Captain Libra let out an enormous smirk when he saw the slaves in the backyard being freed and convinced to join the fight against the Archanean forces.
Nearly everything had been going according to plan for him. He did get worried when he saw Tiki be unleashed against his forces out in the town, but all worry vanished when the dragon was slain. He was more confident than ever, now, that the throne would be his in just a short while. His main goal at the moment was to find Queen Cordelia and spill her blood.
But he had to fight off the soldiers in the castle first. He took a look at Olivia, who smiled triumphantly as she slayed two Archanean soldiers that had been trying to corner her. He frowned a little when he saw three of his men get slaughtered by the Archanean Empire, but he and Olivia took care of those soldiers real quick. A black-haired lieutenant then darted towards Captain Libra, intending to impale him right in the chest, but Olivia hit him in the face before he could do that. While Olivia bashed the lieutenant's face into the wall, Captain Libra slashed and killed two soldiers who tried to take advantage of his brief distraction.
"Well, if it isn't the good Captain Libra himself."
Captain Libra barely had a moment to breathe before he had to turn around, and when he did, he found none other than Queen Cordelia herself, with Validar and Robin trailing right behind her. The two gave each other looks of pure hatred, for that was all they bore towards each other.
"Your tyranny over this land is done for!" Captain Libra shouted in a defiant tone, ready to kill the Queen.
Queen Cordelia shook her head in response. "I must give you credit. You fooled your people really well. Just tell them the things they want to hear, and then they all follow you blind."
Captain Libra grunted in exasperation. "I meant it all, Thorn Queen. And soon, I will bring prosperity to this land."
The Queen narrowed her eyes. "Your failure will set a fine example."
With her spell book, Queen Cordelia proceeded to let out a large blast of purple fire, one that Captain Libra was just barely able to dodge. Validar and Robin advanced on the Insurrection soldiers, slaying them one by one, but Queen Cordelia's focus was solely on the Captain.
She shot him a death glare before summoning up the three snake-like entities once more. Captain Libra was stunned – for all the stories and rumors that concerned the Thorn Queen, he had never heard anything about this spell. He had no idea what to expect, or how to dodge it.
Then the entities came charging towards him at speeds faster than he could react, and he began to panic. All the work he had put in, all the blood and sweat he poured into his plans to overthrow the Queen and rule the continent…it was all about to be for nothing. He braced himself for his grisly fate, and Olivia turned her head to see what was about to happen.
"Captain! No!" Olivia charged as fast as she could. Captain Libra had no idea a person could run so fast. Olivia jumped into the air and pushed the Captain out of the way, and the snake-like beings attacked her instead. He couldn't help but feel a little haunted as he heard Olivia scream in agony as the snake-like beings showed her no mercy.
Queen Cordelia wasted no time, and she went back to blasting at Captain Libra with the purple fireballs, with Captain Libra barely dodged. He took a brief moment to look at Olivia as she succumbed to her wounds and sighed before charging towards the Thorn Queen. She blasted at Captain Libra one more time, and this time she got him in the leg, and he was forced to fall onto the ground. As he tried to get up, Queen Cordelia gave him a death glare.
"Your Insurrection falls today, Libra," she said, coldly. The Captain could tell that she was ready to finish him off, and he couldn't let that happen. Queen Cordelia was just about to shoot another ball of purple fire towards the Captain when he got up and cut her in the face.
The two exchanged death glares one more time before charging towards each other, both screaming of desperation to end this war.
"So how the hell do you three know who I am?" Bulzark asked in a genuinely confused tone. The ravaging battle between the Archanean Empire and the Insurrection boomed through the trio's ears as Stahl tried to ignore it and think up an answer.
"She knows because of us. And my friend and I, we were brought with you when you traveled back in time to kill the great Hero King."
Bulzark cupped his head in interest and just stared at the three for a moment before replying back, "Fascinating. I wish I could ask how that happened, but that doesn't matter anymore. You could do nothing to stop me then. You won't stop me now."
As war cries could be heard from both sides all across the town, Gaius tried to keep his attention towards Bulzark. The thief narrowed his eyes in response to that. "You're one cocky son of a bitch."
Bulzark let out a smirk. "Well, give me a reason to take you seriously."
