THE COST OF ENDING

THE COST OF ENDING


Chapter 171
Claudia's pov.

The castle ground was as silent as a graveyard, save for the steady beating of my heart close to my ears, I stared at Croft's lifeless figure, laying limp on the ground.

It's done.

I had done it.

But was I happy about it? Absolutely not.

I didn't want to have to resort to this kind of violence, killing. It was an awful way to end a dispute. This was an accident and it would take me a long time to move past this.

His features were burned into my memory, his eyes bleed crimson down the corners of his eyes, his nostrils as well as his lips.

I was shaken out of my stunned state by a loud explosion in the distance which disturbed the terrifying silence I found myself in.

It triggered my flight mechanism as I remembered the battle might have been won, but the war wasn't over.

I wiped the stray tear from my cheeks as a cold shiver ran down my spine, my heart felt like a hand was wrapped around it and was crushing it slowly.

It was dark magic.

I was reminded of the impending decision I had to make. Still clueless, I didn't know what I wanted.

Pushing those thoughts to the back of my mind, I picked myself up, staggering as my muscles and bones still hadn't healed.

After taking such hits from Croft, they took longer than usual to return to normal. And so I moved around with open gashes, blood running down every bruise.

Before the dark magic had a hold on me, I needed to finish this once and for all.

I struggled, stumbling over my own feet, the wind was not helping one bit but I knew I needed to get there fast. I had a bad feeling brewing in the pit of my stomach.

Warren!!

I had let him fend for himself against one of the powerful witches there was and I was worried. I couldn't lose him.

I said a silent prayer to the moon goddess, hoping that he was okay as I wouldn't be going after him. I needed to make my way to the middle of the brimstone pack.

It was the sacred position that the witches had pinpointed for the spell to take place, able to cover the entire range of Crofts experiments.

Hopefully they had been rounded up within the barrier for the spell to work.

And hopefully the spell actually works.

This was a first, using Jacobs spell as a guide but if we weren't careful enough, the wolves might end up being dead.

Hopefully it wouldn't come to that.

It was hard for me to breathe and I wondered why I wasn't healing as fast as I should, perhaps it was also added to the dark magic effect.

Ahead of me, I spotted two witches furiously doodling on the floors. They weren't done yet.

Others were fighting furiously to protect them in the circle but they all appeared worn out and tired. Bruised and battered, it didn't seem like the wolves could hold the monsters out much longer.

I have to help them.

I knew I had to but the witches had caught sight of me and beckoned fiercely and I increased my speed, despite the slight limp on the foot that Croft had severely injured.

The girl grabbed my arms with her trembling ones, she was so brave despite the fear in her eyes, the way they shifted frantically.

Her breathing was ragged and I could visibly see the manner in which her chest rose and fell.

I placed a hand above her own, forcing her to look at me, “You'll be fine, okay?” 

We stared into each other's eyes and she offered me a sad smile, it might not have been much but her focus had returned.

She drew a circle on my palm before moving to the other and doing the same. We all stood in the circle, they both stood on either side of me.

The spell was set to begin.

More mutants arrived and were about to attack, but so did our teams, it seemed like they were versed with what we were about to do and tried by all means to stop it.

But how would that be possible, they were mindless zombies. They couldn't think on their own especially when they were in this form.

Croft was dead, there was no way he was able to control them, and the only other person who could was ……..

Sage.

I realised I hadn't seen her since the night began, not when we had infiltrated the brimstone pack, not when I had battles with Croft.

She had been absent the entire time and it made me all the more skeptical.

Sage was cunning.

A fox that planned before she struck, which was exactly what I was afraid she might be the one truly controling them, or she was planning something even more diabolical.

Whatever it was we needed to finish the spell before she was able to execute her plans.

The two girls began to mumble under their breaths, the sound of wolves snarling and growling surprised me, the wind picked up its pace as a result of the magnitude of magic that was building around us.

Their mumblings echoed louder, chanting expressively. It was chaos, the wind picked up and I felt something stir from inside of me.

I groaned in pain, they had mentioned that it might be painful, that it might drain me of my energy, but I had already known that.

Considering I had gone through the same thing when Jacob was about to bring the world into ruins. The feeling was nostalgic but this time, it was for a better cause.

The wind blew my hair violently into my face, my grip tightened on their arm as the breeze was so strong, due to my weak state, I may have just been blown away.

Until I actually was, by a strong force which broke the connection I had with the two girls, sending me flying backwards.