Adam took a step forward, but froze when he noticed how tense Cassia was. The situation was teetering on the brink of disaster — one wrong move could lead to bloodshed of unprecedented proportions.
"Katerina," Adam began, but she cut him off abruptly.:
"No way! Don't you dare call me that!"
For Katerina, her husband's words merged into an inarticulate noise. All her attention was focused on the dying child. With trembling hands, she continuously cast healing spells, desperately trying to keep her son alive.
Tears rolled non-stop from her beautiful blue eyes, and only a hoarse whisper escaped her lips.:
"Son, don't die, please! Open your eyes, I beg you! Live, baby, LIVE! Don't leave Mom..."
Her voice was trembling with pain and despair.: "You promised you'd always be with me. Grey, please wake up! Don't die, don't die, don't die!"
Katerina watched in horror as her hands were stained with her son's blood. Her mind blurred, and through the haze of madness, she caught someone's words about "Gray" and "Prophecy." These words seemed to add fuel to the fire of her unstable state.
"THIS IS MY SON! MY BOY!" she screamed, choking on sobs.
Her body was shaking with sobs, but her hands, covered in the child's blood, continued to emit a faint green glow, trying to heal the terrible wound on the boy's chest.
Suddenly realizing that the child had not been breathing for half a minute, Katerina burst into tears even more. Tears of blood gushed from her eyes. My thoughts were confused. She bent over her son, pressing her lips to his in a desperate attempt to perform artificial respiration.
"No, no, no..." she whispered, shaking her head and not looking up from her son. She could feel his body growing cold and his life leaving him.
On her knees, clutching the baby tightly to her chest, she listened, hoping to catch at least a faint heartbeat. Her eyes, full of bloody tears, flitted between despair, hatred, and pleading.
In those moments, happy memories flashed before her, as if in accelerated motion. The first "mom" uttered by his son. His loving gaze, in which she was the whole world. His carefree laugh. A recent argument with my sister, moments before the tragedy.
She remembered his last sad look when she sent the hated priest flying.
Her lips trembled as she once again tore away from Gray's face. His gaze was fixed on his chest.
She was afraid. I was more afraid than ever in my life to look at his lifeless face.
Katerina felt betrayed. Her husband, God, this damned world that wanted to take her child away. Even Gray himself, who promised to always be by her side.
But here he is, a three—year-old kid, lying lifeless. His heart refuses to beat, and she is powerless to change anything.
With every passing moment, Katerina sank deeper into the abyss of despair. Her only son. And she couldn't protect him. What a stupid, irresponsible, useless mother she is. Her heart seemed to be tearing apart. The world was crumbling under the weight of harsh reality.
"Don't go, darling, please, no, I beg you, Grey, come back, come back to me, come back to your sister. I need you, son, please, please, please..."
{Somewhere in an unknown place in the darkness}
The little child couldn't feel anything, couldn't move. He could only watch.
[The darkness. Darkness again. So familiar, so far away, so calm. And yet it's not exactly the same. Over and over the darkness. There is nothing here. Only the absence of light.]
[What is it? Where am I? I remember the dagger in my chest. Stop. Where's the dagger? Where are my breasts? A. Yes. The darkness. There is only darkness. It's always been that way. But what kind of memories? Did I make it all up? Is it time to return to the darkness?]
[No way! No! No! I don't want to go into the dark. I don't want to go back. I want to go to my mom. Into her warm embrace. But what can I do? Nothing. Just to be here. Maybe it's not so bad to come back.]
[DON'T YOU DARE, YOU LITTLE SHIT. DON'T YOU DARE GIVE UP.]
A furious roar thundered in his head. The black space around them turned scarlet. Gray felt a piercing, hateful, bloody gaze on him. Rivers of blood flowed around. Spots of light appeared, burning and causing unbearable pain.
There were dozens, no, hundreds of human silhouettes all around, trembling under that bloody gaze. The boy sensed their fear, their unwillingness to approach. But something inexorably pulled them towards him.
"FIGHT IT, BRAT. It doesn't matter how, it doesn't matter why! FIGHT IT OUT. Your mother and sister are waiting for you," a distorted order thundered in his mind.
And then Gray heard the desperate sobs of a familiar, gentle, but now anguished voice.
"Don't go, darling, please, no, I beg you, Grey, come back, come back to me, come back to your sister. I need you, son, please, please, please..."
The voice seemed so far away, but so familiar. This desperate, hoarse call caused much more pain than the useless spots of light.
Having made up his mind, he rushed towards the sound of that voice. Her eyes were filled with tears from the agony of hell, but Gray didn't care anymore.
'I have to fight. I'll get to the voice, no matter what it takes. I don't want to hear that broken voice full of pain and despair again. Don't want. don't want.'
"Adam, Allaric, Fulvius... I... will never forgive you," thought Katerina, when her grief and thoughts of revenge were interrupted by a quiet cough, accompanied by sharp hoarse breaths.
