The battlefield was silent, the air heavy with the scent of death. Fallen bodies of demons and soldiers littered the ground, but it was the absence of their comrades that weighed most heavily on the remaining Elites.
Xue stood motionless, his gaze fixed on Elysia's lifeless form, her once vibrant golden eyes now dulled. His sword was stained with the blood of their enemies—and hers. The weight of it all pressed down on him, but he held it together. Cold. Detached. Even as his heart fractured, he showed no sign of it.
Alissa, her wings drooping with exhaustion, slowly approached him. Her normally confident demeanor was shattered, her eyes red from the battle and from the grief that clawed at her chest. She stopped beside him, looking down at Elysia. "You did what you had to do. She—" Her voice cracked, but she pressed on. "She was already lost. But..."
Xue didn't respond, his eyes locked on the lifeless body. The chaos of the battle still echoed in his mind, the screams, the bloodshed, the moment he had to make the decision to end it all. To kill Elysia. It had been his choice, but it felt like a betrayal, even though he knew she had wanted it.
Seraphina approached, her soft footsteps almost lost in the stillness. Her healing magic had failed them all; even she couldn't save Elysia. The weight of that failure crushed her more than any physical wound. "I... I should have been able to save her." Her voice was barely a whisper, but it was enough for Xue to hear.
"You did everything you could," Xue said, his voice cold, detached. His gaze flickered to Seraphina, seeing the tears in her eyes, the exhaustion in her posture. He knew she had given everything—her mana, her strength, her heart—and it still wasn't enough. But it didn't change the fact that they had lost.
Seraphina closed her eyes for a moment, letting the grief flood over her before looking at Xue with a hard, determined expression. "We can't just let her death be in vain. We have to destroy the traitors. Every single one of them."
Xue nodded slowly, his jaw tightening. "We will. But first, we mourn. We need to bury the dead, those who are left." His eyes drifted to the fallen soldiers, some of whom had given their lives for a war they never asked for.
Alissa clenched her fists, her wings flaring with frustration. "This wasn't supposed to happen. Not like this. We had the power to stop it all. But now..." She stopped herself, unsure of what words to say. Her heart was full of rage, but it was tempered with the sadness of seeing everything they had fought for crumble.
"We will make it right," Xue finally spoke, his voice steady despite the storm raging inside. "We're not the same as before. Elysia gave her life for something bigger than us—she knew that. We all do now."
Alissa looked at him, her wings folding tightly around her. "And what about us? What do we do now?"
"We keep fighting," Xue replied, his voice hardening. "We rebuild what we can. We take down the traitors, destroy the ones who started all of this. This isn't over, not by a long shot."
Seraphina stepped forward, her hands trembling. "And if we fail? What then?"
"We don't fail," Xue said. His gaze hardened as he turned back toward the horizon, the distant mountains now looming over the land like silent witnesses. "We can't. We've lost too much to let it end like this."
The sound of wind swept over them, but it did little to cool the fire burning in their hearts. Elysia was gone. The world was changed. And with it, the Elites.
Alissa gave a slow nod, though the pain in her expression never left. "For Elysia. For all of them. We'll make them pay for this."
The silence that followed was heavy, but it was the silence of resolve, of determination, of the fire that still burned in their souls. They would fight. They would avenge their fallen comrades. The battle wasn't over—not yet.
Seraphina knelt beside Elysia's body, her fingers brushing over the cold skin. She whispered a soft prayer, a last blessing for the warrior who had been their brightest hope. Then, she stood, turning to face the others.
"Let's go," she said quietly. "We have work to do."
And with that, the remaining Elites began to walk away from the battlefield, their steps slow but sure. Each of them carrying the weight of their grief, their loss, and the burning need to make things right. The war wasn't over. Not yet.