The air reeked of scorched bone and blood, though neither should've existed in this fog. This place broke rules. Rules of light. Of time. Of space. Of mercy.
Mist thickened like oil, clinging to their skin and armor, swirling hungrily. Screams echoed—not from the beasts, but from memories half-forgotten.
Each second stretched. Each breath burned.
Li Wei stood still in the storm of it all. Summoning a few rider to help in reducing pressure on everyone.
Around him, Shrek fought with everything they had.
Zhao Wuji fists cracked the jaw of a mist-beast three times his size, even as blood ran freely from a gash down his chest. "Still breathing, you sons of devils! Come on!" he roared, forcing another beast back.
Flender dove overhead, his wings cracked and uneven. Every wingbeat came with a wince. He slashed downward, sending blades of spirit power to split another abomination in half. "Stick together! Stay moving!"
Just behind them, Zhu Zhuqing claws slashed through two targets, her breathing shallow. One leg was dragging slightly—injured—but she didn't falter. She couldn't.
Beside her, Xiao Wu blinked in and out of sight, teleporting between allies, redirecting blows, catching friends when they stumbled. Her voice rang through the fog, playful but strained. "You guys better survive this! I'm still waiting for my apology feast from Li Wei!"
Ning Rongrong stood at the center of a glowing circle, her pagoda trembling in her hands. Her buffs kept flickering, barely stable. "I—I can hold the defense field a bit longer!" she cried, voice shaking but determined. "Just don't let them through!"
Meng Yiran eyes were feral. Her serpent cane was cracked at one end, but she fought on, darting in with the last of her venom strikes while also using the snake clone. "You want a piece of me?! Come and try it!"
They were tired.
They were almost broken.
But they hadn't fallen yet.
____________________
And Li Wei… stood. While his hand shooting at the mist spirit beast and his inner side felt like a tornado.
Not out of weariness.
But because something inside him was still shifting.
He stared into the mist, at the figures moving like memories. His chest rose and fell slowly. Not from exertion, but from the weight of it all.
What happens after this?
He asked the question in the silence of his mind. Not the practical answer—but the real one.
Do we return to Shrek? Do we go back to normal? Can we?
He thought of Zhu Zhuqing, her quiet loyalty, the way she always stood at his side without words. Her love, unspoken but so clearly drawn in every action.
Of Xiao Wu, hiding her crush behind light jabs and banter. Always teasing. Always glancing just a bit too long.
Of Ning Rongrong, the way her eyes lingered when she thought he wouldn't notice, a blush hidden behind defiant pride.
Of Meng Yiran, the little sister he never asked for but would protect with every breath.
And above all—
Li Lu.
His grandfather. His last blood tie.
A man he once hated, feared, rejected when his parent died.
But he waited for me. Even after everything. Even after I walked away from him.
"You have your mother's eyes, you know. But your father's silence. I see them both in you, and I'm proud of what you've become—even when you aren't."
His grip tightened.
The Diendriver at his side hummed faintly. Cracked, overloaded, but not yet broken.
He wasn't broken.
Not yet.
_________________
Then, without warning, the ground quaked again.
A new wave approached.
More beasts. Bigger. Hungrier.
The fog swelled into a tsunami of shadow.
"Damn it—!" Flender shouted.
"We're not going to hold!" Liu Erlong barked. "Not without a miracle!"
And still—Li Wei didn't move.
He stepped forward instead. One step. Then another.
Between the chaos, he began speaking—to each of them.
Not with orders.
But with something else.
Something more important.
__________________
To Zhu Zhuqing, he stepped in as she faltered, catching her before she fell. "Still standing?"
Her claws dripped black blood. Her eyes fluttered open in surprise.
"Thanks for catching me," she whispered.
"I always will," he said softly. "When this is over… let's go somewhere quiet. Just you and me. No battles. No danger. Just peace."
Her breath caught. Her cheeks flushed despite the grime. "I'd like that. But you're paying for the tea."
He chuckled. "Of course."
_________________
To Xiao Wu, who warped beside him after delivering a spinning kick, he grinned. "You still owe me a rematch."
"What? The dumpling duel?" she said, panting.
"You cheated last time."
She scoffed. "You let me win."
He leaned close, voice low. "Maybe. But not next time."
Xiao Wu blinked, surprised by the intimacy in his voice.
"…Then I'll definitely beat you again. So don't go getting yourself killed before that."
________________
To Ning Rongrong, who was struggling to keep her balance, he gently steadied her arm. "Still holding the line?"
"Barely," she muttered.
"You're stronger than you think. Don't let anyone—especially yourself—say otherwise."
She looked up, stunned. "You mean that?"
He nodded. "I wouldn't waste breath on lies right now."
