The Forsaken Hero
Chapter 181: The Price of Victory

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!"

"Closer to twenty," Connor muttered, turning to stare at the vanishing gate. "And we certainly didn’t fight the boss. It was there for a moment at the beginning, but it fled right before the ice collapsed."

Alex nodded, his face splitting in a proud grin. "I don’t blame it. Its aura barely reached the middle stages of the sixth level. I bet I could kill it in one, maybe two attacks. We probably just destroyed the core on accident, to be honest."

"It’s possible, I suppose," Connor said with a shrug. "Some of our attacks reached far into the tunnels, and it was just after you used that seventh-level technique that everything began to break."

"Yeah, It wouldn’t...what’s up with them?" Alex asked, finally noticing our wretched state.

Elek shook his head, a shadow crossing his face. "It shouldn’t be possible, but their souls bear signs of infernal corruption." He stalked over, dropping to one knee beside me. I whimpered as he brushed my cheek, his touch scalding my skin like sun magic. "I’ve never seen something like this before. It’s like infernal mana was directly injected into their souls."

"But they were just the rear guards," Alex protested. "What could have happened?"

"We’ll have to wait and ask them when they recover," Connor said.

Elek shook his head, sighing heavily. "They won’t at this rate. The corruption spread beyond my ability to heal, especially on Xiviyah. It’s only a matter of time at this point."

Bits and pieces of their conversation filtered through the haze of pain clouding my mind. Infernal Corruption? Gritting my teeth against the pain, I ran a cycle of mana through my soul, scanning it for irregularities. Large blemishes coated the fragments of my soul, eerily similar to the mutations undergone by the infernal monsters. The entropic influence of the corruption was already settling into the deepest parts, meaning permanent damage, like what had happened to the wolf, wouldn’t be far behind.

"When I arrived," the archon said thoughtfully, taking his hand back, "She claimed they cleared the gate."

"That’s not possible," Connor said shortly. "The captain lying on the ground over there is only a fifth level, and almost all of their soldiers are third or fourth. While they’re certainly more powerful and experienced than a regular company, defeating a sixth-level demon is far beyond their abilities."

"But what of Xiviyah?" Elek asked.

Alex snorted, lips curled up in a slight smirk. "Even less plausible. That amulet thing restricts her to fourth level, and she can’t even use combat magic, remember? Besides, she’s weak, like, emotionally. I doubt she’d even be able to handle seeing all those dead soldiers, much less put up a good fight."

Elek frowned, fixing the Fire Hero with a stern glare.

"What?" Alex shrugged. "It’s true. You should have seen her during the banquet the other night. Literally ran away sobbing for no reason."

"Yes, I remember," the arbiter said stiffly. "But even so, I won’t tolerate..."

His words trailed off as a furious cloud of runes sprouted from my soul, forming into a complex series of magic circles above my chest. Ignorant of their attention, I carefully wove the purifying spell, slowly adapting it to match my own soul instead of an animal. Although they were similar, my soul was heavily damaged, and if even the smallest thing was off, it could have catastrophic consequences.

"What is she...?" Alex asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Better question," Connor said slowly, "How can she even cast right now? Beyond the fact that her soul is absolutely shredded right now, there’s no way she has enough energy to sustain magic of any kind."

Every gentle pulse and tug of my mana sent shivers of pain through my body, but I had almost grown numb to it by this point. After a few minutes, I completed the spell, easing it into the Nexus. Soldiers rolled and shifted, crying out as the spell settled onto their souls, burning out the corruption. It was an excruciating process, but I held my tongue, finding even this pain lacking to the full fury of the Sun Purge, or the Slave Crest at maximum punishment.

"Quick, stop her!" Alex shouted, starting toward me. "What the hell is she doing?"

He stopped as Connor placed a hand on his shoulder, shaking his head. "No, whatever she’s doing is working. Their souls are slowly recovering."

"If only that were true," Elek said, frowning. "Infernal Corruption is irreversible once it reaches the soul. Even the best healers of the Divine classify it in the same category as Sunpurge. Perhaps a god could remove it, but it simply isn’t possible to heal it with mortal magic."

"I don’t know about all that," Connor replied, "but it’s definitely getting better. Look," he said, pointing.

Captain Bethiv stirred, struggling to his knees. His eyes flashed open, blinking away the haze, and slowly focused on the heroes.

"You’re here!" he cried hoarsely, "but how...?" His eyes widened as he caught sight of the bright wings of the arbiter fanning out behind them.

"Indeed. Congratulations, Captain, on surviving," the arbiter said wryly. "But I’m afraid it is not yet time to mourn. I will need a full report when you have recovered enough presence of mind to recall what happened."

"Yes sir," Bethiv saluted, his tone still slightly slurred.

Many of the soldiers began to move as well, slowly rising to their knees and rubbing their heads. Blinking in the evening sun, they stared around at their comrades, faces etched with joy at seeing so many alive.

But the corruption scoring my soul refused to give so easily. As the receptacle and focus of so much infernal mana, the damage I suffered was far greater than any of the others, who received only an auxiliary portion. When the purifying spell worked into the deeper depths of the corruption, the pain spiked, finally forcing a whimper between my lips. I curled up tightly, my tail tensing from the pain, until, at last, the final traces of corruption had been purified.

Gentle hands helped me to my knees, and I opened my eyes to find Captain Bethiv’s face before mine.

"Are you alright?" he asked softly.

I shook my head, sniffing. "H-how long...?"

"The rest of us recovered about an hour ago. I know it must be hard to think right now, but do you know what happened?"

"I’m sorry, it’s all my fault," I whispered. Tears slipped down my cheeks once more, and I wrung my hands together. "You shouldn’t have had to bear it."

He looked at me, eyes lost in confusion. "Bear what?"

"The price of victory."

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