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Bargain Infernal Episode 27: Shattered Bonds
The city was a labyrinth of shadows, its towering buildings casting long, oppressive shapes across the streets. Alex walked ahead, his steps deliberate, his eyes scanning every corner for danger. The battle with the Abyss had left him more than scarred it had left him changed. But nothing could deter him from keeping Mara safe. Not anymore.Beside him was Mara, the quiet, steady reassurance. Warm and steady, her hand rested in his, a reminder of everything he had fought for. It was more than a lifeline; it was a bond, the tether that pulled him from the jaws of the Abyss. More than that, it was a promise: never to be alone again.Are you sure you're okay?"Mara's voice cut through the silence, soft but laced with concern.Alex looked at her, flashing a half-smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. The exhaustion was etched into every line of his face, the weight of the battles he'd fought, both physical and mental. But he couldn't afford to show it. Not when Mara was by his side.“I’m f
Bargain Infernal Episode 28: The Cost of Protection
The city was alive with a dangerous energy, its streets pulsating with the chaos of a world on the edge of unraveling. Alex Mercer and Mara stood together beneath the dim glow of a flickering streetlamp, their fingers intertwined, the bond between them stronger than ever. But they both knew that this was only a facade the calm exterior because the truth was that the peace they had fought so hard for was fragile, and the shadows of the Abyss had not been banished completely.“You sure you’re okay?” Mara asked, her voice quiet but laced with concern. She had seen the strain in Alex’s eyes, the subtle tremor in his hands when he thought no one was looking. His battle against the Abyss had left scars deeper than the physical wounds he wore.I am fine," said Alex, but he never sounded that honest. He was lying, of course; he knew Mara would never probe him to find out what he was really feeling. She was too nice, too maternal to pry into someone's soul. Instead, she simply squeezed his han
Bargain Infernal Episode 29: The Edge of Despair
The world around Alex pulsed with a sickening rhythm, as shadows writhed and twisted like living things, manifestations of the Abyss itself. He'd been walking what felt like days, or maybe only minutes, in this eternal nightmare of shifting darkness. Each step felt heavier than the last, as if the very ground beneath him was pulling him deeper into the void.His heart pounded in his chest, not from the physical exertion but from the fear gnawing at him the fear that Mara was slipping further from his reach. The very thought of losing her again of failing her was enough to drive him to the brink of madness.But he couldn't afford to let that fear control him. Not now.He caught, in the distance, a flicker of light. That pale, heavenly glow in dark, suffocating air. His hesitation lasted, for a split second, as that doubt crawled down his spine. Could this be a trick? Another lie conjured forth by Lucifer and meant to keep him on high alert, from breaking his focus?But then he felt it
Bargain Infernal Episode 30: The Oppressive Force
The darkness seemed to thrum with a malevolent energy, as if the shadows themselves came to life in twisting convolutions. His breath caught in ragged gasps, his chest burning from the force exerted, driving his body past its limits. He felt the weight of the Abyss bearing down upon him, threatening to crush him beneath its oppressive weight. But he couldn't stop now.Mara.The name echoed in his mind, the faint tether that still bound them together, a fragile thread pulling him forward. She was close he could feel her presence, just beyond the veil of the Abyss, but every step he took seemed to push her further away.His hands, slippery with blood, clenched into fists, hellfire flames flickering around him, illuminating the shadows in ghastly, shifting patterns. Once steadfast resolve now a flickering ember, weakened by the endless fight, each battle, every sacrifice bringing him to this point, yet he is no closer to saving her.“Mara,” he whispered, his voice barely audible above th
Bargain Infernal Episode 31: The Flames
The darkness was crushing, a cold that seeped into Alex's bones, gnawing at his very soul. His breath was shallow, his chest constricted as the shadows continued to pull him down. The tether to Mara, that flickering thread of warmth that had once guided him through the Abyss, was fading fast, slipping through his fingers like sand in the wind.He had fought so hard. He had burned the Abyss with hellfire, faced down demons, and sacrificed everything to protect the one person who had given him hope. But now, standing at the precipice of eternal darkness, Alex could feel it—the final pull of the Abyss.Mara.Her name echoed in his mind, a soft whisper that cut through the roaring void. His heart ached, torn between the overwhelming urge to follow her fading presence and the desperate need to hold onto what little of himself remained.“No…” Alex whispered, his voice barely audible over the deafening silence. He couldn’t lose her. Not like this. Not after everything they had been through.
