Chains Of Pride

Rikona's voice boomed and spread out for miles, the volume amplified many times over under the augmentation of her power.

Her face no longer that of the calm, collected Talium who led the others over seeking liberation. the bronze glow in her eyes did a poor job of hiding bloodshot red under its surface.

Anger now shaped Rikona, while fury ran through her veins and madness possessed every cell. The now floating Machyal edged closer to her so much so that their noses nearly touched. Her gaze was piercing, it was almost as if he could feel the pain in his eyes, he tried to no avail to look away.

"You and your kind are a virus upon this planet, a plague upon these plains! You find a higher being, and instead of seeking enlightenment, you create shackles and locks to bring it to your level!" Her voice was loud and cold, Machyal began trembling.

The pressure that Rikona let loose was no joke. Barring the Taliums, most, if not all the humans there were already bleeding out, being crushed under the weight of her power, the scene was extremely grotesque.

"W-What about you? You inherently believe y-yourself…urkh!…t-to be better than the rest of us. With this kind of power, you must think yourself a G-God. Ha! A higher being? Don't make me laugh!" Machyal was furious himself, to think there was a race that drank in the power that came from pride!

"Ignoble ones such as you and the rest of your kind should be lucky to kiss the ground upon which I walk," Rikona spoke with no reserve. The scene of the Talium that died in front of her while they were attempting to give her the freedom she deserved flipped a switch in Rikona.

She was losing herself in her pride, 'The Fall' was upon her. If Rikona doesn't recover herself, then when she falls into the abyss, she would be forever lost.

"M-Master Rikona, y-you're hurting your c-comrades," a soft voice eventually made its way into Rikona's ears.

She turned her head to the side where she saw Yang Min, Numani and the rest of the Taliums who accompanied her to the surveillance room. Rikona only looked at them for a moment, the red in her eyes under the bronze glow flickered for but a moment, before she started to sway.

"I- Ugh!! No, no I- kuh!!"

Suddenly, however, the bronze radiance intensified. It was practically golden if seen from afar. Rikona held her head, her expression was one of pain, the pressure that she levied upon everyone lightened a bit, but only by the slightest integer.

"F-Fight it! Kura always l-looked up to you, I-I always looked up to y-you." The one who spoke this time was Numani, the fear that gripped her was evident by the tears that even now continued to fall.

"S-She's right Lady Rikona, w-we followed you b-because you c-cared for us!"

"T-This isn't you! W-Whatever's happening, f-fight it!"

One by one, the Taliums that followed her began calling out to her. Begging Rikona to turn back to her former self.

This didn't last long, as the pressure assumed its previous stance and came crashing down onto everyone once again. In fact, it was even stronger than it was before!

"Argh!!! Aa-" The lanky bodied base head was crushed into a meat paste, his screams of pain cut short.

Nearly everyone that heard it and saw it was scared to tears. The sounds of bones creaking and some breaking could be heard, such was the weight of Rikona's power, and it continued to rise while she continued to fall.

Though she was slightly shaken when she heard and saw Yang Min, the inherent nature of her power brought only dragged her lower in its grip. This was a power that would drive you to madness should you not be worthy to wield it.

When she reclaimed her prior calm, the coldness that she exuded was incomparable to before. She stared at them once more, there was no fluctuation to be seen this time around. She simply opened her mouth and uttered.

"…So weak."

Rikona only spared them a few words that stunned them all and stripped them of any hope that she was able to recover. She turned her attention to the remaining humans and began to kill them one by one.

"Aaahhhh!!"

Their screams filled the air, one by one, they were being crushed into a pulp. A mass of mangled flesh, blood, and bones was the end result as she focused the weight of her energy upon them.

She didn't even need to use the utilise the attacking aspect of her power, just brandishing it was enough to end them all.

…

Whoosh!!

"C'mon faster, faster!!!" Kura was whistling through the air as she headed to where Rikona was. The compound was much bigger now that they were here to see it themselves. Now when she felt the rising aura of her sister, she had to spend so much time to arrive.

"Hold on, sis! If it's what I think it is, then you better not lose yourself, you're supposed to be the bigger sister damn it! Always making me worry about you, that's supposed to be your job!" She turned silent as she shouted this, continuing on her way.

…

"Damn you!! I-I knew it, a-all of you are the same!!" Machyal was livid when he saw that all the men were killed. Rikona didn't kill him yet, of course, she was saving him for last, and he knew it.

"Quiet down and watch, to think you wanted to control me, the very notion of it is laughable, hahaha." She laughed as she spoke, he was no more than a joke to her at this point.

However, when she remembered about his prior attempts to catch her, Rikona turned her gaze over to the Taliums under the association's control. She hovered to them, passing over Yang Min and the others.

"You can f-forget about getting me to r-release them. Y-you can only do that by inputting a quadruple bypass e-encryption key, and o-only the higher-ups at HQ have access to those, and it's unique for e-each controller." Machyal thought she was maybe bringing him over to use him to safely free them. Oh, how wrong he was.

"Whoever said anything about getting you to release them? Don't assume things on your own." Rikona expressionlessly replied to him.

Machyal's expression turned to one of confusion, he had no idea what she was planning to do then if not release them.

Numani and Yang Min, along with the rest, managed to turn their heads with great effort to see what was happening. Did she figure out how to free them? Was she finally turning back? They were not sure what was happening themselves, they were not yet awakened, so they didn't draw from their Blood Origin for this knowledge, of the Fall, hence, they were greatly confused.

The only one aware was Yang Min, and that was only because she was there for the meeting. They were planning to tell all the other Taliums within due time. They wanted them to learn to curb themselves so that something like this didn't catch them off guard.

When Rikona finally arrived in front of them, she could see the blank look in their eyes. They were awake, but nobody's home. She sneered in disdain as she looked upon them. She stretched out her hand, compelling Perennial's Mechanism's gears to begin revolving.

"W-Wait, what are you d-doing?! I thought you wanted to save them!" Machyal knew that her moving that accursed…thing, to start manoeuvring was in no way intended to save them. He didn't want them killed, they were still useful to the association.

"Within their dead eyes, I don't see the brilliance of a Talium, they were weak to have even been brought down low by the likes of you. So I'll give them the honour of being freed from this insipid life."

"Y-You're mad!"

She only flashed a smile when she heard this. Machyal's eyes widened in shock as he watched Rikona prepare to kill the very ones she came here to save.

Boom!!

A massive explosion rippled out that tore out the side of the building they were in. Not long after a voice filled with incomparable worry echoed out

"Rikona stop!!"