CHAPTER 418: CH 418: THE VOICES - PART 3

Amana’s blade flashed once more, slicing through the thick hide of the writhing creature before her. It collapsed in a heap of hissing vapor.

She took a shaky breath, mana humming in her veins, her grip steadying again only thanks to the presence beside her.

Melissa fought with sharp precision, efficient and unwavering. The battlefield was no place for hesitation, and yet, amidst the chaos, Amana couldn’t help herself.

"Melissa, why?"

She said quietly between attacks.

Melissa didn’t look at her. She pivoted, impaling a snarling beast through the neck before flicking the blood off her blade.

"Why what?"

"You saved me. Just now. Wouldn’t it have been easier to let me die?"

Amana murmured, parrying a clawed arm that reached too close.

That made Melissa stop, just for a second. Her gaze turned to Amana, unreadable, her lips pressed into a line.

"Excuse me?"

"You would have one less romantic rival. Less competition for Kyle’s affection. It would’ve been logical.

Amana said, almost bitterly.

Melissa’s eyes darkened.

"Is that what you think of me?"

Amana didn’t answer. The words hung in the air like the scent of ash and blood.

Melissa scoffed.

"I’m not that cheap."

A blast of mana punctuated her statement as she sent a monster sprawling with a crackling wave of force. Her voice trembled slightly now, laced with something deeper than anger—conviction.

"Yes, I love the young master. I always have. But what I want doesn’t matter as much as what he needs. And he needs you, Amana. Your influence, your standing, your power."

Amana stiffened.

"That’s not—"

"I’m not done."

Melissa said, stabbing her sword through another creature with feral grace.

"You think I’m doing this because I want to look good? No. I’m here because Kyle’s life, his path, his dream—those come before my heart. If he needs me to stay by his side and never be more than a subordinate, I’ll do it. And if he needs you, even if it hurts, I’ll make sure you live so you can help him."

Amana’s throat tightened. A monster lunged, and she instinctively responded, her blade moving faster now, steadier.

"You’re strong."

She murmured.

"No. I’m just in love."

Melissa said, fending off another wave of creatures.

The fight raged around them, but for a moment, the sounds faded into a quiet space between the two women—bound by love for the same man, but divided by the ways they expressed it.

Amana didn’t respond right away. Her chest ached—not from any wound, but from the sharp stab of inadequacy.

Would she have done the same? If she had been in Melissa’s place, would she have had the strength to protect her rival for Kyle’s sake?

Probably not.

That bitterness curled around her thoughts like smoke, but at its core was something else—respect.

"I doubt I could make that choice."

She admitted quietly as they stood back-to-back, surrounded on all sides.

Melissa chuckled dryly.

"Then it’s a good thing you don’t have to."

Another wave of monsters came. Hulking things with glowing veins of divine mana, their forms twitching with unstable power.

The curse the god of justice had left behind was beginning to show. These weren’t mindless beasts anymore—they were intelligent, cunning, and filled with righteous fury.

"They’re changing."

Amana noted.

"I know. It’s happening everywhere. The others are dealing with the same."

Melissa growled.

"Then we have no time left for emotions."

Melissa gave her a half-smile.

"We never did."

They fought harder.

This time, Amana didn’t falter.

Her mind was still haunted by whispers, by faces of people she failed to save. But Melissa’s presence beside her was a grounding weight, her words still ringing in her ears.

’He needs you. Even if it hurts me.’

The battlefield lit up with streaks of burning mana, the cries of monsters mixing with human shouts and steel on flesh. The tide of the battle hadn’t turned, not yet—but something had shifted.

Amana had found her clarity again.

And no illusion, no monster, no lingering guilt would tear it from her now.

The clash of steel, the roar of monsters, and the screams of the dying finally began to quiet. It wasn’t sudden—more like a dying storm, receding in waves.

One by one, the cursed creatures fell. The divine mana that had sustained their forms flickered out like candles snuffed in the wind.

Amana drove her sword into the last monster in front of her. Its form spasmed, twisted violently, and then disintegrated into black ash. She stood still, shoulders heaving, eyes sweeping the battlefield to confirm: it was over.

Melissa, bloodied and panting, walked up beside her, wiping her blade against a tattered cloth.

"That’s the last of them in this sector."

"Same here."

Amana replied, voice low. She took a long breath. The air was thick with the scent of ozone and blood.

All across the field, soldiers collapsed to their knees. Some wept. Others screamed into the ground, letting the adrenaline drain out of their bones.

Victory was theirs, but it had come at a price.

Too many bodies lay strewn in the dirt—both human and monster. And many of the dead still bore the twisted features of those who had once been something else, something worse, something holy and vile.

Amana turned her gaze toward the distant hill where Kyle’s figure now stood. The glow of battle around him was gone, his sword lowered but still slick with black ichor.

Nigel stood beside him, slightly hunched, looking just as exhausted as everyone else.

Amana swallowed.

"We survived."

Melissa didn’t say anything. She just looked down at her hand—still trembling slightly—and clenched it into a fist.

Several of the commanders began to regroup. Healers rushed to the wounded. Scouts were sent to confirm whether any more monsters remained in hiding.

Amana signaled her aides and began issuing orders, keeping herself busy—anything to avoid thinking too hard about what had just happened.

But then Kyle began walking down the hill.

His pace was slow, deliberate. His armor was cracked, one sleeve torn and blood seeping from under it.

Yet his eyes held that same unshakable calm they always did, like even the weight of divine wrath had been something he’d expected and prepared for.

Amana and Melissa both turned to face him.

Kyle stopped in front of them.

"Is it over here?"

"For now. We cleared this side. No more monsters left standing."

Melissa replied with a tired breath.

Kyle nodded.

"Good."

There was a pause. The wind rustled the broken flags planted across the field.

Melissa broke the silence first.

"They were talking. The monsters. Using illusions. Trying to get into our heads."

Kyle nodded again.

"I know. They were the god’s last curse. He tried to fracture our spirits before his end. But now... he’s truly gone. No more tricks."

Amana looked up.

"Then... it’s really over?"

Kyle’s expression shifted slightly—more solemn now.

"This battle is over. But what the god of justice left behind... it will linger. His shards are gone, his consciousness shattered—but the poison remains. Twisted ideologies, remnants of his power, monsters with a sense of righteousness. We’ve won today, but not the war."

Neither Melissa nor Amana responded immediately.

Instead, they both looked out across the battlefield—the wounded being tended to, the dead being carried off, the flags being raised again.

They had survived.