Journey to Become the Zenith

A Heart Lost in Despair

It wasn’t hard for Victor to locate Clara’s home once he asked around. A few neighbors led him down a narrow street to a simple wooden house. They were grim faced and not very talkative, but they pointed Victor in the right direction after a curt nod and a ’thank you’.

He moved along and as he got closer, the first thing Victor noticed was the door. It was shattered from the frame with wood splinters littered on the ground. The hinges had been violently torn off the door, as if someone had forcefully entered the house with no respect for the property.

Victor’s golden eyes took it all in with a quiet calm.

Near the entryway, dried stains marked the ground. He could see some scattered furniture inside through the opened doorway. An oppressive stillness lingered in the air. Without a word, Victor entered.

It was dead silent. A terribly heavy silence. This silence was not peaceful; it was the one that lingered in the aftermath of a terrible incident.

His steps were light against the wooden floor as they reverberated through the room.

Then he saw her.

Clara was sitting on the floor completely still, her long blonde hair spilling haphazardly around her face and obscuring part of it from view. In a death-grip of her hands were two little girls who lay by her side. She held them like she was afraid they’d vanish if she loosened her grip.

Laying next to them was a lifeless old woman.

An overwhelming scent of medicine lingered, mingled with the cloying odor of death.

Victor glanced briefly at the old woman, but his golden eyes soon returned to Clara. She didn’t seem to notice he had arrived. "...

Clara?"

he said in a level voice. There was no reaction. She was as she had been a moment ago. Victor moved closer slowly.

Yet, there was nothing.

Her unfocused, vacant purple eyes looked ahead as if the whole world had ceased to exist. Then, he could hear the whispered murmur emanating from her quivering lips.

"It’s going to be alright..."

"I’m here now..."

"Please wake up both of you..."

"Your big sister is here now..."

Again...

And again...

She repeated the same sentence.

Like someone desperately trying to convince herself.

Victor quietly watched her.

The proud young woman who had once argued with him without fear...

The woman whose stubborn spirit refused to bend before anyone...

Now looked utterly broken.

His brows slowly knitted together.

This isn’t you...

For the first time since entering the room, something unpleasant stirred inside him.

He crouched beside her.

"Clara."

His voice was softer this time.

"You can hear me, can’t you?"

Silence.

He reached out and gently touched her shoulder.

No reaction.

"Look at me."

Nothing.

Victor remained patient.

"Whatever happened..."

"...it’s over now."

"We’ll deal with it."

"You don’t have to carry everything alone."

His words were steady.

There was no mockery.

No arrogance.

Only simple sincerity.

Still...

Clara gave no response.

She continued whispering the same words over and over.

"It’s going to be alright..."

"I’m here now..."

"Please wake up..."

"Your big sister is here now..."

Victor lowered his eyes.

For reasons even he couldn’t fully explain...

Seeing her like this irritated him.

Not because she was weak.

But because this wasn’t the Clara he knew.

He remembered the fierce determination in her eyes during their first meeting.

The courage she showed even when standing before impossible odds.

The stubborn pride that refused to yield.

That woman...

Would never willingly abandon herself.

What happened to you...

His gaze drifted toward the elderly woman’s body.

Then toward the unconscious girls.

A heavy silence settled inside the room.

Outside, the evening wind gently rustled through broken window shutters.

Victor slowly stood.

He clicked his tongue.

"Hmph..."

"Was I wrong about you?"

"When I first met you..."

"I thought you would become a woman of unbreakable steel."

His voice became quieter.

"But now..."

"...I see I was mistaken."

He waited.

Nothing changed.

His patience finally reached its limit.

"Clara Kirche!"

His voice thundered throughout the small house.

Dust drifted from the ceiling.

Even so...

There was no response.

Without hesitation, Victor stepped forward, grabbed her by the collar, and effortlessly lifted her into the air.

Her body offered no resistance.

Only then did Clara’s empty eyes slowly turn toward him.

There was nothing inside them.

No anger.

No sorrow.

No determination.

Only emptiness.

Victor stared directly into those lifeless eyes.

The fire that once burned within them had completely vanished.

Something inside him snapped.

"Clara Kirche!"

"I don’t know what happened here..."

"And I don’t care!"

"But showing me such an unsightly demeanor..."

"...is unforgivable!"

Even Victor understood his own words made little sense.

He wasn’t truly angry because she had suffered.

He was angry because she had given up.

Because the woman whose strength he had quietly admired had allowed despair to consume everything she was.

Clara simply looked at him.

Her expression never changed.

For a brief moment, Victor almost sighed.

So even that failed...

He released his grip.

Clara stumbled before collapsing onto the floor.

Victor’s eyes slowly turned cold.

A familiar black mist gathered beside him.

Darkness twisted through the room as Diana’s scythe silently appeared in his hand.

Its ominous presence filled the house with suffocating pressure.

Clara watched the weapon appear.

A faint thought crossed her empty mind.

So...

This is how it ends...

Maybe...

Maybe I can finally rest...

She believed she had finally angered Victor enough for him to kill her.

Instead...

Victor slowly shifted the blade away from her.

His gaze settled upon the two unconscious little girls.

"Hmph."

"You’re acting like you’re already dead..."

"...even though you’re still breathing."

"Then I suppose..."

"...I’ll simply send you into the next life."

He calmly raised the black scythe.

"And so you won’t be lonely..."

"...I’ll send them with you."

"They won’t survive without you anyway."

The enormous blade descended.

Straight toward the little girls.

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