To that, Stahl charged towards Bulzark and began to stab at him repeatedly, with Sumia and Gaius charging as well to do the same. But to their surprise, Bulzark seemed hardly fazed by Stahl's lance. He merely let out another smirk before he decked Stahl in the face hard enough to send him down to the ground. And it hurt like hell. It was almost as if Bulzark was made of rock with how hard that punch was. Stahl couldn't help but wonder if the scars he had received from that Firewalker bear had anything to do with why he was in so much pain.
But then Gaius tried to impale Bulzark in the chest, only to get whacked away like a ragdoll. Gaius felt blood pouring down from his nose, and he figured that Henry's spell had finally gone away, because he was also in a great deal of pain.
"Gods, that hurt!" Gaius groaned as he got up, trying to figure out how he should fight Bulzark now.
"Look, forget about trying to beat him!" Stahl commanded to both Gaius and Sumia, an idea popping up into his head that he figured would save them some time. "Just get the gem off his person, then we'll bail!"
"Fine by me!" Gaius shouted, and he noticed the Gem of Medeus at the center of Bulzark's book. He darted towards the manakete in an attempt to snatch the gem, figuring he could pull this off since thievery was his shtick. But Bulzark whacked him around again, and the hooded figure grabbed Gaius by the throat and threw him towards a nearby building.
Then combat between the Archanean Empire and the Insurrection began to look like it would get in the way of this fight. An Archanean soldier and an Insurrection soldier were fighting each other before they bumped into Bulzark, who angrily decked both of them before breaking their necks. A few soldiers from both the Archanean Empire and the Insurrection took notice of what was going on, and they looked confused as all hell.
Four Insurrection soliders and two Archanean one exchanged glances for a brief moment before they all charged towards Bulzark. Bulzark gave them all a death glare and charged right back. All six of the soldiers slashed at Bulzark, and while Gaius struggled to get up, Stahl and Sumia went and came to the aid of the soldiers. Stahl was surprised to see soldiers from both sides work together like this, but he figured that they assumed Bulzark was a common enemy and would just go back to killing each other after they took care of Bulzark.
The manakete was still standing, even after all of this. He was clearly a very resilient and powerful warrior. But some of his grunts and groans tipped Stahl off that he was beginning to suffer, the sheer amount of manpower against him almost certainly being the cause.
Bulzark broke the necks of one of the Insurrection soldiers, and bashed the head of an Archanean soldier against the wall before she collapsed dead. He did the same to one of the other Insurrection soldiers, but then Sumia stabbed his spell book with her lance, and she forced it out of her hands. And then she pulled the Gem of Medeus from out of the spell book.
"I got it! I got the gem!" She shouted towards Stahl and Gaius.
"Great! Let's bail and heads towards the Pegasus!" Gaius replied, and the three left the fight to fly on their Pegasus and travel through time to prevent this world from ever coming to pass.
Stahl turned and saw Bulzark finish off the remaining three soldiers before looking at the three and furiously following after them. He was swift and quick, but it looked like his injuries were slowing him down, so Stahl felt that they were going to get away.
"Stop right there!"
Stahl saw that Donnel had found him and was now charging towards him, and the prince felt quite exasperated. Donnel couldn't have come at a worse time.
"Damnit, Donnel, not now!" Stahl yelled out, but Donnel ignored his remark. And the brunet knew he couldn't ignore Donnel.
He bashed the soldier in the head when he came within a few feet of him. Gaius and Sumia were also forced to stop in their tracks, and Gaius felt just as frustrated as Stahl was. Donnel and Stahl locked lances, and Stahl simply glared at the twisted version of his friend.
"I have something very important to do! And you're getting in the way of that!" It would normally kill Stahl to show any level of aggression, let alone on this level, but there was so much at stake and he didn't know how much time they had left.
"Too bad, mister! You and I need to settle our score!"
Gaius slashed at Donnel's chest, and he cried out in pain, before Bulzark showed up. Donnel had forced the three to stall, and he had inadvertently allowed Bulzark to catch up to them. The manakete angrily grabbed Donnel and threw him towards a random Archanean soldier, knocking them both down to the ground.
Bulzark then turned around and looked down at Stahl, Gaius, and Sumia. "You three!" He yelled, his tone now more bitter and hateful than before. "You will not meddle in the glory of Medeus!"
"Get over him already!" Sumia replied before she, Stahl, and Gaius all made a run for it, with Bulzark trailing close behind. Luckily for them, it wasn't long before they found their Pegasus.
