Chapter 181: The Price of Victory
The Demon Gate shivered and shook, releasing chaotic flares of mana every few seconds. The center of the swirling mass had long since reached the peak of the mountain, but there were no demons in sight. Instead, dozens of long, black lines ran through the gate, a sign of its impending collapse.
The archon’s eyes flitted over the scene, taking in the me, the collapsed soldiers, and the broken gate. "Where are the others?" he finally asked.
My body was heavy with exhaustion, but I mustered the strength the shake my head. "We couldn’t find them."
His eyes widened, dancing with a spark of anger. "They’re still in there? Are they alive?"
"I think so," I muttered, dropping my eyes in shame. "T-They fell into a trap with most of the army, leaving us behind. By the time we destroyed the Gate Core, they still hadn’t come back, and it was too dangerous to look for them."
"Damn it," The Arbiter spat, staring at the gate. "First that demonkin bastard and now this. What the hell is wrong with this world?"
Without sparing me another glance, he vanished, streaking through the unstable gate. The moment his subtle pressure was gone, I dropped to my knees, chest heaving. A wave of dizziness swept over me as the strange weakness from before returned, sending a surge of black dots across my vision. My soul ached, growing heavier and heavier until even the blinding headache pounding within my skull faded into the background. Curling up into a ball, I wrapped my tail tightly about me, tears leaking from my eyes. On either side, I could hear the soldiers tossing around and groaning, caught up in the same wave of suffering.
Long, agonizing minutes passed, but my soul showed no signs of recovering, only a steady decline into the depths of agony. In the meantime, the gate grew smaller and smaller, and the cracks spread until the entire thing resembled a massive spiderweb. Mere moments before it dissipated entirely, Elek, the Arbiter, appeared beside me, holding Connor and Alex in his arms. The two heroes squirmed, faces dark with discontentment until he finally put them down.
"Finally," Alex complained, stretching his arms over his head. "I could have walked, you know."
The arbiter fixed his glowing eyes on the fire hero. "What the hell were you doing in there?"
"Closing the gate," Alex scoffed. "What else? Didn’t you see all those demons we killed? It must have been around fifty thousand!"