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"Why are you here?"
As Candra had expected, Dante didn't waste a single breath on pleasantries. He went straight to the point like a blade going for a throat.
She gave a long glance. "Don't awaken him."
"Aren't you scheming to get rid of him?"
Candra's smile thinned. He already knew about her intentions. She found herself wondering exactly how much her son understood about the affairs of the Externals and how he got his hands on the information. Perhaps Selene had loosened her tongue under his charm, or… a far more dreadful situation had happened. Selene, the thousands of years old witch, had been tortured into revealing everything.
She let her gaze drift to Emma's cold face, then back to him. "You can't handle him, Dante. Apocalypse isn't some street thug or a half-rate sorcerer. He is nothing you have ever faced."
"Oh, tell me about it."
His sarcastic tone made her sigh. He was still young; he still didn't know the vast world beyond the well.
"En Sabah Nur's armor is near-impenetrable, that is forged by Celestials, not us mortals. He wields celestial energy as easily as you breathe. And he can't die as long as the Externals are here. You're outmatched and outclassed in every way."
Dante seemed annoyed by her assessment. Those were the eyes of a man who very much wished she would evaporate, and that expression felt like a dagger to her chest.
"Well, Candra," he said. "Even if I can't handle him, I'll set back his recovery by a few decades at the very least. Is that a bad outcome for you?"
Her fists clenched at her sides. "No matter how strange our situation may be, you are my son. I still have the right to care about you."
"I think you meant to say 'I still have the right to use you as a tool.'"
"If that was the case," Candra said, letting her voice be emotional. "I wouldn't be here stopping you."
"You really care about me." He raised an eyebrow, utterly unmoved. "How touching."
"That's heartless, son," Candra whispered. "You're so cruel."
He turned away, dismissing her as easily as one might wave off a fly. "Emma, let's go take a look at that ship."
Emma gave Candra one more glance then followed Dante. "God I hope it's not rigged with traps. I'd hate to break something this ancient."
"Wait!" Candra called out to them, but neither of them slowed down for her. And so the Benefactress of the Thieves Guild was forced to teleport in their path, spreading her arms wide to block their advance. "You can't."
Emma's brow twitched. She was losing her patience. "Can you stop bothering us like a pest?"
"Living for several centuries," Candra said, lifting her chin with shameless dignity. "Tends to wear away one's sense of embarrassment. You'll understand in a hundred years or so. If you can last that long."
"I can see that happening," Emma muttered, looking at Dante. "You won't let me die, right?"
It seemed like Dante was exercising tremendous self-control—the control required not to throw his mother across the room. The worst part was that Candra knew she had nothing to stop him if he wanted to try. Without her gem, she was a shadow of her past self, a candle compared to a bonfire.
Whoever had stolen that gem was going to learn the meaning of suffering. She would personally torture that person until they had nothing but pain on their mind.
"Dante, listen to—" The words froze in her throat as she found herself gripped by an invisible force that knew all too well—Telekinesis. She was lifted in the air. "Emma, you know telekinesis?"
Emma shrugged. "Oh, aunty. That's all him. He's full of little surprises, isn't he?"
Candra twisted in the air, her red dress fluttering with her movement. "When did you learn telekinesis?"
"Before you were born."
Even now, he was messing with her. She had the urge to free herself with her own telekinesis, but she crushed that thought instantly. Without her gem, she had limited instances to use her powers. The moment she exceeded her limit, she would collapse into a recovery period, helpless and powerless, for who knew how long. Being powerless in the tomb of Apocalypse was a death sentence.
So she did the only sensible thing. She hung there in the air while her dignity was in tatters. "This is humiliating, Dante. This is no way to treat your mother!"
He ignored her complaints and carried her all the way to the great door even as she kicked the empty air. Only there did the invisible grip release her, allowing her to land on her own feet with as much grace as she could salvage.
She smoothened her dress. "Dante!"
To her dismay, he was already approaching the colossal ship.
The vessel stirred as he drew near. Lights flickered to life across its surface, then a voice announced:
"INTRUDER DETECTED! ADMINISTRATOR MUST BE AWAKENED! AWAKENING PROTOCOL INITIATED!"
Candra's face turned pale. The very thing she had feared was sliding into motion. With a hiss, a seam split open along the ship's front and a staircase unfolded downward. Each step locked into place with a heavy clang, steam came rolling out and swallowed the descending stairs. From within that pale shroud, a giant silhouette began to descend slowly, each step echoing through the vast area.
His glowing blue eyes swept over the chamber, taking in the intruders in his sacred resting place. "Candra, how dare you lead vermin to my resting place. Did you not learn your lesson the last time?"