Bargain Infernal Episode 32: The wind
Alex's world was a blur of darkness and flame, his body burning as if it were being torn apart from the inside. The Abyss, a twisted dimension of pure malice, continued to claw at him, dragging him deeper into its suffocating embrace. He couldn't see anything could barely feel anything except the pain and the void pressing in on him from all sides. But he knew one thing: Mara was slipping away.Their connection, the tie that had linked them, their bond of love that had pulled him through the worst of this nightmare, was weakening. He could feel it, a fine thread of light pulling thin, reaching the breaking point. I won't lose you, he thought in desperation. I won't.And now with what strength was left in him, Alex battled back against the hold of the Abyss; his heart wept for all the aches he suffered at its attempt to gobble him down into darkness. His hellfire blazed wildly about him in great sparks of red and gold, yet nothing it could do halted the dark tides closing about him. Hi
Bargain Infernal Episode 33: Fractured Worlds
Ground convulsed from under Alex feet where the last bit of smoke with ash of this creature disappeared deep into the bottomless darkness. His breath has been heavy from exhaustion, so his chest lifted and fell upon his ribs one more time after another, for he did not want to get up. "Mara."His chest screamed out as if calling over the distance but something had definitely changed. For the Abyss shook at its very sides like the shadows when an unseen fist stirs such an ocean within.A new presence stronger, more terrifying than anything Alex had ever faced was coming his way."Mara!" he shouted, straining his voice, desperation climbing up his throat. He looked around in circles, trying to catch a glimpse of her anywhere, but the Abyss was a maze of shadows that shifted constantly.He felt her presence still, faint but there. He wasn't going to lose her-not now, not after everything they had been through.The air cooled, and the warmth of his hellfire, once familiar, now felt like a
Bargain Infernal Episode 34: Fragile
Mara's heart pounded in her chest as the light flickered and waned around her. She felt the pull of the Abyss at the edge of her consciousness, the heavy weight of darkness pressing on her, threatening to swallow her whole. But she couldn't stop. Not when Alex was out there, not when he needed her.Her hands shook as she reached out, her fingers brushing against the fading tether of their bond. It was still there, faint but undeniable a fragile thread of warmth connecting them across the chasm of the Abyss. But it was weakening, slipping away with each passing second, like water running through her fingers."Mara," a voice whispered in her mind, faint and barely audible. It was Alex's voice.Her breath hitched in her throat, and she clenched her fists, drawing in a shaky breath. “I’m not giving up on you,” she whispered fiercely to herself. “I won’t lose you.”The words had barely left her lips when the ground beneath her began to shake. The sanctuary she stood within—and where she ha
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Episode 224: One Final Strike
The world fractured.At the moment the boy lunged towards him, his sword clashing against the Hunter’s blade of shadow-steel, reality shattered like glass.His feet were no longer standing on solid ground.The battlefield the stars, the ruined earth pulsed, tremblied, shifting like an unënded painting.For one terrifying second He felt himself being torn in two.Not by a blade.Not by the Abyss.By time itself.He staggered back, gasping, his vision going double, reality fracturing into two separate lines of incident at once.One he stood here, fighting, existing.In the other he had never been born.Never consumed mermaid flesh.Never imagined, never suffered, never fought.Just gone."This is the correction."The Hunter’s voice remained steady, uemotional."Your existence is an error."Kaiza bared his teeth, pushing forward, screwing his sword back alight."You talk too much."And then he attacked again.The Impossible DuelThis time he moved faster.He could still taste the Abyss
Episode 223: The Last Throne
It was no longer their place of battle.The sunless sky was now a filthy mirror of a world that had perished before history.”Under Ethan and Asha’s feet, the ground shook, not with ruination but with something trying to rewrite existence itself.And the whole thing revolves aroundThe light wasn’t from this world, and now it burned behind their eyes, finally exposed by the broken perishable mask.They weren’t human.They weren’t divine.They’d been something before all of those things.And the closer they got, just their walking warped the air next to them.“You have walked too far, Hollow King.”“You’ve shattered too many chains.“And now you will see what should have been forgotten.”Ethan’s hands made fists.Asha inhaled slowly and deeply.They had no time to think.Because the First King moved.And the final battle began.Before Ethan even had the time to react, he found the First King in front of him.Their move defied space itself—not teleportation, not speed, but the here and
Episode 222: The Ones Who Devour
The sky was breaking.Helena became the epicenter of the battle that should have never been.The Firstborn were no more, their sacred monarchy rent asunder, their celestial kingdom fallen to ruin.But the universe had no love for vacant thrones.And now.It had been supplanted by something else.Reality tore, the sky splitting open like a wound that wouldn’t heal.Out from the void, they came.Not Hollowed.Not firstborn.Something else.Older than war itself, something.They did not have names.They did not have faces.They were churning, writhing aspects of the consummate void, their nacreous flesh contorting into a thousand forms at once—humanoid, monstrous, holy, forgotten.And when they spoke.It wasn’t with voices.It was with thoughts that did not belong to Helena, curling into her thoughts, unwinding her like leaves of an old book."You do not belong here."Helena’s entire body tensed.The Hollow King did not move.The Old One merely watched.Silver fire sizzled along the edge
