62 The End

"What plan?" I asked breathily, relief flooding me as I imagined scenarios of this nightmare ending.

"I think I can defeat him with my Light Power, combined with your elements to create [Light Fusion]." Emilia explained quickly, "But there's a downside to this spell."

"And that is…?" Kyle leaned forward to adjust the leaves and keep us hidden,

"We'll lose our powers forever." Emilia blurted out quickly, wincing as we all froze in shock.

Magic was the pride and blood of nobles, once we lost our powers we would be deemed as cripples, pathetic and deformed. We would live the rest of our lives scorned, mocked, and despised.

"How am I supposed to run a kingdom without my powers." Kyle groaned despairingly, burying his face in his hands, "No one will respect me."

"No one will be alive to respect you if we don't do something soon." Emilia gestured to Solaris destroying houses and finding hiding families before slaughtering them, "Worry about your kingdom later, at this point you won't have any subjects."

Kyle paused for a few brief, painful moments before finally nodding, a sense of gloom settling around him.

"When I give the signal, imagine pouring your power into me." Emilia instructed, slowly climbing down the tree.

"This won't hurt you to perform this spell, right?" I asked casually as we made our way towards the village, where Easton was.

"Of course." Emilia grinned, "I still haven't done everything I want to in life."

***

We slowly sneaked up behind Solaris as he murdered the rest of the villagers.

"Get ready to protect me." Emilia whispered, "And stand behind me."

Emilia whispered a few words in a language I had never heard before. Golden wisps of light tangled with her hair and her body started to float. A harp, created purely of glowing stars materialised in front of her and she begun to pluck a slow, sweet melody. Every not that vibrated from the harp, a star detached itself from the harp.

"Today is the last time you will breathe." Solaris teleported in front of Emilia, and creating a fire dagger, "Get ready for The End."

"IVORY CATCH!" Millions of transparent, pink, flat rocks, shaped like large cherry blossom petals darted in front of Emilia to create a shield while Kyle threw me ten daggers created from his [Sakura knives] skill.

I seized the daggers and carefully aiming them and tossing at Solaris.

Solaris gritted his teeth in annoyance and touched the stone ground before dragging it up to make a wall between him and me.

Meanwhile, Emilia continued to pluck the starry harp, which was slowly disintegrating into separate stars. The pink shield quickly surrounded her and Kyle struggled to keep his [Sakura Shield] steady as Solaris started blasting fire at it.

"Let's see how much mana you have to keep it constant." Solaris sneered as lava poured out from his hand and onto the shield.

Kyle widened his eyes and his complexion dropped to a tone paler.

There was only one thing to do.

Due to me using cheats as a child, I had increased my mana to incredibly high, not as high as Solaris' but considerably more than a usual person.

Using this spell would deplete my mana from me permanently, but I wouldn't be needing mana in the future once Emilia finishes the spell.

"[Mana Donation]." I commanded sternly, silvery light drifted away from my heart and Kyle quickly absorbed it.

Colour in Kyle's cheeks returned, and the shield darkened in colour. As the silvery light faded away from me, I felt emptier and weaker.

"Die." Solaris' glowered and the sky immediately darkened, and rain started falling.

The rain poured onto the lava, causing heavy steam to surround Emilia to the point we couldn't see the golden glow anymore.

Solaris' hand lifted towards the sky and a bolt of lightning struck the ground.

Fortunately, it didn't hit us, however, Kyle and I were standing in a pool of water and was electrocuted as a result.

"Keep the shield up!" I gasped, my heart racing far too quickly and my breathing unsteady and unstable.

Kyle didn't say anything, his only gritted his teeth and kept his stance the same.

Just as quickly as it arrived, the sky returned to its usual blue hue.

Solaris flung himself at Kyle with his dagger in hand, I threw myself in front of Kyle to defend him. Solaris' dagger and my dagger clashed; I was purely on the defending side whereas he was clearly attacking.

Why was Solaris, the brother we had spent our childhood fighting us? Trying to kill us so vehemently despite the past we shared together. Was he truly desperate for death to the point he would kill everyone in the world?

"Don't forget who you're against." Solaris glared at us and shot a flare of fire at Kyle.

"AGHH!" Kyle screamed, clutching his burned arm and the shield crumbled to dust.

"WHAT THE-" Emilia yelled the music slamming to a halt.

"Are you okay?" I demanded, barely holding Easton off as our daggers clashed once again.

