The final battle was coming to an end, and thanks to everyone's joint effort, we finally managed to corner him in a single point. However, even cornered, he was still an extraordinarily dangerous enemy. The first to fall was Brad, an intelligent and confident friend, with whom I shared my passion for magic. The idea that we would never again have discussions in the library about magic theory filled my heart with sadness and pain.
After that, it was Greg's turn, brave and proud of his strength, who in that battle managed to inflict the first blood on our enemy, revealing that despite everything, he was still a human being like us. Sweet Greg, I will always remember how you decided to protect us all until the end.
After Greg's death, Chris gave everything, swearing that his sacrifice would not be in vain. He fought with all the strength his spirit possessed, and if we talk about Chris, we talk about determination and effort. I don't know anyone who strove harder to overcome their limits. Dear Chris, how I wish your father had witnessed your last moments of life, where you demonstrated that the title of Santo de la Espada was inferior to your true value, and not the other way around.
Jilk embodied cunning, his true strength lay in his network of information and innovative methods. Without you, our enemy would have been even more lethal. You always claimed that you were the one who best understood the enemy's mentality, and it's true, you shared a strategic mind for war with him. You lived under the weight of your obligation towards your brother, and finally, you died saving him from a mortal blow. Even in death, you demonstrated cunning, detonating hidden explosives in your body, causing the most significant damage we had inflicted on him. Did you always know you would die this way? Was this your plan? That's why you had that satisfied smile when you received the attack? You fool... I wanted to keep listening to you talk about antiques while we had tea, I'll wouldmiss our chats.
Julius's gaze reflected the deep pain of having lost all those he considered a second family. I'm sure my face also reflected the same pain. We barely had the strength to keep fighting, but it was now or never. If we died or our enemy escaped, the war would be definitively lost. The dust from the explosion caused by Jilk's sacrifice was dissipating, revealing the imposing silhouette of our enemy. Although he was shorter than the five boys, his presence was devastating. Despite his limited repertoire and infrequent use, it was obvious that he was just as skilled in magic as Brad. An expert in hand-to-hand combat like Greg and with a mastery of dungeons that surpassed him.
Chris surpassed him in sword combat, but he lacked the same chivalrous scruples as Chris. His tendency to use firearms and dirty tactics made his fighting style something that Chris could never match. The brutal effectiveness of his approach was something that Chris, with his code of honor, could not overcome. His cunning, ability to gather information, and mastery of firearms were something that Jilk secretly told me made him admire and envy him begrudgingly, "There's not a single aspect in which he doesn't surpass me" was what he always said with frustration.
"Even in death, he's an exceptionally skilled bastard! I'm so glad he's finally dead, I doubt even cockroaches are as hard to eliminate as that despicable subject", he said with a mocking smile. "Won't you thank me, Your Highness? Now you don't have to share the Saintess with anyone, thanks to me". It pained me to see how the words affected Julius; it was well-known that his tongue was as sharp as his sword and lethal as his firearms. I myself felt how my concentration decreased with the anger I felt towards him. "I swear I'll kill you, bastard!", Julius shouted, enraged. "I'll never forgive you for what you did to my friends. I'll make sure your death is as agonizing as possible".
"Your Highness should calm down a bit", he said with a mocking smile. "If you speak with such cruelty, the Saintess's affection points will decrease. After all, she hates violence... even though she herself is so skilled in it". As he spoke, he looked at the remains of the ship I had destroyed earlier, using the limits of my magic. It saddened me that my magic, which I had always been proud to use to heal the wounded, was now being used as a weapon due to the constant wars.
"And 'bastard' is not a great insult to me, Your Highness", he continued with a casual attitude, despite being visibly damaged, with his armor destroyed, short breath and bloody. "It's just a truth... and a great honor!". I gathered the courage to speak to him, even though he was an enemy of the kingdom, he was still a noble of this land. "It's not too late to stop fighting, my Lord. We can end this war that began. Please, thousands of innocents are suffering" I begged him to come to his senses and end this senseless slaughter.
Unfortunately, his eyes lit up with anger again, directed towards me. I could see how his soul stirred, responding to the hostility that overflowed from his being. Instinctively, I took a step back, driven by fear. Julius, always vigilant, stood between us, protecting me from the other man's fury.
