Chapter 35: Good Night, Deo, the Star of Change

  (Deo's Perspective)

  It was time for the farewell.

  In the ruined main hall of the Van der Wood mansion, Kairo and I stood. Around us were the remnants of a broken army. Strong warriors who were once the pride of their families were now just emaciated ghosts, their eyes sunken but burning with the last flicker of defiance.

  On a cracked magical screen that we had repaired, the face of Saint Antoine appeared. He smiled with the innocence of a child, but his eyes held the coldness of the void.

  "It is time for the world's punishment," he said in his calm, childish voice. "In one week, we will open the Abyss. The monsters will emerge for the final reckoning. Thank you, sacrifices," he said, looking directly at the camera, as if seeing every single one of us, "you have sufficed and more. Accept the end, people of the old world."

  The broadcast cut off.

  "Sacrifices..." whispered Jose Philanter, his voice barely audible. "I understand now. Philip didn't leave us alive because he was merciful. He was slowly draining our life force to fuel the rituals of opening the Abyss."

  A heavy, absolute silence fell, a silence heavier than any scream. I saw the strong warriors looking at the ground in genuine despair. Hope, that fragile thing we clung to, shattered into dust.

  I looked at Jose, then at Kairo. I thought of Clara. I thought of our unborn son. I thought of the home he would never see. And in that moment, I understood something. I understood everything.

  "Kairo."

  He looked at me, a silent question in his eyes.

  "Can you take me there?"

  He understood immediately. "Certainly."

  "Boy! Are you going to kill yourself?!" Jose yelled, grabbing my arm, his grip surprisingly strong despite his weakness. "Corvus is there, the strongest man in the world, and four monsters like him!"

  I looked at him and smiled. "Didn't I tell you? I am the Magic Swordsman, the first and not the last. Don't worry. If I am alive, the world will live, and hope will live. I will save you."

  Jose fell silent. Mattias looked at me, and Gabriel looked at me. Everyone looked at me.

  "The Abyss is to the east," Jose finally said. "Close to the Eisingard city."

  "Thank you." Then I turned to everyone. "Can you give me your magic? I have a chip that saves magic in my mind."

  They looked at each other, then Jose said: "Certainly."

  One by one, they came forward. They placed their hands on me, granting me the essence of their power. I felt the flow of their styles, their techniques, their expertise... I wasn't just copying their magic, I was copying their sweat and effort, copying years of training, pain, and triumph. And because of this sweat and effort, I will kill every one of them.

  I smiled and took off with Kairo.

  A week passed. A week of silent travel through a dying world. We talked a lot that week, Kairo and I. We laughed about old memories, about Alessandro's stupidity, and about Eva's screaming. We talked about Leonardo, and about his parents. Kairo knew where he was taking me. He knew it was our last journey together.

  I was intensely tired. My nose was bleeding intermittently. The side effects of the chip were starting to show. With the increasing number of stored magical styles, my brain was screaming under the pressure.

  We finally reached an empty plain. It was painfully green and beautiful. And in its center, they were waiting. The Five Saints, and an army of Jacobins.

  We got out of the car. I looked at Kairo. "Did you bring the camera?"

  "Yes. It's connected to the same Saints' channel."

  "I'm sorry I'm weak," Kairo said, and for the first time, I saw real tears in his eyes. "I won't be able to help you in the fight."

  I looked at him and smiled. "Goodbye, Kairo."

  I started walking in the empty plain. The clowns were making way for me, with their mocking faces. They wanted the world to see this sight. The Magic Swordsman walking alone toward his altar.

  I reached them. They were five columns of hatred and despair standing in silence. I looked at Philip, and at Corvus.

  "My apprentice," Philip began, his voice carrying a false sadness. "O most sorrowful of all. Join us. End this pain."

  I looked at him and gave an exhausted smile. "Please don't talk. This is too hard for me."

  Philip looked at the sky. "As you wish, my apprentice." And the fight began.

  It wasn't a single attack, but a coordinated explosion of hell.

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  The first to move was Louis. He laughed a loud, ringing laugh, and leaped into the air with demonic grace. He didn't attack me directly. Instead, he began dancing in the sky, and with every spin, he threw glowing seeds. Wherever the seeds fell, they exploded into massive roses of black flame, turning the beautiful green plain into a garden of fiery death.

  At the same time, Antoine smiled. He said nothing. He just held out his small hand towards the ground. The green grass beneath my feet turned into a thick, viscous red sea of blood. Hands, bones, and rusty weapons emerged from it, trying to grab my feet, slow me down, and pull me under.

  Two servants knelt before him, Michel and Jack, sacrificing themselves, and their blood turned into a shield and a sword for the Devil Child. Then he killed all the other clowns, and the sea of blood turned into an ocean.

  I dodged the exploding roses and moved with difficulty in the sea of blood. And suddenly, I felt the air become heavy. Julian, with a massive machine appearing around his body, struck the ground with his fist, and a wave of gravity launched, trying to crush me. I jumped into the air,

  but there, Corvus was waiting for me, his sword gleaming with lethal coldness, his sharp, precise strikes like deadly needle pricks, forcing me to retreat and land back into the hell they had created.

  I was fighting four monsters at the same time, while the fifth, Philip, stood far away, skillfully manipulating reality, making the ground beneath my feet turn into quicksand for a moment, or making the air in front of my face solidify like invisible glass.

