Rayse stumbled forward, almost flopping down on the grass below. Lacey caught him, still holding hands, preventing him from eating dirt. He looked around, finding himself at the fortress plaza. There was a curious looking crater to the side of them, where a white tree was just beginning to wilt.

“Whew.” She said, trusting herself to speak after all this time. “That was…”

“Insane?” Brandon offered. He was patting himself down, freeing himself of the dust from the cave. “That black knight was one thing, but water guy was extra creepy.”

“Tell me about it.” Rayse answered distractedly. He’s close to just surrendering himself to fatigue, but there were still other things left to handle. He needed to hold on until then.

“Is everybody here?” Carrack called out from somewhere. Tending to the survivors, he assumed. That was one of the things he was worried about. He looked around, trying to check on who made it out, when he noticed that wasn’t all that had been transported from the cave.

“...Aren’t those…?” Brandon drifted off, walking right into the same spot Rayse had been looking at.

There he found the bodies of their companions. They were arranged with surprising care considering their states after Rage’s rampage. Most were reassembled almost fully, with some missing the odd limb or so. They were laid out in a line, and one could almost fool himself into thinking they were just sleeping. Brandon knelt, inspecting each one. He summoned the earth to cover them from the neck down in an effort to preserve their dignity. Next, he strode over to the crater itself, where two much larger corpses lay.

They were Rage and Conquest, laid out neatly inside the crater. Rayse took a quick peek. They weren’t handled as respectfully as their friends were, unfortunately. They were in really rough shape, especially Conquest’s. Or he should say, King Mios. There was almost none of him left to mourn, with his body reduced to a vaguely human shaped mound of ash. The demon wrapped on his body didn’t fare a lot better, though it was much more intact.

Using his hunting knife, Brandon carefully plied the demon out from the King’s Corpse, using his experience at butchering demons to good use. He managed to pull away the herald’s lamprey-like teeth, revealing the former King’s almost intact head. A long spike emerged from where he was bitten, going through much of the king’s insides. He was recognizable after that, at least, because one of the soldiers saw him and loudly called for the prince.

The other soldiers were coming now, with the survivors taking the lead. They gathered around the king and dead soldiers, grief finally taking hold. Seeing their squadmates in this state broke something in them. Tears flowed from them all, as well as from the guards that had arrived.

Seeing that, Rayse thought maybe it was okay to take a break now.

“Lace.” He finally said. “I think I need to lie down.”

It’s as if his body waited for it, because as soon as he said it, his vision was cut off.

__________________________________

With much regret, Aleph was forcefully pulled from his forge in what felt like a second after he began to smelt his old armor. He asked an attendant to look after it, though he was sure it would take a while, and was ushered by Vaynard’s guards back out into the plaza. The very same one, in fact, where he had crashed mere hours ago. It was only when he saw the late afternoon sun over the horizon that he conceded that more time had passed than he thought.

He saw the hunting party had returned, and with a lot more than they had promised. He stepped over to Brandon, who had already begun to harvest materials from the demons.

“Master!” Brandon looked over as soon as he sensed him, looking relieved. Aleph walked on over to his devoted student, giving his shoulder a squeeze.

“Good work, son. Is this them?”

“Yeah. This was Rage, our target, and this–looks to be Conquest.” He held up the massive leech-like thing as soon as he said so.

“Hmmm. Not very many useful parts to these ones, I think.”

“Uhhh, yeah. They were tricky, so we needed to throw a lot more than we thought we would. Thankfully, we saved these.” He jerked his head to the side, where Aleph could see the monstes’ most valuable parts all laid out.

“The horns… They were intact?”

He gestured towards a pair of thick, stubby horns.

“Like I said, they were tricky. Rage’s horns were like fangs on the inside of its mouth for some reason. Saved it from a lot of punishment.”

Next, Brandon handed Aleph a particularly long, slim horn, of the same pale pink as the leech.

“Conquest’s in particular had been embedded deep within the King’s body. I assume his regeneration had something to do with its current condition, but it’s pretty pristine despite us cutting him apart multiple times.

“Demon’s ‘horns’ are a misnomer. Technically, they just are any part of the demon’s body that its imparted with the most amount of mana.

“You’ve done very well, Bran. Good job.”

“Awwwe, don’t mention it, master. Heck, I didn’t even really do much, this time. In fact, you should talk to Ray and Lace, they were–” He stopped himself there, the joy on his face draining as he remembered something unpleasant.

“Where are they?” Aleph asked.

“Oh. I had the medics take them. Rayse seemingly died, came back from the dead, injured himself even more, and then a demon forced him to use magic again. He clocked out as soon as we got back.

“Lacey’s fine, though. I think. She would have still been around trying to heal people if I didn’t tell her to stay with Ray. I don’t think she should be using magic for a while.”

Aleph nodded. He briefly sent inquisitive messages through their link, but what he got back was about the same as what Brandon explained. He decided to see them later.

A massive blue light erupted behind them, forcing them to look. Aleph narrowed his eyes, seeing the thunderstorm brewing on the mountain his students just were.