"I DON'T WANT TO," the boy screamed, spitting out blood.
"My son!!! You're alive! You're alive! Good! Mom's here, Mom's with you. Mom won't let anyone hurt you. Listen to Mom, don't fall asleep. Keep breathing. That's it, that's it, well done," Katerina watched with trepidation as her son's condition stabilized.
After making sure that Gray's life was out of danger, her face instantly changed. Her gaze directed at the rest of those present could make the most ferocious demon tremble.
"Cassia, launch an emergency evacuation plan immediately. Spare no one! Uncover all the agents!" "Stop it!" she shouted in a commanding voice, which rang with steel notes that promised blood. While she hurriedly set up magic spells around the awakened Gray.
"That's right, ma'am!" the maid said, disappearing into the shadow of the acropolis.
A second later, she appeared behind Eve, plunging a dagger into her arm and forcing Grace to let go. The girl recently lost consciousness after hearing her mother's screams and seeing her brother's condition.
Grabbing the princess with one hand and securing her with her tail, Cassia dived back into the shadows and appeared next to her mistress, breathing heavily.
Meanwhile, several noble nobles launched suicidal attacks on the approaching guards.
Catching them off guard and using all their strength, they were able to thin out the guards, providing an escape route for their mistress. But such an advantage could not last long.
"Ma'am, I have the princess. Is the young master okay?" Kassia asked, standing next to Katerina.
"He's going to be fine, he's going to be fine," Katerina replied with an extremely serious expression on her face.
During this short dialogue, Cassia pointed her hand to the sky and launched the "Fireworks" spell into the air. The spell exploded in the blue sky with its dark black splendor.
Everything was happening so fast that no one had time to react. When people realized what had happened, it was already too late.
"KATERINA, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" roared Adam. "Didn't you hear me? Your child is dangerous. He's a child of darkness!!! He doesn't have our blood in him! Look at his hair! He's not our son!"
"Listen to me, prophecies are not jokes! Especially one of the three great prophecies. He is destined to destroy HUMANITY! Not a province. Not a country. humanity. Do you support genocide?"
"A PROPHECY? THE EMPIRE? HUMANITY? TO HELL WITH IT ALL!" exploded Katerina. "TO HELL WITH THE PROPHECY. TO HELL WITH THE EMPIRE. TO HELL WITH MY HATEFUL BASTARD HUSBAND. TO HELL WITH GOD. TO HELL WITH THE WHOLE FUCKING WORLD, if anything else happens to my family today, I'll take care of fulfilling that damn prophecy myself."
"Listen carefully, Adam," she said through clenched teeth. "I swear here and now: if you don't get out of my way, I will dedicate my life to hunt down and destroy every scum of the Province of Light. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME? Or maybe your vaunted humanity is afraid of the cripple whose magic core you broke with your own hands?"
Although it was unpleasant for her to say such words, Katerina understood their necessity. It is almost impossible to escape from the provincial capital with two children, one of whom is injured.
Yes, she has the greatest power here, but if Adam or the church decides to use all available means, she will not be able to save the children from the trap their home has become.
"Adam, I repeat for the last time," her voice rang with tension. "Let me leave in a good way and live the life of an ordinary mortal with my son. I promise I'll come back for revenge much later. You might even have time to prepare."
"Or you can try to stop me, and I'll try to escape. But I swear that I will level your entire capital on the way. You know perfectly well that I'm capable of that. Choose one. Now. If you don't back down in 5 seconds, I'll start a massacre."
Magical elements were gathering around the woman, her slender sword was unsheathed and ready to start a bloody feast with her mistress at any moment.
Adam hesitated. Today didn't go according to plan at all. Initially, he only intended to make sure that Gray possessed the element of darkness. After confirming this fact, considering that night had fallen on the world around the time of his birth, as well as his unnaturally black hair, he could say with 90% certainty that Gray was a child of darkness.
His duties were only to report the situation to the Imperial capital and await further orders. But no. I had to act. The appearance of the god of Light broke all the agreements.
Having received direct instructions from the patron deity, the entire church, led by three cardinals, was forced to act.
Adam, whose position as vicar is based on the full support of the church, had no choice in this matter. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he hoped that his wife would support his decision, because the threat of the extermination of mankind should not be taken lightly.
Adam is now caught between a rock and a hard place. He knew how seriously the church took matters of prophecy, and he saw the madness in his wife's eyes.
Only he knew how incredibly strong this woman was. Only he understood that she was telling the truth about the possibility of destroying half of the capital while trying to escape. His brothers complicated the already stalemate by being ready to take advantage of the situation at any moment.
All eyes were on him, waiting for the King's decision.
He looked at Katerina one last time, hoping that she would listen to reason. Looking for the slightest sign of indecision, he searched her face, but all he saw was fiery rage and determination, ready to explode at any moment.
"Let them go," Adam finally said. "There is no point in taking a child's life. The cripple is no longer a threat to the nation or humanity."