Utopian System

Pure horror flooded Elio's face when he felt the strength in Zahyla's arms begin to increase. It wasn't the fixed power she had with Diana.

It was something new.

She could use active force.

Zahyla's eyes gleamed with delight at seeing the understanding in his face. "Can you feel it? This body... it's not just compatible. It's perfect. And now..." her muscles tensed even more, "I have an extra active."

Zala A?th$%#n Guthrand (Divine Metamorphosis)

Level 100 (19)

Skills:

??%?#??

Divine Cursed Soul (6/10)

Divine Elemental Magic (Wind, Fire, Water and Ground)

Chemical Magic (lvl 19)

Mana: 1900/1900

Resistance: 1,900,000/1,900,000

Stamina: 190/190

Attack: 1900

Magic Damage: 1900

Strength: 380 (A)

Defense: 1900

Magic Defense: 1900

Speed: 380

Perception / Agility: 3.8 (A)

Zahyla's smile was triumphant as she pressed her advantage against Elio, whose resistance was dangerously low after the entire battle.

"You know what's best?" she whispered with Zara's voice, but the tone was all Zahyla. "No matter how far they run, no matter where they hide..." Her muscles tensed as she forced Elio against the ground. "I just need to kill you and it all ends. IT FINALLY ENDS!"

Elio's strength began to falter. Without resistance to burn, his muscles could no longer keep pace against Zahyla's active. His arms trembled as she applied more and more pressure.

With a brutal movement, Zahyla managed to free one of her hands. Metal responded instantly to her call, condensing into a sharp stake. There were no iron or carbon summons to stop her now, nothing to prevent her total control over the element.

"It's over!" she screamed as the stake descended toward Elio's head, already just millimeters from his face...

And it stopped.

Centimeters from its target, the stake froze in the air. Zahyla's eyes widened with confusion and then fury as she tried to force the movement.

"What...?" she growled, every muscle in her body trembling with effort. "MOVE!"

But the hand wouldn't respond. The stake remained suspended, shaking, centimeters from Elio's face.

Magnetic control?

No...

"DAMN IT!" Zahyla roared with frustration, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't force the arm to complete the fatal movement.

Somewhere, deep in the body she had taken, something, someone, was resisting.

The moment of confusion was all Elio needed. His fist connected with Zahyla's jaw with devastating force, sending her flying backward. The metal stake fell to the ground.

Zahyla rose, pure fury burning in her eyes.

For the first time in millennia, something, someone, was stronger than her will.

♢♢♢♢

Zahyla roared in frustration while trying to force Zara's body to attack.

Her fingers moved to launch elemental magic, but stopped halfway, as if an invisible force pulled them back. The sword in her hands trembled, refusing to cut, to penetrate, to harm.

"WHAT IS THIS?!" she screamed, her voice mixing rage and confusion.

Every offensive movement felt like trying to inject poison, an instinctive, primordial resistance that not even her millennial will could overcome.

It was as if every cell in Zara's body rebelled against the idea of harming Elio. It wasn't a conscious decision, wasn't an active fight, it was something deeper, more fundamental.

Like trying to force the heart to stop beating.

Elio watched, his own mana completely exhausted. The sword weighed in his hands while he staggered, trying to maintain a combat stance. He took a step forward, preparing to attack...

And then he saw her.

Not Zahyla in Zara's body.

He saw Zara.

He saw the girl he had known in community school, determined to be a warrior despite all obstacles. He saw the woman who had fought by his side. He saw his companion, his confidante, his love. Your journey continues with empire

The sword fell from his hands as his knees hit the ground.

"I can't," he whispered, tears running down his cheeks. "Not against you."

Zahyla tried to seize the moment, ordering the body to attack the vulnerable target. But every muscle refused to move. It was as if the body itself knew something she couldn't understand, that harming Elio was not what she wanted.

They remained like that, two figures frozen in a moment of mutual surrender.

Zahyla, for the first time in her eternal existence, completely powerless against something she couldn't fight or control. And Elio, the undying warrior, was defeated not by force or magic, but by the simple fact that he couldn't raise his sword against the woman he loved.

♢♢♢♢

While Zara's body wouldn't allow her to use violence against Elio, Zala understood there were other ways. If she couldn't kill him with her own hands, she would find a place where circumstances would let her.

She approached slowly, each step measured, precise. Her arms opened in a gesture that seemed like surrender.

"If I can't fight against you," she whispered with Zara's voice, "then at least let me embrace you."

Elio, still on his knees, raised his gaze. His eyes met hers, now a disturbing mixture of Zara's warm eyes and Zahyla's supernatural cold ones. For a moment, he could see both of them fighting in that gaze.

He offered no resistance when she enveloped him in her arms.

How could he?

Even knowing it was Zala who controlled the body, the warmth was Zara's, the scent was Zara's, the sensation was that of the dozens of embraces they had shared before.

That's when he felt the impulse.

They rose.

Zala's arms tensed around him like steel bands. The ground disappeared beneath their feet as she lifted them with brutal power.

"The tenth ring," she whispered in his ear as they passed through the hole in the chamber's ceiling.

"At last I'll be able to end this cursed game…"

Locus and Dipterus tried to approach, attracted by Elio, but Zala brushed them aside with contempt. They were annoying insects trying to steal her prey, nothing more.

"The queen's chamber," she murmured as they continued their vertiginous ascent. "There must be something there, some potion, some artifact in that statue that can eliminate this... weird resistance."