"The steam only slightly burned me; I'll be fine!" Emilia hollered out, "How's Kyle?"

"I'll live." Kyle answered meekly, wincing as he glanced at the massive, scarlet burn on his arm.

"If your done, I'll need some assistance over here!" I called out, barely dodged the fireballs Solaris' flung at me.

"I'm coming!" Emilia answered frantically, and she teleported out of the steam with a dark pink burns over her body.

Solaris glanced around at Emilia and Kyle slowly advancing on him.

Suddenly, he leaped back from me.

A ring of fire surrounded him, the fire leaped at us, towering over, and making frightening shadows.

The fire descended on us with swift movements, almost torching us to death.

Emilia rapidly backed away, golden tendrils still in her hair and a handful of glowing, white stars in her hand from the harp. But still, half of the harp remained, still in the middle of the village square and the steam slowly fading away.

"CHANNEL YOUR POWER NOW!" Emilia shrieked desperately, gathering her stars and aiming at Solaris.

Time to do the irreversible.

I imagined my element flowing out of me and mixing with Emilia's power. I opened my eyes and with a fright, realised black tendrils floating out of me and combining with Emilia's stars. Strands of green from Kyle was beginning to mingle with the white and black.

I glanced back at him.

Would we have to spend the rest of our lives ridiculed and without power?

Emilia shot stars blended with our element at Solaris, which he dodged effortlessly by teleporting away.

Still, Emilia gritted her teeth and urgently shot more stars at him, a sense of desperation in her eyes.

"You'll never catch me." Solaris laughed, bitterness tinging his voice.

Finally, Emilia ran out of stars, and she stood there, slightly panting and glaring at him with so much hatred I had never seen from her before.

Kyle and I stood there in tensed silence.

We were doomed.

Powerless and without stars, Solaris was going to kill us one by one.

"R-run…" Kyle mumbled softly before looking up from the floor and screaming in a frantic voice and with a fierce expression, "RUN AWAY! I'LL KEEP HIM BACK!"

Solaris smirked and teleported next to Kyle,

"Don't bother acting tough." Solaris nagged like a mother, putting his hands on his hips, "Though it was probably an act your father drilled into you as a child, so I suppose I can't do anything about it."

Kyle unsheathed his katana and summoned [Petal Shards] around him, watching Solaris' quietly and keeping a calm stance.

"I never really liked your brother." Solaris shrugged nonchalantly with a small smile, "He was too observant, he was bound to figure my plan. Anyway! I guess it's your time to go now."

And with that, Solaris swiftly twisted Kyle's neck at an unnatural angle.

I stared in horror as the heir to the kingdom, one of the most important people in the world, a son and brother, the most popular love interest in the otome game and my treasured friend fall to the ground with a soft, quiet 'thump'.

I was suddenly aware that I wasn't breathing and took some shuddering mouthfuls of air. Emilia's pupils were shaking rapidly as she made choking noises and collapsed to her knees.

I felt like collapsing.

I felt like weeping tears of grief.

I felt like clawing Solaris' face off.

My knees were trembling, and I felt bile rise up in my throat.

"KYLE!" Emilia wailed in despair, crawling towards his body and feverishly checking his pulse.

I slowly walked towards Kyle, my footsteps unsteady and unsure.

"There must be a pulse." Emilia looked up and smiled weakly, her eyes brimming with tears, "I must be wrong. He has to have a pulse."

"I've given you enough to mourn him." Solaris clapped, "I wonder who'll mourn you guys since I've already killed your parents?"

Despite Solaris' airy tone, his constant mask of scorn flickered for a second.

Maybe it was the change of light, of because he regretted his choice to destroy the world.

I'll never know.

"Haven't you done enough?" Emilia wept, her back hunched as she stared at the ground and the ground soaked up her tears, "How many must you kill until you're satisfied?"

"That's right." Solaris dipped his head thoughtfully, "I'm killing people for my own gain. I'll forever be the bad guy but don't you sometimes wonder, what cause the villain to become evil?"

"I hate you." Emilia glared at him with swollen eyes, "I wish you'd die."

"Me too." Solaris smiled, "I wish I'd die too."

A soft humming interrupted us, and gentle plucking vibrated across the village.

We all turned sharply towards the source of the sound, and a figure of a girl our age was hidden behind the steam, playing the harp delicately.

"…Who?" Solaris frowned, mumbling to himself and unease seeped through the crack of his mask.

