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Chapter 17 - The end

Thud!

Lev turned around and saw both of them lying on the ground with Lola crawling on top of Kaz. Kaz was trying to struggle but Lola's grip was too strong for him to break free.

Glib hopped down and ran towards Kaz.

"Hurry! Let's help him!"

Lev didn't know what to do. A part of him wanted to run but another part wanted to help Kaz. He was in a dilemma.

If I run away then Kaz will be Lola's next victim. If I try to help him then there's a high chance that I would be killed too!

Lev's mind abnormally started to calm down for a second. His mind cleared and Lev imagined him running away and Kaz's face being ripped apart by Lola's mouth. Glib was biting and scratching Lola's right arm, hoping that Lola would somehow loosen her grip and Kaz could break free but when he saw that Kaz was being bitten apart, he quickly vanished. After Lola finished butchering Kaz, she looked at the direction where Lev ran. Her bloodied face wore a creepy smile while her jaw, that was dripping with blood, was barely hanging on her cheeks. He chased after Lev with much quicker speed and she quickly caught unto him, then everything went black.

It's a lose-lose situation! But there's still a little chance of winning if I help Kaz. Lev finally reached on a conclusion and started to run towards Lola.

The shadows changed their gaze towards Lev who was running straight to them and Lola's face lifted towards Lev. Her mouth, that was already opened in an O-shape, emitted a loud shriek.

Lev was caught off guard. The loud shriek made him stop running and he started to focus more on covering his ears. It was so high-pitched that the dry leaves that was lying on the ground around them was blown 5 meters away.

Glib, who was scratching and punching Lola's right arm, was momentarily dazed from the shriek. He recovered a couple of seconds later and continued on what he was doing until Lola's skin started to bleed.

After Glib recovered, next was Kaz. His ears were bleeding and the capillaries on his head erupted, resulting his nose to exhale blood. Kaz grunted and shouted, "I have a knife on my left hand!"

Glib quickly understood what he meant. The symbol on his head started to glow and 5 Glibs appeared around them. They shouted and taunted Lola, which turned out to be successful. She changed her attention to them and started clawing and slicing them using her injured arm but when she reached them, it only passed through but the illusion disappeared.

Glib vanished and reappeared on Kaz's right hand and grabbed the knife.

"Here!" Glib was about to give it to Kaz when he was interrupted by the same person.

"No! Give it to Lev. My left hand won't be enough to deal a heavy amount of damage to her."

Lev, who already recovered, continued to sprint. Glib held the blade of the knife with both hands and stretched his arms. The illusions that Glib created was down to the last one and he was running and jumping around until Lola's hand caught him and slowly disappeared in the air.

By then, Lev already grabbed the handle of the knife with both hands. He stretched his arms above his head, with the knife pointing downwards, and stabbed Lola's nape using all the force he could exert. Few amounts of blood came out because most of it has already escaped through her bleeding lips.

Kaz quickly grabbed Lola's clothes and pushed her sideways. He quickly stood up and stood beside Lev and wiped the blood off of his face with his sleeves.

"That surely has killed her, right?" Lev was still afraid that she might be still alive.

"No one could have survived being stabbed in the neck," Kaz affirmed.

"Yeah, I'm not sure about that," Glib who already climbed up on Lev's shoulder noticed something weird. "The shadows..."

Lev also noticed the shadows on Lola's body. They remained the same and they were staring intently at them. Lola's body started to twitch aggressively and her body rolled left and right, like a pendulum that was swinging endlessly.

"No way..." Kaz whispered.

"Glib, don't you have a power against that? Or maybe a weapon?" Lev hurriedly stated. He was already freaking out! The thought of him dying painfully scared him.

"No! I don't have any power or weapon that could be used—"

Glib realized something. He reached out the front pocket of his robe and his blue eyes went wide and his ears erected. There was actually something.

"Glib?" Lev noticed the surprised expression of Glib and thought there was something that could be used against the shadows.

"Nope. Na-ah. I have nothing," Glib hurriedly denied but his face betrayed him. It could be clearly seen that he was lying.

"HEY!" Kaz shouted.

"GLIB!!!" Lev looked at Lola who was starting to recover with a knife sticking on her neck.

"Fine, fine," Glib took out a small, smooth stone with a marking on it that seemed to be like a fire and a light-orange embedded in it.

He looked at the stone with a sad look. "My years of hard work, gone to waste."

He stretched his hand in a throwing position and threw the stone at Lola who was a couple of meters away from them.

"Ignitum!" Glib casted, more like shouted, when the stone touched Lola's back, where most of the shadows were most dense.

Then a large explosion came out of the stone, exploding Lola's body everywhere and dissolving the shadows with the light it emitted.

Lev and Kaz were blown backwards in the ground and their ears started ringing from the huge explosion. The noise may be less painful than the shriek that Lola made a while ago, but that doesn't mean that it was tolerable and comforting.

"You should have warned us," Lev groaned.

"Oh, it's my fault? Both of you were such in a hurry while shouting and panicking," Glib grumped. He stood and wiped his robe then climbed back up at Lev's shoulder who hurriedly stood up to see if their attack was successful.

Lev helped Kaz to stand on his feet and observed the area where the explosion happened.

The faint moonlight that passed through the leaves revealed a gory scene. Body parts were scattered on the ground, the roots, and the branches. But what Lev was searching was not the body parts of Lola, but the shadows.

There was none.

They've successfully stopped a wreaking-havoc monster from both the village and themselves. Lev removed his hat and slid his hands through his sweaty, thick hair.

"We did it." His voice was soft.

"But what did it cost? One of my beloved treasure that I stole with great effort," Glib made a crying-like voice.

"What now?" Kaz silently mumbled while his gaze fell on Lev.

"I don't know."

Lev tried to look up at the night sky to seek comfort from the stars but he was met with a cloudy sky and leaves that stuck out of the branches of the trees. He sighed and tears started to flow from his eyes.

Kaz started crying. He was mourning for the death of his mom. He was mourning for the new life that quickly died.

I thought that they would be happy for defeating the monster... Glib was surprised. I guess that the victory cost them the life they were living. I wonder what will happen to these two kids... Glib shook his head and sighed.

"We may have won the battle, but we lost the war."

Glib's tiny voice reverberated through the forest. It was a silent night. Crickets have stopped chirping, the wind has stopped blowing, and the faint moonlight found its way through the clouds and bathed them as though the evernight goddess herself descended upon them and covered them with her ethereal robes. Darkness could be seen everywhere, it was as if they were there to mourn with them and comfort them by isolation.

No one in this world knew what happened in that forest. No one knew the shadows that were slowly creeping out from the darkness and feeding off on the minds of the people. No one knew that this world will soon be filled with death and mourning. No one knew, except Lev.