The portal screamed. It was not a sound from a mouth. It was the sound of the world itself being torn open. The purple light that had been swirling for minutes suddenly bled into a blinding white, and the air around it began to crack. I could see the cracks. Black lines spreading in the sky like broken glass. Stones, dust, broken swords, and even dead bodies were dragged violently toward its center. The pull was insane.
"Tadashi... help me!" Jessica's voice echoed from inside the light. But it was no longer a cry of fear. Something in her tone had changed. There was pain, but underneath it was power. It was gaining strength with every second.
"JESSICA!" I shouted and tried to run to her. Nickolas grabbed my arm. "Don't! You will be torn apart!" He was right. The two of us tried to move forward, but the wind was impossible. It felt like a wall pushing us back. My feet dug into the muddy ground, but I was sliding backwards. Even the Devil, still in his form of black smoke with burning red eyes, stared at the portal. For the first time since I met him, since I found out he was my father, his face showed shock. He did not expect this.
"He is here too," Jessica whispered again. Her voice was everywhere at once, as if the portal itself was speaking through her. She was not talking about the Devil.
Then it happened. BOOM! The portal did not close. It exploded. It shattered like glass made of pure light, and a wave of white energy, cold and hot at the same time, covered the entire battlefield. The explosion was silent for one second, then deafening. We all shielded our eyes. I felt Nickolas fall beside me. The demons that had been fighting, the human knights on their horses, everyone fell to the ground. The horses screamed and ran away.
When the light finally cleared, the dust was settling slowly in the air, like snow. Jessica was standing exactly where the portal had been. But she was no longer the girl I knew. Her long black hair had turned pure white and floated around her head as if she were underwater. Her eyes, which used to be brown and warm, now glowed with a bright, piercing blue light. It was the exact same blue as the dagger she had used to stab me. Her skin was pale, almost like ice, with thin lines of blue light running across her arms and neck like lightning. She wore a long black coat that was far too large for her. It was as though someone from the other side had given it to her. And behind her, holding her hand tightly, stood a little girl no older than ten. She had the same white hair and pale skin, but her eyes were normal. Brown. Full of tears and fear.
The battlefield went completely silent.
"Tadashi," Jessica said. Her voice was calm now. Too calm. It was the voice of someone who had seen something no human should ever see. "You thought you sent me to a place where demons are given a second life. You were wrong."
I couldn't speak. I was on my knees, staring at her.
"That realm is not a second life," she continued, her blue eyes glowing brighter. "That realm is a prison. It is the first prison. It is where the first humans who ever made a deal with the Devil are kept. They have been there for thousands of years."
Nickolas slowly stood up beside me, his sword of light still in his hand but dimmer now. "What are you talking about, Jessica? What did you see in there?"
Jessica turned her glowing eyes away from me and looked directly at the Devil. Her face, which was once so soft, was now filled with pure hatred. "You lied to me," she said to him. Her voice made the air colder. Frost started to form on the ground around her feet.
The Devil, who had now taken a more solid form, laughed. His smoke spread wider across the sky. "And did I not keep my promise, little girl? Look, she is standing right there with you. I brought her back." He pointed a long claw made of smoke at the little girl. The little girl trembled violently and hid behind Jessica's coat.
In that moment, everything became clear in my head. Jessica had not betrayed me because she wanted to. She had been forced. My own father, the Devil, had used her little sister to control her. He had told her, kill Tadashi and I will free your sister from the prison. All my rage, all the demonic anger that had made me transform into a seven-foot monster with wings and horns, it all disappeared instantly. The demonic form faded away. My black wings vanished into smoke. My horns shrank and disappeared. My red eyes returned to normal. I was just Tadashi again. Just a boy, kneeling in the mud.
"Jessica..." I said softly, my voice cracking. "I'm sorry. I didn't know."
Tears finally fell from her glowing blue eyes. The tears themselves glowed like small stars before they hit the ground and froze. "I never wanted to hurt you, Tadashi. I swear. I thought if you died in this world, you would be safe in the other one. I thought it was the only way to save you from him."
I forced myself to stand and walked toward her slowly. The demons remained on their knees, too scared of Jessica's new power to move. Nickolas stepped forward, his body covered in white light. He looked up at his father. "Father, this ends now. You used an innocent child to control Jessica. You used the human commander to start this war. What more do you want from us?"
The Devil grew larger. His wings stretched until they covered the entire sky, blocking the sun. The whole battlefield became dark, lit only by Nickolas's light and Jessica's blue glow. "What do I want? I want what is rightfully mine! Tadashi has finally awakened his true power, so I can now possess him completely. And with that little girl's power..." He pointed his giant claw at Jessica's sister again. "She was born in the prison realm. She has the power to open the gate between both worlds forever. With her, I can bring my entire army here!"
Jessica immediately stepped in front of her sister, spreading her arms wide to protect her. The blue dagger appeared in her hand again, but this time it was different. It had grown into a long, beautiful sword made of pure blue ice and light. It shone ten times brighter than before and the air around it turned to ice crystals. "You will never touch her again," she said. Her voice was no longer just hers. It sounded like a thousand voices speaking at once.
She raised the ice sword high above her head, and the entire battlefield fell silent with freezing cold. Even the Devil's black smoke started to freeze at the edges. For the first time since we had known him, since the beginning of this war, the Devil took a step back.