King and queen had fallen.
However, the battle had not yet ended.
As soon as he realized Sharaad was defeated, Sariel advanced against Keya quickly.
The devotee was already having great difficulty dealing with Raymond and Shiina at the same time, so he had no chance to resist when the traveler approached like lightning and knocked him out with a strong blow to the head.
Now the fight was over.
The King of Krimisha lay dead on the floor with a charred hole in his chest and Luna's sword in his stomach. The princess was breathing heavily, and her eyes were still wide, in shock by what had just happened.
She didn't even realize when her body simply moved on its own the moment she felt she should do something to interrupt Sharaad's magic. When she came to, she was already behind the king and had attacked him without hesitation.
Now, that person was dead before her, and his blood stained her clothes and hands.
Although that vision was horrifying, she was unable to look away from the person she had contributed to killing.
As she watched, her breathing became increasingly intense, and she could feel her head starting to spin.
It was then that a large figure blocked her view, pulling her out of that stressful trance.
"Are you okay?" Aegreon asked.
"I-Is it over?" the princess stammered.
"Yes, you can be at ease now."
"We killed people... We killed someone's wife and son in front of him... If I were better with magic, this wouldn't have happened..."
As she said this, the princess couldn't hold back her tears, blaming herself deeply for everything. If she had trained more, perhaps the result of that operation would have been different, and Ashoka wouldn't have lost two people important to him.
"Wrong, we saved people. You helped us save all future generations from falling for the fallacy of an evil God."
"But... they fought with such determination... Bhavna sacrificed herself to give them a chance..."
"Because they were blind due to Shiva's manipulation. Their fate was sealed a long time ago, and you did something that many would hesitate or refuse to do even with the obvious choice before them, and that is something worthy of admiration."
After hearing these words, the princess looked into the Pillar's eyes, still in shock from what had happened, and noticed that his eyes had a gentle look, although his voice didn't show it, and with some slight remnants of kindness.
Being the person closest to her at the moment, Luna hugged Aegreon seeking comfort, not caring about his appearance or his injuries.
The Pillar, in turn, was caught so off guard by this that he visibly showed an expression of surprise, and just stood still, not knowing how to act in that situation.
After a while, the princess calmed down, realized what she was doing, and pulled away.
"I'm sorry, I did it on impulse..."
"Hm."
"I see you've calmed down." Sariel approached the two. He was about to say something more when he looked at the Pillar with curiosity. "I wonder if I converted my magic to Protection, I'd be able to heal you..."
"I don't need your sympathy."
"But isn't having your flesh exposed and burned like that bad?" Luna asked, worried.
"Besides, the injuries you acquired in this battle aren't healing," the traveler observed.
"Leave me alone and go check Keya's memories before he wakes up."
Realizing that the Pillar wouldn't yield, Sariel simply sighed and gave up on the idea.
"In that case, catch Ashoka when he falls." As soon as the traveler said this, the golden shield that covered the entire room vanished, causing the King Emeritus of Krimisha to fall inside.
Aegreon jumped and caught him with ease, preventing him from dying from the fall. As soon as he landed, he gently placed him on the ground.
The moment his feet touched the ground, Ashoka ran and knelt beside his dead son, crying with his hands completely disfigured and broken.
Noticing the King Emeritus' self-inflicted injuries, the traveler approached with his hands glowing golden, and a river of golden waters covered the wounded hands and completely reconstructed them, putting bones and joints back in place, joining muscles and nerves, and stitching the skin.
Then, he remained still for a time, staring at Sharaad. "He really had multiple auras... Strange..."
Upon hearing this, Luna observed Sharaad's body with Alteration and noticed that his magic power remained active.
"Wait, why can I still see his aura? Is he still alive?"
"Magic takes a while to completely leave the body when someone dies, which is why you can still see his power. That's why Protection can still 'heal' the injuries of recently deceased people," Sariel explained. "Now let me deal with Keya, maybe there's something in him that explains this."
The traveler approached the unconscious devotee and touched his forehead with his hand, remaining in silence for a long time.
