On the platform, he turned his attention to his beloved Bella, an alluringly stunning silver-haired beauty, his young wife. He pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly.
Her face buried against his chest, Bella murmured, "It's all right, my love. It's all right."
"No matter where you are after this, Bella," he said softly, "I'll find you. I will bring you back to me."
When he released her from his embrace, Bella stood on tiptoe and gave him a kiss on the growling mouth of a beast mask that sat ever so perfectly on his face.
"I love you," she said softly.
"I love you too," Aslan replied.
Watching them, Akari wished that Maximus was here too, at least to say their last goodbyes once again.
Yuki, too, wished that Philip was here with her. Yet she knew that it was impossible, as he was currently being detained and restrained by the White Sages to keep him from going blind with rage and leading a revolt against all this farce, as he believed it to be.
Eri said, "It's time, Lord Aslan."
Aslan nodded and stepped back from Bella. Then he headed toward the center of the stone platform, which had been carved with magical spells of ancient signs, symbols, and scripts. Surrounding them, too, was a stonehenge, a circle of standing stones carved with magic spells.
Stardust—in her glowing orb—came to Lord Aslan and rested on his awaiting hands.
As Eri and the rest of the White Sages watched in anticipation and anxiety, the eight Great Ones spread out their arms, and instantly, their pure qi of dust particles released from within their beings. The energy then was directed toward Stardust, and she started absorbing the power. The more she gained, the brighter and stronger she became.
Suddenly, a voice shouted, "Yuki! Stop it! Don't do it! Stop this stupid nonsense now."
It was Philip.
Standing there, her physical body becoming weaker by the second as she continued to release her qi, Yuki wanted to laugh in both joy and sadness. So he'd managed to escape the high-tier prison cell after all to stop her from performing this madness of a sacrifice.
She knew he was still pissed off and in a rage, thinking that this was some sort of conspiracy created by the seven demon lords to gain world dominance.
She didn't respond to him. She couldn't afford to. Performing this very important task required her full attention.
Hence, she continued to release her qi, and as Philip made a big scene, rushing up the stairs, intending to tear her away from her position, Yuki released the last bit of what was left of her power.
At that moment, as the White Sages obstructed Philip's path, the Great Ones released their cores into the air, eight glowing orbs hovering in midair, bursting with brightness. Instantly, their physical bodies collapsed onto the stone floor like lifeless dolls.
Philip swung his hands and bashed one White Sage in the chest, sending him flying back and colliding against the stonehenge at the back. He used his leg to kick another in the stomach, sending that one flying back and hitting another stone.
Freed, he rushed up the stairs onto the platform and then to Yuki. There, he gathered her lifeless body into his arms.
Above him, Yuki's core—along with the others—floated toward Stardust.
Once Stardust absorbed all the cores, the physical bodies of the eight Great Ones began to disintegrate, their body parts breaking into small particles.
Philip stared wide-eyed in shock at the sight. Voice shaking, he released his dark qi and commanded, "Dark Sage Protective Barrier."
Instantly, the hue of a dark shield formed around him and Yuki, thus protecting her body from the disintegration process.
In the middle of the circle, Aslan—with Stardust in his hands—ascended to the sky so high that no one could catch sight of him with the naked eye. Hovering there in the stratosphere and using his powerful magical sight, he could see the vastness of what was left of their world, with the edge of the realm crumbling and the decaying aurora qi core—the magic nucleus that powered their world and gave them life—breaking, shattering, and exploding beneath them.
To the north, he saw Prince Maximus Kavanagh, a black wolf-beast shifter and heir to the Kingdom of Lyria. He was in his wolf form as he released his dark qi and shot the energy up to the sky. Behind him, thousands of his soldiers, clad in armor, supported him, releasing their own red, orange, or yellow qi toward him, feeding theirs into his.
To the northeast was the demon lord Geoffrey Lancaster, the east, Noah Wakefield, the southeast, Felix Worthington, the south, Caleb Harrington, the southwest, Victor Rutherford, the west, Ethan Sherwood, and the northwest, Aaron Lancaster. All seven powerful lords were in their demon forms, their bodies bursting with dark, sinister power as they released their qi into the sky. Behind them in each location were thousands of their soldiers, releasing their own qi—red, orange, or yellow—as support, feeding the qi to their masters.
In the center of what was left of their dying world, Aslan released his own dark qi and combined it with Stardust's pure ones. From the distance, a great bright light formed and burst, spreading far and wide across the land with a loud, echoing hum. The force was so strong that every individual being within the land felt the power of the qi.
High above, the pure qi met and instantly connected with the eight dark ones belonging to the seven demon lords and Prince Maximus in the respective eight directions across the edges of the land. The connection formed a bond, with bright bursts of electrifying sparks, like lightning exploding across the sky, and the Aurora Barrier suddenly materialized as if out of thin air, spreading far and wide. The colorful radiance danced and sparkled like stars.
Beyond the newly made magic shield, the already crumbled land turned to dust and gas, becoming a part of the cosmos once again.
Inside the barrier, what was left of life was saved, and the surviving, displaced civilians—of many different natures and manners—gazed at the sight of the colorful Aurora Barrier in awe as a newfound hope rose within their spirits.
Across the lands, the citizens—who had gathered in the cities, towns, villages, and even in their own homes with family and friends to pray and spend what was left of their ending time with their loved ones—now cheered with tears of hope and joy.
This is not the end yet. Their world is saved. They have survived the Great Apocalypse.
They all watched, wide-eyed and in awe of the beautiful new Aurora Barrier as specks of magic dust particles sprinkled like rain, some landing on their faces and bodies.
During all this, Stardust continued to release her qi in the form of dust particles to strengthen the barrier until there was nothing left of her, until her light diminished and she was no more, her qi core completely consumed.
Empty-handed, Aslan descended to the ground once again, and Eri walked up to him. She gave him a pat on the shoulder and said, her voice shaky and with tears in her eyes, "You've done well, Lord Aslan."
Aslan nodded and touched the sage's shoulder gently in return. He knew it was as hard for her as it was for him. She had just lost her three daughters, after all, and he, his wife.
"You're all mad!" Philip shouted, which drew both Aslan's and Eri's attention to him.
"What have you done to my Yuki?" His eyes widened as he nodded his head as if convincing himself. "That's right. It's those bastards' fault. They talked her into this. Those demon lords of Acaedien."
Eri said, "She's gone, Philip. Yuki is no more. And it isn't the demon lords' fault. If anything, they figured out a way to save our world. While you blindly went into a rage and threw a tantrum like a spoiled brat, the seven demon lords and Prince Maximus risked their own lives and hundreds and thousands of their soldiers' lives to protect what is left of our world from annihilation."
"Lies!" he snarled, shaking his head. "All lies!" He hugged Yuki's body tightly against him as if afraid she'd be stolen from him again. "I'll bring her back. No matter how difficult or how long it takes, I'll bring her back. And I swear here and now that I will never rest until I destroy those bastards for starting all this."
With that, he stood, and with Yuki's dead body in his arms, he headed toward the exit, mumbling to himself like a madman.
Eri shook her head as she watched him go. "He is too far gone. That obsession spell on him is too strong."
Aslan asked, "You know he has such a spell on him?"
She nodded. "Cast by one with a very dark power, one that I do not wish to cross paths with."
Aslan nodded in understanding. "Then it's best to leave him be."
Eri nodded. "For now," she said.