Walking past the stunned Lloyd, Veronica snapped her fingers and instantly gathered the blood mist into a small red crystal that she swiftly stashed into her storage dimension.
There was no doubt the woman who had saved him was Veronica. She had the same aura, face, and abilities as the Veronica he knew, yet something was different.
"Veronica?!"
"Where have you been!?"
Several voices entered Lloyd's ears, yet he couldn't hear any of them. The most he could do was acknowledge their presence, but he was too busy looking at Veronica.
However, unlike Lloyd, the others were quick to acknowledge his presence.
"Veronica, watch out for him." Rex sneered while glaring at Lloyd.
"Why?" Veronica tilted her head innocently.
"He's a void walker." Hime practically growled while holding one of her bleeding arms that seemed to have lost all muscle strength to move even an inch.
While Tina held her tongue, if Lloyd were to look into her eyes, he would have seen the amount of betrayal she felt. She didn't know if any of what Lloyd had said was real anymore.
What if everything he said was a manipulation tactic for him to get closer to her.
What were his intentions in befriending her in the first place?
Slowly but surely, the development she had made, and the outgoing personality she had created over time, were all beginning to crumble and collapse like a dying star.
"I know." Veronica smiled while Lloyd's eyes widened in shock.
"What?" Rex practically shouted.
"I know. I always knew. From the moment you and Roderick brought him in, I knew he was a void walker." Veronica replied before placing her hands behind her back.
She was oddly calm, and the smile on her face felt different. It was no longer bright and warm like the sun.
It was a smile, but it felt cold and distant.
As if it was nothing but a reflex.
An unmovable mask.
Unlike the usual black and red armor she wore, she wore light red armor under a long black trench coat that oddly resembled the one Lloyd wore.
"You knew what he was this whole time, and you didn't tell us?!" Hime asked with suppressed rage.
"Yeah. Anyway, where are the rest?" Veronica asked while looking around.
"Dead..." Tina mumbled, yet everyone heard her clearly.
"That's too bad." Veronica shrugged.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"That's too bad? THAT'S TOO BAD!? THEY DIED BECAUSE YOU WEREN'T HERE! BECAUSE OF YOU AND THAT MONSTER BEHIND YOU THAT YOU WERE HIDING!" Hime roared, yet she quickly winced as unbearable pain shot through every inch of her body, yet the tears that came out of her tears were not those of pain but those of grief.
Veronica watched the scene coldly, yet she did not react despite one of her friends weeping on the ground.
"Veronica..." Lloyd finally spoke after throwing the thought of grabbing Felix on the way out to the back of his mind since they would be forced out soon enough.
"Yes, Lloyd?"
"I assume this is what he meant... You did this, didn't you..." Lloyd asked before raising his void rune-covered blade at Veronica as Null's voice echoed within his mind.
It took less than a second for Lloyd's rage, grief, and pain to fuel his killing intent to its maximum output, and within the same instant, all the remaining void energy shot down from the sky toward Lloyd in the form of an enormous purple beam of light.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Veronica smiled as her coat flapped in the wind while her blood-red eyes pierced through the purple light and stared right into Lloyd's eyes.
"You set this all up...
The boss monster was never supposed to be that strong.
You were never strong enough to erase someone an entire foot in the amethyst seal." Lloyd gritted his teeth as void energy pooled into his body.
"Is that what you think?" Veronica asked, her voice calm.
Lloyd knew he was being reckless. She easily killed a creature that could defeat the entire team, and since she had killed it when it had regained its peak strength, that made her far stronger than all of them combined.
Yet, Lloyd couldn't control himself. Unlike the rest of the team, he was just a 17-year-old who had lost two people he had grown close with through battles that stretched the lines between life and death. He had no idea if Felix was even alive anymore.
He was trying to keep his focus on the battle, yet he failed to end it.
His secret was out, and his entire team hated him, even Tina. He would most likely be executed when they leave the dungeon, and his family and friends will be killed or exiled for harboring a void walker despite it being unknowingly.
He was angry. He was grieving. And for all he knew, his family could be in danger because of him! Because he failed to end the monster. Because he made the wrong decision.
So when he realized what Null meant by his words, it all came out in the form of unbounded rage.
"You're the reason my family is in danger.... You're the reason Lachlan and Roderick are dead!" Lloyd roared as she shot forward with a pitch-black blade in his hand that he began to swing wildly.
However, despite seeing Lloyd coming toward her, Veronica didn't retaliate. She simply dodged the wild attacks with a sympathetic smile on her face.
