"This is getting exhausting… even for me."Her voice was tired—more irritated than angry. "Tell me what I want to know, and I promise, I'll kill you in the next instant."
I didn't lift my head. Didn't even twitch. Just kept staring at the floor, eyes hollow.
Silence.
How long had it been? Ten days? More? I'd lost count. I couldn't speak anymore. She hadn't even noticed. One of her toxins—one of the many—must've burned through my windpipe.
Heh.
"Silent again?" she asked. "Oh, I see. You think just because you've adapted to this level of pain… this is all there is?"
I said nothing. There was nothing to say.
She wore that ridiculous black witch's hat, with two strands of pink hair framing her face—bangs that would've made her look almost angelic if not for the madness in her eyes. If I'd met her under different circumstances, I might've thought she was beautiful.
But not anymore. Not after what she'd done.
She sighed, annoyed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I should be with Auston right now. But no, you make me come back here every single day. And now look."
She took a step back, her wand rising like a judge's gavel. "Final chance, Azalea. I don't want to go to the extreme. I'm not heartless. But if you force my hand..."
Something shifted.
I felt the ether surge through her before she even spoke. My body recognized it before my brain could react.
Still, I didn't lift my head.
Just do it. Just make sure I really die this time.
I closed my eyes.
"Fine. FINE! You want it the hard way? Then let me show you what pain at the soul level feels like!"
The ether flared around her.
"Luciphera's Blessing."
My body stiffened.
She was using it—her blessing.
Fuck. Just kill me already, you bitch. Fucking kill me.
"Fourth Form: Helix Curse."
Her eyes flared a fierce, unnatural blue.
Then—It hit.
And it wasn't pain.
No… it transcended pain.
A finger slowly charred to ash, flesh peeled away inch by inch—that would've been nothing.Needles stabbing from wrist to shoulder?Eyes gouged, healed, gouged again?
All nothing compared to this.
There were no flames. No visible wounds. But it felt like a thousand tiny creatures were burrowing beneath my skin, knives in hand, peeling me apart layer by layer, searching for my soul.
"It has different effects depending on the individual," she said distantly. "Since you're unawakened… this should suffice."
Her voice barely registered.
What even was this?An evolving sickness? A living agony? My body tried to adapt, but it couldn't.It couldn't catch up.Couldn't adjust.It just… broke.
"Tsk! How much longer?!" she snapped, biting her nail in frustration. "How can I waste this much time and still get nothing?! Damn you, you thick-skinned bastard!"
Something new.Buried beneath the pain—something else was stirring.
Like fire in my veins.
Was this the end?
No.
This… was something worse.
My mind began to unravel, slipping from my grasp.Something cracked deep inside me—within my heart.
I felt it.
Something vital was dying.
I wasn't just in pain—I was losing something.Something essential.
I was losing what made me Noel.
And then—
The tears stopped.
The pain stopped mattering.
Emotion drained from me like blood from a slit throat. I felt…
Nothing.
A terrible, cold emptiness. The past, the memories that used to haunt me every waking moment—they faded into silence.
What… what was happening?
Was this death?
No. I had died before. It wasn't like this.
This wasn't the end of a body. It was the end of a self.
Piece by piece, everything I was, everything I had been—was being torn away.
And then, at last,My life flashed before my eyes.
Not joy.Not love.
Just pain.Betrayal.Torment.Inequality.
Even the people I had called family—All I saw… was regret.
This was the end.
The end of Noel. The end of Azalea.
Just two names.Footnotes in the cruel, uncaring margins of fate.