Without their general, the demon army collapsed.
Some fled. Some dissolved into shadow. Some simply stopped, standing motionless like puppets with their strings cut. The defenders watched in disbelief as the tide of darkness receded, leaving behind a battlefield littered with corpses.
"We won," someone whispered. "We actually won."
Cheers erupted from the fortress walls. Soldiers hugged each other. Civilians wept with relief. The Great Nations, for the first time in three hundred years, had stood together and won.
Lee stood in the center of the battlefield, breathing hard, Onyx Tempest trembling in his hand.
That was reckless, the sword said. You used the darkness inside you. You could have lost yourself.
"I didn't," Lee said.
This time.
Lee didn't answer. He was looking at his hands at the faint tendrils of shadow still clinging to his fingers.
"Lee!"
Kira ran across the battlefield, throwing her arms around him. Taro followed, then Inyocha, then Ren.
"You did it," Kira sobbed. "You stupid, reckless, beautiful idiot. You did it."
"I told you I would," Lee said, hugging her back.
Inyocha stood apart, watching. His eyes were wide.
"You have darkness too," Inyocha said quietly. "Inside you. Just like me."
Lee nodded. "Everyone does. The question isn't whether we have darkness. The question is what we do with it."
Inyocha was silent for a moment. Then he nodded.
"I'm starting to understand," he said.
"Good. Because we're going to need that understanding. The Hollow King isn't going to stop. Malachar was just the beginning."
They walked back to the fortress together, the cheers of the defenders ringing in their ears.
But in the back of Lee's mind, a whisper lingered.
You can't save everyone, the whisper said. Eventually, you'll have to choose.
He pushed the whisper away.
Not today.
Today, they had won.