Candra's mouth went dry at the humiliating words. But centuries of survival kicked in before anger could affect her. She spread her hands with a friendly grin. "En Sabah Nur, this is a misunderstanding, I assure you. These people are common tomb raiders who came sniffing after rumors of treasure. I'm here to stop them from disturbing your slumber."
It was a desperate gamble to shrink Dante into something beneath Apocalypse's notice.
"Then why are they still alive?" Apocalypse asked in a deep voice. "And what happened to Ozymandias?"
Candra lowered her head, the very picture of a loyal subject. "There's no need to trouble yourself over the Old Prophet. He is busy carving prophecies. You return to your rest. I'll see these fools dealt with."
Apocalypse didn't accept her request. Instead, he narrowed his gaze on Dante. "This one is no thief. I sense a radiant solar energy from him. I haven't felt power so raw in a thousand years."
"He isn't a mutant, Apocalypse," Candra quickly said. "He doesn't deserve to be on the same level as us."
The Tyrant's lips curled into a grin. "It doesn't matter, Candra. I shall forgive your trespass for you have brought me a gift. This warrior is fit to kneel as one of my Horsemen."
Candra clenched her fists. "Ozymandias will prepare better candidates for you."
Apocalypse shook his head. "I have made up my mind. He will be my first Horseman for this new age."
Candra wanted to curse the heavens for her dastardly luck. This was the worst possible outcome. The child she'd been robbed of, the boy who'd grown into a miracle without her… the thought of him being made into this monster's plaything made her want to march up and punch Apocalypse in the face.
But she was powerless to do that.
Even if she had her gem, she couldn't match the most durable mutant ever to walk on this planet. The helplessness felt bitter on her tongue.
From the corner of her eyes, she noticed Dante was completely ignoring Apocalypse. Instead, he was looking at her with a faint surprise in his eyes.
'He noticed.'
She had debased herself and thrown away her dignity, all to keep him out of harm's way. He might be thinking of it as her way to manipulate the situation to gain his favor, but that was far from the case. Within Candra, there was maternal love buried under all those centuries of scheming. Even she couldn't be heartless to her own child.
Emma tugged sharply at Dante's arm, utterly unimpressed by the looming king. "Darling, that large gentleman over there is monologuing at you."
"Oh, right." Dante turned back to Apocalypse as though noticing him for the first time. "You want me to be your henchman? Just so you know I'm in very high demand these days."
"Henchman is a crude word, little one. You shall be my Horseman of Death. My warrior who will conquer this world by my side."
Dante looked unimpressed. "I wouldn't mind, but are you worthy of giving me orders?"
Apocalypse's face darkened. He stepped closer, glaring down at Dante with a menacing gaze. "Insolent whelp. I am the first mutant. The High Lord, the survivor of a hundred ages, the culler of the weak, the Eternal One."
Dante handed Sharon to Emma as Apocalypse rambled about his glorious titles.
"I am EN SABAH N—"
Candra saw only a blur where her son had been standing before a thunderclap rumbled through the chamber. Apocalypse, the Immortal Tyrant, sailed backward through the air and crashed into the hull of his own ancient ship with a deafening crunch as the ship's metal buckled under the impact. A shockwave rolled out and shook the entire underground complex as dust and stone rained from the ceiling.
'He is strong.'
But in Candra's eyes, this monstrous physical strength wasn't enough. There wasn't a scratch on Apocalypse, partly his own durability and partly Celestial Armor protecting him. This was the single greatest reason he was the hardest mutant on the planet to kill. And even if one did somehow kill him, Apocalypse would return because he was an External. No one in history had managed to put Apocalypse down and retained the strength to hunt the remaining Externals within a short period of time. It simply wasn't possible.
That was the reason Candra had never acted upon her killing intent.
However, what happened next made her question everything in life.
She saw Dante standing on Apocalypse, his right foot planted on the Tyrant's chest. And resting on his shoulder, held loose in one hand, was a giant scythe. Its blade was shrouded in a squirming dark aura. Just a glance at the mystical scythe left Candra trembling in fear.
This scythe wasn't magic or mutant power. It was something far more ancient, something that didn't belong in the world of living. It was so powerful that it had utterly paralyzed Apocalypse. Otherwise, Apocalypse wouldn't have allowed even a god to humiliate him as such.
"The Eternal One," Dante said. "An eternal goodnight to you."
Dante swung the scythe down, and the blade passed through the Celestial Armor like it was an illusion. Candra clearly felt the impact in her psyche. The thread that had connected her to Apocalypse and other Externals ever since she had been awakened as one—the link between her and Apocalypse was completely severed.
The Immortal Tyrant, who had refused to die for thousands of years, had died.
***
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