Episode 221: The Thing That Should Not Wake
The Silence Before the EndThe battlefield was quiet.Too quiet.Helena found herself in the ruins of a war that had rewritten history. The Firstborn's God-King was vanished, their form crushed into void, their heavenly horde blown away like dust.The Hollowed had won.And yet.The heir was wrong.Heavy. Tainted.Like something was waiting.“Yup,” Cain gasped, running a bloody hand through his hair, his silver eyes showing some signs of uneasiness. “Please tell me it’s not just me that feels this.”Helena gripped her throbbing fingers, the black-fire dagger still buzzing in her hand. "You’re not."The Hollow King hadn’t budged.They froze there, their shape like a void, their head cocked slightly, listening.Helena stepped forward slowly, the ground crackling beneath her boots. The Firstborn were disappearing, their godly light blinking out like red stars in the firmament.They had lost.So why did it seem like something worse had just begun?Then.The world shifted.The Veil Splits O
Episode 220: The Forsaken vs. the Divine
Helena did not kneel.Not to kings.Not to gods.Not to the Firstborn, who had cut history to shape and made it fit.She had stood against death.She had stood against fate.And she would stand now.Even as the God-King of the Firstborn loomed before her, his celestial fire coiling in the air like an executioner’s blade.As the burden of their command bore down upon reality itself, compelling everything to bend.Helena stood tall.Her dagger blazed with black flames, oscillating between the Hollow King’s strength and something more ancient.Something that was hers and hers alone.The battlefield was silent.Even the Hollow hesitated.Because no one had ever disobeyed the Firstborn’s command and survived.Until now.The God-King’s expression did not change.They took a slow step forward, their silver eyes calm and infinite, burning with cold.“Then I will break you.”The world shattered.A void pulled inward, the air itself ripping apart as the God-King began his assault, faster than l
Episode 219: The Forsaken Queen
Helena felt everything.The Hollow King thrummed through her as she surged forward, a scintillation of wicked pleasure that burnt in her blood like a fire that would never run soft. Not only did it fill her, it transformed her.No longer was she Helena, the fighter who had resisted destiny.She was something more.Something that never was meant to exist.And as she stood at the very center of the battlefield, surrounded as she was by another ruin crumbling around her, one of a war older than time itself, she understood.The Firstborn knew it, too.They had expected a rebel.They had expected resistance.But they hadn’t expected this.They had not believed she would survive the Hollow King’s might.And they did not expect her to turn it against them.”His silver eyes, previously flooded with naught but icy apathy, now sparkled with another emotion.Fear.And Helena?Helena smiled.Then she attacked.Her movements were like a storm, her new blade slashing through the Firstborn’s ranks.
Episode 218: The Moment When the World Picked a Side
The battlefield froze.Helena’s voice still rang in the ruins, suspended in the air like a blade poised to fall."I will fight for the truth."And just like that.She had chosen a side.The Hollow King turned its void-like eyes to her, unreadable.Cain gaped, his breath ragged, his silver eyes bouncing between disbelief and something else. Something closer to fear.The Firstborn did not speak.They didn’t scream in rage or throw accusations of betrayal.Instead.They smiled.And Helena learned something a little too late.She had walked into a war older than she could understand.And each side had been waiting for her to make a choice.Now.There was no turning back.The Gods Strike FirstThe Firstborn moved first.Helena didn’t have time to react before the sky itself lit on fire.The clouds parted, hurling javelins of heavenly fire onto the battlefield. The Hollowed howled, their flesh caught alight, their bodies liquidizing beneath the assault.The pallor of the air cracked apart b
Episode 217: The Gods Must Bleed
A Sky That ShattersThe heavens collapsed.The sky literally ripped apart, opening like a wound in reality itself, and Helena hardly had time to scream. The battlefield below was engulfed in golden fire and infinite darkness, as though the universe itself was tearing in two.The Firstborn were the falling stars, their weapons blazing with heavenly fire, their silver eyes lit with righteous fury. The Hollowed howled back, their broken voices rising like a war hymn, thair void-forged blades craving vengeance.This wasn’t a battle.This was annihilation.Helena moved.She ducked, avoiding a sweep of a Firstborn warrior that cut through the air where her head had only seconds before been. The heat of their blade seared against her skin, too near, too quick.But she was faster.She spun, her dagger slicing through their divine armor, and, for the first time, she heard the sound she never thought she’d hear.A firstborn screamed.Helena’s breath hitched.She could kill them.And if she coul
Episode 216: The Ah Which Ends Worlds
A Throne of Lies, A War of TruthHelena’s breath was quick and brittle, her heart pounding against her rib cage.The Hollow King knelt before her.Not as an enemy.Not as a monster.But as a warrior awaiting a response.The gods had walked the earth before her, and the earth had been their altar. They stood behind their King, all soulless eyes on her, waiting for her to make a choice.And in the distance.Something else was coming.Something worse.Cain moaned next her, spitting blood from his mouth. “Well,” he muttered, “this complicated fast.”Helena barely heard him.Because she wasn’t looking at Cain.The throne of the Hollowed, upthrust from the ruins, split reality like a jagged wound.It was waiting for her.And deep inside, she knew.If she did that, if she chose the Hollowed, there could be no undoing it.She would not only be battling the Firstborn.She would be waging war on the very gods themselves.And it was a war no one had ever won.The Hollow King’s voice was gentle,
