The Guardians' combined beams collided into Astaroth's body.
A sun erupted.
Light burned across the sky, ripping the clouds apart, turning night into heaven-white.
Astaroth's scream echoed through multiple realms—
But then the scream changed.
It cracked.
Then stuttered.
Then wasn't Astaroth's voice at all.
A second voice broke through the roar:
"STOP—STOP—STOP!!"
Keuriseu.
His voice tore out of the light like a wounded animal.
Astaroth snarled inside him.
"Shut—UP—BOY—"
But Keuriseu pushed back harder than ever before.
His terror ignited into fire—
his grief into rage—
and his guilt into POWER.
Inside the shared body, a battlefield formed:
Astaroth: a black storm of claws and teeth.
Keuriseu: a small point of blue light—shaking but stubborn.
The blast burned closer, seconds from killing them both.
Keuriseu screamed:
"THIS IS MY BODY—NOT YOURS—!!"
Astaroth laughed.
"You're weak."
Keuriseu roared back:
"I DON'T NEED TO BE STRONG.
I JUST NEED TO TAKE YOU WITH ME!"
He grabbed Astaroth — in that inner void — and shoved him backward with everything inside him:
every memory of Destiny,
every fear he'd swallowed,
every laugh he'd shared with the others,
every moment he wished he'd been brave.
Astaroth faltered.
The blast was inches away from erasing them—
Keuriseu clawed himself upward through the pain, through the fire, through Astaroth's grip—
Then whispered, with shaking fury:
"GET.
OUT."
Astaroth howled as Keuriseu ripped free of him in a burst of raw, uncontrolled blue light—
And Astaroth was expelled—
SLAMMED out of the body—
as a swirling black-and-purple shadow.
He tumbled across the rubble, gasping, losing form.
The beam FINALLY hit—
—but only Keuriseu stood there.
And the ancient Guardians STOPPED the killing blow the instant they saw his eyes—
his true eyes—
bright, terrified, and fully, painfully himself.
The light vanished.
Silence.
Smoke swirled around his shaking form.
Keuriseu collapsed to his knees, coughing, crying, burned badly but alive.
Destiny landed beside him so fast she skidded across the dirt.
"Keuriseu—KEURISEU—!!"
He looked at her with tears and a broken smile.
"It's… me."
She pulled him into her arms.
Ghost and Ginny stared from a distance.
Even the Guardians hesitated.
And Astaroth—
weakened, flickering like a dying flame—
retreated into the shadows with one last snarl:
"This isn't over, boy…"
Smoke still clung to the ground where the blast had struck.
Keuriseu lay half-conscious, chest rising unevenly, burns glowing faint blue across his skin. His wings flickered — one drooping, one half-manifested, struggling to stay.
Destiny knelt beside him, hands trembling as they hovered over his face.
"Keuriseu? Hey—hey, stay with me, okay? Look at me."
His lashes fluttered weakly.
"…Destiny…?"
She inhaled sharply.
His voice — it was his. Soft. Gentle. Not layered with Astaroth's hunger. Not twisted or corrupted.
Just him.
Destiny cupped his cheek carefully, afraid her touch would hurt him.
"You did it," she whispered. "You fought him off."
Keuriseu exhaled shakily, tears appearing unbidden at the corners of his eyes.
"I… I didn't want to die," he said, voice cracking. "Not before I told you—"
"Shh." She pressed her forehead to his. "You're alive. That's all that matters."
Behind them, the air shifted.
The Queen Stone Guardian's white eyes dimmed.
The King Guardian's massive wings trembled.
Maggie gasped.
Ghost froze mid-step.
Even Ginny stopped chewing on a bone.
The Queen lifted her hand—
and signed a single signal in the ancient language of creation:
RETREAT.
Then she stepped backward into a pillar of white light—
and vanished.
The King followed a heartbeat later—
BOOM—
closing the portal behind them.
Destiny jerked up, staring as the sky sealed shut.
"Wait—! You can't leave—!!"
But the Stone Parents were gone.
No trace.
No lingering energy.
Just silence.
Keuriseu's hand weakly grabbed Destiny's sleeve.
"It's okay," he whispered.
"They were never going to stay. I… I was the threat they saw."
Destiny shook her head with force.
"No. Never say that."
"I almost killed them," he breathed. "I almost killed everyone."
She leaned down, pressing her forehead against his again, voice low and fierce:
"You saved us. You saved people who didn't even know your name.
You saved me."
Keuriseu's lips trembled.
"…I was scared."
Destiny kissed his forehead gently.
"So was I."
He let out a shuddering breath and finally relaxed fully into her arms, letting himself be held — something he never allowed before.
As the wind stirred ashes around them, Destiny wrapped her wings around his body like a shelter.
The others watched from a distance, quiet, letting the moment be theirs.