Chapter 209 - To Be A Mother. (2/2)

But contrary to what most people would have imagined, Lu'um did not open her eyes when she awoke. She continued to lay still as if she were already dead, allowing Shaali to continue her onslaught...

Dull pain coursed across Lu'um's face as she continued playing dead. Each blow was akin to a sledgehammer slamming into her skull, threatening to send her to the afterlife forever, but even so, she endured the pain without so much as uttering a single word.

This... pain... i-is... nothing... c-compared...

It had to be absolutely perfect. She could not suspect anything, or else it would mean her death...

To what... I... s-stand to... lose... if... I d-die...!

But if she succeeded, she would be given the opportunity she needed to deliver a decisive blow.

I WILL NOT FAIL!!!!!

The moment that Lu'um had been waiting for had finally arrived.

She opened her eyes and, without the slightest bit of hesitation, grabbed Shaali's incoming fist with her left hand, opened her mouth...

And bit down on Shaali's hand with all her strength before she pulled away from her.

A heart-wrenching screech filled the arena as Shaali subconsciously retreated out of reflex, clutching her right hand with an expression full of shock and anguish.  It was the first time for many  — Lu'um included — that they had ever heard Shaali voice a cry of pain.

Lu'um did not savor the moment, though. She had to act now while she had the chance.

She immediately spat out the three fingers that she had taken at her mother's face along with a massive amount of her own blood, effectively blinding Shaali for a single moment.

The sheer boldness of the tactic had worked as planned. The speed and brutality of her counterattack had created the opening that Lu'um had been waiting for from the very start of the match.

Removing the obsidian blades from play, thereby balancing the playing field.

Destroying the sanctity of the duel, turning it into a deathmatch where anything was allowed.

Letting herself get beaten close to the brink of death to drop her mother's guard.

Her unexpected counterattack, leaving her open, if only for a single moment.

As Lu'um lunged toward Shaali at breakneck speed, she took a deep breath and committed herself before she...  formed a knife-hand and stabbed her own c.h.e.s.t.

And without a second thought, she broke off one of her own ribs and pulled it out of her c.h.e.s.t with a single, flawless motion.

All her life, she had waited for this very moment — the conclusion of their relationship.

This was not the culmination of a predestined, cursed fate between the two of them, but rather it was its natural conclusion.

Shaali knew that this would end up happening the moment Lu'um had been born. And to some extent, Shaali knew that Lu'um understood it too when she had been born.

It had been her eyes — even though she had just given birth to her, the way her newborn daughter had looked at her... told her that her own baby had recognized her as a threat.

That, in itself, must have been the price for creating new life and not loving it the way she was supposed to. Everything was simply the result of her own actions from the first day.  Fate had nothing to do with this particular tragedy...

Time lagged until it reached a glacial crawl for Shaali. Though she could hardly see with all the blood in her eyes, she knew that her time had come. Her instincts screamed at her to move, to dodge, to act — to do something... anything, but...

She just watched it all unfold with a... blank expression.

Was this not what she had d.e.s.i.r.ed from the beginning? To train a replacement, no— a copy of herself that would do what she had been unable to all those years ago?

To not hesitate, even at the cost of her own humanity? To succeed, never to fail? To be... perfect?

Though her daughter would never understand, it had cost Shaali  an unspeakable cost. To create the perfect warrior, she had been forced to give up her own daughter: her own humanity and the right ever to call herself a mother.

She had been ruthless. Cold and antagonistic. Vicious in the methods she employed. Heavy-handed on the poor child since the first day, she had been able to stand on her own two feet.

It had been the hardest task she had ever done. There were moments when Shaali had almost broke; almost wanted to stop and give her beloved daughter the love and tender care she deserved to have, but she knew that would not help her for what she was destined to face.

Shaali knew that Lu'um would have to carry on her shoulders the fate of all things along with her other half. And that would require an indomitable spirit above all else, something that could not be created through ordinary means...

To develop such a thing, one needed to face many trials and challenges. They needed to struggle.  To learn how to endure and thrive in even the harshest conditions.

To learn how to detach themselves from their emotions and harden their hearts in preparation for the inevitable day that they would be forced to make difficult decisions that would affect the whole world and beyond.

And that meant Shaali would have to be cruel to her daughter, if only to ensure she would not fail like her aunt or herself...

To be truthful, yes, some of that cruelness stemmed from her own past failures — and she would burn in Hell for that — but had been primarily motivated for a single reason: to ensure that her precious daughter would not die.

That was all that mattered to Shaali.

Every day she felt as if the guilt would drown her alive. Pull her down into an inescapable hell for all eternity, but she could not allow herself to stop. Not until her work was done.

And now...

As Lu'um charged toward Shaali, she hoarsely roared at the top of her lungs, ”MOTHER!!!!”

Everyone moved to prevent the tragedy that was about to unfold, shouting at Lu'um to stop. A chaotic storm of Anima swirled across the entire arena, but it — along with the audience — was stopped in their tracks by Reed, who had moved into action.

He spoke an incomprehensible word and violated natural law, freezing everything except for the arena below. There was no going back anymore.

Lu'um did not hesitate.

The ephemeral moment passed and... Lu'um thrust her rib into Shaali's c.h.e.s.t and pierced her heart.

Her work was done...