How could this happen? Wen was unable to forgive himself for failing.
"It was nice knowing you, Wen." With a snap of a finger, a sword materialized in Cecil's hand. "You shouldn't have planned this attack at all. Farewell." He used the sword to stab Wen and let him fall down lifelessly.
"Wen!" Garth shouted at the top of his lungs. His composure broke from the sight of his brother being hurt.
Alice covered her eyes.
"Now... what to do with the rest of you?" Cecil looked around him.
Lyngvi appeared at Cecil's side. "The other armies have been defeated."
"Vi! You've done a wonderful job."
Lyngvi leaned in to whisper into Cecil's ear. "I overheard one of the players speaking about a hidden function of the cube that gets activated by the reset mechanism. There's no time to explain. I have to quickly disable it before it activates."
Cecil pulled out the cube and gave it to Lyngvi. "Make it quick." He had no second thoughts. After all, it was Lyngvi himself who helped him edit the cube to his liking.
Lyngvi spent some time tinkering with the cube before he finally finished. He took a deep breath. "This has gone far enough, Cecil."
"Vi...!!" Cecil clenched his teeth.
"I undid all the modifications done to the cube. Including your power amplification."
"Lyngvi... betrayed Cecil?" Garth couldn't believe it.
The spell holding the others down began to fade. Soon, they were all free. Garth and Alice hurried to Wen's side to stop the bleeding.
"Everyone, move out," Lyngvi said as he began to cast his ultimate skill, Redemption. He kept his eyes locked on Cecil, but addressed his words to everyone else. "I've made many mistakes against you, but this is the least I can do to redeem myself."
"Lyngvi... but why?" Cecil demanded to know.
"This is getting out of hand. This wasn't the future I envisioned. It's just you creating your own personal utopia at the expense of others. I won't follow you down this path."
The giant cross in the sky landed on Cecil. Although he tried to run, he couldn't outrun it. Suffering the full blow of the ultimate skill, he was knocked out immediately. Epsilon quickly moved in to chain him before he made an attempt to get up and escape.
The rest were shocked by the unexpected turn of events. They took a while to accept the fact that their long and hard fight was finally over thanks to a sudden betrayal.
"I believe this belongs to your brother and Elris," Lyngvi said as he gave the cube to Garth. His face was rather expressionless.
"Thanks, Vi," replied Garth with a smile. "We couldn't have done it without you."
Lyngvi felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around and saw Tank looking at him proudly. He was a bit embarrassed to be looked at that way.
"I knew you'd come to your senses, Vi." Tank's smile was warm and accommodating. Lyngvi could tell that it was genuine.
"Sorry about everything." Lyngvi rubbed the back of his neck.
"You helped put us in this situation, but you also saved us in the end." Tank laughed in a carefree way.
How could he still laugh after all that? Lyngvi wondered.
Tank slapped him hard on the back. It distracted him from his thoughts.
"Let's enjoy our victory for now and worry about that deep life stuff later," said Tank.
Lyngvi sighed. "You're going to start drinking again, aren't you?"
He laughed. "You know me well."
Garth and Alice were at Wen's side. Pio soon followed and offered some makeshift bandages to help control the bleeding.
Alice touched Wen's hand. "He's getting cold." She was extremely worried.
"Please hang in there, Wen!" Garth shouted.
Suddenly, a portal appeared meters away from them. Elris stepped out of it. He had a dragon with him. Using the dragon fire, he managed to get Wen out of critical condition.
Pio checked up on the former guildmaster of Black Rose. He was relieved to find some improvement. "I think he'll make it."
"Let's take Wen to the White Tower. There's a medical facility there," said Elris. He then turned to the rest of the players. "Thank you, everyone. I couldn't have rescued this world on my own. I'll have a feast prepared at Lamont tonight. The portals back to the real world are also working now, so you are also free to go home. You will surely be rewarded for your aid."
Elris, Pio, Garth, and Alice carried Wen into the portal that led to the White Tower.
The remaining players either went home or went to Lamont to celebrate with their friends and wait for the feast to begin. Soon, Lyria and Rune regrouped with the girls. They updated her with everything that happened.
"Lyngvi saved everyone?" Lyria was shocked to hear it.
"Yeah. We would've died if he hadn't interfered," said Luna.
"I guess he had a change of heart," said Astrid.
Lyria was happy about it. "Thank goodness."
Sphinx, Anna, and Jasmine approached them. "We're going to catch up with the others at the White Tower. You girls want to tag along?"
Jasmine immediately saw Amelie. "Chris! Is that really you?" She was crying tears of joy.
"Jas!" Amelie was surprised to see her. "I'm glad you're alive."
"Chris is alive?" Sphinx was also surprised.
"The princely beauty survives!" Anna rejoiced.
Jasmine didn't hesitate to hug Amelie. "I thought I would never see you again!"
"I can give us a ride there." Lyria summoned a portal to the White Tower.
"I'll catch up. I think I want to have a ride on Rune." Amelie hopped on Rune. "You want to come along for a ride, Jas?"
"Yes!" Jasmine happily climbed on top of Rune.
"We'll meet you there then," said Astrid.