Through the crack, Kamala saw her mother uncover a silenced man, one of the civilians of her city.
''What is she doing?''
She kept silently watching.
"Another fine specimen. I have pretty good eyes."
She looked happy, even though her face was everything but happy.
The man was shaking horribly. He was a civilian like you would see in every city, living an honest life.
''This room smells weird.''
Kamala brought a hand to her nose, trying to stop the nauseating smell from bothering her.
She looked around, and saw four other wrapped items in the room. Poor Kamala still wasn''t able to realize the situation in front of her.
"You, on the chair."
Andila grabbed the man''s collar and dragged him near a chair with straps. She forced him on it, and attached his arms and legs.
Pure terror could be seen in his eyes. He knew that this moment was his last.
"What am I going to do with you?"
Andila began to think, bringing her fingers to her chin.
"Doing the same wouldn''t be interesting. Why do you think of this?"
She flipped her black dressed up, showing her legs and underwear to the man.
But all he could see was the weapon strapped on her left thigh, glistening in contrast with the dark color of her dress.
An unusually long knife was strapped on her leg, which she grabbed and removed from its holder.
The man began to get agitated, and suddenly, he stopped. Groaning sounds of pain were only escaping his mouth, plugged with piece of cloth.
"This is fun isn''t it?"
She retracted her arm, blood gushing from the man''s wound. She pierced his left side, leaving the man slowly suffering.
''What is happening?''
Kamala wasn''t able to see what was happening. Her mother was blocking her sight.
"Let''s see..."
She walked to the man''s right side, showing the gruesome scene to her daughter.
''What is she doing!''
She wanted to intervene, but knew that she would be gravely punished. She was hesitating.
''I- I!''
''I can''t save that person.''
Her mother was strong. Impossibly strong to her. That was the reason why she never rebelled against Andila.
"You know, I can''t take it anymore."
Andila sat on the side of the man, her arm stretched over his shoulders.
"I need to unleash my feelings in some way right? Do you understand what it means to be an Apostle?"
She talked to him, but his consciousness was fading away much the same as the light of a candle.
"Listen to me!"
She slashed the man''s arm, separating it cleanly. If the blood flowing to the ground was considered clean that is.
The pain woke him up in an instant, his scream muffled by the cloth.
''!''
Kamala turned her gaze away. She was conflicted by emotions she didn''t knew until now.
The most prominent emotion was the disgust she had in her mother. Quietly, without even herself noticing, her patience was getting finer. Rage was building inside her.
She was the daughter of such a monster. There was something she could do, right?
In fact, she thought of many ideas in how to defeat her mother, but none would be able to help her. Her magic was too powerful.
She remained there powerless, and enraged. Gritting her teeth, she looked inside the room once again.
"Being an Apostle is such a hassle, I swear."
She was walking in circles in front of the man, cleaning the knife with the wrapping he was transported in.
The man''s head was wobbling left and right. The amount of blood he had lost was too great for his mind to follow anymore.
"We have to follow orders, that I don''t mind. But what am I supposed to do against a dragon?! I am not Lord Elliot!"
"Hunting corrupted to get their cores is such a hassle too! There''s almost none around here, and when there are, that ass Ivan just straight steals them in front of me!"
She stomped on the floor angrily. Unbridled anger could be seen on her face. Her expression, usually cold and somewhat beautiful was all but that at the moment.
"I have a child that I never wanted, and that moron died before I could ship him away with her!"
Hearing this, Kamala froze in place. Her rage vanished temporarily, replaced by an intense feeling of sadness.
''From the beginning, she never wanted me.''
But before she could shed any tears, the rage returned, stronger than before.
This amount of rage was unhealthy for a thirteen years old.
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"All I wanted was to have an easy life. Mother had it easy, my ancestors had it easy too! Why me?! Why me only, have to suffer such awful life!"
She walked two steps and plunged the knife inside the stomach of the man, who had past away in the middle of her speech.
"Damn you all! Never respecting me! Never following me! Always finding something to argue against!"
