A long time ago a situation like this had happened. Truly history does repeat itself. Thus, Lusha had grown long tired of history.

Nearly 300 years ago a similar small country had gone out of their way to smite her. Though she was lenient, when they went too far with their games she showed them a face much crueler than death.

For what she did to that country, they gave her the name Eidien Levari. Loosely put, it meant infinite demise or dispair. That’s the fate that befell that country. And, like history, with all its repetition and lack of creativity, what had happened to that kingdom was going to happen here once more.

“Elemental Magi-”

A voice spoke and was quickly silenced. One couldn’t even see what happened, just that the man who had spoken had his neck twisted and had fallen onto the ground.

Manipulation Magic [Blessings of the One Being]. She had felt like getting her hands dirty just now. Perhaps Nuon had grown on her a little bit.

One by one magicians started dying out of nowhere. The moment one spoke, they would die. A hole through the chest. Head torn off, a hole in their face.

The ones who attempted to cast magic first were the first to die. The only way one could possibly be alive longer was if they quietly and patiently awaited their turn to face death. She was moving much too quickly for the naked eye to see. One would only begin to realize the events that occured long after they had happened. She zipped towards another mage before tearing through another.

Valkyrie was the first to release his aura, shaking the entire area with the density of it.

“Everyone, Send me your blessings. I will-”

“Don’t bother.”

She interrupted him. She stood right in front of him with a smile, waiting for him to realize.

It wasn’t until he noticed that no energy was coming to him, that he realized. Everyone was already dead.

Barrier Magic [Sealed Fate Prison]. A giant barrier appeared around the terrain, encompassing 100 meters around him.

Extra Magic [Origin of Explosion]. The technique depleted half of his mana and decimated everything within a 300 meter radius. Because he was within the barrier, it kept the explosion limited to just everything within the barrier.

 

He probably did this to avoid any civilian casualties. As the debris and smoke cleared up, Lusha was still standing in front of him, completely unharmed and unfazed.

Valkyrie screamed upon realizing that this demon was still alive, and backed up several meters.

“You think you’ve won?”

Lusha looked around to her left, then to her right. “I don’t see anyone else aside from you. Or do you mean to tell me there are more oppositions somewhere?”

Panting heavily, Valkyrie swore. “On the name of this city, you will not do as you please. We will fight tooth and nail against you.”

“So long as this city remains, you will not ever have your way.”

“Barrier Magic [Impenetrable Fortress]” she whispered.

A transparent box appeared around the old mage and Lusha descended onto the ground. “You speak proudly of this place. This city this, this city that. If you all could not stop me, I’m surprised you still hold so much faith upon this small heap of trash.”

“You seem to not be one to understand things unless they happen. So I’ll have you watch.”

 

A huge amount of aura was released from Lusha just now. Valkyrie was not too sure what she was doing, until he realized too late.

“N-no… stop! STOP!” He pummeled against the barrier, attempting to cast various magic techniques to escape its radius, to no avail. He even attempted his strongest spatial technique, a barrier’s natural weakness, only to have it closed up.

This is not fair… beings like her should not exist in this world.

Lusha’s energy continued soaring, covering the span of the entire city. One could see the smoky tips of it towering to the heavens. She had a tremendous amount of aura. She was slowly releasing, not to make a point to Valkyrie about their vast difference.

 

But rather to end the entire city. Buildings started crumbling and the nearest ones to her were already shattered.

Aura is normally an ethereal construct. But when bigger concentrations of it are released it gets denser. There were rumors that Merlin had to constantly watch his aura lest he kill the ones around him.

What Lusha was doing was akin to suffocating the entire city. As the aura got denser and denser, the pressure increased. Valkyrie could feel the entire city dying. Babies went first, then children, and then finally adults.

Valkyrie found himself slumped down onto the bottom of the barrier, unable to do anything but watch the events unfold.

Suddenly he remembered a story, an old lore from a long time ago. It was about a witch who was too powerful. So strong she even beat death.

The barrier slowly lowered onto the ground as the smiling Lusha walked over to him before dispelling the barrier.

As the tale goes, a nation once saved her from certain death, only for her to turn around and destroy it beyond recognition. To the witch, they dubbed the name… infinite despair.

He had read the tale so long ago in the Mage’s college. He didn’t know why he suddenly thought of this story.

 

“Oh? Are you okay Valkyrie? I had expected another retort from you.”

 

“K-...kill me. You Wretched Witch! KILL ME!!!” His eyes pleaded holding a lot of pain behind them.

Lusha could only hope but laugh. “So the stories couldn’t have completely disappeared from time, it seems.” She continued to laugh uncontrollably. Mainly because she was so infuriated.

“Oh but Valkyrie, you are the type of man who seems to only understand things once they happen.”

She patted the defeated Valkyrie on the head. “I’m not going to kill you.”

“Illusion Magic [Infinite Despair]” This was the technique he had casted on the king so long ago.

Valkyrie looked confused as the world around him distorted. His mind was weak enough in this state to have fallen susceptible to illusion magic, but he didn’t even have the strength left to fight it off. In this dream, the hell that awaited him was beyond what he would have thought.

He was sleeping within his dorm in a faraway country. This was not his body however. He was only sleeping when he felt the sharp protrusion of a blade slide down his neck, violently waking up from his sleep to choke on his own blood. His frantic eyes awoke to see that of familiar face, cupping his mouth and watching him choke to death.

He woke up again in the middle of a battle, with arrows riddling his body. The puncture wound through his eye ended up doing the trick. There, he experienced the unusually horrifying feeling of death.

Burned alive in a small village continuously until they were sure he would not recover. Drowned, tortured, beaten to death.

Over and over again. Over and over again. Over and over and over again, he experienced what it meant to die.

 

Finally, after many generations and many deaths, he became tired of constantly dying. He became tired of living. He had watched all of his comrades, families, and even lovers die multiple times. And when he finally understood, he realized what this was.

Infinite despair.

He was no longer afraid of dying. Rather, he was living his greatest fear. To be alive forever.

Lusha patted him on the head. “See? Now you understand don’t you.” Only a second had passed in this world, but for Valkyrie, it was a millenia.

The crying Valkyrie nodded, unable to make any more audible words. “Good. Then, I’m done here.”

Lusha walked away without looking back. The barrier that the old man had set up had been deactivated willingly by Valkyrie.

Valkyrie walked through the ruins of his city. Everywhere he turned was only dead bodies.

Dead babies sleeping poetically within their dead mother’s arms...

Brothers sharing drinks at home….

He couldn’t wait to eagerly join them….

He could only mutter apologies to each of them. He had dragged them all into this situation. Had he thought about the story long before, this outcome could have been preventable. His mind was utterly broken.

The ending of that book said only one thing that he wished he had taken heed of. “When meeting with the wretched witch, ones who entangle themselves in her affair can only hope to experience despair.”

Shortly after Lusha left the confines of the city, she felt Valkyrie’s aura vanish.