"It's still alive! Thank God!" Gaius said in relief as the three all hoisted themselves up on the Pegasus.
"Okay…" Sumia said, taking a deep breath. "Let's see if it's healed enough."
And with that, Stahl whipped the reigns and the Pegasus began to fly up in the air. "Yes! Yes!" He shouted in excitement. Now all they had to do was use the magic Old Hubba had granted them to break the time barrier and save the Hero King.
But Stahl was forced to call off his celebration and show concern for the Pegasus, who whined as it looked like it wasn't enjoying this in the slightest. "Oh, damnit."
But they had to persevere. And persevere they did, as they tried to fly up high in the sky while trying to get the magic to work. But the Pegasus whined more and more until it began to lower itself down.
Right into the courtyard of the royal castle.
Stahl, Gaius, and Sumi all felt uneasy when they saw the battle between Queen Cordelia and Captain Libra, because they felt they had no place here. The time had come for them to leave this world, but their Pegasus still needed time to heal.
Stahl wasn't going to give up hope. "Come on, girl! Give it your all!"
But before they could say anything, they found Robin and Validar charging towards them. None of them wanted to get involved in this fight, but now it looks like their hand had just been forced.
Validar grabbed Stahl and forced him off the Pegasus while Gaius and Sumia jumped down on their own to combat him and Robin.
"Long time, no see, Bubbles," Gaius quipped towards Robin, to the complete confusion of the latter.
Robin narrowed his eyes. "Bubbles?! How dare you mock me like that!"
Gaius chuckled before tackling Robin down to the ground, and began to deck him in the face. He didn't want to fight Robin, but he knew he had to – so he was wasting no time. He decked Robin a few times before the green-clad mage kicked him in the chest, sending him back up. Robin gritted his teeth.
"The fighting needs to stop! You don't know what the Queen will do if it doesn't!"
Gaius tilted his head at Robin's reluctance, but he was thankful to see him unwilling to fight, for Gaius did not want to fight, either. "We don't even want to fight! We're just trying to get out of here!"
Stahl and Sumia both fell to the ground, and Validar gave his son a glare of unapproval. "Damnit, Robin, just fight! NOW!"
Robin looked at Validar for a moment and sighed. "Yes, father."
And then he punched Gaius in the face. Gaius now knew for a fact that there was no way out of this and punched Robin right back. Robin got out his spell book and tried to send out green fire towards Gaius, but the thief dodged. Gaius was able to snatch Robin's spell book away from him, and he threw it off the balcony.
Robin gritted his teeth again. "I don't need magic to take your ass out!"
Robin then struck Gaius in the stomach twice, and then in the face three times. Gaius then kicked Robin in the stomach, and then decked him in the face. The mage's nose began to bleed, and he tackled Gaius to the ground. Now they were right next to the rails, and Gaius had an idea. One he didn't like, but had no choice but to execute.
He got up and grabbed Robin by the shirt. He took a moment to look at Robin and sighed before he brought Robin closer to the rail – and the mage's face indicated that he knew what Gaius was up.
"No! Wait!"
But it was too late for him, and Gaius threw him off the balcony. Gaius didn't want to see Robin fall to the ground dead, so he turned around right away to go and help with the fight against Validar.
"You bastard! You damned bastard!" Validar shouted in anger, evidently having seen Gaius kill his son.
Validar bore eyes of pure hatred towards Gaius, and purple energy began to emit from his hand. "You think you can just kill my son like that?! No! You will suffer horribly for that! You won't get the pleasure of a fast and painless death! You will suffer horribly! You will wish for pain! I will –"
Validar stopped when a lance pierced through his chest, and he took a moment to turn around and see that Sumia used his monolouging to her advantage. Validar let out a final groan of regret before he fell dead to the ground, and Sumia pulled her lance out from his chest.
Stahl ran up to their Pegasus in hopes that maybe, just maybe, the Pegasus had recovered. "Alright, girl, how are you -"
"Get them!" a voice yelled out, and the three turned to see Queen Cordelia angrily pointing towards them, and several Archanean soldiers charging towards them. Stahl, Gaius, and Sumi all readied their lances and charged towards the soldiers, wanting to get this over with as quickly as they could.
They managed to slay most of the soldiers fairly quickly, but one of them grabbed Sumia and threw her inside the castle proper, where she found herself caught in the battle. The soldier who threw Sumia into the room then stabbed her leg, and she yelled in pain. The soldier got ready to finish her off, but Stahl tackled the soldier.