Meanwhile, Ashoka was still grieving his son's death.
"We had no choice, you know that," Aegreon said.
"I know, but that doesn't reduce my pain," he replied amidst sobs. "A father should never have to go through the suffering of seeing his own son dead..."
Not knowing how to act, both the princess and the Pillar remained silent.
Eventually, Sariel took his hand off Keya for a brief moment.
"There's still a lot to see, but pay attention to the corridor behind the throne... or what's left of it. It leads to a room exactly below us with more portal materials."
Once again, the traveler began to search the priest's memories.
"Why did you have so much trouble dealing with Keya?" Shiina asked. "You should be strong enough to handle him alone."
"I'm still getting used to my new weapon," the bodyguard replied. "I've never used a long sword before, so I have to learn the techniques from scratch."
Time passed slowly, until the moon appeared high above the room's opening, illuminating the entire interior with its silver light.
Luna was distracted by this phenomenon and zoned out while watching the celestial body in an attempt to calm her nerves.
Looking at Ashoka again, she couldn't help but feel sorry and a pang in her heart. She knew Aegreon was right, yet seeing a father lamenting the death of his son made her want to say something to calm him down, even though she still felt guilty for what she had done to Sharaad.
"Ashoka..." the princess called.
Hearing Luna call his name, he couldn't help but turn his face and look at her, since her tone of voice had been the gentlest he had ever heard anyone address him.
"I..." the princess began.
"LUNA, ASHOKA! GET AWAY FROM SHARAAD NOW!" Sariel suddenly shouted.
Without understanding the urgency in the traveler's voice, Ashoka turned his face to his dead son, when one of Sharaad's hands grabbed his neck tightly and lifted him into the air.
And, against all expectations, Sharaad had gotten up again.
As Luna's sword was still stuck in the king, she instinctively acted on a premonition of danger and created a sword of ice to cut the arm holding the King Emeritus, but the magical blade only went halfway through the limb.
"What?!" the princess was surprised. That sword was capable of cutting even a thick rock in half, so Sharaad's physical resistance had become superior to that.
However, the blow was strong enough to cause a spasm in his arm and make him release Ashoka.
Right after that, the entire place began to shake intensely, with cracks appearing on the walls and floor. The tremor was so intense that standing was almost impossible, until the floor of the entire room gave way and a large hole several dozens of meters deep opened.
Everyone fell, surrounded by countless rocks from the walls and floor that collapsed.
Aegreon and Sariel were the first to recover and turn their legs downwards.
As he fell, the traveler looked around for Keya, spotting him still falling unconscious.
Gripping his glaive tightly, he threw it at the priest, hitting him in the head and killing him during his fall.
After a few seconds of falling, the ground finally became visible.
The others were already preparing to land in the best way possible to avoid breaking any bones in the process, however, their bodies began to glow brown, and their falls slowed down, descending slowly and stepping firmly on the ground.
The rocks falling above them also floated in the air, preventing them from being buried.
"Where are we?" Luna asked.
"In the room where there are more portal materials," Sariel said.
"WHY IS MY SON ALIVE?" Ashoka pointed up, scared.
Everyone raised their heads; however, they were faced not with Sharaad, but with a pile of rocks floating a few meters above their heads.
"You did that?" Raymond looked at Sariel, referring to the slowing of their falls.
"Exactly, but let's focus on what's important."
The floating rocks above began to unite at a single point, forming a pile about ten meters in size and with a humanoid shape.
The tremor continued for a while when, suddenly, the dark metals of the portal and the Conjuration Gems were also attracted in the direction of that pile of rock.
It was almost like a great stone golem, but it had six arms and six legs. Its eyes were purple stones that glowed intensely, its body was made of rock, and its armor was made of the metals used for the portal's construction.
Countless spheres of dark flames emerged and spun around him with an intense and unstable glow.
"What the hell is going on?" Aegreon asked Sariel.
"The start of the real fight." Sariel stared intently at Sharaad. "Be careful, because he is now almost as powerful as a Pillar."'