Chapter 112 - Goodbye Sister

The poor farmer and his wife just sat on the ground in awe of Zell's presence as he walked by them not saying another word. Each step he took continued to purify the land and cleansed the corruption. The couple just watched as the world sprung back to life as he walked towards the capital.

"Isn't he the duke's boy?" The farmer asked his wife. "Shouldn't he be a teenager at this point? And where has it been all this time?!"

"It's alright dear." His wife said to calm him. "All that matters is he is here now, against all the lies and hate surrounding him, the true hero has returned to us."

"I never trusted that little queen for a moment." The farmer said. "I just wonder what that boy has been through to be as he is now. He had an awesome presence about him that both shocked me and calmed me at the same time. I felt as if I was sitting next to a god."

"I felt it too honey." His wife said. "And look as the land is healed all around him as he walks. How our fields have returned to life, but not only that, they are even more full of life than they ever have been before. I think the young master hero is a god. There is no other explanation."

"To think he has arisen to that level." The farmer said. "Give that little bitch hell!" He yelled out to Zell as he was beginning to disappear from view.

Zell reached the gates of the city. The old tall wooden doors were cracked and rotted. They were covered in a variety of black molds and falling apart. A zombie guard still dressed in his plate armor was standing next to the gate, dragging his short sword along the ground. Zell reached over and touched him to purge the curse of undeath from him. His skin brightened and healed as his muscles returned to their full selves. His eyes reformed inside their sockets and his hair sprouted from his head. The stunned man looked on at Zell fully cured.

Zell just smiled at the newly cured guard and turned his attention to the gate. He pushed the massive gates open with a push of a single finger. As they flew open, they were restored to their former glory as were the walls attached to them. Without waiting for the guard to say a word Zell made his way to the streets.

Every shambling undead he came across he cured as he passed, leaving stunned townspeople in his wake. He never stopped to introduce himself; he just kept moving forward to the castle's keep. The citizens of Neuval were abuzz with this mysterious white silver knight with a crimson cape who could push back death itself with only a touch. They watched in amazement as their once glorious kingdom, which had fallen into disrepair under Rose's rule, returned to its former glory and then beyond. As if his steps were creating a heavenly kingdom wherever he went.

He reached the castle and pushed his way inside the doors. Made his way up the stairs and down the halls to reach the throne room. He assumed his sister would be within. As he opened the doors to the throne room the air was thick with a dark miasma. The smell of decay and rot filled the air. The darkness was so thick that Zell's aura of purification could be seen purifying the air around him. It was as if he was encased inside of a white bubble, pushing back the darkness.

In the center of the throne room Rose was floating in the air with streams of magical essence channeling into her. Her skin had grown pale, and her hair had lost its color and sheen. The whites of her eyes had become black as midnight.

"Rose!" Zell yelled. "Your reign of terror upon our people and our world ends now!"

She turned her head down and looked Zell in the eyes. "I do the work of god!" Rose screamed. "You cannot stop me big brother! You stole my destiny from me once, but this time you shall perish! I have found a way to defeat you!"

"Defeat me?" Zell laughed.

Rose reached out her hands towards Zell and a stream formed from his aura and began to be pulled into Rose. "I will drain you of your life and make it my own! With this magic I will be unstoppable! With you being this close I will have you as a worthless undead within seconds!"

Zell laughed as he snapped his fingers. The room filled with light and became purified. The stone lining the room became as pure of a marble that it was once. The golden trim around the ornate features of the room sparkled with their original glory. All of the streams that fed into Rose ended and she fell down to the ground.

"You said you were going to drain me of my life within seconds?" Zell said. "Who decided that? You said you do the work of god. Who decided that? You are a foolish little girl who squandered your second chance at life. You were a worthless puppet of the gods in your past life and this one as well. You could have lived happily and had a great life. Mother and Father both loved you deeply, Father especially. You could have left your past behind you and embraced this second chance, but instead you chose to be a puppet. A coward who cannot defy the will of a god who has you by the strings. You are nothing."

"Zell, I…" Rose said.

"There is no redemption for you." Zell said. "You have wasted any chance you had. I know of the horrors you inflicted upon our lands, upon our people. Of the war with the demons, you attempted to start. I know of what you did to Donovan, and how you led our father to his death."

Out of desperation Rose summoned an orb of undeath and threw it at Zell. It evaporated as it hit his white silver armor, not even leaving a small mark upon its glorious surface.

Zell made a motion in the area the blast made contact and acted as if he was brushing dust away. "I almost pity you." He said, still talking down to Rose. "Before you die, I have a message for you to deliver to your god. Tell him that his days are numbered and that I am going to save the multiverse from their tyrannical reign. Tell him that I shall bestow free will upon the mortals and allow them to live their lives in peace without the interference of their pantheon."

"You can't defy god!" Rose yelled out. "You have to do what he says! You want it more than anything! You will lay awake at night dreaming of how you can serve him. His wish will be your command; there is no other way!"

"You think I am the same as you?" Zell scoffed. "I am no longer a mortal. I have transcended into the realm of the divine. I am a divine chromatic dragon; I am a god!" As Zell said that he showed Rose his gauntlet on his hand where the emblem the fox woman gave him burned brightly in a golden hue. "I have been granted power greater than the gods themselves by the very entity that created the gods. I am not so weak as to be pushed around and bullied by the words of another."

"You are a god now?!" Rose asked, shocked. "That explains why my magic did not affect you, even after I raised my level to seven hundred thousand. A mortal such as I cannot hope to defeat the divine. Please do as you wish, my lord."

"Still a sickening god worshiper until the end." Zell said. "As children you gave me hell, yet now that you know of my divinity you grovel at my feet. I had mixed feelings about killing you since it would hurt mother's feelings to lose a child. But a person as weak minded and cowardly as you does not deserve to live."

Rose jumped up and pulled a dagger from her clothes. She attempted to stab Zell on his unarmored face with her dark blade. As the blade touched his skin it shattered into dust. The explosion of the knife's destruction knocked her back unto the ground. She spit in Zell's direction as an act of defiance. "I hate you!" She yelled. "Why won't you fall for my tricks and my traps! Why wont you just die! It is god's will! You should just die!"

Zell pointed at Rose and formed a small white orb of fire at the tip of his finger. "Goodbye sister." He said as he launched the orb at her. She yelled in agony as the flames of white and gold engulfed her flesh.. Within five seconds she was reduced to a pile of ash upon the white marble floors of Neuval's throne room.