"Just shut your mouth and be used! That''s all you need to do!"
Her eyes were glowing a red uncharacteristic to her.
She stabbed him multiple times in her madness.
*Creak*
''Damn it!''
Kamala inadvertently pushed the door, making her presence known.
"I see I have a rat in here!"
Kamala quietly walked to the door leading to the corridor.
*BLAM*
A strong wind pushed the door, with Andila following right after.
"You!"
"..."
The mother and the daughter stared at each other for a moment.
"Disgusting child."
She spat on the floor.
This was the last straw for Kamala.
"SHUT UP!"
She attacked Andila with her wind element, sending a sharp blade toward her.
"Such a pitiful display."
Andila remained in her place, protecting herself with her own wind.
The shield she had created was strong, easily countering the small wind blade Kamala threw.
"If only you had taken time to educate me, maybe I would have followed in your steps!"
"And I never wished for you to be my daughter. I would have gladly offered you as bait if it meant getting more cores from the corrupted."
Something broke inside Kamala at that moment. The world she was trying to fit in as best as she could, the mother she tried to satisfied, and the power that was inside her.
''This is meaningless.''
Her eyes showed pity toward her mother.
"Am I dreaming or you''re mocking, child?!"
"No, you''re not dreaming, monster."
"That mouth of yours, I''ll be sure to crush it!"
Andila attacked Kamala. Like a whip, she used her it to slam Kamala onto the wall next to her.
"KAaHa!"
Kamala took the hit and remained stuck on the wall for a second. She dropped to her knee right after falling down.
The hit was so strong that it damaged some of her organs.
''Did she resist my full strength?!''
Andila was shocked. She saw no movement from Kamala, which means that she was on another level in terms of physical ability.
"You''ve... attacked me?"
Kamala looked at her hands, with her own blood on it.
*Rumble*
"What is happening!? Is it the dragon?"
The sound of strong wind echoed everywhere. Kamala remained a still on the ground, letting her emotions speak for her.
Andila walked to the window while keeping an eye on her.
She opened the window, seeing the nightmare that she brought upon her.
In a furry, she turned to Kamala and screamed at her.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"
Her hands pointed outside, to a gigantic tornado that had formed over the sea a kilometer away.
"This is your doing?!"
She was a master of the wind element, or so she liked to think so, but even her was unable to manifest such power.
In fact, no one should be able to, but the wind element inside Kamala resonated with her despair.
Kamala stood up, and her body began to be covered with a thick layer of sand. Her face disappeared under a rocky mask, and wings of winds appeared in her back.
"What are... you?"
"I don''t care to answer that."
She stepped forward, splashing sand at each step. Her mother backed off, until she was against the wall.
"Back off! BACK OFF I SAID!"
Andila threw whip attacks and wind blades toward Kamala, who remained unfazed by the attacks.
She slowly closed in on her mother. When she was close, Andila suddenly grabbed her knife and pierce the mask.
"Ah! I was waiting for... that?"
A small part of the mask cracked, revealing her left eye.
"Disappointing."
Kamala punched her mother in the guts.
She crumbled to the ground, vomiting.
''Hmm?''
Kamala smelled something strange.
''Fire?''
She starred through the windows behind her mother, the one showing the city instead of the sea.
While the tornado was raging, the civilians were rioting. Though they had already escaped after seeing the massive tornado form, they still managed to burn the city down.
All the guards siding with Andila were dealt with by Timothy one after the other, leaving the reign of the tyrant close to it''s end.
"Mother. No, Lord Andila, this is over for you."
"You would dare kill your own mother?"
Her expression hidden behind the mask only showed disappointment. She was past her rage, because she only saw a pitiful being in front of her.
Andila felt it by looking at her eye, showing from the broken part of the mask.
This was the end for her.
"I will do the same thing you did to that poor man."
"WHAT?!"
Andila stood up, and tried to flee. She run past Kamala, and tried to open the door.
"I won''t let my own child kill me! I won''t accept this!"