While Stahl finished off the soldier, Sumia struggled to get up – only to have purple fire blasted towards her. She kneeled down to the ground, and while the few Insurrection Archanean soldiers left standing fought on, Queen Cordelia simply stared at Sumia with a smirk.
"You're as amusing as ever, Sumia," Queen Cordelia taunted, before grabbing Sumia by her hair and punching her in the face.
Sumia groaned and struggled to get up, only for Queen Cordelia to yank her hair again. "I'm sure you'll make a fine slave after all of this is done."
But then Sumia saw Captain Libra finishing off some Archanean soldiers and charging towards the Thorn Queen to resume their fight. To that, Sumia slashed the Queen in the chest with her lance and kicked her towards Captain Libra with her good leg, deciding to let him deal with her.
"I am so over you, Cordelia!" Sumia yelled. She saw a few soldiers charging towards her and tried to prepare to fight them off, but she couldn't because of her injured leg. Luckily for her, Stahl and Gaius saw this and darted towards the other soldiers, and Sumia struggled to remain standing as Stahl and Gaius stabbed and killed all of the soldiers.
Now there were no more soldiers from either side still alive in the castle, sans two Insurrection soldiers who had just entered the room, carrying Nowi with them as they did so. "We found her!" One of the soldiers said, before they both charged towards Queen Cordelia. Queen Cordelia blasted at them with her purple fire, and they were sent down to the ground.
Captain Libra charged towards Queen Cordelia, only to be blasted with the same purple fire. Stahl and Gaius carried Sumia away with them, trying to get her safe from the wrath of the Thorn Queen. But it was all for naught, as Queen Cordelia was able to blast towards them. With her remaining strength, Sumia pushed Stahl and Gaius out of the way, and was blasted by the Queen's purple fire once more, sending her down to the ground.
Queen Cordelia then turned around and faced Captain Libra with another smirk on her face. "Would you look at that, Libra?! All your work and all your effort, for nothing!"
She then turned her attention back to Stahl and Gaius, who were unsure of what to do now. She gave them a death glare before getting to blast at the two. But before she could, she suddenly yelled in pain, and she looked down to see Nowi. From the looks of it, Nowi could not walk, only crawl. And she had managed to take a dagger from one of the Insurrection soldiers and stab the Queen in the leg with it.
"Someone…someone finish it…" Nowi said in a very weak voice.
Gaius narrowed his eyes, deciding that he had nothing to lose from doing just that, and charged towards Queen Cordelia, impaling her in the stomach with his lance. As much as he didn't want to get involved in the fighting, he decided to make an exception due to feeling that she deserved it. Captain Libra just watched with a stunned look, having his hand on his arm.
Blood spilled from Queen Cordelia's mouth, and Gaius removed his lance. The Queen had no choice but to kneel, and she looked at Gaius, at first with a shocked look – but one that quickly morphed into a grin. "You've accomplished nothing."
She opened up and her book and, as quickly as she could, began to let out a weak chant. It only lasted a few seconds, and right after she finished, she collapsed to the ground, dead.
Then, the entire ground began to rumble very violently – Stahl, Gaius, Sumia, Libra, and Nowi were all completely taken aback. They looked out the window, and saw a gargantuan blaze of purple energy began to engulf the entire world.
"What the hell?" Captain Libra said in a puzzled tone, and with his strength, he walked outside to see the beam. He stared at it for a moment, before looking back at Stahl and Gaius.
"She was right. It was all for nothing." he said in a regretful tone, his face blank. "After everything I've done. After all the effort I put into this, the blood and sweat and tears that went into trying to create a better world than what Cordelia's lineage had given us…it was all for nothing. All for nothing. All…for…nothing. My dreams of sitting on the throne with a crown on my head were a waste. What I accomplished was sealing this world's doom. I have wasted not only my life, but the lives of all my loyal soldiers, and even the people I had to step on."
He looked over to everyone. "Forgive me, if you can."
Immediately afterwards, he jumped off the rails, and descended down the castle to his death.
Nowi then let out a groan loud enough for Stahl and Gaius to hear, and they turned around to see her kneeling on the floor. "So…so this is it."
She then sighed. "At least I got to see the sun one more time."
"Go, now!" Sumia yelled towards the two, still laying on the ground. "I can't come. Too weak. But you two still have a chance. So go! Undo this world!"
