Breakup
2061 Words
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“TURN AROUND!!!” Mila roars.
The whole of Tartarus is trembling. The slumbering titans had nightmares of her. They twitch altogether, making tsunamis of lava at the bottom of the chasm. The giant bats retreat in fear, knowing that it's not only the flightless and brittle undead ghouls they were about to go against.
Aurelia sighs in relief. “They're scared of you,” she says. “I know I would.”
Mila looks at the leader of the fortress. He's an ancient ghoul with only one arm at his right. His armor is rusty and covered with his own ashes. His teeth are exposed as his lips have faded away. Soon, his eyes will follow.
“Have you seen any living person besides us?” she asks.
The ghoul nods and walks to the edge of the fortress. With his remaining hand, he points at the far right.
“They went there?” she asks. The ghoul nods again. “Good job.”
“What did he say?” asks Aurelia.
“We're going to a different dungeon.”
“Dungeon? There's another one?”
“There are thousands of dungeons here. It's just that there aren't enough living prisoners like how it was back then. So, I only use one.”
“Oh...,” she mutters, digesting what she said.
“All of you!” Mila announces, addressing it to the ghouls. “When I come back, all of you will be free!”
Like the ghouls in the forest entrance of Asphodel, they make noise with their bone-dry throats and old rusty weapons. The twins leave as soon as they can, not wasting any more time. Through the legs and around the vast bodies of the slumbering titans, they zoom past by.
The vast pyramid is in their sights. Its tip has been destroyed, making a plateau on top of it. From this distance, they can see figures of people on it.
“There,” says Mila, frowning and ready for battle.
“Okay,” says her sister. “Whoever is our enemy, we'll—”
Both of their eyes widen when a familiar aura is spewing out from there.
Aurelia says, “Is this...”
“Leo?” Mila continues.
They fly faster as she couldn't wait to find out. And they were right. It's Leo. He's holding a sword, pointing it to Guiseppe that's badly beaten on the ground.
“Mila?” he asks, coughing blood. “How did you solve all my riddles?!”
Aurelia says, “You're an id*ot to play mind games with a Third Seater—that's your answer.”
“Leo!” cries Mila but he didn't look at her and just focuses on his prey.
She and her sister have finally landed on the pyramid far and behind Guiseppe. From there, they can see the strange face Leo is making. His face is empty from emotions but his intent to kill is overflowing.
“Leo!” cries Mila again, running to him. He looks at her, pointing the sword to her. She stops, muttering, “Leo?”
His sword transforms into Yanmei. She is panting and smirking while her hair is covering her face. “Nice to meet you again, Lady Mila,” she chuckles.
“Yanmei... thank you for looking out for Leo.” Then Mila looks so happy that she goes embracing the boy she loves. “I missed you so much, Leo!”
She grabs his head to pull him closer for a kiss. But then Yanmei gets in the way, pushing hard against Mila's face that she lost grip of Leo.
“No, you don't!” Yanmei growls.
“What?” asks Mila, confused for the moment. Not a second later, she becomes serious. “What is the meaning of this?”
Yanmei is holding Leo's arm as she says, “We're a couple now.”
“No... that's— Leo, tell me that's not true!”
He doesn't answer but just stares past her.
“See?” Yanmei smugs.
“He didn't say anything yet,” Mila growls.
“He's a man of action—you know that. Him choosing to stay with me proves it. After all we've been through together in these past months, our bonds grew stronger that he decided to break up with you.”
“Then let him say it,” says Mila. Her chin up.
“Alright, then.”
Before Leo says anything, Yanmei grabs his hand. He takes in a single breath then lets it out as, “I'm breaking up with you, Mila.” His tone is as cold as the words he said. It sounded so easy for him to say.
Mila gasps as well as her sister.
“How could you do that, Leo?!” Aurelia rages. Her eyes glow red. She calms down then tends to her sobbing sister. “Calm down, Mila, I—”
“Who are you to judge him?” Yanmei argues. “While all of you are enjoying the peace and sucking on silver spoons, Leo has been suffering! I was the only one by his side! I saved him so many times that I lost count! No... WE SAVED EACH OTHER!! We were there for each other and where were you?! You don't deserve him! You never loved him! If you loved him, you would've been in my place right now! You'll know how much he suffered!”
All the words that Yanmei throw at her were like knives puncturing her heart. She couldn't stop crying no matter how she reasons herself to stop.
“But...,” she sobs. “he p... promised me to come back and wait for him...”
“How foolish!” Yanmei scoffs. “That's why you're not ready for a relationship, Mila! It doesn't mean that he said it, he means it literally. You let him suffer! Now, how could he be with someone like you?”
“Stop talking, you witch!” Aurelia curses.
“Aurelia,” says Mila. “don't—”
“Leo isn't in his right mind right now and you're just manipulating him in that state! Give him back to us and we might spare you!”
