Chapter -14: Transcendant Hope
Auris and Sarajin entered the chambers of Luminesca's palace for the first time in pursuit of Lilith.
Seeing the abandoned, lightless room dirty with the smell of dust and mold showed just how much disrespect went into the Sage's presence here.
The only thing with illumination was the wide couch the Titan must have called it's throne. Listless, monochrome, it was where Lilith perched herself atop at this very moment.
She was in garb neither of them recognized, her hair pitch black, and a golden patch covering the scar to her pride over her eye.
Hunched over with her sword dangling towards the ground, she motioned her hand to her side and pushed herself onto the ground.
Standing tall and haughty, she made herself appear untouchable in this encounter, having confidence unwarranted by the pressure her two guests brought with them.
"Well?" She uttered coldly with a weak gesture of her palms their way, "Here I am...Are you satisfied now?"
Auris grinned with some ferocity as she muttered, "So this is the true you. No tricks."
"Haha...ha!" Lilith's body moved fluidly as she walked, brandishing her sword towards her two guests, "Hard light clones...A welcome gift from that selfish Titan."
She grinned with sinister intent behind her teeth and tilted her head to the left, "Easily molded into whatever image I can project. It was the perfect curtain to hide my double life behind."
"That air-headed fool Borealis trusted me...Because I knew HOW to lead him on. So...he never opened his eyes enough to pick up on the flaw in the clones, that they could not cast as deep a shadow as the real me."
Auris snapped back with a blunt tone, "If that isn't true...For your shadow is deeper than the blackest abyss."
"Does the girl hosting that poisonous rune really have room to bark?" Lilith stopped still and hardened her grip on her blade.
Auris narrowed her eyes and gently put Sarajin down while drawing her sword in the other hand, "You have NO chance of stopping us. Surrender the Light Wellspring, and I'll spare your other eye."
Lilith's gaze was lucid and her cheeks rosy with growing ecstasy, "Has your 'invincibility' dulled your prowess as a warrior? Or perhaps...it's your attachment to that privileged savage?"
Auris declared in response, "If anything, my blade has only become sharper!"
"Oh?" Lilith's chest jiggled trying to restrain her laughter. Then she lurched her head back and grabbed hold of her bangs, sweeping them back as her laughter echoed into the void, "HA HA HA...!"
Then, her eyes rose into view, glazed over with delight, "There's no saving one blind with arrogance. When I ascend as a Goddess...I will be thorough in scorching the blight of your sin from this universe."
Auris roared, "You're welcome to try!"
She then used her Drive to jump to Lilith's spot instantly and clash swords with her. And at the very moment their steel let the sparks fly, Lilith's grin grew wider and her body was enveloped in golden light.
Auris' eyes dilated and before she could pull away the body in front of her unraveled into a series of golden chains with spear heads at the end.
All of them punctured through her limbs, gut and neck and dragged her up into the air over Sarajin's body. Then they pulled out, stiffening her body into a cruxification pose.
"HA HA HA! AH HA HA!" Lilith's laughter kept going until her voice was squeaking.
She walked into view from behind the couch, her face a twisted depiction of utter glee. Her lips were permanently frozen to grin as she waltzed forward towards Sarajin with a tome in hand and her sword in the other.
"I even told you how this power worked and yet you trusted your heart instead of your brain!" Lilith brandished her sword up at Auris choking and struggling to break free, "Idiot! FOOL! This is what you get when you try to challenge your superior!"
She was soon mere feet away from Sarajin, who was trying to rise to the occasion powered by his rage, only for his knees to keep failing him.
Before he could fall, Lilith put her sword's tip under his chin to balance him, her irises glowing with lucidity as she was mere moments away from her greatest triumph.
"You have been a thorn in my side for so, so long...Taking the power you never deserved, silencing your idealistic tongue...Ooooooh, this will be the most rapturous moment of my eternal sainthood!"
