It's time to finally end this!

From above, vines come down. Upon closer inspection, I see Sisli and Knox running into the hall, standing on a vine. Caspian is hanging behind them on a vine and panics a bit.

With the vine, Sisli knocks the magician aside and interrupts his attack. Then Caspian falls from the vine near to me on the ground. Meanwhile, Sisli and Knox jump down on their feet.

"What are you doing here?" I ask, irritated.

"We couldn't let you fight alone against the mage. There were too many enemies gathered in front of the entrance, so we took an alternative route. Oh... and don't worry, we evacuated the civilians!" Caspian says as he stands up.

"Feel free to share the fun with us. We will end this together!" Knox says determined.

"What about the others?" I ask.

"My golem takes care of Aria and Irene. It is alright!" Sisli says.

"Did I hear it right? Irene is safe?" Cecil asks and comes towards us slightly wounded.

"Yes, she is safe. But we won't if we don't take care of him," Caspian says and stares at the mage who stands up.

The mage starts to laugh.

"I was too inattentive. You guys are truly stubborn. But I don't understand why Aria gave her life for worthless people like you. How ironic. After all, she was burned as a witch by your kind!"

He tries to provoke us. And I hate him more and more.

"Ahhh!" I shout and run towards the mage.

I strike towards him and hit him repeatedly with my sword. But he deflects my blows with a transparent, bluish magical shield. At the same time Caspian shoots arrows at the mage.

Meanwhile, Sisli uses a vine to grab the feet of the mage. She tries to pull him away, but he expels magical power and shatters the vines. Then he shoots magical blades from his hand at Sisli. Sisli runs to the side but is thrown away by the impact of the magic hitting the ground.

Now Knox comes sprinting from behind. He swings his axe at the mage but only hits a barrier created by the mage. With increasing force, Knox pushes his axe through the barrier, which already begins to show small cracks.

Suddenly, the mage turns to smoke and disappears.

"What? Where did he go?" I shout, asking.

"Watch out! Behind you!" Cecil shouts.

I turn around and see the mage who shoots a magical sphere from his right hand. Knox and I try to parry the attack, but the attack is too strong. With a big explosion, we get thrown against the wall. In the moment I hit the wall, blood spills out from my mouth. That really hurt.
In the next moment, Cecil runs towards the mage. He raises his blade, but the mage grabs him with a magical aura and throws him through the stone throne against the wall.

"Cecil!" I shout.

Cecil doesn't seem to move anymore. Now the mage walks slowly towards Cecil. Caspian takes advantage of the mage's inattention and shoots him in the shoulder with an arrow.

"Got him!" he shouts.

But the joy doesn't last long. Black fluid drips from the wound. That must be his blood. But then the arrow gets pushed out of the wound, which immediately closes again. The magician turns around.

"Nice try! But you guys have to make more effort to hurt me!" the magician says, stretching his hand towards the sky.

A kind of dark magical shockwave is released, and his shadow soldiers begin to storm through doors and windows.

"Damn it!" Capsian shouts.

"We keep your back clear and fight the shadow creatures! Lionel, go attack the magician!" Sisli shouts while attacking some creatures with her vines.

"You don't have to tell me twice!" I shout and storm towards the mage.

The others begin to fight the shadow soldiers. But their numbers are growing, and they threaten to plunge the hall and all the light into darkness.

Sisli uses her vines to tie down and throw away as many enemies as possible and cover Caspian. At the same time Caspian covers Sisli with his arrows.

Meanwhile, Knox faces masses of enemies and chops them to pieces with his axe. Several enemies rush at him at once, completely obscuring him. But then Knox hurls them away and continues fighting.

Then, Cecil stands up, visibly hurt, and also defends himself from the creatures with his sword. He runs on the rubble off the stone throne and jumps into the air and launches an attack on the enemies from above.

While the others are busy with the shadow-like creatures, I have to end the fight with the mage. But I also have to fight the shadow soldiers... I can't concentrate my power that way...

