Kruun's throne room was filled to the brim with guards, servants, anything and anyone that the Breakworld's Powerlord demanded in his presence was there. He sat at the front of the room, overlooking his people with an expression as smug as anyone who'd recently avoided the destruction of his planet – and took all the credit for it. Their lives had gone back to normal, especially now that Aghanne and her people had been disposed of. This was a typical day for them – and that's exactly what made it even more shocking when a bluish-white light ignited on the floor at the center of the room, flaring up the split second before it burned outward into a larger circle. From the shining abyss arose Illyana, clad in a black robe, horns protruding from beneath her hood and a red, pointed tail lashing the air behind her. On her shoulder, Lockheed was perched menacingly. Her hood cast her face in shadow, but her eyes glowed an unforgiving reddish-orange that illuminated the devilish look on her face.
The grin of a woman pushed too far. Bloodthirsty. Unforgiving. A woman who wanted revenge and intended to get it. A woman the Breakworlders were all too familiar with.
The Breakworlders immediately went on the offensive, weapons raised and trained right on her, but it didn't faze her. She brought her fist up to cover her heart and in one swift motion, she drew her Soulsword from her chest. The weapon's strange glow flowed eerily from the blade like fog rolling off dry ice and she gripped the hilt tightly in her hand.
"You," The word was little more than a deep growl from the bottom of Kruun's throat. Good. He remembered her. She stayed silent as she took a step towards him, disregarding the guards that stepped forward to surround her.
"KILL HER!" The Powerlord bellowed, his voice carrying through the large throne room. Immediately, a roar of laser gunfire exploded from all around her. Their efforts were in vain, however, because a ring of brilliantly glowing, vertical portals opened around her instantaneously with another ring of them surrounded her attackers. They swallowed the "bullets" and instead shot them right back at the Breakworld soldiers, taking each and every one of them out with their own weapons.
Once the portals had closed and the guards collapsed, Lockheed tore off of Illyana's shoulder. With a powerful exhale, the small dragon blew out a wall of fire strong enough to scorch the entire next wave, discouraging them from coming any closer. A particularly brave, armored Breakworlder rushed the sorceress from the front, but unfortunately for him, she was faster. A blue orb formed in her palm and when he came within arms length, she thrust her hand against his chest. Upon impact, a beam of magickal energy tore through his body and out his back with a spray of blood, destroying a portion of the ceiling before it dissipated completely. The debris rained down onto another group of Kruun's soldiers, burying them beneath it.
A group of armored soldiers, what Illyana could only imagine are the Breakworld's version of a kingsguard, closed in around Kruun. He stood from his throne with a smirk and all she could think about was ripping his lips from his face and watching him try to scream as he choked on his own blood. With an inhuman growl, Magik lurched forward. Her sharp talons hooked into the first guard's neck, ripping across and completely shredding his throat. He collapsed to the floor, a pool of his own blood forming beneath his body. The second faced the same fate after she gouged out his eyes. The rest were taken out swiftly with her Soulsword as she moved between them quickly and fluidly like a dancer would move to a beat.
Now, nothing stood between her and her vengeance against Kruun.
"You've come to finish your job?" He asked, unrelenting in his arrogance.
"No," she replied coolly, a wicked grin spreading across her lips that did nothing to reflect the rage that burned within her gut. She craned her head to the side as Lockheed landed back on her shoulder, his beady eyed stare baring down on Kruun, "only you."
The Powerlord reached for the gun of one of his dead soldiers but before he could get his hand on it, Illyana's Soulsword sliced through his arm, chopping it off at his elbow. Kruun reared back, howling in pain even as she shoved him back down into the seat of his throne. She locked gazes with Lockheed and with a quick arch of her eyebrow, he flew from her shoulder and breathed a stream of fire directly onto the Breakworlder's wound, cauterizing it. She couldn't have him dying from blood loss yet, now could she?
"Our actions have consequences, Kruun," she told him, pressing the tip of her freezing cold blade against his throat. She used it to lift his head up, forcing him to look at her, "and I'm going to make sure yours are the most excruciating thing you've ever experienced."
Illyana leaned forward and raised a finger with a white flame burning on the tip of it. She held it against his mouth and dragged it along his lips to meld them together. It was a chore, especially with his agonized screams, but those were practically music to her ears anyway. As much as she'd love to hear him scream, though, she couldn't stand to hear him talk anymore.
With his remaining arm, Kruun lashed out violently, trying in vain to grab her. She dropped her Soulsword to the ground and caught his hand in her clawed one and stared directly at him as her fingers wrapped around one of his much bigger ones. She yanked it back, breaking it with a loud, painful snap. His howls were muffled by his permanently closed lips and with a smirk, she broke the next one. Then the next, and the next, and then finally the last. Kruun attempted to scowl at her, but the strangled grunts that escaped his lips with each break completely undone just how dangerous he was trying to look.
"That was stupid," Illyana told him, clenching her jaw tightly and pressing her lips together as she broke his wrist, too. And she figured she might as well not stop there. She grabbed his bicep and his forearm and in one swift, powerful motion, she snapped his arm backwards right at the elbow, twisting under the bloodied bone jutting out from the wound.
Satisfied, she took a few steps back from him and picked her Soulsword up off the ground. If only his people could see him now. Then it hit her. They could. She looked towards archway out onto the balcony of his throne room, a grin returning to her lips. She wouldn't destroy their world because she knew not all of them were to blame for this. She was a monster, she would never deny that, but she wasn't genocidal. Instead, she would teach them all a lesson.
"Get up," Illyana growled, grabbed him by the front of his shirt. She yanked him from his seat and signalled with a tilt of her head for Lockheed to come with her. The blonde dragged Kruun across the room and out onto the balcony where, over the stone railing, she could see the Breakworld citizens going about their daily life like nothing was wrong.
"This is how your people will remember you," she said, grabbing the back of his head and throwing it against the rail. Then she pulled it back again, watching the blood stream down his face from his broken nose. It seemed like he was determined to suffer in silence now, to refuse her anymore satisfaction, but Illyana wasn't perturbed, "Broken. Pathetic. Weak."
She gave him a moment or two to really sink in, and then she let go of him and gripped the hilt of her Soulsword in both hands. She allowed another moment to pass, long enough to catch the attention of a few passerbies who gasped in horror at the sight above them. Then she swung and her blade ripped straight through his neck, cutting his head clean off his shoulders amidst a delighted squawk from Lockheed. It toppled over the railing, leaving a trail of blood in its wake and she could hear the distant splat of it hitting the ground. She peered over to the streets below and if the Breakworlders weren't watching before, they sure as hell were then. Some watched her while others moved in closer to examine the cracked, severed head of their ruler.
Illyana decided she wouldn't stick around to see what they'd do. She shoved the rest of his body over the balcony and summoned a stepping disc to her feet. Lockheed's claws dug into her shoulder again as he perched himself there.
"Dasvidaniya, bitches," she muttered under her breath and in the next moment, they were gone.
* Goodbye – Translated from Russian