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Once all the souls of the children were gone, there was a long, perpetual silence, Elayne could hardly take it.
She continued weeping even as they went away, her hands over her large head.
Sometimes, she simply couldn't understand the cruelty of this world.
To deny the life to these little children, just a few years old, some only months old… To kill them before they could even grow up.
As Mark and Lily slowly flew to her side, and as the Dream Cloud approached her, Elayne's continued crying, uncontrollably.
Amidst this feeling of desperation, of frustration that she couldn't do anything for these children…
A new resolve started to build up within the depths of her very heart.
"Those bastards…"
Her draconic fury started growing stronger.
"I'll kill them all…"
Her aura started growing more draconic, almighty.
"I'll avenge the children… all those people you've slaughtered…"
Her eyes grew red with anger…
"One day… The Black Hand will be no more."
Something she would never have thought.
Something she would never have said…
The once fragile innocence that Elayne had.
Her life wasn't the best, but it was never bad.
Living with her daughter, working at the mini market.
She was happy, living in the relief of ignorance.
Unaware of the atrocities committed everywhere, which were perhaps even worse than any warfront, terrorism, or anything of the sort.
To think there were monsters hidden below society, with even more power and authority than even leaders of countries.
And that they did as they pleased…
Blissfully unaware of all of that, Elayne lived a simple life.
It filled her with so much anger and frustration.
Would she go back to that life if given the opportunity?
Elayne… didn't know what to say.
But right now, if she had the strength.
And if she had the resolve.
Then she was going to enact justice with her own hands.
Or claws.
And tear apart those monsters that had been doing nothing but commit atrocities without anybody to stop them completely.
"E-Elayne…? Are you alright?"
Mark hugged her, as her anger slowly subsided.
"Yes… I'm… I'm fine. A-Ah, sorry… Do I look scary? I'll change back to-"
She looked very sad, despite her looking like a dragon right now, Mark always found her draconic form very beautiful, delicate, elegant, majestic.
She didn't look at all scary.
"You don't look scary, what are you talking about? You're beautiful, no matter the form you take."
As he spoke, Elayne's big draconic eyes widened lightly, as she felt embarrassed.
"Mark…"
"It's better if you remain in that form for now, so you're better protected from this Real, right?"
"Y-Yeah, I suppose so…"
"I agree, let's remain like this until we get to Avalon, this Realm is just way too scary…"
"Hm, you're not wrong, Lily, let's go."
Elayne, Mark, and Lily quickly rejoined with everyone else, as they moved over the Dream Cloud, rushing towards the mysterious, nameless floating island where the dreams of the Fae, Fairies, and Spirits of Avalon gathered.
"A lot happened, huh? We never could have just gotten here peacefully…" Elena sighed. "Mom, are you alright though? Those souls… why were you crying so much? A-Ah, I mean I know why you did that… I mean…"
"It's… nothing, don't worry dear," Elayne said. "You shouldn't worry about such things. Everything ended fine, and that's what matters."
"A-Ah…. Yeah…" Elena muttered. "But still… Well, if you ever have anything to talk about you could talk to me."
"Thank you…" Elayne nodded.
"That damn guy was sure tough… But I guess we were just stronger at the end," Rita said confidently. "A pity we can't get EXP out of this… feels like we didn't earn anything from all of this."
"T-That's just how it is, usually…" Elayne muttered. "Well, I did… Ugh, I did get some power within my soul. It is still nebulous, so I'll have to wait and sit down and see if this power can get properly digested. But it seems that at least it doesn't hurt me."
"Wait, what? You got something from him?" Jenny wondered. "What was it?"
"Wait, but how?" Rita asked. "Did he have some core or something?"
"N-No, he… just… Um." Elayne didn't want to admit she ate the bastard's soul. "Probably I ended absorbing his magic power as I killed him… It's strange even to myself. But don't worry! We got a lot of Nightmare Crystals from that battle, at least with that we got a lot of materials we could repurpose in other things."
"Yeah Rita, stop thinking about rewards for everything… If you only care about that then why did you even come?" Mark sighed, getting slightly annoyed Rita acted like that.
"E-Eh?! Hey, I came to help my friend!" Rita said angrily. "A-And… Well, maybe you're not wrong but don't talk to me in that tone Mark…"
"Sorry, I just…" Mark muttered.
"I-It's alright! Don't fight…" Elayne sighed. "Look! We're already getting to our destination!"
Elayne never expected Mark and Rita to start arguing, and she didn't want things to escalate out of proportions, so she quickly stopped them and helped them distract themselves by looking at something else.
"Oh, it's the island! Finally!" Katherine said. "You've gone through a lot just for me… I-I honestly don't know what to say…"
"It's alright, Katherine," Elayne said with a gentle smile. "Things ended fine, and nobody has been injured anyway. We had to go through a few rough challenges, but nothing we couldn't overcome by working together. We're pretty strong after all!"
"That crucified guy sure acted tough but still got his shit beaten out of him," laughed Rita. "He was weaker than Merlinus, wasn't he?"
"Definitely weaker, he didn't have as many powers and hidden trump cards…" Mark said. "If that's already one of the five fingers of the Black Hand, then the other four are going to be a joke. Unless he was the weakest and the rest are the true challenge, like that type of cliché?"
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