"Ok, hero. You will die first! Then I will kill all your friends. Their death will be as useless as yours. A hero who can't protect anyone is just pathetic, or am I wrong?" The mage says and casts several magic attacks in my direction.

I run in his direction but have to dodge his attacks and the shadow soldiers at the same time. I slide down to dodge one of the attacks, but the mage hits me after that with a magic explosion that pushes me back. I land on my feet and ram my sword into the ground to prevent being thrown further away.

Damn it! I don't have time to charge my attack.

Then, suddenly, an arrow flies past my head and hits a shadow creature in front of me in the head.

"I got your back! Go and defeat that bastard!" Caspian shouts, determined.

I stand up and hold my sword in front of me to gather mana for my attack.

Then the mage flicks his fingers and plunges the hall into complete darkness. While you can still roughly make out everything, an oppressive aura surrounds us, which seems to strengthen the enemies' fighting power. The darkness is about to suffocate us more and more, and the others seem to have increasing difficulties withstanding the enemies.

Then I see a dark magical orb flying towards me. If I dodge, my concentration is interrupted. But before my body can even react, I hear Knox's voice.

"Don't worry!" Knox shouts and suddenly appears in front of me, tanking the attack. He begins to bleed all over his body but still stands.

"Knox!" I shout. 

"Just... a scratch!" Knox says exhausted.

Then vines appear around me, defending me from behind.

"We will do this together!" Sisli shouts.

They continue to fight the shadow creatures and defend me.

Thank you, all... I will save you and get revenge no matter what. Not for the world but for Aria and my friends!

"It's time to finally end this!" the mage shouts smugly.

The darkness surrounds us nearly completely. It is not possible to see anything now.

"That is funny. I wanted to say the same thing!" I shout.

In the darkness my sword starts to glow golden and purple at the same time. This purple light... It must be Aria's mana. When she used all her mana to heal me, my sword also must have absorbed it. I will defeat him with the combined power of Aria and me. I lift my sword into the sky. The darkness around us burns away.

"What!?" The mage shouts.

"Now you will pay for everything you have done!" I shout angrily.

The ground beneath me shatters as I jump towards the mage. Then I strike towards the mage with a diagonal slash. He casts a big protective barrier. My sword hits the barrier with a big impact. It gets a few cracks but doesn't break.

"You will never defeat me!" The mage shouts.

I try with all my power to shatter his barrier, but it just doesn't break... Then it feels like a warm touch encloses my hands and the sword.

Aria?

My sword glows even more brightly. It feels like Aria and I are fighting together. As if I can sense her presence.

"You will pay!" I shout angrily with tears.

Then the barrier shatters under the powerful force of the sword, and the magician begins to dissolve in the light.

"How can this...!" the mage cries.

But he disappears before he can finish his sentence. The remaining darkness around us vanishes, and the shadow-like creatures crumble to dust. The sun shines through the destroyed dome into my face. I look down. Then the others walk over to me. We all look pretty worn out.

"We did it!" Knox says with a slightly forced smile, as our loss overshadows the joy of our victory.

"Yes. It is over now!" I say.

Cecil walks over to us.

"I deeply regret your loss. I wish it had turned out differently. Yet, I cannot thank you enough for everything you have done," Cecil says.

The king emerges from behind some rubble. He adjusts his crown and robe.

"The kingdom owes you its deepest gratitude..." says the king, but then Cecil's blade is held to his throat.

"Cut the show!" says Sisli with a glare.

Then guards storm into the hall.

"You will be dethroned for treason against the kingdom and punished for your crimes. Seize him!" cries Cecil.

The guards obey him, grab the king by the arms, and drag him out of the hall. His crown falls to the floor.

"You can't do this to me. I'm the goddamn king!" He shouts before being dragged out of the hall.

Caspian picks up the crown and gives it to Cecil.

"That probably belongs to you now!" Caspian says.

"If the people want it, then it will be so," Cecil says.

What now? How should I proceed? I feel lost and empty.

But then Irene runs into the hall. Behind her is the golem, which carries Aria.

"You have to see this!" Irene shouts.