"That I started this? This damned kingdom took everything from me!", he shouted, approaching us with heavy steps, weighed down by his wounds and contained anger. "When I asked for justice, I was spat in the face! When I exposed the damned people who send children to a certain death just to fill their pockets, the crown protected them!", his voice rose, loaded with indignation and pain.
His sword ignited with electric magic, live and wild electricity that only waited to be directed towards one of us. The energy was palpable, and I could feel how the air charged with tension, anticipating the enraged man's next move. "How can this kingdom be innocent?", he asked with bitterness. "It cannibalizes itself at every moment, exploiting its border islands, making its nobility increasingly stupid, allowing its stupid prince to destabilize the kingdom's political power just because he wants to sleep with a plebeian who had the luck of being the Saintess. This excuse of a kingdom and nobility was destined to perish, I just accelerated the hour of its expiration". I was frustrated to admit that, in part, he was not entirely wrong. Since I took my first step in the academy, I felt firsthand the kingdom's rot. The constant harassment by Lady Redgrave and her followers, the assassination attempts by Lady Offrey... Being recognized as the Saintess only increased the magnitude of the harassment. Duke Redgrame and Count Atlee attacked me politically, labeling me a whore. And the worst of all, Marquis Frampton treated me like a puppet for his own ambitions. But still, there were good people in this world. My teacher, who opened the doors of magic to me and guided me on my path. Kyle, with his innocence and audacity, always willing to help me, followed by a witty comment that made me smile. The King, who was always kind and fair to me... And my friends, whose bodies now lay like the most recent corpses of his wrath.
"That knight with black hair like night, which combined with his dark and cruel eyes, dressed from head to toe in black armor that seemed to absorb light, forged with lost technology in time. The feared Leon Fou Bartfort, Lord of Machines, commander of an army of steel that moved without life or magic and knew no pity".
"It's useless to try to reason with a beast like him, Olivia," Julius said to me, with tears still in his eyes.
"No matter how much I admire your infinite mercy, I will never forgive this wretch. For my brother Jilk, my friends, and my kingdom, today you will finally die, Lord of Machines."
"Cheesy and ridiculous... as you are the most popular character, I will never understand," he said with sarcasm, before I could question that strange comment, the Lord of Machines' sword clashed with Julius' shield.
Even with my blessing still active, I could see how the shield was fiercely pushed. Julius deflected the attack with all his skill and tried to give a thrust towards our enemy, which he could deflect with the barrel of his shotgun.
Just when he had the opportunity to shoot Julius in the face, I used my magic to block his attack.
"You won't take another friend away from me," I said with determination. "This fight is two against one."
I ordered my magic to transform into sharp blades, which, although lacking power due to my state of exhaustion and my magic being specialized to fight monsters, the Lord of Machines couldn't ignore them.
Julius took the opportunity to press him with decisive blows from his sword.
Seeing him on the ropes, for a change, gave me the hope I needed. It was only necessary for his luck to run out, a small slip-up and Julius could finish him off.
And the opportunity seemed to have finally arrived, an unexpected stumble, perhaps due to the accumulation of his wounds, managed to leave a gap in his defense.
Julius, knowing how to take advantage of that opportunity that seemed to have fallen from heaven, gave a thrust that penetrated the Lord of Machines' left shoulder.
I know I shouldn't be happy, but the satisfaction I felt when I heard the groan of pain that came from his lips made the pain of my friends' death a little less.
"V-very well, Your Highness," he said with an arrogant look on his face, despite the pain he felt.
"But tell me, did the purple serpent never tell you that if something is too good to be true, it generally isn't?"
Before Julius could understand his words or I had time to use my magic, the Lord of Machines pulled out a dagger from his belt and, without giving Julius time to pull out the sword from the wound, stabbed him in the chest one, two, and three times.
Our enemy was too cunning, he didn't mind sacrificing a non-mortal wound to get rid of the last king of Hortfort.
"Olivia...", Julius said while trying unsuccessfully to press the mortal wound with his hand.
