495 The True Ending
“Where’s El’athal’s body?” Ren asked.
“Don’t worry. He’d be transported together with us in the material plane.”
When the curse ends, all nearby creatures and objects not native to the Shadowmire return to the Material Plane, including Aimon and El’athal’s cairn and body underneath it.
As colors returned to the world, Ren was briefly disoriented before everything came into focus. It was clear that he was back in Verdant Woods. Everything seemed the same as when he left, except that now the cairn Aimon built for El’athal was here – and that Amilia was standing next to it.
Ren ignored her, and his eyes went to Aimon. He was still alive, and the shadows disappeared from him, and he fell to the ground, barely conscious upon their arrival.
No longer a shade. He had only one hit point left. Ren was surprised that he was still alive even though his neck was cut. He then healed him with the potions he brewed, just to make sure that he would be alive until the end.
He had encountered too many instances in his past life where NPCs died because players were complacent that they were immortal, only to find out that they were killable during a mission of guarding or escorting.
Amilia was at first happy and relieved to see her brother alive, but these emotions were quickly replaced with a fear of what his return meant for her and Eldermill. Spurred on by her cursed blade, she resolved to finish what she had started and kill her brother.
Amilia walked tentatively towards her prone and gasping brother, a sad expression on her face. As she reached him, she kneeled down next to him.
“I tried to find you, brother. I really did,” she whispered, their eyes locking together. “I am so, so sorry. I never meant for this to happen like this. I love you, you know.”
At this point, Amilia was slowly drawing the [Betrayer’s Blade] from her scabbard. With a deft motion, Amilia’s dagger – a twisted, discolored blade – was in her hand, and a mad expression twisted her features.
Without a second of hesitation, she buried the blade in her brother’s chest.
“Wha–!” Aimon managed to exclaim before the word died in his throat. He was then transported at a safe distance away from Amilia. In his place were burst of butterflies before they disappeared into nothingness.
Amilia stood up and faced Ren with a crazed look and shouted in anger for interfering with her plans.
“It had to be done, you understand that, right?! He was corrupted, evil – without him, Eldermill can finally thrive and grow!”
“I think you and I both know who’s the evil here.”
Aimon slowly got back his strength and alerted Ren to the evil power of Amilia’s dagger by croaking, “Her blade . . . evil. She is . . . not . . . herself.”
Beyond that, Aimon couldn’t offer any more help during the fight in his weakened state.
Ren’s focus shifted to the blade in Amilia’s hand. If Aimon didn’t warn him about the blade, then he might have already killed Amilia.
Ren didn’t know if he should just disarm her and everything would be over. It was worth the shot.
It would be a hard fight considering that he would be careful not to accidentally kill Amilia in the process because of her low ATP.
Now he wished he had some kind of a [Steal] ability but even if he did, he wouldn’t be able to steal an equipped item. So the only option he had was to disarm her without killing her.
“If you want to kill him, you have to go through me first,” Ren said, already thinking of his strategy.
Ren and Amilia stood facing each other, their eyes locked in a fierce gaze. Amilia, wielding the [Betrayer’s Blade], grinned wickedly at Ren, who stood poised with his hands at the ready, a look of determination etched on his face.
Amilia lunged forward, her blade flashing in the light of the morning sun. Ren deftly dodged the attack, quickly countering with a simple weak ball of fire, aiming at Amilia’s hand.
Amilia was able to block the attack with her blade, but the force of the impact sent her stumbling backward.
Ren continued his assault, unleashing a flurry of magical attacks that kept Amilia on the defensive. However, Amilia was no slouch herself, deftly dodging and weaving through the magical onslaught, her cursed blade striking out with deadly precision.
Ren knew he needed to disarm Amilia’s cursed blade before her HP could chip away. The fire and water spell were too weak to knock that weapon from her hand.
He had no choice but to resort to a much stronger spell and hope for the best. Ren focused his energy and chanted an incantation, a beam of pure electricity shooting from his scepter toward the blade.
Amilia, sensing the danger, tried to parry the attack, but it was too late. The beam of light struck the blade, causing it to vibrate violently.
Amilia let out a furious howl, her eyes glowing with anger as he swung her blade with renewed fury. Ren was still focused on the blade, saw his chance, and took it. He chanted another incantation, this time focusing intently on the blade.
Ren let Amilia strike him with the cursed blade. The cursed weapon stuck on his chest that was decreasing his HP at a fast rate, simultaneously he threw a paralyzing dud on Amilia’s way.
Amilia let out a blood-curdling scream when she was paralyzed and couldn’t move, her grip loosening. And it was that time that Ren let out another weak water spell that knocked Amilia back, and she finally let go of the [Betrayer’s Blade].
Ren should have used a paralyzing dud before, but Amilia’s speed was too fast that she could easily dodge it.
With the curse lifted, Amilia was left vulnerable, and she crumpled to the ground, the [Betrayer’s Blade] clattering to the stone floor, its dark magic dissipating without an owner.
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[CONGRATULATIONS for completing the quest, SAVE ELDERMILL!]
[You have COMPLETED the TRUE ENDING!]