Chapter 182 Elara's POV
Present
I launched myself at Erebus, the lunar pulse blazing through me.
He waved his hand and dark energy slammed into me. I flew backward, hitting a tree hard enough to crack the trunk.
Pain exploded through my ribs, blood filled my mouth.
But the pulse was already healing me, sealing the damage, getting me back on my feet.
"You have the pulse," Erebus said, studying me with those blind eyes.
"Interesting, very interesting. But you don't know how to use it. You are wielding divine power like a blunt instrument."
"Then let me practice on you."
I attacked again, faster this time using the pulse to enhance my speed and strength.
My fist connected with his face, he stumbled back.
But he recovered quickly, his hand shooting out, grabbing my throat. Dark magic burned into my skin.
I drove my knee into his stomach. He released me, we separated, both breathing hard.
"You are stronger than I expected," Erebus admitted.
"But strength alone won't defeat me. I have existed for centuries, fought countless battles. Killed thousands who thought they could stop me."
"Maybe I will be the first to succeed."
We clashed again, and again and again.
Each time, Erebus used massive amounts of dark magic to defend himself, throwing spells. Creating barriers, summoning shadow creatures to attack me.
And each time, the lunar pulse let me break through. Destroy his defenses. Get closer to landing a killing blow.
But I was getting hurt, badly hurt. Wounds the pulse couldn't fully heal because new ones kept appearing.
Blood soaked my clothes. My vision was blurring my movements slowly.
Behind me, I could hear Helena's warriors fighting the remaining Erebus followers. Keeping them from interfering.
But I was alone against Erebus himself. Just as it had to be, hours of brutal fighting. Neither of us giving ground, neither of us willing to surrender.
Finally, I saw it. The moment I had been waiting for.
Erebus stumbled, his dark magic flickered. He was exhausted. Drained. He had used too much power trying to kill me.
"Now," I whispered.
I gathered every bit of strength I had left. Every ounce of the lunar pulse and I charged.
Erebus raised his hands to defend, but his magic was weak now, barely there.
I broke through his guard, drove my fist into his chest, and felt ribs crack. He fell backward, hitting the ground hard.
I was on him immediately, pinning him down. My hands around his throat. "This ends now."
"You... can't... kill me..." he gasped. "I am... eternal..."
"We will see about that."
I looked up. Sybil was approaching, moving through the battlefield with impossible accuracy for a blind woman. She held out the ancient dagger.
I took it with my free hand. The runes along the blade began to glow, the lunar pulse recognizing its partner.
Erebus's eyes widened. "That blade. Where did you get that blade?"
"From someone who wants you dead."
"No. No, you don't understand. If you use that-"
I raised the dagger high, aimed for his heart.
"Wait!" Erebus coughed blood. "You think I'm the worst evil, you think killing me ends everything but you are wrong."
"Last words from a desperate monster. I'm not interested."
"Someone from your past, someone you knew, someone you trusted."
His voice was weakening. "They bear the darkest power, darker than mine. Worse than mine and killing me won't stop them."
"What are you talking about?"
"You will see soon, when they reveal themselves. When they make their move, you will understand."
He smiled, blood staining his teeth. "And you will wish you had listened to me. Wish you had learned the truth before-"
I drove the dagger down, through his chest. Through his heart, the blade sank into the hilt.
Erebus screamed. A sound that wasn't quite human, wasn't quite anything I had ever heard.
The lunar pulse in me responded to the dagger, flowing through it, into Erebus's body.
Light and darkness collided. Inside his chest. Inside his very essence.
His body began to dissolve, starting from the wound outward. Turning to black smoke, to shadow, to nothing.
"You... haven't... won..." He whispered. "This... is just... the beginning..."
Then he was gone, completely, evaporated into black mist that faded into the air. Leaving only the dagger. Still glowing, still humming with power.
I collapsed beside where he had been, exhausted, wounded, barely conscious.
But alive.
Erebus was truly dead, his soul destroyed by the breeded blade.
Around me, the remaining Erebus followers were fleeing, running into the forest, their master dead, their cause lost.
Helena rushed to my side. "Elara! You did it! You killed him!"
"Is Kaden-"
"Alive barely, the doctors are working on him now."
"Adrian?"
"Safe with Kara, the pulse transfer didn't hurt him. He's just a normal baby now, healthy and whole."
Relief flooded through me, they were both alive, we had won.
But Erebus's last words echoed in my mind.
‘Someone from your past bears the darkest power.’
Who? Who was he talking about?
Everyone I had known was dead or accounted for. My parents were killed when I was eight, my pack destroyed.
What if Erebus was telling the truth? What if there was something worse coming? Someone worse?
I pushed the thoughts away, focused on the present. On the victory that we had won, Erebus was dead, the war was over, my family was safe.
That was all that mattered for now.