"My sister wasn't supposed to drink the wine," she says quietly but clearly.
Dear gods. "Did Zec and his sister consume the poison?" Jabieko asks urgently.
"Yes, but when I realized my sister drank it too, I had to tell the Queen what I had done. Please tell Father that I'm so sorry."
When Jabieko hears shouts that Euperian reinforcements have arrived, he immediately grabs Elena by an arm and sprints to the door, but both are knock downed by an explosion. Instinctively, he readies for impact, turns his body around, and shields Elena's body from the concrete bricks and other flying debris falling on top of them.
When the falling debris subsides, he stands up, lifts Elena's now-unconscious body, and places it on his shoulders. He looks outside and sees his depleted forces still battling the enemy. He shouts at them, commanding them to retreat with their plasma shields in testudo formation. Alas, outside the castle, his troop's forces are momentarily surrounded by additional forces.
His soldiers break formation and bravely stand their ground. They push their shields against the Euperian guards, and draw their swords and engage the enemy in close combat; but the Euperians are just too many. One by one, Jabieko's troops fall.
Jabieko places Elena on the ground against the entrance wall, and rushes out to join the fracas. He picks a dead solder's sword from the ground and starts swinging away, furiously clobbering enemy helmets. Once he clears some space around him, he closes his eyes and starts absorbing energy from all surrounding life-forms and converting it into lethal inner power. A precipitous drop in temperature ensues before he opens his eyes, his supernatural powers fully restored.
He sprints towards a mass of Euperian soldiers, and in seconds obliterates everyone in sight. No one can match his paranormal strength and inordinate sword mastery. Inspired and reinvigorated by what they're seeing form their leader, Jabieko's troops turn the tide and start advancing, generating unacceptable casualties among the enemy.
Just when it appears that the Euperians will fold, Jabieko senses a sudden drop in ambient energy. He reckons that a Royal Euperian Guard must have arrived on the scene; they too can absorb and transform energy into lethal power. Ominously, he can sense that something is drawing energy from him. He scans his surroundings, trying to identify the threat, but it's too late. A blast of concentrated energy sends him tumbling backwards. He swiftly gets his feet under him, and readies himself for what he suspects will be the final and decisive confrontation of the battle.
A Royal Guard, in full golden armor with sword and shield, advances towards Jabieko. Jabieko picks another abandoned sword from the ground; but before he can confront the Guard, a series of massive explosions destroys a pair of nearby skyscrapers, and sends tons of debris flying in all directions. Everyone rushes to find cover as a black cloud of smoke engulfs the whole area.
Jabieko looks up and perceives a swarm of missiles in route to other parts of the beleaguered city. Soon the structures around him start to crumble. Fires spring up everywhere the incendiaries touch down.
He takes a long, deep breath and sprints toward Elena—he has to get her out! He runs into the chaos, and finds her still lying unconscious, but miraculously untouched, on the ground where he left her. He wraps his arms around her, and runs through streets blanketed in black smoke to keep himself hidden.
As he runs away from the commotion, carrying Elena in his arms, he cannot help but smile: His king has succeeded – Euperian has fallen.
❖❖❖
Jabieko adjusts his robes outside the Throne Room as he awaits to be called inside to see the King. His does not know what to expect from him. After all, his mission can be deemed a failure: most of his soldiers perished, Eva was not saved, and no one can confirm the death of the Euperian Prince or the Princess.
The doors open to the Throne Room; he takes a deep breath, and walks in. As he approaches King Zheteg sitting on the throne, he notices the presence of Matiboth, the Euperian traitor who orchestrated the city's takeover, and other advisors of the King's inner circle.
Jabieko kneels before the King. "My king, I congratulate you on a decisive victory."
"Jabieko, stand," the King commands in a stern tone of voice. "Looks like your mission didn't go as planned."
"No, my King, it did not."
"I'm happy you're alive, old friend." The King stands and embraces Jabieko. "Your mission might have failed, but you have been instrumental in the fall of Euperian. We are all extremely grateful to you for what you did to make this happen."
"Thank you, my King," Jabieko says humbly, head bowed.
"Now, we need to complete what we have started. It looks like the Euperian Queen escaped, and she sent her brats in separate ships to Earth."
"So it's confirmed that the Prince and Princess are alive? They were able to find an antidote for the poison in time?" Jabieko asks.
"It certainly seems that way," Matiboth interjects, as he approaches the King and Jabieko. "We intercepted a message the Queen sent to her brother Bane on Earth. She told him she sent her children to him for protection."
"Bane? The shape-shifter bastard child of the old Euperian King?" Jabieko interposes, in a surprised tone. "I wasn't even aware he was on Earth!"
"Yes. That Bane. And nobody was aware of his presence on Earth. There is no official entry for him, and our Ambassador on Earth cannot find any trail of his whereabouts," Matiboth says.
King Zheteg walks back to his throne and sits. "As you all know, we have neither the jurisdiction or the political muscle to demand that the brats be extradited back here, not while the Azhalian Assembly on Earth remains comprised of so many Euperian elements.