As Lilith flipped open the pages of her tome to release the defiled golden light within, she leaned down towards him and murmured from her salivating lips, "Any last words...sky rat?"
Sarajin bit his teeth down and looked her dead in the eyes, "I-I just want you to know...I meant everything I said back there."
Lilith's pupils shrank and her eyes rattled. She pulled back, grinned wider, and one blink later...
She could no longer feel her right hand.
Her expression became stunned, she slowly looked over to see her wrist had been cut through, and the hand was sliding off towards the ground with blood soon to follow.
She looked behind her and saw Auris hunched on the ground with her sword gripped in both hands, like she had just finished an attack.
Her body was still punctured through but was healing up, and the chains that bound her fell to pieces across the ground.
Auris then shouted, "Now, Sarajin!"
Everything dropped on Lilith's heart at once and made her wail in anger, "NOOOO!"
Sarajin put everything he had left into leaping at the falling tome while Lilith dove after it, putting aura over the bleeding stump.
The two's heads collided but Sarajin pushed further ahead, tapping the cover of the tome and causing the light trapped within to dissolve into his body for a moment.
Lilith then tackled him in the rib cage and pinned him to the ground, raising her sword to try and stab him in the head, "THIS IS MINE! MY DESTINY! NOT YOURS!"
Sarajin suddenly swung his hand up and summoned his sword to block hers, pushing her off with ease. He then shoved himself along the ground and dipped his fingertips into the tome's pages to take a little more of the Light Wellspring into himself.
And from this act he heard Luminesca whisper, "Thank you..."
Lilith dove right on top of the tome and curled around it to keep him from taking all of it.
But what he got was enough. He stood up over her, basked in a holy light, and took a deep breath to help realize that he was feeling fine again.
With her bloodshot eyes glaring up at him, she saw Auris walk up next to him, and was left only to growl in defiance, "H-How...? You cheated...! I had won...!"
Auris reached into her chest and pulled out a certain black and gold stone while mocking Lilith, "The only blind person here...was you."
Lilith's eyes dilated, like she had just been exposed to something incomprehensible, "W-What is that...?!"
Auris gently tossed the stone in her hand and closed her eyes, letting out a sigh.
"That's..."
Back in the wasteland, Sarajin had handed her the Gaia Temporis.
"Lilith can't defeat you, but she has those golden chains that might be able to keep you from moving. But if I give you this, you'll be able to escape."
Auris took the stone with a fond warmth growing in her chest, "I-I get it now. We'll prey on her arrogance to deliver us an opening for you to take the Wellspring energies from her."
"It's a risky gambit, but I know I can rely on you two to have my back."
"T-Two...?" Auris stuttered.
Sarajin's eyes widened with a perturbed look and after a quick glance at the ground he murmured, "Y-Yeah, the stone's had my back so long, it feels like a friend..."
Auris then clutched the stone in her hand and smiled, silently thanking her sister inside the stone. She then stared down at Lilith and told her, "You can spend the rest of your days figuring that out. It won't ever matter. You've LOST. This world will keep moving forward, and it'll do so without the need for your corruption and lies, Lilith."
Lilith growled in a high-pitched shriek of insanity, "This isn't over you bastard child...! I AM RIGHTEOUSNESS!"
Auris flinched with a muted gasp as she took a glance at the Gaia Temporis. With a cheeky smile and a jostle of her shoulders, she looked down at Lilith with a slight blush in her cheeks, "Oh. I have one last message to deliver."
"Go fuck yourself, you self-righteous hypocrite." Auris felt some degree of shame repeating that, but the frozen aghast expression on Lilith's face made it all worth it.
Sarajin didn't really care and centered his focus on what was important, "Let's get back to the battle."
Auris nodded firmly, "Right."
And then they held the Gaia Temporis together and used it to escape, leaving Lilith to stew in her dwindled power and boiling over hate.
