Midas saw, about a hundred meters away, Victoria and Eithne. The battle had drifted quite far from where it had begun.
To his relief, he saw Victoria already a little better, sitting while Eithne was closing the different wounds she had on her body.
Victoria smiled when she saw me arrive.
"One less concern. Was it a difficult fight?"
"No, not at all. You had already weakened him enough for finishing him off to be easy."
"Liar."
Victoria looked at the ground in shame for ending up in the disastrous state she was in.
"No, I mean it. Without Michael, Arthur, you, and the sons of the Sun God, the fight would've been much harder than it was."
Victoria finally looked up, raising her gaze to the cloudy sky, her mind filled with thoughts.
"You're right… We've spent so many years fighting. We always managed to come out victorious, no matter how many enemies they sent."
Victoria didn't show it, but the deaths of Orcium, Arthur, Michael, and the different legions weighed heavily on her.
"And in a single day, all our years and years of effort were reduced to ashes."
At that moment, Victoria looked somber.
"Midas, doesn't it seem strange to you? If they had all this power, why wait until now? Why did the gods disappear?"
Victoria voiced the questions I had been ignoring in my own mind for so long.
"I don't know, but you're right about one thing: this whole situation is too strange. But there's nothing we gain by asking ourselves these questions now. Right now, the only thing that matters is surviving."
I said that, but I was sure we would all die today. There's nowhere to run, nowhere left to hide. What we're doing right now is only delaying the inevitable. The walls have fallen; there's a huge hole in the center connecting our enemies to us. Right now, they can attack whenever they want, and we can only respond. Each day we'll lose more and more people, bleeding out slowly.
"I suppose this is the end of the dream of Last Bastion as a safe place."
Victoria must have had the same thoughts as me; however, I didn't say it out of politeness, to avoid lowering morale even more.
"Midas is right. Now what we have to do is get you out of here. You're badly wounded come, lean on me."
Eithne spoke, urging us to hurry.
"We have to move fast. This place will be full of enemies soon."
"Eithne, before that, I have something for you."
Cough cough
Victoria coughed while extending her only remaining arm toward one of her pockets and took out a small wooden figurine, clumsily carved to my eyes. It wasn't even finished, and what stood out most were two enormous ears, so I recognized that it must be a wooden figure of Eithne.
Eithne extended her hands very carefully and looked at the figure. Her hands began to tremble, and she brought the object close to her chest as tears ran down her face.
"What's happening?"
"I don't understand anything, and above all, this isn't the time to get sentimental. We have to get out of here."
I only said that in my mind; I didn't want to provoke the wrath of these two girls right now.
Eithne hugged Victoria.
"THANK YOU, THANK YOU SO MUUUUUCH!"
She buried her face in Victoria while hugging her tightly.
"Ah, ah, ah! Wait, my ribs, MY RIBS!"
"Oh, I'm sorry!"
"No, no, it's fine. Just… a little more gently."
The two of them embraced while Eithne continued sobbing. The scene was sweet enough to bring a smile to my face.
"All right, let's get moving. We need to hurry, girls."
Victoria was the most sensible one in this situation.
"Yes, Midas is right. Let's go, Eithne."
Victoria summoned her crimson armor, and we began a slow but steady march while Eithne supported Victoria on her shoulders.
At that moment perhaps coincidence, perhaps fate Eithne turned for one last look at the battlefield. She wanted to see, for the last time, the enemy that had caused so much pain to her beloved, and in that instant, she froze.
"Where's the corpse?"
The thought took less than half a second to form.
Eithne immediately understood that her enemy wasn't finished as she thought. Instinctively, her Archon-level hunter radar expanded to its maximum range.
And then she finally felt it… and what terrified her the most was that the creature she sensed within her perception range was watching them intently. The creature had shown itself on purpose to the hunter. It could've ambushed them at any moment, but it wanted its enemies to realize that detail. It wanted them to feel like prey.
"ON GUARD, NOW!"
That single shout was enough. Midas quickly summoned his sword, just as Victoria conjured her greatsword, which she held with one hand. They stood back to back.
"Zorig wasn't defeated. He's still alive."
Midas quickly forced his mind to search for an answer.
"His body was definitely rendered useless… which means… the Void is forcing his energy to remain in the world without a physical body."
"In that state, the Void is much stronger. However, after a certain amount of time passes, it will inevitably fade away."
"WE HAVE TO HOLD OUT TEN MAYBE FIVE MINUTES!"
At that moment, a voice filled with deep hatred and contempt resounded:
"I'm going to kill and tear each of you into tiny pieces."
A massive black shadow hurled itself toward the group. In that brief instant, they caught sight of it. The beast flew toward them—it had the head of an owl, but its neck was grotesquely elongated. It possessed arms that merged with enormous wings and long legs ending in talons. Its head was crowned with several horns, but its materialized body looked like a flame struggling to stay lit.
Its attack was aimed at Eithne, the first who had seen it.
