erian stood and looked up at Umbra's unblinking eyes. "Let us leave."

"No!" Cerus said.

"I said for you to stop. You can not change this, and you are only making a fool of yourself. Both of you." Erian looked between Cerus and Mundus. He returned his gaze to Umbra. "Let us leave."

Umbra's gaze swept everyone around them. It lingered at a specific spot before returning to Erian. "Yes." A dark hand reached into Erian's chest and pulled out an orb that was released into the air. It and Umbra's departure lurched Erian's corpse forward where it was caught by Azul. She had sat silently by Erian's side as if she had expected and understood this all along.

She rested his head on her lap, closing his eyes and sweeping his hair behind his ears. She gazed up at Cerus and smiled at him. Even though Reyna didn't know much about this blue spirit, she saw the goodbye in Azul's smile. Her fingers combed through Erian's dark green locks with such tenderness it seemed like he was only asleep. Azul gave a sigh, deep and delicate, before she vanished completely. Erian's head fell to the ground with a grassy thump.

Reyna swallowed. She took an uncertain step towards a Mundus who was still on his knees, but a wail drew her attention. She turned to see that it came from Radi. She sat on the grass, and it was what was in her arms that caused Reyna's vision to spin. Gahn was slumped in her arms. His chin rested on her shoulder, arms bouncing with heavy lifelessness as Radi drew him closer to her chest. But the only thing Reyna could focus on was the twinkling of Gahn's piercings. They shined silently, slowly.

Reyna felt cold. Umbra had come to collect spirits. Gahn's gash on his ribs entered her mind, and the tears that came to her eyes could not blur it out.

No. She had healed him! She...she had...she had come too late.

Reyna gasped. Gahn's name was stuck in her throat. She didn't know when she had fallen to the ground or when her hand gripped her hair and pulled so hard her scalp felt like it was on fire. She didn't feel how her sobs racked her chest and tore at her throat. She also didn't know how long the warmth over her shoulders had been there. Reyna looked up, blinking her tears away, to see Mundus by her side. He didn't speak, but his eyes bore everything she was feeling and more. She licked her dry lips, focusing on his heat as it calmed her. She knew he had sensed her tranquility because that was when he stood and walked away. 

Welp. I wanted to upload on Monday, but that obviously didn't happen. It didn't help that Wattpad kept giving me an "Ooops! Something went wrong!" bullshit message whenever I tried. Anyway, I finally got it to upload. 

Oh! You should know that I also uploaded a "What if...?" story on my Dark Bloods one shots book. I explored the idea if Reyna and Gahn were in a realtionship. Totally non-canon. 

Thanks for reading! More to come soon! <3