Chapter 23
Moloch is trapped from both sides. He knows that he won't be able to escape without injury because Niobe made a barrier around them, separating him from the souls around him.
This means he can't change places with another soul. He wants to stay and block Melody's sword because he knows that sword can really kill him.
But he remembers the strike to his back from a moment ago and the little girl who hurt him—him, the Soul Ruler.
So he wants to pay her back. He ignores his instincts and turns back, planning to block the little girl's sword, then take her by the neck and put her in front of Melody's sword. When Melody stops her sword, he would unleash a 'Soul Killing Scream.' At least that was his plan.
But after turning and seeing what is behind him, he blocks. His brain is 'not braining.' He sees the little girl just standing there, smiling, not preparing a killing blow or charging her sword. She just stands there and smiles, then he hears her say:
"You fell for it. I don't have enough energy to unleash another strike."
He thinks, 'A little girl tricked me?' But before he can finish his thought, he feels a burning pain hit his back. Melody strikes him, and the sword almost splits his body apart.
But before the sword manages to cut him all the way through, he screams, and for a second, Melody stops. The scream affects her already wounded soul even more, but she bites her tongue and tries to continue.
But Moloch flies like a cannonball away from Melody. He managed, in the second that Melody stopped, to burn his remaining aura and escape from certain death. Of course, in his current state, he's not far from it. But before he even gets the chance to feel relief, Niobe appears in front of him.
She has her hand covered by her milky white aura and simply thrusts it through Moloch's head. Her aura enters his head first, destroying his brain, then continues through his body, tearing it apart from the inside out.
Moloch's mutilated body falls to its knees, his last breath taken.
Moloch Gor'og, The Soul Ruler is DEAD. Killed by some weak 'Earthlings.'
The big players look at one another, not believing what just happened. They fought with a 'Devil Royalty,' a Soul Master, and they won. They really won.
Then they all look toward the young maiden who made it all possible. If she hadn't taken the risk to fool him and succeeded, they would have had to pay a steep price to kill Moloch—maybe even with their lives. Then they hear Leah say:
"I didn't think that would work so well."
Melody looks at her and smiles.
"You did more than all of us combined. Without you fooling him, we wouldn't have been able to keep our lives. Thank you!"
Then all the big players say words of thanks.
But Zmaug goes to his daughter, puts his hand on her shoulder, and says:
"If you were a boy, I would have made you patriarch on the spot. But you aren't, and you have Ark to follow now. After this fight, I won't have to worry about you being bullied. Ha ha ha!"
Then he pulls her into a bear hug.
After some talking between them, they start to kill the remaining monsters, and Kyle calls for the helper robots to begin cleaning and repairing the damages around the city.
Then they look toward the portal, and Kyle asks:
"Does anyone know how to close this portal?"
Melody answers:
"I can try to close it forcefully with my sword."
They look at one another and see that no one has a better idea, so Zmaug says:
"Then you can try to see if you can close it."
Melody nods, and she starts walking toward the portal.
When she is about 10 meters from it, she flares her remaining aura and jumps high toward the portal. Then she raises her sword and makes a diagonal cut over the portal.
She backs off because cracks start to expand from the line cut by the sword. A tremble is felt in the air, and a small earthquake starts to form under the portal. Then the intensity rises fast, and the earthquake becomes stronger.
Just as they begin to worry about the earthquake, the portal shatters into pieces and scatters in the wind.
Then the earthquake stops, and the big players look at one another, all smiling in relief.
When the portal closes, the other 'Devil's Royalty' receives an alert. Then they all see what happened on Earth and Moloch Gor'og's death. They all look toward a devil on a throne up above and wait for the decision.
After a moment, the devil on the throne says:
"That is unexpected, a 'Royal' to die, but he has only himself to blame. If he can't even keep his life fighting these weak 'Earthlings,' then he doesn't deserve his place among us."
"And now, because of him, we need to change our plans. The City of Hope still stands, and the people are still alive. That means Ark won't be affected at all, so he won't come directly to us. That is a problem. Who will go to fix Moloch's mistake?"
The devils look at one another, and no one volunteers.
The devil on the throne looks at them and says:
"Since when did you all become cowards who hide from a challenge?"
"I will choose someone myself."
"Ariach, you will go. You need to destroy the city and kill as many as you can."
Then a she-devil answers:
"Yes, your highness."
Then she leaves their pocket dimension and goes out.
Outside, there is only chaos. Monsters are attacking what seems like a planet, but this planet is so large that it feels more like a sun. The planet has golden skies, and from far away, it really looks like it's burning.
The monsters are trying to break the barriers but can't even scratch them. And from inside the barrier's, robots are firing all kinds of weapons, killing thousands of monsters per second, but if one monster dies, ten more takes his place. Then after looking a bit around, Ariach then goes toward a hooded, blurry-like shadow and says:
"High one, I was sent to Earth, to the City of Hope. Can you make a portal for me?"
The shadow turns to her and nods. Then he raises his hand and says something in his language:
"htrae, yticfoepoh."
Then a portal appears in front of them, and the shadow says:
"After you reach your destination, the portal will close. That means you won't be able to come back the same way."
Ariach nods in understanding and walks toward the portal. When she steps inside, it feels as though she's passing through a body of water. In the blink of an eye, she is outside the City of Hope.
She looks around and sees that robots are working to repair the damages. The city wall is almost repaired, and the barrier over the city is working again.
Then she hears the people inside the city cheering and celebrating, thinking that the worst has passed.
Inside the city, the big players are with their families. Some are with their friends, and others are just watching the celebrations. But all are enjoying their earned rest.
Then Leah comes to Melody and asks:
"What happened with Ark? Why is he still not here? He should've come back ages ago."
Melody puts her hand over her forehead and rubs it. She answers:
"I don't know. I tried to contact him multiple times, but there's been no answer."
"Maybe there are some problems with the merging of the cores because of the tempering."
Then Niobe comes to them:
"I think Ark will be here soon. But right now, something doesn't feel right. I think we need to scout the area one more time."
And after Niobe finishes talking, some people start coughing and holding their chest. Then more people begin to cough until, all around them, people are coughing, as if their lungs want to come out of their bodies.
Then they realize something is really wrong. Niobe goes to one of the coughing people, places her hand on his back, and says:
"It's poison. We need to lock down the city NOW."
She flies up into the sky and releases her aura, expanding and surrounding all the people in a few-mile radius. The coughing people begin to calm down a little, but still, many are passing out.
The most affected are the humans. They fall like flies, and after a while, they start foaming at the mouth.
But that is not the worst of it, after some time, a few are starting to show some worrying conditions, they start to scream and roar like an animal and are trying to scratch their skin off their bodies.
They are starting to mutate, in something horrible.