“Oh, are you threatening us, girl?”
“Us? How delusional! Let him go and we won't harm you.” Arcs of electricity begin to jump around her hand where she's holding her Mjolnir.
“Fine,” says Yanmei.
Aurelia throws her hammer at her. But then she's surprised that Leo stops it entirely with his hand against it. He grabs the handle, turns around, and throws it back. It's more powerful than how Aurelia threw it. She believes in herself that she could stop it so she stands her ground and—
*Boom* A shockwave blows them away. Mila catches herself and her sister but Guiseppe falls into the fiery chasm below. He screams in pain before the lava engulfs him. The sisters are still recovering from an unexpected attack. Not only their body but also their mind.
“Why did he attack us?” asks Aurelia, grunting as she stands up. “Why is he siding with her?”
“I don't know but we can't reason with him right now. We have to get Yanmei away from him first.”
“Alright!”
Their eyes glow, channeling their powers to prepare for a serious battle.
Yanmei transforms into a staff. Leo makes use of her power. He teleports near them in an instant. Aurelia is there to block his hit. Lightning bolts spread all over the place as the two sides retreat.
Aurelia goes ahead taking Leo into a brawl. She swings her Mjolnir a hundred times in a second but Leo blocks and evades them as fast. He lands on the top of the pyramid then prepares a stance. She evades before he launches his punch. The blast misses and hits a leg of a titan. The whole place rumbles and the sea of lava erupts after being disturbed.
Making use of that time, Mila has absorbed an absurd amount of power from the air. Her skin becomes red-hot, her horns are long and glowing. She has a devil's tail with sharp spikes. Her claws are sharp and long as she holds her Pitchfork. Leaving an explosion in the air, she dashes down upon him, going for Yanmei.
He jumps off of the pyramid, avoiding total annihilation. The colossal pyramid has been obliterated into pieces. Splashes of lava fly hundreds of meters into the air. The fight is not over yet. Aurelia picks up what her sister left. He kicks the air and escapes around the calf of a titan. She follows him there. And to her surprise, he's already waiting for her. He kicks her away and she slams her back against a titan's knee. Onward, he seeks to finish the fight, wielding a spear.
However, Mila punches him away. He coughs blood but doesn't show any pain. Like it was nothing, he stops in midair and goes back to retaliate. Yanmei transforms into a scythe.
“The Scythe of Hades...,” says Mila. “How did she— The pyramid! It's where the f*******n Relics are stored!”
Leo absorbs the power of Tartarus like how she does. He prepares to swing the scythe. “Power of Death: Abyssal Slash.”
The flying dark s***h he sends becomes wider and wider as it goes on. She dodges upward so it misses but the legs of the titans have been cut like mere pillars. They roar in pain and lava as their bl**d, pour out like exploding volcanoes. Other Titans around them have awakened, shaking the whole Underworld as well as the land above. One titan had its belly sliced. The child in its womb gushes out with a huge amount of lava. The metallic umbilical cord keeps the fetus hanging right beside its parent's knees.
“The titans...,” Mila mutters. “they're gonna wake up!” She looks around for her sister and she's there on the titan's knee, glowing red from the red arcs of lightning. “Aurelia! We have to stop him now!” She didn't hear what she said and attacks Leo alone. “Aurelia, don't act alone!”
Mila has no choice but to go with her. They attack Leo and Yanmei from opposite sides. He evades both of them but they continue to pursue. Not giving him time to recover, they try to snatch Yanmei out of his hands. Their plan is getting obvious for him so he uses it to hide his counterattack. He kicks Aurelia in the gut and waits for Mila to grab Yanmei. He teleports behind her and elbows the top of her head. His hits are fatal because of his ability to ignore their Sword Breaking.
She goes crashing into the lava. Aurelia is still in the air, coughing for air until she crashes on a decapitated leg of a titan that's floating on the lava. She's unconscious.
Yanmei transforms into herself and lets Leo carry her like a bride as he keeps hovering in the air. “Let's go, Leo.”
They leave the battlefield, concluding this fight to be over. Meanwhile, Mila gets out of the lava using her clouds. She's in pain not because of the lava but because of the pain that Leo caused upon her. She still has time to catch up to them but she chooses to tend to her unconscious sister.
“Aurelia,” she says panting as soon as she lands beside her. Simple patting on her face can't wake her up so she shakes her whole body. “wake up.”
“Ugh...,” Aurelia groans. Mila makes her sit up. “Where's Leo?” she asks weakly.
“He's gone.”
“We g.. gotta bring him back.”
The tears would've made Mila's cheek damp if it wasn't for the temperature, evaporating the tears as soon as they appear.
“No, ” she says. “I have to get you out of here first. Your ribs are broken.”
“Leave me here... go after him. You love him, right?”
“I do, but you're more important.”
“I'm gonna be fine here.”
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- Writer