The earth itself began to rumble again, and Stahl and Gaius just nodded towards Sumia, who nodded back. Just then, Bulzark entered the throne room. "You two! You will not get in the way of my plans!"
But here, Bulzark didn't matter anymore. All that mattered now was stopping Bulzark in the past. Bulzark tried to chase after the two, but he was still gravely injured. Stahl and Gaius took the opportunity and darted towards the balcony. They saw the beam growing closer and closer, and they knew it was now or never. They hopped on the pegasus, and Stahl whipped the reigns.
"Come on, girl!" Stahl said, and the pegasus neighed one more time before flying up into the air. Stahl got a last look at Donnel, who was just standing there baffled and afraid along with the rest of the surviving Archanean and Insurrection soldiers, as they tried in vain to escape the beam that was beginning to consume the entire world. But they were all consumed by the purple glow. Stahl and Gaius then began flying in the opposite direction.
The pegasus looked like it had finally recovered, and they were able to fly away from the beam. But it began to get closer and closer, and both Stahl and Gaius were beginning to get nervous.
"Why isn't Hubba's magic kicking in?!" Gaius asked in a panicked voice as the gigantic beam dawned even closer.
"We'll get there, we'll get there!" Stahl said, desperate to reassure his friend.
After a few more moments, blue fire began to engulf the two, and a blue portal opened up. As fast as they could, Stahl and Gaius entered the portal, and it all disappeared right before the purple beam could engulf it.
Sumia crawled out of the ruins as the entire city around her started to unravel besides her. She was bleeding very fast and her injuries were too great. Screams could be heard from the distance both Archaneans and Insurrectionists, the poor and the nobles, the wicked and innocent alike. They burned and bled alike. Cordelia decided that if couldn't rule this world, then no man shall. Thoughts of horror would have crossed the mind of anyone else, but not Sumia. She started laughing quietly at the pointlessness of it all.
She whose parents had their lives cut short by Cordelia's cruelty and whose life was turned into a complete hell to satisfy her sick pleasure. Hate fueled her, gave her a reason to live, to make the Thorn Queen for all her crimes. She thought what if it was not Gaius, but her, who had dealt the fatal blow that ended her life. It wouldn't have mattered. The result would have still be the same. Her dying curse would have killed everyone the same way if she had been the one that killed her.
Her thoughts changed to old Gangrel, how he gotten his revenge on Basilio after living in complete despair for 12 years. After fulfilling his purpose, there was nothing else left. She couldn't help but think… What would have been like for her to have concluded her life long mission? The death of Cordelia was all that mattered. There was no other life mission for her besides that. Hatred consumed every fiber of her being. She would never had found peace in life had she fulfilled her goal. Perhaps, it was fitting that this is the way that her life would end. This world was never meant to be.
After letting go of her thoughts, she noticed poor Nowi. Her body broken from the extreme abuse inflicted by the monarch, heavily bleeding from the wounds sustained in the battle. Even with her own legs injured, Sumia crawled out to reach her, feeling a sense of kinship in their shared suffering.
"It's finally over", said Nowi, with a serene expression in her face.
"It is," replied Sumia "Though none of us are victors here"
"What matters is that our pain is over now."
The two women sat side by side, as the entire fortress crumbled and pillars of energy rose to the sky. Soon the screaming was all over, and quietness echoed inside the duo's minds. They held hands as they sensed that their end was approaching.
"None of this was meant to be" Sumia said, fighting to hold back tears. Nowi was unmoving though, with a faint smile in her face.
"Don't worry… At least we are freed now".
Sumia lifted her head up and sensed peace upon her soul. It was an alien feeling. After years of rage consuming her, she could finally sense relief. Her journey was at and end.
Nowi looked at the sundown and said with a faint voice. "May that the last sunrise bring a better world for tomorrow…."
She lowered her head and closed her eyes with a smile in her face. She would never open them up again. She was still holding Sumia's hands. As the trembling was growing stronger and stronger, Sumia sensed her own end was coming. The cold was grasping her heart and it was certain that the blood loss would claim her life sooner than she would be engulfed by fire or crushed by one of the falling debris.
She closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable. In her final thoughts:
"Mother… Father… I will be with you soon. Stahl… Gaius… Thank you for saving me. Save your world now."
And then she felt her entire body burn as the purple beam consumed both her and Nowi.