Back on the battlefield, those who could no longer fight were taking advantage of Solomon's intervention to get to safety.
Carolina carried Nimus off, and Ezekiel decided to use what strength he had left to ensure his son's safety. Carmine decided the same thing, using a few more plants to help carry the rest of the exhausted warriors away.
That left Stonestein, Vermilion, Darnia and Cecilia to aid Solomon against the Devil. Solaris' location was currently unknown.
Stonestein took the lead in trying to find the young sun god, and Vermilion activated the Azure Flame to put everything she had left into putting this stubborn beast down.
However, Solomon attacked without discretion, matching the beast's ferocity with a volley of dark blasts and thick, wide-covering pressure attacks.
The Devil took to the sky and broke free from it's single-minded destruction of Sancturia to attack the armored king, blasting him with rapid fire blood vomit.
Solomon batted the attacks away with the back of his hands and kept advancing upon the Devil's shadow.
He then thickened the darkness around his hands and slammed the ground, creating a double-handed effigy of darkness that pounded the Devil to the ground from above.
The Devil flapped it's wings and pushed the effigy off for a bit, before Cecilia and Vermilion's combined efforts destroyed it's legs and toppled it face-first into the ground.
Solomon craned his head back slightly and muttered, "Weak..."
The main head of the Devil rose and gathered black flames to the jaw. The rest of the warriors scattered, Solomon weathered the grim vibes and glared it down.
He opened his palm and darkness collapsed into a black sphere with red core, where he dug his claws in deep and thrust it forward into the beast's jaw right when it prepared to fire.
The attack shattered the back of the beast's skull and expunged a black flame plume in the shape of the scar.
Nevertheless the head lunged forward and fired it's attack full force at it's prey.
Solomon took to the air and watched as the Devil indiscriminately scorched the ground around it in pure death.
He created another sphere and squeeze both together, expanding them out until the core was just as big as the outside.
He then aimed at the back and fired a quick but mighty beam, puncturing through all of the beast's rotting guts and miles of the ground at once.
Cecilia lost balance as the ground shook and glared up at Solomon wondering, "That fool's wasting his energy...!"
Darnia immediately looked up at him and shouted, "Solomon! Elements by themselves are useless! Wait until one of the Sages-"
Solomon's eyes glowed as he focused his palm towards the beast's main head, "Perish...!"
He concentrated a massive amount of power into a single deafening pulse that split the Devil's head down the middle and disintegrated the halves until at the base of the neck.
As he lowered his hand the first bead of sweat he's ever felt trickled out of his helm, and he clenched his fist in begrudging satisfaction.
Loud, visceral noises ruptured out across the Devil's body as thick strands of rotting flesh bolted free from the gaps in it's body to fill itself back up.
Solomon readied another attack as the front reformed, with black flames trailing up the unformed neck until being primed to fire when the head reformed.
Solomon blasted the black flames but quickly lost his ground even when being forced to exert himself.
His body's instincts told him to dodge but he disobeyed their wishes until the very last second, where a quick swerve saved him from being scraped by death.
He then kept gathering darkness in that hand and blasted it over the top of the beam, decapitating the top half of the Devil's main head which, unsurprisingly, didn't stop it from firing upon him.
But his recklessness did enough to allow Darnia, Cecilia and Vermilion to combine their efforts into destroying the remaining heads on the wings.
At which point Vermilion's fire was flickering on and off, "D-Damn it...seriously? This power sucks..."
Having toed the line with death once already she was not exactly thrilled at the prospect of experiencing it a second time, so she quickly bowed out in the direction of Stonestein and Solaris, who as it turned out had carried himself away from the earlier storm.
Solaris was spurting up fumes and trying to get back into the fight, but Stonestein had to restrain him with his bare hands.
"L-Let me go, baldy! I got...to keep that bastard away from here...!"
Vermilion panted and laughed with joy, "Ha...ha...! Look at you, a chip off the old block!"