The Lord of Machines, on his part, pulled out the sword from his wound and applied an unknown spray, his wound stopped bleeding, but his ability to heal was mediocre and his pain relief equally mediocre.
"Julius!" I tried to approach him to heal him, but my path was obstructed by a shot from my hated enemy.
"Not so fast, Saintess," said the Lord of Machines between agonizing breaths, his voice barely a whisper. "I won't let you prolong the end."
Julius looked at me with pleading eyes, seeking my presence in his final moments.
"Olivia... thanks for existing," he said with a weak smile, his face pale and sweaty. "My whole life I was trapped in a golden cage until I met you... I never thought I'd lose you."
His voice cracked, and his gaze faded, but he still tried to hold on to me.
"It doesn't matter that you never saw us as more than friends... Greg, Chris, Brad, Jilk, and I always loved you... and always will love you."
His words faded into silence, and his light went out in his eyes. I, Olivia, recognized as the Saintess of this era, had lost my last friend, my last connection to happiness.
"Finally, the last of the five idiots died," said the Lord of Machines, his voice devoid of empathy, apparently not giving me even a moment of mourning. "Their stupid dynasty, which so rotten this world, is finally over."
His words were like a blow to the heart, leaving me breathless.
He walked away without looking back at His Highness's body, I could feel how his soul had lost a great weight, his thirst for revenge seemed to have diminished like never before, but it was still there, empty and without purpose.
He looked at me with an expression of indifference, as if nothing mattered to him anymore.
"What will you do now, Saintess Olivia?" he asked with a muted voice.
"You... why did you have to kill them all? They didn't do anything," I said, feeling how my words were absorbed by the void around us.
"My sisters, my brothers, my mother, and my father didn't do anything either, and yet this kingdom mutilated, raped, and murdered them," he replied with a voice full of pain and bitterness.
"That had nothing to do with them," I said, feeling how my voice cracked.
"They weren't in power to prevent it, nor did they directly order the attack."
But I knew my words wouldn't change anything. The damage was already done.
"And? Still, their families were the ones who laid the foundation for this rotten system," he spat with contempt. "The Ladies' Forest was made under the design created by the Hortforts and the Marmorias. I wish you had heard the threats that the Marmoria family head gave me when I sought justice under the kingdom's rules. The idiot thought I still had something to lose..."
His voice cracked with rage and pain.
"You could have come to us," I said, my voice torn by frustration. "Julius would have helped your so-called justice."
He looked at me with disdain.
"Please, Saintess Olivia. That imbecile was the culmination of several generations of incompetent kings. He didn't understand the concepts of duty or sacrifice. Do you think he or any of the others would have allowed my problems to ruin their fun with the plebeian?"
I felt like he had punched me.
"How dare you say that?" I shouted.
He looked at me with a cynical smile.
"Simple. They didn't even try to make an effort to keep their commitments to their fiancées, beautiful women, raised to be their perfect partner, whose union would bring a prosperous era to the kingdom. To hell with the kingdom and let there be a civil war. I don't want my responsibilities, but I do want the benefits of my position. Right?"
His voice was full of venom and contempt.
"And you didn't exactly do that," I shouted, feeling anger and frustration.
"I never said I was better, my dear Saintess," he replied with a cynical smile. "Like them, I am a product of this system. But, as I said before, this kingdom was doomed to fail. You think the annulment of the Redgraves' and Atlees' commitments wouldn't end in civil war? That Frampton's betrayal wouldn't end with the border nobles deserting the kingdom that sets trap after trap for them?"
I felt like he had hit me with the truth. I knew the royal family was aware of Frampton's betrayal, but they didn't do anything to stop him.
"Accept it, Saintess Olivia, those five idiots wouldn't have changed anything in this rotten kingdom. They would never have assumed a responsibility that would slightly inconvenience them from their whims, whether it's spending time with you or their sense of freedom."
I felt like he had taken the ground from under my feet.
"I-I-You're wrong, they would have...", I tried to defend them, but he interrupted me.
"Spent every damn minute of their existence trying to be your favorite?" He gave me an annoyed look, but at the same time, I felt relieved that he had interrupted me. I knew well how little they cared about their position in the kingdom; I didn't know how to defend them without telling a lie.
