Chapter 19- When Fire Meets Fate

The sun swallowed skies, the Great Wall consumed by the stampede of beasts.

Stark and the soldiers inside the core's shield, the old ruler of the western kingdom on the other end of the wall, seeing the scene before him, he rushed forward slaughtering the beasts in the path towards Leo.

In front of the barrier, Leo stood still. He turned his head towards Stark and others.

His face showed a smile at them, his eyes filled with a strong determination, his body weak from the fight, his hands trembling, he bent over.

The beasts are nearing him.

In that moment Tom understood what Leo was up to.

The stream was still running, Tom shouted, "Stop it Leo... A demon's body can't survive the huge magic in the core. You will feel agony incomparable to anything, like a million zombie ants biting you at the same time. Only here, it will be a million times worse. Stop it!"

Leo, still a smile lit up his face, took a magic stone, activated his sword.

"Stark, Tom, Ryan, Reed, my dear friend Riley, and all those who followed me today, thank you, it was an absolute honor."

Saying that, he held the severed leyline in one hand and his sword in the other, and he spoke, "Now let me do mine duty."

...

"Grow flames," he whispered.

The flames gently danced to his command, flowing like water and covered the core. The magic began to flow. The core lit up. Runes flew around it, coming to life one by one.

Magic flowed via Leo's cursed body, his white sclera dyed red. He started bleeding via all his orifices, his muscles visibly ruptured out of his body. The sound of his bones breaking made Stark's face lose colour. The beasts made it to him. They started jumping on him. They began feasting on his flesh, drinking his blood, and chewing his bones. But not a single sound came from the young demon's mouth. Blood gushing from his mouth, the bone-tearing pain, the beasts feasting on him—none of this could wipe the smile on his face. None could make him lose his grip. None could stop the young demon. He showed such a sight that even the beasts behind him started feeling fear. They started to retreat.

The door under the core opened. Stark, the guards, Ryan, Tom, and all the people of the kingdom saw the sacrifice of the young demon, their eyes tearing. This day, a fire was lit in their long dead hearts—the fire that will soon swallow the whole demon realm, lit by a single small demon.

The guards and Stark successfully went inside and escaped.

Seeing this, Leo was glad. He finally closed his eyes, his smile faded. He let go of the hand holding the leyline, but the magic flow didn't stop.

The stream of magic became stronger. The beasts clinging to him were thrown away by the sheer force of the magic. His ragged tunic started burning. Slowly, a small piece of metal was starting to become visible. As the tunic was burning off, it revealed the medallion Leo had on his waist by his belt.

The old demon Star saw this scene unfold before him. At first, his hands clenched, he screamed in rage. But as he saw the medallion, a different beast was born in him. He started burning all his mana. The beasts all turned to minced meat.

Bane rushed forward to Leo. The flow of magic stopped. Leo fell down from the air, but Bane caught him. The door to the core room closed, sealed shut.

He hugged Leo's cold dead body, cried out a roar, "Aaaaaaaaaaaraghhhhhhhhh!" He continued, "My king, I have failed you." He cried. Suddenly the core started shaking. The crystal on the core and the core itself turned to ash. All the transmission stopped.

Then there was a sudden change in the mana around the young demon. The ashes flew in the air. The mana started flowing like a fine river. The mana flowed towards Leo.

Bane was pushed away. Leo raised in air.

A wave of blood-like mana shot out in all directions. The wave killed all the hundreds of thousands of the beasts. Bane was fine, his wounds even healed. The guards in the core room, every demon present in the kingdom, felt the wave . The wounded were healed. Tom, who was a mage, clearly understood this was a spell more ancient than the kingdom itself, and this spell was helping them.

On the wall, Leo still floating in the air.

In a dark space full of darkness, Leo woke up. There he could only see darkness, nothing around him. He thought, "Thankfully I held out. I still didn't kill the demon king, but it was not a bad way to go out." As he was riddled with many thoughts, a light flashed.

A figure of a female, a mature female in her mid 30s, but still put all the beauties in this world to shame. With her white long hair, she was dressed in royal attire he had many times seen in the castle in his youth.

That figure descended to him, placed her hand on Leo's face.

"Child, you did great. If it's you, perhaps, just maybe, you could break the shackles of generations," said the figure.

"Who are you? What do you mean?" confused, Leo asked her.

"In time you will know, descendant of mine,"

said the figure.

"Who are you?" asked Leo.

"My name has long faded by the ravages of time. But once they called me the 12th ruler of the demon kingdom,

the creator of the ancient barrier."

"Greetings, my queen, it's an honour," said Leo, kneeling.

"Go child. Now's not your time. Do your duty," said the woman. Then Leo was sucked out of the space.

On the wall, the mana surrounding Leo made a spear of mana, hiding him completely.

On his back, a slight golden line was drawn. It resembled the outer border of a shield.

Only Bane was the sole witness to this. Seeing this,

"As expected, my lord, your humble subject has now witnessed history. I see the proof—it's here. Finally, after all this time, a new demon king is being born. The emblem is taking shape," he spoke out, placing his arms down, kneeling down to the young demon.

The mana slowly began to fade. Leo's body descended down, almost like a feather, lying in Bane’s arms.

The mana flowed around the area. The beasts' bodies faded to ash. Finally, the mana flowed to the core. An emblem appeared in the air. This time, it was not incomplete but a grand emblem with royal patterns. In the centre, a symbol of a phoenix appeared. The core was restored anew, like it was just made today.

The crystal was also restored. The scene was restored to the core room. The demons saw the beasts turned to ash, and all of them started to come out.

In the sky, the twin suns were setting.

Ryan, Tom, and Stark all came out.

Reed, the princess, and all the knights also came out of hiding.

The long day was over.

Many things happened, incidents today—

Demons who were stunned as rats saved the people who stunned them.

The evil plan of Gord failed.

The poisoned knights and the princess who were doomed to death survived, standing tall.

A seemingly retired old man, a small leader of a gang of kids, and a normal maintenance mage and an insignificant young demon who came out of nowhere—they today defied the decree of heaven. They decided their own death.,yes lifes were lost but their tale of honur will forever be remembered by those who are living.

A fire was lit in the long dormant souls of the demons. Leo still remains in coma.

It was a really long day. After all this, everyone agreed on one thing:

It was a long day ,lifes were lost ,homes destroyed but none the less those fated to perish survived thanks to those who didn't .

And finally after a long day,

The Culling has ended.

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What will happen to Leo? What is the kingdom's fate moving forward? Stay tuned to find out on the Season Finale tomorrow.

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