Stonestein told him, "Let me be a shield for you."
He then turned around and hoisted his shield into position before his body, marching back onto the battlefield, "And your family as well."
Solaris was agonizing through his grunts but ultimately, knowing his master was ok at least, he chose to not cause anymore of a fuss...
Cecilia's body was drenched in sweat and it was difficult for her to see straight, forcing her to rely on Darnia's eyes to tell her, "How many heads are left?!"
"There should be four left." At this point, the most dangerous heads were at the front. His and Cecilia's ice attacks were coordinating to delay the Devil's ability to raise it's wings and fly, but with only one Aurian left fighting alongside them they were running out of options to permanently damage the beast.
Solomon kept destroying large chunks of the body with dark explosions and sheer pressure attacks.
In desperation, the beast started dropping it's wings down on top of Cecilia and Darnia. Even missing was enough to batter them with the wind pressure.
Cecilia held onto her footing for a good while, but soon found herself sent tumbling along the ground, losing her grip on her lance.
The beast then swerved just slightly enough to fire bloom vomit her way.
It was intercepted by Stonestein's shield, pushing him until his heels rubbed up against Cecilia's body.
He then narrowed his eyes and reached into his pouch to pull out a golden rune, locking it into place at the back of his shield.
From it formed the back of an arrow, the head pointing out at the front.
He raised his shield like a bow and plucked at the "string" between two fingers.
He analyzed all his targets and found the more dangerous heads flailed about too much to land a clear shot.
So he poised the arrow at the stomach to target the last head, whose deadly abilities were yet to be revealed.
And they never would get the chance, for once Stonestein flung the arrow loose into the gut, the natural course of events allowed Solomon's power to permanently obliterate that section of the body.
And without that support, the Devil's neck crumbled to the ground.
The titanic roars that once shook the world felt like pitiful wails disconnected from each other.
And the timing of the climax of this battle couldn't have been more appropriate, as with this last effort, even the mighty Stonestein was starting to feel exhausted.
And Darnia was on his last breaths too, with his fading vision looking towards Solomon observing the panicked beast.
Who could say what he was thinking, if this was even satisfying to him or not...
All Darnia could consider now was that if Ophelia had been here fighting this beast, she would've been having the time of her life.
Suddenly there was a disturbance in the air coming from the west.
A not so inconsequential flood of Rot Walkers came charging upon their location. Stonestein was prepared to wall Cecilia off from their charge, only to be surprised when they betrayed their usual behavior by going around him and piling themselves on top of the Devil instead.
The Devil quickly healed itself of any damage to its body despite Solomon's best efforts to destroy the swarm.
"No...!" Darnia shouted as the Devil took it's three remaining heads and let out a mighty roar.
It towered over the battlefield and then took to the skies, swerving straight for Sancturia with black flames bursting free from it's mouth.
Solomon and Darnia gathered their respective winds and slashed them at the beast's right wing, managing to disorient it's flight enough to disrupt its aim.
The Devil fell and it's beam swept in an arc at the ground before rising to slice across Sancturia's barrier. Then the flailing of it's head caused it to fall back down towards where Solaris and Vermilion were holding out.
At the last possible moment, a rift wedged itself between them and the beam and redirected the attack into the beast's other wing.
Solomon paused in recognition of the shift in dimensions, but the rifts disappeared before anyone else could make heads or tails of who made it.
Not the least bit deterred, the Devil prepared another death flame and this time, pointed it at the ground first to smoke out any remaining pests.
Darnia was the only one in range, too tired to flee in time.
He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and had a content look on his face knowing that he had passed on something worthwhile to the next generations...
Suddenly, his body felt as weightless as light, the wind blowing freakishly fast against his face.
He opened his eyes and found himself being carried through the air a couple miles away, and a familiar energy was greeting his body.
He was let go and allowed to turn around and see his son using the Light Conduit power again but his appearance looked more...whiter, holier.