I moved my body quickly, preparing my sword to strike the owl's feet. At the moment of impact, two things happened: my sword did stop the blow, but I couldn't even respond. My arms were thrown back from the sheer weight of the impact, and the second claw struck my armor, shattering it completely, tearing three large gashes and sending me flying.
I finally hit the ground, feeling the blood flowing from my wounds. But luckily, my armor had done its job, protecting my organs.
"One single attack… and I almost died."
My gaze went to the owl, which didn't follow up its assault—it just stared, its disturbing neck and face fixed on me. I was sure it was reveling in the sight of me shattered after a single blow.
Eithne drew her bow and began firing at the owl, but her arrows merely bounced off the fierce monster.
"It regained its semi-transcendent rank."
The moment it shed its mortal body, it condemned its existence to fade. However, it also regained all the power it once had.
The owl turned only its head, keeping its body still, and stared at Eithne. Then it lunged toward her.
"Damn it."
I activated lightning step to move quickly toward the owl, simultaneously engaging my family's battle style. However, when I observed it, I saw no weak point at all. Even so, I attacked, attempting to slice its gigantic wing with my sword, but it merely swung its arm, throwing me back again.
Now nothing stood between it and Eithne. It opened its mouth to devour her—but Victoria wasn't going to allow that.
She stood in front of Eithne with her greatsword and pushed her away using blood magic.
Before being devoured, she turned into a pool of blood, narrowly avoiding the owl's massive strike.
We were in a desperate situation.
Eithne couldn't transform to better fight, as it required too much time, and Victoria still bore the corruption of the Void in her body, meaning she couldn't recover by drinking blood.
Three spears… and Eithne had one. Using them was the same as condemning themselves to death by mana poisoning. But was there another choice?
The giant owl let out a ferocious cry to the heavens, calling the tide of monsters to their position. Soon, all nearby enemies would surround them.
We wouldn't have time. Even if we managed to survive, we'd be too weakened to face the coming tide.
The owl now turned its attention toward me and lunged. With my speed, I faced it once more. Its massive wing-arm sought to crush me into the ground, but I moved swiftly along its body toward its huge neck. I poured a great deal of magic into my sword, aiming to sever it.
Slash
The lightning affected its body's stability, but that was all. No effect beyond paralyzing it for a few brief moments.
I wanted to strike again, but its body burst into flames, forcing me to retreat.
It was still slow to me, but Victoria and Eithne struggled to keep up, even against a creature with such a massive body.
I regrouped with them and drew one of the Manemite spears, ready to use it on the owl.
"Midas, give me one too."
Victoria extended her hand to receive one.
"Victoria, no. If you throw one of those in your state, you'll die."
Eithne was worried about her.
"Eithne, my love…"
Victoria smiled sadly
"I'm already dead, and you know it. The corruption won't leave my body."
Eithne lowered her head, but quickly lifted it again, this time with a determined look. She drew the spear I had given her.
"Eithne, for me to do it while nearly dead is one thing… but you still can—"
At that moment, Eithne activated the mana mechanism of the spear. There was no turning back now. If she didn't use it, it would simply go to waste, harming her for nothing.
"What are you doing?!"
Victoria was distraught.
"I don't plan to live in a world where you don't exist."
This time, Victoria couldn't say a word.
We faced the owl, which loomed hundreds of meters tall. Its body trembled as it raised its wings, casting a black shadow that covered everything. From its body began to emerge smaller versions of itself, flying straight toward us.
"I'll go head-on. Find the chance to strike."
I rushed forward, leading the charge. I let the lightning manifest all around the battlefield.
Enemies came out burned and shredded by lightning chaining from one to another.
Midas advanced like an unstoppable spearhead, letting no enemy get close to them.
The giant owl, seeing its summons were useless, resorted to what worked best—crushing them with its massive body. Midas had to destabilize it somehow, and he thought of one way… but a dangerous one.
"Even if I burn with the flames of its body, I must give them a chance. I can't let their sacrifice be in vain."
Midas, faster and fiercer than ever, dashed like lightning toward his opponent's massive body. He felt his flesh slowly roasting, his skin burning, but it didn't matter. The owl, sensing something was wrong, soared into the sky with Midas on its back, making Victoria and Eithne unable to use their spears.
Midas, his body burning in the owl's flames, rose through the sky with it, reaching the heights above Last Bastion. Everything below looked like nothing but a distant point.
However, he paid no attention to the unique view before him. His long hair had vanished, his body engulfed in fire, enduring the pain of his melting armor fusing to his skin. He drew the second-to-last Manemite spear and raised it with all his strength. Lightning surged, and at that moment, in the sky where only two celestial bodies the sun and the moon of the world could be seen, for the first time in millions of years, a new light shone in that fickle sky.
The light of Midas's mighty lightning blazed brightly as the spear pierced the body of the giant owl, finally weakening it, rendering it unable to maintain consciousness.
The two plummeted downward the owl and Midas.
The massive body would crash to the ground, crushing Midas, who no longer had the strength to move. But at that moment, a bright light began to glow on his hand—it was the rune Ariel had left him. Within moments, Midas was bathed in golden light and vanished, leaving only the body of the giant owl to fall toward the ground.