  Somewhere else, Clara was watching the live broadcast. She was crying a scorched cry, her hand on her belly. She felt a violent movement from her child, as if he felt his father's pain and was screaming with him in silence.

  There was no time to think. Only to fight. I was taking hits. Louis's roses burned me, and the blood swords Antoine summoned wounded me. A punch from Julian sent me flying, and a strike from Corvus cut a deep wound in my arm. I was bleeding, healing, and bleeding again.

  I can't win like this. I realized. I can't defend against five. I must attack. I must eliminate them, one by one.

  "You're first!" I yelled, looking at Louis.

  I ignored everything else. I charged through his garden of fiery roses. I didn't care about the flames consuming my clothes and burning my skin. All I saw was his laughing face. I reached him, cut through his fire attack, and cut off his head.

  One.

  His body fell, and his laughter fell with it.

  I turned. And Julian was in front of me. Antoine yelled that he would use Louis's soul for the Abyss ritual and would temporarily withdraw from the battle. Good. Three.

  The real fight with Julian began. His armor was solid. Every strike from the Ash Blade left only a superficial scratch. He pressed me with his immense physical strength, while Philip attacked me with painful illusions. I saw Clara dying in front of me a thousand times.

  No! It's an illusion! I screamed in my mind. The chip was analyzing the illusion, revealing its source. I saw the ethereal thread connecting the illusion to Philip. And in a moment, while Julian relied on me being distracted by the illusion, I ignored the machine in front of me and manipulated reality.

  I didn't attack him, but appeared from behind him, exploiting the blind spot created by Philip's illusion. I stabbed him in the gap between his helmet and armor. Then, with a series of quick strikes, I cut his mechanical body into pieces.

  Two.

  Antoine returned, his face grim. "Come on! The Abyss will open!" And a black hole appeared in the sky, absorbing the light. But to everyone's surprise, the hole suddenly closed itself.

  "What's happening?!" Philip screamed, shocked. "The Abyss refuses to come out! It finished its mission!" He looked at me angrily. "Because he is alive! He must die for it to open again!"

  The three of them attacked me together. Antoine was bothering me with his blood magic from afar, constantly healing himself. I knew I couldn't kill him as long as this blood environment existed.

  I made a suicidal decision. In a moment of coordinated attack, I turned and allowed Corvus's sword to pierce my back. The pain was unbearable, but it gave me the opportunity I needed. I pushed through the pain and reached Antoine.

  I struck him, and when he tried to absorb the blood around him to heal himself, I manipulated reality. He wasn't absorbing pure blood. I added the darkness magic I copied from him to it.

  Antoine screamed an unchildlike scream, the cry of an ancient soul suffering, as he saw his body melt and corrode from the inside by his contaminated blood.

  Three.

  "Damn you, Deo! How are you still alive?!" Philip screamed. "Look at your body! Hand cut off, pierced, burning!"

  I smiled as I parried Corvus's strike with one hand. The chip was blaring warnings inside my mind. "I am Deo, the Star of Change. And I am the hope of this world."

  Philip started tearing reality. They were no longer illusions, but real, painful memories he pulled from my mind. My mother's severed head. Clara crying in the Academy. Alessandro, Eva, and Leonardo. "Why resist?" he shouted. "The end is the only salvation from this pain!"

  I smiled. "Because you are wrong. The pain of memories is nothing but the start of a new journey."

  I cut his memories. I breached an illusion he made to see his real body, trembling in a corner. He was my teacher. My colleague. My friend. But I am the hope. I cut his neck gently, with a mercy he had not shown anyone he killed.

  Four.

  I turned and looked at Corvus.

  We stood, father and son, the rain washing the blood off us. We clashed.

  I was in the worst shape of my life. My hand cut off, my leg barely holding me, the chip almost malfunctioning, my mind and body shattered. How would I defeat the strongest man in the world? I didn't know. I only knew I wanted to see Clara's face, and my son's face.

  He was faster, stronger, and in better shape. In a moment, he sacrificed his defense and attacked. His attack succeeded, almost splitting my body in half, and my injured leg collapsed to the ground. But I remained standing. With one hand, one leg, and a shattered body. And with one movement, I manipulated reality, used his own trick, abandoned my defense, and cut him.

  He fell to the ground, wounded. He thought I would finally fall, but I remained standing. He was kneeling before me, and I was standing. He looked at me as if preparing for his death.

  But I couldn't. He is the reason everyone was killed, but I couldn't. He is my father. My only father. I just cannot kill my father.

  I looked at the sky. "Do you see how beautiful the world is? The smell of rain, the sky... how beautiful it is." I looked into his face. "How do you want me to kill my father?"

  And I fell into his embrace.

  I collapsed into his embrace. I think, this was the first time he had ever hugged me. I was truly happy. I remembered Clara. I saw our garden, and I saw her smiling. I saw our child, he was so beautiful, he looked like her. I felt the darkness wrapping around me. It was cold. Very cold. Death is scary. It really is scary.

  I'm scared, Clara. Hug me. I don't want to die. I want to live longer. I want to raise our child, to become the best father in the world. I want to joke with Kairo more. I want to see my father hold his grandchildren happily. I want to see Kairo fall in love again. I want us to be happy. I don't want to die. I'm so scared.

  I closed my eyes, and slept a happy sleep. Good night, Deo, the Star of Change.

  In that moment, the whole world watched this fight. The fight of Deo, the Star of Change, protecting the world. He was a star.

  And a star went out with the sunrise.