Sarajin kept his normal smile and whispered to him, "Is everyone ok?"
Darnia nodded and smiled back.
Sarajin nodded and then turned around, reaching for his sword and marching confidently towards the battlefield, "Leave it to us, dad. We'll finish this."
Meanwhile, the Devil's beam continued to make it's way to Sancturia.
But barring it's path flew Auris using her Valkyrie Drive. With but a single stroke of her grand blade, she split death down the middle with her aura and nullified its effects on the barrier.
She then brandished her sword aside as her aura rose magnificently like aquamarine waves of heat.
"This is still my home you ignoble beast! And you shall NOT have your way with it!"
The Devil shrieked and started firing blood vomit her way.
She cut through the attacks without looking like her arm moved from it's spot, then bolted across the air and stabbed her sword into the bloodied head.
Sarajin stabbed his into it at the same time, the two applying their energies into it until it exploded in a bloody fashion.
The two recoiled onto the ground and as blood and rot flooded out of the beast's innards, it fell to the ground with a mighty thud, fissuring it's surroundings.
Sarajin then looked at the beast and saw that many of the heads were already destroyed, which surprised him.
Solomon then descended beside them, his body exuding thick darkness that punctuated the glow of his eyes, "And here I assumed you fled in fear, Sarajin."
Sarajin trembled with surprised, "Y-You came to help?"
Solomon gestured his hand out and muttered, "Do not suggest there is selflessness behind my actions."
Sarajin nodded, unfazed by his attitude, "Alright, if you say so."
"Hmph," Solomon grunted, leading the three's final march towards the beast, "Do not get in my way."
Auris took the lead next, giving her sword a quick twirl before thickening the blade with aura, "Then your better pull your weight, Solomon. I'm really pissed off right now, and I intend to show this beast no mercy!"
Sarajin, however, kept his cool and when he held his blade, he felt the hands of all his friends holding it with him at this very moment.
All their efforts throughout the battle...it's like he could see them all unfolding before his eyes.
As the Devil rose from the ground for one last defiant stand, Sarajin stared it down and banished the past from his eyes to visualize the enemy present before him.
He then pointed his blade up and declared, "EVERYONE! Thank you for all that you've done! I won't run away now...! We'll finish this together!"
The Devil chose to unleash black death upon his enemies and the three split up to avoid it. The Devil swung around it's mass and swept the air and ground to try and take them down.
Solomon's raw power staggered the beast. Sarajin's speed and determination kept him focused and untouchable. And Auris' ferocity let her power through any fear and wound the beast where her allies hit it with their elements.
From within Sancturia, Borealis stopped his hold on the barrier to wander closer to the edge of it.
His eyes kept up with the speed of the battle, and let him concentrate on his daughter giving her all for this fight.
Even now, after he had let himself be withdrawn from her life for so soon, she stood and fought for her home, for her people...
But more importantly for her, she was fighting for those...'savages', and the world of peace her husband spoke so passionately about.
Borealis clenched his fist against his aching chest, dread welling in his heart.
They would continue to fight until they or the Devil fell, and all his mind flashed to was his wife breathing her last breaths on her bed...Those brilliant starlit eyes fading into empty night.
His body trembled, and from this moment of vulnerability, a voice hit him from behind like a blunt instrument.
"Even now, you still cower behind the protection of your walls." Uttered Justek.
Borealis made a brief glance over his shoulder and saw the halfling eyeing him coldly, "Your daughter, and Sarajin, have given more of their life to protect these lands than you ever have."
"Does the very thought of owing thanks to a savage disgust you so much that you will risk the possibility of losing the last person you supposedly care about?"
Justek brought his staff down like a gavel, and growled out in rage, "Sarajin believes you have a big heart, so prove it...! Borealis Aurora..."
That was all he had to say. When next Borealis looked behind him, the man was gone, like a phantom traveling on the wind.
