Eternity Ends (1/2)

Within an hour, Haalfrin arrives at the Queen's throne room. As always, this place is decked out with the finest things in either fortress – expensive statues imported from the Death Realm, as well as various artworks her children had made.

There, sitting on the throne, is Dakka, and on his lap is the Queen.

Dakka very rarely attends these meetings, so seeing him here now instantly makes Haalfrin feel suspicious.

'Does the Queen know about my deception? Did she make sure to keep Dakka here to keep herself safe from any trap I could spring on her? Or… did Dakka just show up because this is our last meeting, and he's feeling sentimental?'

Haalfrin has no way of knowing this, but his mind is still sensing danger.

Pretending like everything is all right, Haalfrin conjures a chair from the space bag on his waist, and he takes a seat in front of the Queen. "Oooh… Look what you've done with the place?" Haalfrin casually says.

The Queen puts her drink down and replies dryly, "What? The curtains?"

"No, you've started displaying your children's paintings. You always said they were too ugly for this room."

Dakka gives a stiff smile. "I'm the one who insisted."

"Ah…"

There is an awkward silence. Everyone in the room already has a feeling that everyone else already knows the truth, yet all of them are still keeping up the façade of friendship and peace.

Haalfrin has the thickest skin here, so he speaks first. "…Anyway, Mrs. Fina... As you know, I'll be scheduling my duel with Dakka today, which means this is our last meeting. I'd just like you to know that I never would've insisted on committing suicide by dragon if I didn't feel that you're trustworthy enough to let into the outside world.

The Queen hears this and scoffs in her heart. In her mind, Haalfrin was wanting to keep her here forever, so hearing him offer such a blatant lie at a time like this just infuriates her.

Unfortunately for the Queen, her body language betrays her true feelings, and Haalfrin notices. When he sees her reaction, he knows for sure now that all of his efforts to fool her were in vain.

After all, Fina has never had to really socialize before, so lying to another's face is a skill the Queen certainly doesn't have.

Suddenly feeling deflated and… relieved at not having to keep the façade up anymore, Haalfrin crosses his legs and leans back in his chair. "We both know about your little games here. You've been amassing huge energy reserves, and you've been planning to betray our agreement."

The Queen gets interested hearing this – rather, she's baffled that Haalfrin would actually tell her this to her face. "Oh? If this is the case, why were you brave enough to meet me face to face? My husband is here to keep me safe."

For some reason, something in the Queen's heart tickles when she says that last part.

'It must be because I was used to thinking of Dakka as an annoying obstacle. I'm probably feeling so happy right now because I'm… relieved at finally trusting that he's on my side for real.' She thinks this while wringing her hands together nervously.

Feeling confident now, with herself safely in her husband's arms, the Queen lifts her head up and says confidently, "Have you come to offer me your head?"

Haalfrin gives a very grim look at her and says slowly, "I don't want to have to kill you and your children." He looks up at Dakka. "And I don't want to make my friend grieve."

Dakka's muscles tense up. 'Those are fighting words,' the dragon thinks, 'I need to be ready to pounce.'

Instead of immediately fighting, Haalfrin looks up, as if recalling something. Then, he continues, "Our time of peace has shown me that war isn't romantic; it's not the game of good guys and bad guys I used to think it was. It's not even a game to see who's a more worthy warrior. Killing shouldn't be something to be enjoyed… But I AM a warrior. I WILL kill if I feel like it's my duty."

With his wistful tone, it felt like he was talking more to himself than the others.

Haalfrin then conjures a black necro-crystal sword from his black palm and points it at the Ant Queen. "I'll bear the sin of killing you and all the children down there if I have to… but I'm giving you one last excuse for me to put my sword down."

"Haha!" the Queen just laughs derisively at Haalfrin and tells him, "Stop being a hypocrite! You have nothing to bargain with, so stop trying to sound righteous! Besides, what'll happen if I agree to live peacefully? You'll trap me here for all eternity, like you've been doing all this time!?"

But when the Queen looks at Haalfrin, she's completely taken aback by the look in his eyes.

"T-that look? Don't look at me like that!" She suddenly gets a bad feeling. He didn't look like he was about to enter a hard fight… There was no fear, anger, or determination – only pity.