The lovely strumming of the harp continued, and the humming chorused with the music.

Solaris gritted his teeth, slight fear beginning to show on his face. He threw a fireball towards the direction of the music, and although the ground burst into flames, the song continued without any hitch or pause. Solaris' sent a gust of wind to scatter the steam and revealed a beautiful girl playing the harp and singing along.

Her long strands of pale pink hair reached the ground, surrounding her like waves of pink. Small, buttercup flowers dotted along her hair matching her intricate, embroidered dress. The skirt of the dress trailed behind her as the fire Solaris created burned around her, spreading close around her but never touching.

Contrast to the blazing ribbons of red and orange, the gentle aura that girl was exuding looked out of place. Her long, graceful fingers never stopped plucking the harp and when she finally opened his eyes, it gave me a small shock of surprise.

Glowing red eyes, framed by long, thick eyelashes. Those eyes radiated more light than the fire that burned around her.

Wait.

She looked very familiar.

"Angelina?" Solaris exclaimed, his shock apparent on his face, "I thought I killed you a few years ago!"

That was Angelina (Refer to chapter 18: Meeting the Heroine to understand)! Was the reason Angelina not being at the Academy because Solaris' killed her? And why were her eyes glowing?

She smiled briefly before continuing her humming, and more white stars materialized above her.

Solaris frowned before teleporting next to her and patted her hair.

"…As I suspected." Solaris widened his eyes in fury and as his hand went through her, "You're dead. Are you a ghost?"

Angelina didn't reply, keeping the soft smile on her face as she continued humming. Solaris' expression slowly merged into a look of fear and desperation as he flung more fireballs at her, even trying to destroy the harp with no avail.

After a few short seconds, Angelina had quickly turned the harp into stars and merged them into a glowing bow with a single arrow.

Angelina stood floated towards us and handed Emilia the bow and arrow. Emilia looked up at her with swollen, tearful eyes,

"What am I supposed to do with this?" Emilia asked, her eyes devoid of hope.

Angelina turned her head towards Solaris,

"Free him of his suffering." Angelina whispered softly, as though speaking loudly would extort her of any strength left.

"You don't hate him?" I asked curiously, watching as Easton send blue flames towards us, only to rebound the soft glow that was surrounding Angelina.

"I pity him." Angelina smiled sadly, seeming to fade away with every word she uttered, "Because even if he destroys the world, he won't be able to escape from his prison."

Solaris desperately sent more elements at us, with no avail. He floated up higher into the sky and dark clouds suddenly appeared, with the loud booms of thunder and crackling lightning attempted to strike us.

Angelina, patted my head and took the last drops of power left in me to mix with the bow and arrow.

"You know what to do." Angelina gently put her hand on Emilia's shoulder, her voice barely a murmur before fading away.

Emilia took a few seconds to stare blankly at the glowing bow on her lap before standing up shakily. Her trembling fingers steadied as she lifted the bow and changed her posture into a steady stance. A determined expression returned to her face as she aimed carefully for Solaris, the soft glow from Angelina still surrounding us.

Fwish.

She released the arrow, watching it fly true and relentless into the sky, straight for Solaris' heart.

But last minute, Solaris teleported away.

And we only had one arrow which was the one Emilia just used.

We were going to die. I was sure of it.

I closed my eyes briefly, waiting for the moment the light Angelina had emitted minutes ago and was currently slowly fading away, to fully disappear so Solaris could kill us.

After a second, I reopened my eyes only to freeze in complete shock as the shining arrow move in a split second and pierce Solaris.

He fell with a soft 'thud' to the ground.

Only silence greeted as back as Emilia and I looked nervously at each other, unsure whether he was dead or not. I walked cautiously towards him, and Emilia followed suit behind me.

"I failed." Solaris chuckled mirthlessly on the ground, his back against the ground and his face towards the sky.

The arrow was gone, but blood still leaked out of his mouth and his light purple eyes which he inherited from my father were beginning to dull.

"I don't want to relive the same life again." Solaris smiled sadly, a single tear running down his cheek, "To be controlled by something, despite my wishes and desires."

Emilia sat down silently and plucked flowers from the ground.

"Can I ask you a question?" I asked curiously, "Did you ever cherish the time we spent together?"

Solaris slightly tilted his head towards me and smiled wistfully, "I truly did love you, Rei and Luke; you were the first family other than my mother. But the desire to permanently end my life and die was too much to bear."