In spite of clashing personalities and ideals, Auris, Solomon and Sarajin were in sync as warriors.
First Auris cleaved the Devil's wings off, then Sarajin and Solomon destroyed the legs, rendering the beast as a limbless blob on the ground.
The Devil resorted to fire it's black death at Sancturia, and this diverted Auris' attention away to block the attack with the blunt side of her sword.
It continued to drag her further along until Sarajin got behind her and offered his support. She then made a swift turn to slice down the beam with aura, splitting open the Devil's neck.
From it wailed a thousand damned souls, bubbling over with rot.
The black flames burst from the seams and spread across the ground, forcing the warriors to the air.
The spinal head lurched up with a roar and split the sky back open, this time with the main head joining in to force its black flames into the seam.
This resulted in a death storm forming across the battlefield. Hail, fire, and lightning, all pitch black and instant death for all involved.
Auris backed away while rapidly slashing her sword out to deflect the storm, "This reeks of desperation! If we can just weave in once more...!"
Solomon marched through the storm, the girth of his dark aura warding off the pitiful hail and fire while his hard-hitting reflexes allowed him to smash the lightning with darkness long enough for him to walk past.
He then widened his eyes fully and lobbed two dark spheres at the beast's back to throw the spine in disarray.
He then thrust his hands out to increase the width of the explosions to blow the spine clean off.
Auris narrowed her eyes and in the attosecond break she had she swung her swung to send a wave of aura vertically into Solomon's darkness, consuming the whole spine.
Yet as the firmament wailed it's last shriek, the storm did not subside and was now rapidly expanding around the Devil.
Sarajin and Auris were pressed towards Sancturia's barrier and started hopping up it side-by-side, slashing away the storm even as their bodies bent and broke under the pressure.
Auris' eyes glowed with crystallic light and the future opened the gateway to victory, but it required just one thing to succeed.
"Sarajin...! I need you to trust me. When I say 'Go!', we jump together!"
"I'm ready whenever! Just say the word!"
Her ferocious warrior's smile widened with warmth and she declared, "Alright...!"
Their efforts brought them to the top of Sancturia and after casting aside her own sword, she reached out for his, funneling all of her aura alongside his light to create a massive, prismatic blade between them.
They then pulled in shoulder-to-shoulder, Sarajin grinning like a little boy, "If we can pull this off...There's nothing we can't accomplish anymore! We're gonna do it, Auris...We're gonna save the world!"
"RIGHT!" She roared.
The storm was approaching. There would no longer be an opportunity to brandish their weapon in defense.
The odds of success were microscopic, but that miniscule percentile of failure was the least of their concerns.
Time seemed to slow to a crawl and everything but the Devil blurred in their eyes.
Auris' eyes dilated into focus and when she shouted "GO!" they leaped across the horizon towards their enemy.
The Devil tried to aim it's deadly flames at them, but Solomon successfully diverted the head with his power.
Death passed the two by in the thousands. Every inch closer rose their odds by exponential percentiles.
The Devil shrieked, the storm grew thicker and louder.
All across the world, everyone who had a bond with these two souls felt compelled to cheer them on, "YOU GOT THIS!"
And as these cheers resounded, a miracle was created.
Reaching into the sky was a massive, but gentle human-hand made of a familiar deep blue aura.
It grabbed hold of the seam the Devil sundered into reality and squeezed it tight, forcing it shut.
Auris' heart skipped a beat. It was her father's work...
And with his unforeseen intervention, the storm subsided, and their odds skyrocketed into 100% certainty.
The Devil could only defy it's slaughter with one loud scream, but it paled in comparison to the roar of triumph from husband and wife.
With one powerful flip, the two dragged their blade weighed by hope down upon the Devil's entire being, cleaving a sparkling rainbow into the sky.
There was utter silence, the atmosphere blanketed in white, the Devil painted black.
When color returned to normal, the Devil was split in twine, the warriors barreling between its strained, rotting flesh and perform a hard twirl around after they landed.