Aleph looked on. He could only imagine the intensity of the battle that was unfolding, but judging by the energy in the air he could easily tell that it was immense.

“Lost…Rayse’s demon king friend delivered you from that place?”

“Yeah. She even let us bring back our dead, not to mention these heralds... Something about a ceasefire?”

Aleph nodded, briefly telling Brandon about this morning. He looked up in the air to find the dragon, the herald named Betrayal. It had resumed its patrol, circling the town. With no urgency to join its master, he could only surmise that Lost had whatever fight she had found herself in well at hand.

Booooooom!

As if to challenge his assessment, A thick bolt of lighting descended upon the distant mountain, turning everything into a portrait of light. It went as quickly as it came, leaving white spots in Aleph’s vision as the sound of crashing thunder finally followed. He could feel the tremors in the ground from this far away.

“Woof. That Pride guy’s bad news.” Brandon commented. He had been done with harvesting for a while now and had been watching the lightshow with his master. “He was terrifying. We only saw a portion of what he was capable of, but he seemed every bit Lost’s equal, maybe even stronger.”

Aleph nodded, although he doubted his student’s judgment. Pride, was it… Aleph’s thoughts went to the demon king that descended earth, the self-named abomination called Doom. Its prowess lived up to its moniker, razing the planet down to extinction even before Erebos managed to descend. Even without an army at its back, the existence of the demon king is worthy enough to take on an entire world. The possibility of facing two at once was a large reason Aleph found himself lacking. And yet…

Aleph sighed before scratching his head in frustration. These series of explosions were impressive, each one on the level of one of Lacey’s most powerful spells, sure, but if that were all, Aleph liked his chances against this one. The moment he thought that…

BANG!

A black shape erupted from the mountain, shooting upwards to strike the mysterious ball of liquid. The collision sounded nothing like what he just described, though. Aleph figured that there must have been something solid within it.The ball crackled with electricity, this time it traveled across the surface like a massive ball of plasma.

The scene only solidified what he already thought. Defeating Lost before Erebos descends would be the real test, one that Aleph himself needs to find a solution for, and fast.

“In any case, I’m glad they’re picking each other off like this. Hope one of them dies.” Brandon hoped.

Eventually, the clouds cleared and the skies settled into evening. The stars were out in full force, illuminating the entire valley. Aleph saw Betrayal finally leave the vicinity of the fortress to go fetch his master over in the mountains, presumably a sign of battle’s end. The clear skies revealed a dark shape floating out in the distance, silently floating away to god knows where. Aleph watched it go, briefly imagining how the battle went before returning to the furnace himself.

He passed by Vaynard’s still silhouette, standing over a line of corpses covered in linen. It seemed that he had been there awhile, his face inscrutable as he looked over the fallen. They had talked about his father’s passing, but seeing him like this, it looked like something had changed about this young man.

“Aleph.” He said as soon as he passed by.  “Make me a sword. One that can carve out the hearts of the monsters who did this to us.”

“It shall be done, your highness.” Aleph bowed. Vaynard looked more and more regal in the past few days, but now, the crown finally looked like it fit on his head. Aleph’s vision for the final battle changed once again, from him standing alone against two demon lords, to something more hopeful, more manageable, more winnable.

He strode more enthusiastically towards the herald’s materials, mind suddenly alive with ideas. It was such that he didn’t even notice that Brandon had stayed behind.

“S-sir.” He heard his student stammer,  “About the King’s heart, we–”

The young king brought up a hand, interrupting him.

“It’s alright, Brandon. I heard about it from the other soldiers. You’ve all done well.” Vaynard smiled at him, perhaps hoping that it would calm the boy. The smile wasn’t his usual, though, not even reaching his eyes. 

“Thank you, your majesty!” Brandon knelt, perhaps sensing the change in the air as well. He excused himself afterwards, jogging over to the infirmary in order to check on his friends.

Aleph watched the scene with approval. Mostly. He and Vaynard both watched the retreating Brandon for a bit before looking over the linen sheet that covered the late King Mios. His shoulders trembled from time to time, but for the most part, the young monarch held up quite well. Aleph felt around for words he could say, and settled on a common one he heard whenever a close friend fell in the war. 

“We shall grieve for them again when the day is won. Stand tall, Vaynard. For his sake, as well as ours.”

“...Yes.”

It was a reminder not just of their duty, but also of what’s at stake. It was a vow for future comfort, but also a promise of companionship in the days ahead. Aleph tried to convey all that in his short statement, and with the king’s response, he felt he succeeded.

They stood like that a moment longer, until the crowd of mourners had all dispersed. The bodies were carried away to the morgue, where they will be taken care of for a more honorable funeral.

Vaynard was about to go with them, when Aleph stopped him.

“My friend,” he called out, “Come with me to the forge. I’d very much welcome your assistance.”

Vaynard looked at him for a moment, silent as stone. Then a shift happened, and he smiled once again. Not the detached royal one from before, but replaced by the man he had grown to admire. The brash, charming young man had returned, tempered by the resolve he had seen moments prior. It was when he was like this, Aleph thought, that he fully embodied his country and its people.

“Yes, my friend. I’d love to.”