She snapped herself out of this thought. 'No,' she thinks to herself, That pitying look is just to throw me off – to trick me into thinking I can't resist. That's right! I'm immortal! He can't kill me when I have all my swarm around me! Plus, my husband is here! I can't die!'

Dakka looks down at his wife, then at Haalfrin, and there's only sadness in his eyes. "I'll take care of this," Dakka says as he picks her up, stands up, then sets her back down on the throne.

He walks up to Haalfrin, and draconic features start appearing on his skin.

He then stands in front of Haalfrin and lowers himself into a battle stance.

However, just before Dakka invites Haalfrin to take up a dueling stance, the Queen suddenly releases a powerful lightning bolt at Haalfrin – a spell that she precast and kept ready to go in her soul earlier.

She had planned on attacking Haalfrin at a time like this, when he was least expecting him to, since she knows that he can teleport in the blink of an eye now.

Unfortunately for her, Haalfrin was already planning on teleporting himself out of there instead of fighting, so he also had a blink spell precast as well.

Right before her attack landed, the man disappeared from the throne room in a flash of green light.

"RAAAA!" the Queen gives a bloodcurdling scream. She then hops in Dakka's arms and points towards the exit door. "AFTER HIM!"

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A split second later, space warps unnaturally before Haalfrin pops out of the air and lands on the familiar tiled floor.

Without bothering to explain what's happening to his men, he runs inside and screams an order at them, "GET INSIDE NOW! SEAL YOURSELVES UP TIGHT! I'M NOT WAITING FOR ANYONE!"

Indeed, Haalfrin shuts the door behind him and runs further into the Valor Hall, where he knows he'll be safe from any explosion.

Then, a few seconds later, Haalfrin contacts his Rehkin and Arkin teams, who are still laying in wait in the Threshold. "Do it now."

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It all happens so quickly that no one even has time to comprehend that anything had changed.

One second, the Arkin were confusedly running inside, and most of the Ants were still blissfully going about their lives. The fields were all ripe and ready to harvest, and the golden replacement sun was just starting to shine – signifying the start of a new day.

The next second, all the Arkin and Ants outside are equally turned to ash, the fields are obliterated, and the soft, comfortable golden "sun" is extinguished. Even the entire landscape seems to have disappeared in a blinding bright light.

Between all attacks that the Threshold has seen over its lifetime, as well as the second-hand abuse it got from Dakka's previous two attacks – even from the simple force of people's boots walking on the Time locked stone…

Between all of these things, there is such an enormous pile of energy packed inside that if it weren't for Haalfrin's Syl barrier keeping everything inside, an explosion the size of a dozen countries would've blown a hole in the earth.

Alas, with all the heat and energy packed inside a container only 200 miles wide, the explosive damage is actually much worse.

The force is so massive that Haalfrin can actually feel the Valor Hall shaking, as the fabric of space is rattled.

Haalfrin would like to run outside and check to see if Dakka and the Queen are alive right now, but the air is so hot, and the explosive energy is swirling around so violently outside that he knows he'd be vaporized the second he even lets a crack through.

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The bright explosion only lasts for a few seconds. After all, the air only turned bright because the air was burning. Once all of the Oxygen is exhausted, the brightness dies down, though the heat remains.

Either way, the Queen wouldn't have been able to tell, since everything is dark for her anyway. Right now, her face is pressed against her husband's hard chest, and his wings are wrapped around her so tightly that nothing can get through – not even light.

The Queen can feel Dakka's body aching, and she can feel his spirit shuddering in pain.

This woman really has no idea what just happened or how Haalfrin did it, but realizing that her enemy had this kind of card up his sleeve terrifies her. What if he does it again?

Unfortunately, the Queen can only lay still and limp in the dragon's arms – unable to tell what's going on.

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Several minutes go by, and the Queen starts to feel her husband's soul… and she feels a tremendous amount of hostile energy pouring into his skin and passing through his soul.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" she screams at him. "YOU'LL KILL YOURSELF!"

Dakka hugs her tighter and grits his teeth. "I have to… absorb as much excess heat from the… explosion… If I let you go… before then… the air will… burn you…" As he talks, blood dribbles down his mouth.

"I DON'T CARE! YOU'RE NO USE TO ME DEAD!"

She tries beating him on his chest and struggling to break free, but this is completely futile. She can only watch helplessly as Dakka attempts to absorb all of the excess heat.