The two halves collapsed to the ground and started bubbling.
The flesh melted down and then rose to form a rotting sphere. Auris and Sarajin's heart skipped a beat, but their worries became unfounded when the sphere flung itself straight back to the west.
There were no more surprises.
The beast was forced to lick its wounds and recover.
Though this wasn't a complete victory, at least for now, and perhaps for many generations onward, the Devil would not cast its shadow over these lands.
From atop Sancturia's tower, Atrax paused and let his hands sag by his sides.
With a deep sigh of relief, tears rolled out the sides of his mask.
He then turned and began to walk away, "So close now...We are...so close."
Unaware that Glade was hanging below the tower head via his sickles.
"Hmmm..." He then slipped back into Sancturia undetected.
The sky returned to it's bright blue beauty, now adorned with a far stretching rainbow over the entire planet's horizon.
Sarajin put his hand over his eyes and smiled, before releasing his Light Conduit form and falling back, landing in his wife's hand.
She deactivated her Valkyrie Drive and the wind brushed against her hair, making her smiling face ethereal, like something out of a fairy tale.
And behind her, floated a smiling mirage with pink hair.
Slowly, Sarajin raised a thumbs-up and smirked.
And Auris reciprocated the gesture.
Solomon watched on from a distance, narrowing his eyes as a cold sensation filled his heart.
He then turned and gestured his hand towards an invisible cape, marching away from the battlefield, his purpose...fulfilled?
Now was the time to tend to the weary and wounded.
Solaris and Vermilion retreated into Sancturia. Vermilion wanted to just take a nap. Solaris was about to do the same, but as he reached his room, his father approached him and surprised him with a hug.
Solaris was too weak to fight him off, but he wouldn't have even if he was healthy.
Yet behind Justek's sincere love hid sinister thoughts, as he peered into the events of today and came to a final conclusion, "So that was the power of Borealis Aurora..."
Witnessing him close that seam that comparable to witnessing the hands of creation at work. From just that one heavenly display of power, Justek understood all that he needed to.
He hugged his son tighter, trembling at the taste of freedom he would soon let his children relish in, "There are no further doubts now. I can kill Borealis Aurora. And with his demise...shall I end the last threat to Sarajin's peaceful world."
The warriors who lived in Aquamoria and Oreore returned to their Tribesfolk in triumph, promising to celebrate alongside Sarajin later on.
Adderbolt had to be carried back to Pulsa Minoria with Stonestein's aid.
Thus, the only people who remained to greet Sarajin and Auris were Zeno, Darnia, Carolina...and Nimus.
Zeno was on his hands hunched over the fallen Nimus, who was still in recovery thanks to Carolina's aura.
He laid one hand on his chest and leaned back like he was taking a nap.
However, Carolina's aura soon ran out, causing her to let out some faint gasps.
Zeno planted his hands on Nimus' leg and shook it, "Come on! You have to live!"
He then turned and looked up to his mom and dad to beg them, "Can't one of you help him? He saved my life!"
Sarajin flinched with surprise and then stared at his dad, who gave an affirmitive nod and remark of, "That he did..."
Auris advanced without further input and laced her hands with aura, "Honestly..."
She glanced over her shoulder at her husband and smiled, "You'd just 'Yes' eventually."
Sarajin rubbed the back of his head and let her do her thing. Her output helped infuse Nimus' wounds enough to get his skin tissue reforming again.
Following a few coughs, Nimus raised his head and was back to being his normal, cocky self, "O-Oh...So I take it we won?"
Carolina gently fluttered her hands together.
Nimus could now sit up without pain. He leaned his wrist atop his right knee and smirked, "Whew. I'm getting too old for this..."
"Nimus..." Sarajin muttered.
Nimus looked up and with a coy smile pushed his goggles away from his eyes, "Heh, seems to me like you succeeded in snatching more of the Wellspring away from the ol' batty firefly. Good job! Though...thanks for leaving me to deal with the aftermath."