"There are still vermin to destroy in this kingdom," he said with a cruel smile. "Retire, Saintess, go to another kingdom where they don't know who you are and live a modest life. I promise I won't look for you, my problem was never with you." But I wasn't going to let him continue his vendetta.
"I won't let you continue your slaughter, Leon Fou Bartfort," I said with determination. The conversation was over, and my crosier, collar, and bracelet were giving me their strength for a final confrontation.
"Perhaps you're right about the kingdom's decay, but you don't fix one evil with a bigger one like you, Lord of Machines. Let me put your soul at peace so you can stop hurting yourself and others."
He looked at me with a mix of pain and resignation.
"As you wish, Saintess Olivia."
He threw away his useless shotgun and held his sword with both hands. His movements were clumsier than ever. My friends' lives hadn't been wasted in vain. The Lord of Machines couldn't even conjure magic to increase his speed or cover his sword with electricity. He was alone, and I was ready to end his suffering.
It was then that I knew I had already won. His attacks, although they cracked my magical barriers, couldn't pass through them completely. He couldn't dodge my magical arrows completely, which managed to increase his wounds. I prioritized keeping my distance from him, with the wound Julius caused before dying, he didn't have enough precision in his arm to aim well with his firearms. My body was only operating on adrenaline; every muscle hurt, I could feel that my magic had passed my limit a long time ago, it was probably feeding on my vital energy. I couldn't prevent him from getting close to me at close combat distance, but thanks to that, I could use barriers with greater precision. One last effort from him, his final bet managed to hurt my arm, but that didn't matter. At that distance, I couldn't miss. My magical lance pierced his right lung.
The Lord of Machines had dropped his sword, I could see in his gaze when his mind realized he had lost. A loud thud was heard as his body fell, no longer having the strength to hold himself up.
"So damn close... I could have avenged everyone," the Lord of Machines lamented, dedicating his last words to his family. "Mom... Dad, Jenna, Nicks, Finley... Colin, I'm sorry... your older brother couldn't finish his job."
I heard his weak voice, full of pain and regret. I couldn't help but feel pity for him. Jilk had investigated what had happened to the Bartford territory, the atrocities they had committed against his people. A monster like Leon Fou Bartfort isn't born, he's made. The anger and pain that had consumed him were understandable.
I decided not to give him the finishing blow. His death was inevitable. There was no need for more violence. My exhausted body demanded rest. I sat a few feet away from my greatest adversary and closed my eyes. The war was over. The silence was almost palpable. In the end, I was alone surrounded by corpses.
Now that my mind could take a break from the battle, I realized I had nothing left in this world. The war against Fanoss had taken my family and everyone who lived in my village, along with little Kyle. The machine war had taken all my friends.
Even when I thought I had no strength left to cry, my eyes disagreed. What was I fighting for? For a handful of ashes? It's true what they say, war doesn't leave winners, only corpses.
I wish I could eat my mom's homemade cake again, listen to my dad's stories when he was an adventurer. I wish I could learn again from my teacher, spoil Kyle. Theorize magic with Brad, eat with Greg, practice with Chris, have tea with Jilk, and visit the village with Julius.
"I want another chance..." I couldn't help but let my heart ask for that childish wish, tears wouldn't stop as my hands gripped my crosier tightly.
That's when a true miracle began. The crosier, collar, and bracelet lit up like never before, I could feel how they absorbed my vital energy to turn it into mana. If I had something to live for, I would have worried more.
The magic was more powerful than I had ever seen. The magic I had invoked to destroy the Lord of Machines' flagship couldn't compare. Space was altered under its power, and I could feel how the Saintess's tools were fulfilling my impossible dream.
A second chance, I felt like the magic surrounded me as it increased its strength. I wouldn't waste this last chance, I would stop both the war against Fanoss and the machine war. Everyone... don't worry, we'll be together again and have our happy ending.
Instinctively, I knew the magic was reaching its conclusion, it was ready to leave this empty world and start in one full of possibilities. Just before the spell's conclusion, I could feel a hand grab my ankle. Before I could turn to observe the situation, a blinding light enveloped me.
