Chapter 23- The End?

Damien nodded; his body was still weak from the demon's exit. "But we need three bloodlines", Damien added, "and we are complete, except from the betrayer", she said, "that's the problem", Damien early added, "and we running out of time", he added, "I guess I could fill in for the betrayer, I betrayed the coven once", Elora said as she walked towards them, Damien smiled as he raised his head and looked at her.

A gush of wind howled through the courtyard, and suddenly, the four Sagittarius girls materialized from the shadows, like that was their favorite appearance mode, their eyes glowing with ancient power. Bianca stepped forward, her voice steady. "We've been waiting for this day.", "Are you guys ready?" she asked, and they all nodded, as Damien stood up fully on his feet and looked at Principal K in the air, still consuming the demon. Then they started as a battle erupted in a storm of fire and shadow.

The Sagittarius girls formed a circle around Principal K's floating body while chanting in unison. Damien, Elora, and Elizabeth stood in front of Principal K, with their hands held together, they started chanting an old, ancient spell. Flames erupted from the girls' palms, weaving a cage of light around her. The demon shrieked, lashing out with tendrils of darkness, but the girls held firm; their magic was like a shield against its fury. Elizabeth moved forward as the protector and used her powers to hold back the demon from possessing Principal K, but she wasn't strong enough. "To seal the demon, we need our blood, to seal it at once", Damien said.

Elizabeth, her hands dripping with blood from the Key of Witches, pressed her palm to the ground. "Damien, now!" she shouted. Damien sprinted forward as he took the Blood Prophecy book from mid-air; it was now in his hands. The pages flapped wildly as he recited the final incantation, the one hidden in Cassandra's last prophecy:

"By blood and bone, by the moon's red light,

I banish thee back to the night.

No host to hold, no flesh to keep,

Return to the depths where demons sleep!".

"It's time", he concluded as they him and Elora sliced their palm and blood dripped out. They all placed their palm to the ground at the same time and allowed the ground to soak their blood.

The ground split open beneath Principal K. the demon in her began to scream so loud, the coffin was directly beneath her, it was fully open waiting for the demon to return home, a vortex of shadows and dark figures swallowed her, the demon's form tearing apart as it was dragged screaming into the abyss. The book rose into the air and burst into flames, its ashes scattering like dying embers. Silence fell over Eri-doria for a while. It was finally over.

The red moon started fading away slowly, like it has played its role, just then it faded away, replaced by the pale glow of dawn. The Sagittarius girls collapsed to the floor, their energy spent, but still alive. Elizabeth knelt beside Brian's ashes, her tears mixing with the blood on her hands. "He was the betrayer," she whispered. "But he didn't choose it. The book manipulated him."

Damien stared at the ruins, his chest pounding rapidly. The demon was finally gone, but the cost was written in the scars of the battlefield. His father's secrets, Brian's betrayal, Diana's sacrifice, the prophecies, everything was over.

The dawn broke over Eri-doria, its pale light washing over the ruins of the school. The red moon had faded away, the demon banished, and the storm silenced. But the atmosphere still had a little presence of everything. Brian was gone forever, reduced to ashes by the red moon's judgment. Elizabeth knelt beside the remnants of his betrayal, her hands trembling, her tears carving paths through the blood and dirt on her face. She loved Brian so much, right from when they both had a past relationship, but things did not work out anymore, but they still loved each other after the relationship. The Sagittarius girls stood and watched the sky as if expecting the shadows to return. Principal K's body had vanished into the abyss, swallowed by the demon she had sought to control and possess all this while. The Blood Prophecy book was now in ashes and blown away, its final words reeled into Damien's memory:

"The heir's blood is the lock and key.

The demon sleeps... but not in me."

A chill ran down his spine. The demon was gone, but it wasn't destroyed. It had been contained, and the book's warning suggested it could rise again.

Elizabeth stood, her voice hollow. "It's over, right?", she asked with a pale face and a flat voice, Damien shook his head. "No. It's just waiting for another return.", The wind carried a faint, mocking laugh, it sounded like Diana's voice in his ears, or perhaps Elora's, echoing from the void. He was the only one that heard it. "You'll see me again, heir.".

The survivors gathered in silence, their eyes reflecting the same unspoken fear. The prophecy was fulfilled, but the curse of Eri-doria was eternal. The bloodline of witches, the betrayals, the sacrifices, they were all threads in darkness that were never truly unraveled.

As the sun climbed higher in the sky, Damien turned away from the ruins, his fists clenched. He had survived the red moon and the demon unleashed. He had faced the demon eye to eye. But the final line of the prophecy haunted him:

"The demon sleeps... but not in me."

'If the demon wasn't in him anymore, then where was it?' he pounded for a while in his mind.

He thought for a while in his mind, just then he felt a cold breeze pass through him, as he closed his eyes tight, opening them back, his eyes burned like fire.

"This is just the beginning."

THE END?