Auris crossed her arms and tapped her foot on the ground, "I don't get you, Nimus. Why partake in her crusade?"
"Is this really the time?" Nimus chuckled.
Auris raised a brow and remarked, "Do you have anything better to do?"
"Fair call, princess," Nimus snapped his fingers up and then curled his fingers against his knee, letting out a sigh, "It seemed like the best course of action back then. Like...she had a genuine spark in her eyes for wanting to change the world."
"Dunno if I got played for a sucker or she lost herself somewhere along the way but...She's not the Lilith I once knew."
Darnia remarked, "That doesn't explain anything."
"Chill old man, I'm getting to it..." Nimus then focused his gaze towards Sarajin and told him, "Long story short, I'm sticking with her cause she'll still do what you won't, kid."
Sarajin pegged his answer immediately, "Killing the Titans?"
Nimus nodded, "Got it in one."
"Nimus, they aren't our enemy."
"That's something you've yet to get. To me, standing by, observing, doing nothing...May as well be the same as killing those people yourself. So they might not be MY enemy, but they're the enemy of the world."
Sarajin paused and hung his head to think, "...Yeah, you might be right."
Which surprised the people who knew him best, even Nimus.
But then he held his fist with determination and remarked, "But they only got to be that way because all the Tribes lost themselves to war and distrust."
"Look at what we accomplished today...together! We drove off the Devil, the greatest threat to us all. People ARE starting to remember what it's like to get along with each other."
"Once the world's back to normal, the Titan's can focus on their duties, and we can be left to determine our own fates."
"You really trust the Titans that much?" Nimus rebuked.
Sarajin nodded, "None of them are malicious, just misguided...Not so different from any of us, huh?"
"...Heh," Nimus stood up and tucked his hands in his pockets, "I don't think we'll ever fully come to terms with each other's point of view, cotton puff. But if you do wind up being right well...I guess that won't be such a bad thing."
Sarajin nodded, then with his body squirming with some hesitation, he reached out to an old friend and asked him, "And...when the world is peaceful again...Can we to back to eating sandwiches together, Nimus?"
Nimus froze up and then with a cheeky grin he nudged his goggles up and said, "Sure. I'd love that."
He then rose into the sky and turned around, making one last note, "But hey. You really think stopping the Devil was your biggest obstacle to peace? We both know what, or rather who, that honor belongs to..."
Sarajin and Auris looked at each other, her eyes laced with knowing concern.
Sarajin then looked up and nodded, "Yeah. I'll see what I can do."
Nimus then flicked his fingers off his forehead and whistled, "Whew! Good luck!"
Then he was off, his peaceful departure being a true sign that this battle was finally allowed to draw to a close...
In Obscura, Solomon returned to his palace in a quiet state of mind.
Willfully ignoring the voices of his followers, he made his way to his room, his breaths deep and exhaustive.
He had underestimated the might of the Devil...And he had gravely underestimated Borealis Aurora.
Upon entering his room he slammed his hands down atop his dresser and felt sweating oozing out of his pores.
His breaths reverberated with his heart beat, he dug his clawed fingertips into the wood, splintering much of it.
Then, came a dripping, visceral, splat...
"..." He looked down until his chest plate was in view.
Something ill-colored and slimy slid down it.
He scooped it onto two fingers and raised it before his face.
It used to be skin colored, now it was a grimy shade of pink.
The more he stared at it, the more his heart beat rose in intensity.
Hollow whispers echoed in his ear, filled with temptation.
And in the corner of his room, hung the parasite "D.", grinning across his ebony mass with mesmeric delight.
"Time's running out...Tick. Tock. TICK. TOCK."
A noise that beat in the black king's eardrums, as he crushed this bit of his flesh within his hand, and breathed a deeper, more desperate breath...
Next Time: Poison in the Heart