"You should."
Kamala turned around and opened her palm toward the back of Andila.
"Pierce."
A terrifyingly fast spike of sand emerged from her hand and pierced her mother. It pierced the door, and travelled through the wall, and ended in the garden.
*Cough*
Andila was stuck on the wall, powerless. Her back had been pierced, and she was unable to free herself anymore.
Kamala followed the destroyed path she had created.
"What was it again? Right arm?"
Her hand changed to a claw as she approached Andila.
"No... NO! *Cough* Don''t! I am sorr- *cough*"
"..."
She stopped in front of her.
"Such a pitiful display. Mother."
"KAMALA!"
Andila tried to attack one last time, but instead saw her right arm fall to the ground.
The fire that propagated across the city finally arrived to their house.
Mother and daughter exchanged one last hateful look.
"I should have killed *cough* you when you were a baby."
"It is too late to regret Lord Andila. You reap what you sow."
"Don''t... give me that *cough* line. All I wanted... was to live peacefully."
"And you did everything but that."
"You will... never... under...stand."
Kamala listened to her mother''s last words as her house was on fire.
The young girl was lost. Only after looking at her mother''s still face did she understand.
''I killed mother.''
She watched her hands. She couldn''t see anything besides sand.
*Crack*
A fissure appeared on the mask, making it''s way across her face.
The moment it broke, her power vanished. The tornado returned to nothingness, the sand enveloping her body returned to the desert, and the stone mask evaporated in the air.
Her hair, previously black, changed to silvery white from strange form she had taken.
Andila''s body fell to the ground after the spike vanished.
Her hands reappeared bloody, she dropped to her knees, having lost everything.
"LADY KAMALA! Where are you?!"
Timothy''s voice could be heard. He was looking for Kamala inside the flaming house.
"There you ar- Oh..."
He stared at the body of his former Lord. There was no emotion other than surprise on his face.
''Did she kill her mother? Why? What happened?''
''No, not now! We have to get out first!''
With fast steps, Timothy arrived in front of Kamala, crouched, and picked her up.
"Let''s go."
Without looking back at Andila, he ran outside the house.
~
"After that, well."
Kamala looked at her hands explaining the ending of her story.
"It took me five years to accept what had happened. I remained mute, and never managed to get over it completely."
"Timothy asked me to take over Hocride after it''s destruction. The civilians all reformed the city from scratch, waiting for me to take over."
"I wanted to refuse, I wanted to flee. I even wished I had died that day. But Timothy, the civilians, they were all prepared to lose everything anyway that day."
"I wasn''t the only one that suffered. I only brought it down with my own hands. Since then, I decided to act alone."
"And here I am, in front of you."
Orion, having learned of the harsh past behind what she was today, could only sympathize. He brought his hands to his face, and stayed like this for an instant.
He sighed, and removed his hands.
"Even though our past is different, I... no. Are you alright?"
Her hands were shaking.
"The blood I have on my hands will never disappear. My mother will always haunt me for what I''ve done."
"Did your mother drink that sludge?"
"Huh?"
Kamala looked at him with a shocked expression.
"I think so. I mean, she was hunting them a lot."
"Then what you killed wasn''t human anymore. You haven''t killed your mother."
"What?"
He repeated.
"I said that the blood you have on your hand is the blood of a corrupted. Not the blood of your mother."
Silent tears flowed on her cheeks, and unto her opened hands.
"I- I!"
Orion stood up and walked next to her.
"I''ll lend you my chest, so let it all out."
Kamala slowly extended her hands toward him, and when she grabbed his shirt, she plunged her head into his chest.
She cried for a long time. The emotions she held back for so many years finally released, and by hearing that she hadn''t kill her mother, the chains binding her finally broke.
''We don''t share the same past. I can sympathize all I want, we will never be the same. All I can do is that.''
''Cry, let it all out, and let your worries go away.''
While she was tightly grabbing him, something went through his head.
''I wonder what that form she took was?''
Another mystery Orion had to uncover.