He was shouting with all his might...
"Tooba... Tooba..."
Nothing happened. Not a single movement at all. Everywhere was covered with blood and bodies. The area looked completely messed up.
"So you have arrived."
I heard the faint voice of a girl.
Jawad and I both looked at the girl in Ghost's arms.
"Yes, I'm here... and late, like always," Ghost said in a sad voice.
"But you arrived. Tell me, why do you look so injured?"
"It was nothing. On my way here, I just faced some beasts."
Ghost's eyes were clouded with tears, but he was not crying. We all could sense her life force fading away.
"I received your message a month ago. You said you had something important to tell me. I wonder what it was."
"It was..."
A tear fell from his eye onto her face as he tried to control himself.
"Ah... I know what it was about," she said in a firm tone. "But please don't tell me now. I know I can't survive."
"She knew, but they both never spoke about it," said Jawad. "They were like stars and dust. One shines, and the other illuminates itself, but they can never have each other."
Suddenly, it started raining.
And now I knew Ghost was crying, but the rain was a cover for him.
"I always... always wanted to tell you... You were the light that illuminated my void. I still remember you playing in the school ground when we were just seven years old. Not because of your beauty, and I also can't explain why, but I loved you, and only you. I loved you because it was you. Your eyes were like a black hole that I couldn't escape..."
"I knew you loved me, but you never gathered the courage, and neither could I," she said. "There were a lot of things I wanted to tell you, a lot of places I wanted to visit with you, and a lot of love I wanted to give you. But now I don't think I can live with you."
"Ghost always thought it was one-sided, and he never expressed his feelings. But I know him well. It is a tragedy that they expressed their love at this time," said Jawad.
"If you knew he had feelings, then why did he never tell her?" Austin asked in a slow voice.
"Because he constructed a world because of her, and he was afraid that if she rejected him, what would happen to his world? It was easier for him to love her without telling her. He loved her because he loved, not because he wanted her to love him... although he always wanted that."
Suddenly, Tooba held his hand.
Ghost covered his hands with thick ice and touched hers.
"Ah... these are still warm," he said in a calm tone.
"And yours are cold, as always," she smiled, but the pain on her face was visible.
"You still remember? In childhood, when you first came to me and asked me to hold your hands with my icy power to give them some relief... that was the moment I fell for you."
"Yes... I do."
"Can I sleep?" she said.
Hearing this, Ghost's face turned pale, and he froze.
"No... no! I will search the whole world and every dungeon. I will find a cure for you."
He started crying like a child.
Seeing this, Tooba's eyes filled with tears.
Suddenly, a hand pierced Ghost's chest.
It was that elder.
Before Jawad and Austin could react, a strange portal appeared, and a red claw emerged.
The three great demons of the Blood Queen awakened, and the elder started merging with the demons' corpses and the other injured elders.
Soon, we sensed a terrifying presence.
The elder pulled his hand out of Ghost's chest and started laughing like a madman.
"I crushed your heart. There's no way you can survive this."
He threw Ghost into a corner and moved toward Tooba.
The combined demon that had appeared from merging the three demons of the Blood Queen attacked me.
I looked toward Jawad.
Something was wrong.
His eyes were filled with rage and bloodlust.
The Moon Palace elder started some ritual, and Tooba's body started floating in the air.
A strange red energy from the portal started entering her body.
Suddenly, strange thunder appeared above Jawad's head.
It was black, red, and golden in color.
A giant palm of thunder started descending from the sky.
That demon sensed terror and attacked Jawad.
The next moment, a strange thunder shattered his arms, and the Thunder Palm struck him, crushing the demon.
Using Shadow Teleport, Austin escaped from its radius.
He also felt terrified.
"What terrible monsters they both are," he said.
Suddenly, the temperature started rising, and the whole area became like a volcano.
I looked toward the place where Ghost's body was lying.
Suddenly, flames erupted from his body and rushed toward the elder.
The elder jumped away, but that energy struck the portal, and it started collapsing.
A voice came from within it.
"So, you all are coming back. She told me, but I didn't believe it. It's going to be fun. We were waiting for them. Two of them are here."
With a loud bang, the portal closed.
Tooba's body was about to fall, but Jawad caught her.
The next second, the elder started spitting blood.
"What? Why are your flames so powerful? And how can they coexist with your icy powers? It doesn't make any sense!" he shouted in a desperate voice.
Jawad started explaining.
"Ghost possesses both extreme ice and fire, but his fire is far stronger than his ice. He never cultivated ice until the day he saw Tooba rubbing her hands with ice cubes. I also don't know why, but her hands always remained warm, and during summer, it caused her pain. So Ghost sealed his fire because he couldn't control it either and started using only his ice. Because of this, in childhood, she often held his hands to cool hers. But now, he sensed danger—not for himself, but for her—and broke his seal. His ice is also abnormal. I don't know what will happen... and I can't sense his heart."
Ghost moved and started punching the elder's face.
Both ice and fire started entering his body.
With a powerful punch, Ghost threw the elder into a corner.
The elder started screaming.
His body was being affected by both ice and fire from within.
The two powers started fusing inside his body.
His body collapsed, and he died.
My inventory suddenly opened.
The Crystal of Ice and Fire that I had collected from the Tower appeared and started moving toward Ghost.
In a millisecond, it entered his body.
A beam of light shot toward the sky, and a throne appeared.
Ghost, with Tooba in his arms, started climbing the stairs.
When he reached the top, half of his body was covered in ice, while the other half was covered in fire.
A strange coffin made of snow appeared in the air.
He gently laid Tooba inside that coffin.
— End of Chapter 19 —
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