I lay next to him, as we often did as children, staring at the sky.

"Do you think I'll be able to escape from this place now?" Solaris asked hopefully, his eyes sad.

"Yes. I believe so." I answered determinedly, "This time you will. I'm proof that you're same"

"Are you sure you're not lying?" Solaris laughed gently, his face growing paler by the second.

"Promise." I chuckled softly, counting the clouds in the sky.

"Ivory, I'm scared that I'll wake up again and repeat the same life." Solaris whispered, his voice barely audible but the fear very tangible.

"Trust me." I smiled, holding his hand as the sky began to clear up.

We lay in silence, watching the dark clouds disappear and as the birds began to sing again.

"I think it's my time to go now." Solaris broke the silence, relief, and hope tinging his quiet voice.

"Say 'hello' to your mother for me." I requested, feeling the warm sunlight bathe on my face.

"I will." Solaris promised cheerfully, "Bye-bye Ivory."

"Bye Solaris." I grinned, brushing hair off his face, "I'll see you again later."

His face relaxed and his hand slackened. I stood up, and Emilia placed the flowers on his chest before standing up.

"Let's go." I said, walking away from Solaris.

I looked back, and saw Solaris bathed in rays of sunlight and a golden & black butterfly fluttering around him.

After a few minutes of searching for survivors, I heard a 'thump' behind me.

"What was that, Emilia?" I turned around, only to see Emilia collapsed on the floor.

I hurried over and check her forehead,

"You're burning up!" I exclaimed, feeling my hand warm up quickly, "What happened?"

Emilia's breathing was uneven and quick,

"You asked me earlier if performing the spell would hurt me." Emilia grinned weakly, "I'm sorry, but I lied."

"Don't talk too much." I shushed her, "I've treated plenty of fevers, you'll be fine soon."

"Ivory…" Emilia laughed softly, "I'm going to die."

I stopped and froze.

Rei, Luke, Kyle and even Solaris had left me. Was Emilia going to leave me too?!

"I tried to hide it earlier, so I'm sorry for giving you a shock." Emilia stood up, "But please try to find out whether my parents are still alive and tell them I love them."

"Why Emilia?" I demanded, tears welling up in my eyes.

"It was a pleasure to meet you, Lady Ivory." Emilia curtsied prettily, the breeze fluttering her long, azure locks and the sunlight glinting off his thick eyelashes.

It reminded me of our first meeting and how I had been so uneasy around her. It was funny how much our relationship had changed,

"It was a pleasure to meet you too, Lady Emilia." I greeted back, smiling sadly.

***

-Many years later…-

I lounged back in my chair, staring at the sky watching the birds sing their usual song. The gust of wind blew on my face, nearly blowing my hat away.

A few years ago, I had passed Emilia's message to her parents who were luckily safely in the countryside for a vacation. Since the whole royal family was murdered, a struggle of power amongst the remaining nobles began, which I avoided by escaping to the countryside for life.

With no family members left home, I stayed here for the rest of my life, enjoying the warm sunlight. A peaceful life, I had enough action already. Sometimes I visited Grayson and his wife Elianna, they had an adorable child with amber eyes and silver hair, she looked like a little fairy. And, now they had many grandchildren, all as lovely as their mother. But eventually Grayson and Elianna passed away and I was left alone.

I was very old now, at the age of 93, and I felt like seeing Luke, Rei, Kyle, Emilia, Raven and Solaris again, to revisit the childish laughter we shared together.

I closed my eyes,

"Time for a very long nap." I murmured to myself, adjusting the hate to cover my eyes.

I felt myself drifting away and when I opened my eyes,

"You made me wait too long!" Raven pouted, grumbling and sulking, "Hurry up! Everyone's over there."

Raven pointed to Luke, Rei, Kyle, Emilia and Solaris carrying each other to pluck the apples on the top of the apple trees.

Suddenly, I felt my body change, and I was back to being a teenager again,

"Coming!" I laughed happily, chasing after Raven.

***

SYSTEM:

Bug as been deleted, restarting server…

***

Solaris:

I opened my eyes.

Where was I? Last time I remembered; I was picking fruits with everyone.

I heard my mother humming, and I took a look at my surroundings.

Grubby walls and dirty window, I was back in the slums again.

"Ivory…" I murmured, standing up and staring hopelessly out of the window, "You were wrong."

***