A moment passed. Her voice softened. "When we get back, will you come watch me train? I want to show you… what I've really got."
He smiled. "I'd like that."
___________________
To Meng Yiran, who sliced through a pair of creatures with one broken fang, he approached with a smirk.
"Still not dead?" she grunted.
"You're going to have to try harder if you want to surpass me."
"Hah," she said, flicking black ichor from her blade. "You'd better survive. I'm not letting you win by default."
"You're my favorite pain in the ass," he said fondly.
She smirked. "Don't get sentimental. You're still like an arrogant big brother."
____________________
Even to Flender, he managed a dry comment as the man landed near him.
"When we get out, I'm taking a month off."
Flender groaned. "Make that two. I'll approve your leave in writing."
And Zhao Wuji, covered in blood, swung around at the tail end of a roar.
"You good, boy?" he asked.
Li Wei nodded. "No. But I'm not done yet."
_________________
Then the rumbling started again.
Deeper. Colder.
The eye in the sky blinked once.
And the beasts howled.
Something massive approached.
Something final.
The battlefield was unraveling.
The mist was no longer just around them—it was inside them. Pressing at their lungs, squeezing their thoughts, swallowing reason.
Somewhere in that gray, something vast moved. A presence that bent sound, bent spirit, bent memory.
Shrek was barely holding on.
Zhao Wuji bled from the shoulder, knuckles cracked raw. Liu Erlong flame aura flickered with every breath. Flender flew lopsided, feathers torn from both wings.
Zhu Zhuqing moved like a phantom, but she limped. Xiao Wu teleportations slowed. Ning Rongrong shield pulses grew faint. Meng Yiran was down on one knee, gasping between swings.
They were all running out of time.
And Li Wei knew it.
He stood slightly apart from them, silent, still.
The Diendriver at his side buzzed weakly, sparking between damaged circuits. His uniform was torn, soul power flickering across his skin like dying fireflies.
In his palm, he held it.
The black stone.
It pulsed with a rhythm that wasn't his—but felt too much like it.
He looked at it with hollow eyes. Not hatred. Not fear. Something deeper.
Resolve.
He had made his choice.
Not for glory.
Not for self-sacrifice.
But because it was the only path left.
I'm sorry, he thought, looking at each of them one last time.
Zhu Zhuqing, poised even in exhaustion.
Xiao Wu, still grinning through bruised cheeks.
Ning Rongrong, her trembling hands still holding the pagoda.
He closed his eyes.
And pressed the stone to his chest.
The black light erupted in silence.
No warning. No scream. No dramatic gesture.
Only the breathless thrum of finality.
_______________
But just as the light began to rise—
Hands grabbed him.
Three, all at once.
Arms wrapped around him.
Voices cut through the light.
"You're not doing this alone," Zhu Zhuqing whispered fiercely, face pressed against his back.
"We're with you," Xiao Wu said, hugging his left arm, tears slipping past her grin.
"You're not leaving us again," Ning Rongrong choked out, clinging to his right side, her fingers digging into his jacket.
Li Wei eyes flew open.
"What—no! What are you doing?!"
He tried to pull away. But they held him tighter.
"I'm trying to send you to safety!" he barked.
Zhu Zhuqing didn't let go. "Then we go together."
"You idiot!" Ning Rongrong shouted, voice cracking. "You think we'd just let you vanish?! After everything?!"
"Don't make us chase you across another nightmare dimension!" Xiao Wu said with a watery laugh. "If you will be gone, then we rather to disappear together with you."
The light surged.
Li Wei felt it twist around them. The stone was no longer responding to his will alone. It was responding to them—to their bond.
"No… no, wait!" he shouted. "I didn't mean for this!"
He focused, tried to pull the stone back, to sever the link—but it was too late.
The light cracked like thunder.
A vortex of darkness and starlight swallowed them whole.
_________________
From behind them, the others watched in horror.
Flender shouted, "NO!"
Zhao Wuji ran forward, too late. "LI WEI!"
Meng Yiran screamed, "JIE!!"
And then—they were gone.
Vanished into the light.
The black stone dissolved into dust.
And silence reigned.
Then, it came.
Laughter.
Cold. Guttural. Ageless.
The air shook.
The mist parted—and from the void, something immense looked down.
A smile without shape.
Eyes without face.
The End.
"Ah… delicious," it whispered. "So much hope. So much bond. So much despair now left behind."
Its voice echoed across the empty battlefield like a poisoned lullaby.
"Will the rest of them left behind able to survive what comes next, I wonder? Or will they break… like all the others…"
And then it laughed again.
The kind of laugh that knew endings weren't about dying.
They were about being forgotten.