Cross Worlds (Hiatus)

Chapter 54-1: "The Black Light Queen"

With most knights and heroes outside occupied by the bulk of the Resistance, and several Resistance members inside the castle to occupy the rest, there was nothing else to get in the way of Riku and Kei on their way to the queen. "You see the big fancy doors at the end of this big hall?!" Kei calls out.

"Kinda hard to miss!" Riku calls back, both yelling to hear one another due to the massive battle happening outside.

"That's it!" Kei shouts once again. Without another word, Riku "teleports" straight to those doors and slices through them like butter, completely deleting them.

Riku stands in the doorway, a chill running down his spine as his eyes land on the only human within. Despite the fact that the woman should be anywhere from 40 to 50, she looks like a woman in her peak. Despite everything happening around her, she sits on the throne where the king should sit, her own throne empty. The crown atop her head sits perfectly upright atop her long black hair, straight and well taken care of, falling well past her shoulders. She's completely unbothered by all the activity going on around her.

Slowly, her eyes open, eyelids cloaked in a pitch black mascara that matches her equally dark lipstick. Her deep purple eyes shine ever so slightly as her eyes fall upon Riku. "God Kei, your dad really went for this..?" Riku sweats as he points one of his blades at the woman. "Even standing this far away, I can tell this queen is nothing but trouble..."

"My father was a naive fool that truly believed there is good in every human being..." Kei slowly walks up to stand beside Riku. "He truly believed he could change her. Right up until she murdered him..." Kei points his blade at his mother, not a hint of hesitation or mercy in his actions, nor his gaze. "He was naive, but he was a good man... And you killed him."

The woman stares at the two young men, looking uninterested, bored almost. "...And so what?" The woman's voice is hauntingly angelic, and yet it brings a chill that makes both of the boys tense up. "Strength is everything in this world. To get what you want, you have to be strong. Your father didn't agree, and so I used my strength to get my way."

"Strength..?!" Riku clenches his fists and scoffs. "What you did isn't strong. You're nothing but a damn coward. If you were as strong as you say, you would've killed the king the second you met, but you waited. Waited until he trusted you enough to fall for you. Trusted you enough to marry you. Enough to bear children and build a beautiful kingdom with you." Riku's eyes glow with rage. "And when he let his guard down, that's when you struck. ISN'T IT?!" He snaps. "Because only a coward, a pathetic piece of human garbage weakling like you would use someone for their own gain, and then use their name rather than their own to get what they want! You claim to be strong, and yet you can't even claim accountability with your own name!"

"Strength isn't just physical or magical, you stupid boy..." The woman looks rather annoyed, not at his words, but his understanding of the term "strength". "There is strength in intelligence, wisdom, beauty..." The queen glides one of her hands across her body and then rests it on her cheek. "I didn't have enough physical or magical strength, and so I used my knowledge, my charisma, and my beauty to get what I wanted. There is a reason I haven't let my body or my appearance deteriorate even slightly since I've reached my peak. Does that make sense to you, child?"

"No. People like you will never make sense to me." Riku clenches his fists and surrounds his blades in his magic. "I'll never understand how someone could do something like that to someone who loves them that much..." Flashes of the family he once had, and images of the many Resistance members Riku had grown all too fond of over the past couple of months go through Riku's mind.

The queen stares down at Riku, narrowing her eyes. "You remind me of him." She stands, slowly stepping down from the throne and stopping once she's on the same level as the two of them. "Naive and weak. You spout on about your ideals and beliefs, and yet you continue to stand there with your enemy right in front of you." With a flick of her wrists, pitch black armor slowly begins to form on her arms and spreads over her entire body.