She didn't speak, but she didn't have to. Lloyd felt her eyes mock him. Mock his humanity.
'Look at you. So pathetic.' Null spat.
The others were confused and trying to comprehend what was happening, yet Hime was surprisingly the first to start moving out of the three.
Despite her injuries, Hime was quick to ignite the same bloodlusted form she had used earlier as she sped across the grass field and attacked Veronica with everything she had.
However, unlike her treatment of Lloyd, Veronica wasn't as merciful when it came to anyone else.
Without hesitation, Veronica reached out her hand and grabbed Hime by the face before slamming her into the ground without a hint of hesitation.
Looking toward the incoming pitch-black blade, Veronica disappeared into thin air and appeared behind Lloyd as, her hands tightly wrapped around Lloyd's wrists.
Despite using all his strength, Lloyd couldn't budge an inch. Even the void energy shooting down from the sky barely burned her skin.
Of course, it was clear that the energy was doing damage, yet it was nothing compared to her vampiric regeneration speed, which seemed to work even under the stress of voice energy.
"Lloyd, I need you to calm down. I didn't kill any of them." Veronica tried to reason, yet Lloyd was having none of it.
[Aspect of Void + Flame Control
Hundreds, if not thousands, of purple balls of flames swirled in the sky above them both.
"Get... OFF ME!" Lloyd roared as the sky rumbled before several violet flame bullets shot toward Veronica while creating loud mind-rattling bangs in their wake.
*BANG*
*BANG*
*BANG*
Hundreds of shots were fired in rapid succession, yet Veronica didn't move an inch. The flame bullets were like flies to her that didn't even penetrate her coat.
Lloyd couldn't believe it. No matter how much he tried, he couldn't break free of Veronica's grip. It was as if his hands had been molded inside the densest and strongest metals of a dwarf star, making him completely incapable of moving his hands.
"Do you see them? Look at your so-called teammates." Veronica whispered while forcefully turning Lloyd toward Hime, Tina, and Rex.
"Look at their faces. Do you see their expressions?" She asked, but Lloyd closed his eyes and tried to turn his head away.
However-
[Blood control]
Spraying blood onto Lloyd's face, Veronica quickly used [Blood Control] to control the movements of his facial muscles.
His head refused to heed his commands, and despite his struggles, he was forced to look upon the disgusted and hateful expressions they held toward him.
With all the willpower Lloyd could muster, he clenched his jaw and barely closed his eyes, yet the scene was deeply imprinted into his mind. No matter how hard he tried to look past their looks of disgust and hate, now that he was forced to confront them, he felt as if he was being eaten from the inside out.
' "Do you see it?" '
Veronica and Null asked at the same time.
' "You can, can't you?" '
"Shut up..." Lloyd cried out.
"They hate you. These lessers you are trying to protect and the lessers you lost on your journey up to this point, none of them care about you. Look at the way they look at you as you struggle. As you try to protect them. They haven't moved a single muscle to help you." Veronica spoke, her voice filled with sympathy.
Yet, her voice felt warm and familiar. It was the voice she used when she nursed him back to health after their training sessions. It was the voice that gave him comfort and warmed his heart.
And it was the voice that made him slowly fall for her.
"S-Shut up... Please, shut up!" Lloyd pleaded, his eyes slowly and almost unnoticeably becoming dimmer... Becoming more distant. As if his soul was darkening, the human side he had been clinging onto for so long slowly coming untethered.
"They can't accept you for who you are, but I can. I can accept the void walker side of you, if you can accept the vampire side of me." Veronica turned Lloyd toward her and looked him directly in the eyes.
"You and me, we are different. We are superior. We aren't like these humans and lesser beings. We are people with power. We can change the universe!" Veronica smiled warmly.
"I am not the one who killed your so-called friends, Lloyd. You did. The lesser side of you did." She leaned in closer, to the point where Lloyd could feel her breath on his skin.
'Erase your humanity.'
"Because that lesser side of you makes you weak." she leaned forward and landed a deep kiss on Lloyd's lips. A kiss that made his problems subtly fade into the background while.
The grief and anger, it all disappeared.
And slowly, Lloyd stopped struggling until Veronica didn't have to hold his arms anymore.
"That's it. Just relax. I'll make this easy." She muttered after moving back a little to look into his dull, almost lifeless purple eyes.
[Void Walker Style]
Purple runes slowly moved up Lloyd's right arm before his pale white skin turned obision black.
Slowly raising his arm, Lloyd muttered-
[Star-Collapsing Fist]
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