SPELLBOUND

After moving forward at a rapid pace, King Belial finally spotted Onyx. It was not hard to identify the large extremely black dragon amongst the other vampires, dark faes, ice and fire dragons. The dragon was currently seated on the ground.

"Beatrice!" the king called out for his wife. Relief flooded through him like a flood as he rushed up to her, pulling and crushing her in his embrace. After some seconds of tightly hugging her, he grabbed her upper arms, pushed her at arm's length and gave her a quick scan from head to toe. Seeing that there were nothing more than some bruises and superficial cuts that had bled and were now dried up and healed, he sighed out heavily. Though he was unhappy with the numerous wounds she had on all over her, in this situation, he knew that this was already the best condition that she could be in. In fact, it was almost a miracle that she only had this amount of injuries with the way she had been fighting and going against the monsters at the frontlines.

"Belial!" The couple pulled again at each other before being enveloped in a tight embrace. Queen Beatrice was as ecstatic, if not more, at seeing her husband here with her. She knew how much he would worry every time they separated and fought at different sections in a war.

"Are you alright, my queen?" he asked as he pulled away and checked on her again, as though to double confirm that she was definitely alright.

"I'm fine." She replied hurriedly to reassure him and then the two of them looked ahead. "Evie was quick enough to call up her protective barrier and had shielded me during the explosion. But Vera and Gideon... they're... they were inside the black core..." Beatrice's voice softened a little before cracking as she relayed the news of her eldest son and his wife to Belial.

Hearing the shocking news, everyone that had come in later with King Belial turned to look ahead. The dark core was already gone and nothing seemed to be left of it. All they could see now was a thin wispy trail of smoke that was also slowly dissipating.

The ice crystals formed by the ice dragons had now started to become the source of light in the dim darkness. Though it was not as bright compared to the light from the sun, it was sufficient for everyone to see and make their way around in this area of perpetual darkness.

And it was then that they realized that they were looking at Gideon who was kneeling on the ground, holding onto Vera in his arms.

Evie rushed towards them and then suddenly halted at the realization that Gideon was now looking no different from a living dead. He was not weeping. He was not showing regret or sadness. He was just bent over on the ground there, frozen still, looking down at Vera's face.

Evie's eyes trailed along Gideon's gaze and her hand suddenly flew to cover her mouth at the sight of Vera. She did not... seem to be breathing anymore.

She fell to her knees and was about to stretch her hand out to hover over Vera's chest when Gideon growled at her. He acted no different from an animal who was prepared to kill anyone who would touch his beloved.

"It's me, Gideon. It's Evie... I will try to heal her!" Evie coaxed. His still blackish blue eyes dilated when he heard her voice and when his expression changed, Evie slowly stretched her hand out again.

Nothing was working. Her magic was not working on Vera! Was it because it's too late?

King Belial came forward as well and tried healing her with his dark magic. But it also didn't work.

Vera's heart had stopped.

Hopelessness crushed over them. Beatrice began to tear up. Evie as well. But Gideon did not. They knew with one look that he would not be able to accept this reality. This reality that there would no longer be a Vera in this world. He would never be able to.

In the midst of the crushing and devastating situation, Evie's attention was pulled towards a faint dragon sound. Lifting her defeated eyes, she saw a dragon lying on the ground not too far away from them. When she recognized that it was Azure, she had caught herself from gasping out loud. It had taken her a couple of seconds to register in her mind that that dragon was Vera's mount. The dragon was dying as well. The great dragon was completely battered and was now lying in a pool of his own blood. That was how much blood had seeped out from the numerous wounds riddling his entire body.

Evie's heart clenched at the sight of the poor dragon. But when their eyes met, she suddenly stood and approached the dragon.

There was something Azure was trying to say... The fact that Onyx also moved closer to the dying dragon confirmed it.

With the help of Onyx, Evie understood what Azure was trying to say to her. She used her magic to lend the dragon one last move as he had requested.

She didn't know what the dragon would do but as Azure gathered all of his waning strength, and supported by Evie's magic, the great dragon struggled to rise from the ground.

He made sounds and its body glowed with a bluish light. He looked as though he was casting his very last spell.

And then they watched him rip out his own heart with his claws, squeezing as he roared out his dying cry. A roar that made the entire ground tremble with the intensity of what felt like emotions flowing out from the dragon.

Azure crumbled to the ground right after, but he still managed to lift his claw - the claw he used to crush his own heart.

He moved his claw above Vera and then his blood dripped into her mouth. Everyone watched, holding their breaths.

When Azure's claw fell heavily to the ground, Vera began to glow with a bluish light exactly the same as what Azure had emitted just a while ago.

And then... her eyes fluttered open.

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