Killed Me? Now I Have Your Power

Fokay – Glacier of the Moon

Two months had passed, and today would mark the end of Meris's evolution quest.

She was standing in front of a young man—tied down by tight blue ropes to the crystal tree that stood at the center of the forbidden land, his body shivering as if the frost had claimed even the light in his soul.

His skin was a pale blue, but it was obvious that it wasn't his natural complexion, it looked more like his entire insides had been frozen, so deeply and completely that the icy veins were now visible from the outside like cursed branches of a winter-struck tree.

Sharp, ragged breaths escaped his lips in slow white wisps, each exhale releasing a cold mist that danced in the air, showing that he was still alive… barely.

The young man was none other than Ravin Blueheart, heir of the Blueheart family, and the same fool who once dared to speak about placing Meris beneath him.

A daring thought, really.

Because Meris—no matter how excited, mischievous, or unserious she acted—was no fool.

She was born into beauty and power, into a bloodline that demanded perfection, and she had grown used to the eyes of men who looked at her not with admiration but with possession, as if she were a trophy they could one day display, proof of their worth, validation of their pride, a prize to flaunt but not a person to love.

It was disgusting, truly, to be treated as an object dressed in skin.

And maybe that's why she had been so drawn to Kaden the moment she met him.

Because Kaden… he didn't care.

He didn't care about her beauty, her curves, her legacy, or even her existence.

Hell, he barely looked at her.

And that hit Meris harder than anything ever had—so much that her heart wouldn't stop beating that day, too fast and too hard and too loud, just because a man finally existed who didn't see her as something to obtain, to use, to tame.

And you've heard about how to capture the attention of a woman, haven't you?

Just be different.

Say something they've never heard. Do something they've never seen. Be bold, yes—but not foolish—controlled, intelligent, calculated.

But for Kaden, there was no need for any of that.

All he needed to do was show indifference to a girl who had grown used to adoration and just like that, he succeeded.

Since that day, for Meris, Kaden became the ultimate one.

Her man.

And for him, she would do anything.

Even if it meant becoming the most heartless being in both worlds.

But that wasn't the subject now, was it?

The subject was the fate of Ravin and let's be honest, his fate was obvious.

Death.

But the real question was, what kind of death?

The most horrible one Meris could currently offer.

A death by slow freezing from the inside out.

Blood. Organs. Intestines. Cells. Brain. Muscles. Everything frozen little by little until even the soul couldn't scream anymore.

"Y-You'll regret this… my f-father will kill you," Ravin spat weakly, his teeth chattering, eyes locked on Meris and Lari behind her with so much hatred it looked like it could pierce skin… well, if only hatred had weight.

But hatred alone couldn't kill. Not his, anyway.

"Kill me?" Meris asked as she crouched down slowly, her face just inches from his frozen, pale one, her silver eyes locked on his.

"Kill me? Me? Meris Elamin?" she repeated, her voice calm, cold, her tone almost amused before her lips curled into an empty, lifeless smile.

"What a fool… you seem to forget who I am just because I don't act like it."

"I'm the Heiress of Elamin, the Ones blessed by the Elements."

"Do you think your puny family can kill me? What a load of bullshit."

She looked at him with disgust, pure and refined, before shaking her head.

A waste of breath.

She lifted her palm slowly, and frost began to gather just above it soon petals, light and delicate, began forming mid-air in an intricate, breathtaking design until a blue lotus appeared, floating like a sacred relic.

An ice lotus.

She moved her hand, slowly but deliberately, and the lotus drifted forward like a silent death.

"In your next life, learn how to lower your gaze when you look at another man's woman, okay?" Meris whispered, just as the lotus entered Ravin's chest, slipping inside with ghostly precision.

His eyes widened in panic and agony, but no scream followed.

His vocal cords had frozen.

Seconds later, his entire body followed—organs, brain, blood, soul.

Ravin Blueheart died in silence.

Pathetically.

The moment he died—

{You have completed your evolution quest.}

The Will's voice echoed in her ears.

Meris didn't smile.

She turned instead toward the core zone of the Glacier of the Moon, sensing something calling to her.

Something deep.

Something ancient.

Something… important.

And that feeling didn't begin now. It started the very moment she succeeded in creating the base of her technique.

She hesitated, considering the risk, but eventually,

"Let's go back and prepare more. Anyway, I'll spawn here again, so no need to worry," she said at last.

"As you will, my lady," Lari responded, and with that, Meris vanished from Fokay.

Lari remained for a moment, glancing once at Ravin's corpse frozen in grotesque silence.

She shook her head.

"I don't know if young master Kaden is lucky or unlucky at this point…" she muttered softly before disappearing as well.

…

Meris wasn't the only one to finish her evolution quest.

In a hidden part of the Graveyard of Monsters, Inara lay on the cold earth, staring at the black and starless sky above.

Her quest had been hell.

All the graves here belonged to monsters, creatures her master once controlled.

And as part of her evolution, her task was clear.

Revive three monsters of her choice, by any means necessary.

Revive monsters…

Even now, it sounded like madness.

She tried countless methods like rituals, spells, and all but nothing worked.

Until she remembered.

She could create monsters from scratch, from her own blood.

Wasn't that harder than reviving ones that already existed?

So she tried again.

She didn't use her blood to create something new—but to reconstruct what once was.

Cells. Organs. Bones. Tissue.

Piece by piece.

But for that, she had to understand them.

Know them.

Meaning she had to read.

And she hated reading.

But she forced herself, grinding through page after page of her master's monster compendium—memorizing traits, tendencies, behaviors, weaknesses.

Two months passed.

And in the end, she did it.

She revived them.

A two-headed wolf crackling with lightning.

A skeletal bird with blue flames in its eye sockets.

And a small green snake, coiled and deadly.

{You have completed your evolution quest.}

{The monsters are now yours.}

The Will declared.

And without wasting another second, Inara returned to Darklore.

Not as the weak, lonely snake princess.

But as the Heiress of the Mother of Monsters.

—End of Chapter 128—