Maiden Of The Splitting Moon

But in the next moment, a stray bolt of lightning came down, striking the True Idol and shocking it. Its body froze in the air, struggling to break free. 

Flying above the fortress was Ling Hun, who pointed a single finger at it, keeping the lightning strong. His body flickered, losing his power quickly. 

"Go! Destroy it!"

His voice echoed out for her to hear and Ming Yue stepped forward once more. 

As she stepped up, two small figures came to her. The silhouette of a fox and an owl appeared, moving to her side dutifully. Both of them stared down the True Idol, snarling at it whilst Ming Yue looked at the two. 

But this was no time to talk to them.

Ming Yue eyed the True Idol, tightening the grip on Blood Moon. She poured every ounce of energy into the Dusk Lily Pin, forming a barrier as quickly as she could. 

The True Idol screeched at her, releasing as much of its power as possible, trying to break free of its bindings. Lightning cracked out and thundered, striking wherever it pleased. It was now or never. 

She leaped forward, stabbing right into the core and slicing it in half. 

Just as the young cultivator pulled her sword out, the True Idol grasped the blade. With its faceless head, it was a terrifying sight to behold and it could barely utter out these next words. 

"Y-YOU... WILL... S-SUFFER! HERETIC!" 

Its voice grew even more distorted as it spoke each word, turning into static. Its body became more unstable as chaotic lightning turned wilder. No one was close enough to help and even if they were, it had grown much too dangerous. 

Ming Yue turned to Xiao Yin and Hei Yue, opening her mouth to shout for them to go. If she was going to die here, she didn't want them to die with her. 

Unfortunately, she couldn't even say the first word before the True Idol's body burst out. Engulfing them all in light that expanded until it reached the fortress walls. Everyone took cover behind whatever they had. 

The light soon shot into a pillar thick and bright enough to be seen from all over the continent, pouring into the clouds. It lasted several seconds, blinding everyone before slowly dying off. And once that light vanished, it left behind a terrible sight. 

The first to witness it was Zi Jing. Awakened by the noise. he rose up, supporting himself with the broken rubble as he peeked through the cracked walls. 

"This..."

He looked around with widened eyes. 

There were few scenes comparable to this, rather this was the first time anyone had ever seen this. 

Right in front of the fortress was a crater, a gaping crater at least a hundred meters deep. But that wasn't the most surprising. It was the sheer size of it. The crater was comparable to the Cerulean Serpent's Lake, large enough that there was nothing as far as the eye could see, not even ground. It was as if the fortress stood at the edge of the world, where creation had ended. There was no swamp, no flatlands, just empty space, nothing. 

Zi Jing looked around just as the others followed, gazing at this expanse of nothingness. 

"Where's the girl? Where's Ming Yue?" he muttered in disbelief. 

The other commanders looked but they saw the same thing that he saw. Xuan Yin stood at the top of the walls, gazing down at the emptiness. Her eyes scanned around but she stopped and looked away. Du Xiu looked before glancing at Zi Jing who fell to his knees in defeat. Placing a hand on his shoulder, he shook his head and looked away. 

There was a bitter feeling in their hearts. They won the war but lost many great talents, many incredible people. 

"It's done. It's finished", he muttered. 

The skies were clear, revealing a starry sky. The light from before had scattered the clouds. It had grown calm and quiet, the war had come to an end. 

The following days were spent rebuilding the fortress, fixing what had been destroyed. They recovered as many bodies as they could, sending them back to the Human Continent in caskets. And the Nuwa Clan worked to help them. 

The tree that housed the spirit was still in the middle of healing, the burnt branches and bark slowly pulled away, revealing new leaves. 

Where it was planted, grass and plants began to sprout and grow around it, spreading with each passing day. 

In this moment, the Commanders and what remained of the Messengers stood in front of the tree. Many of them were still injured, covered in bandages and smelling of the earthy sweetness of medicine. 

"The Hundun Clan is no more, I cannot feel their presence", said the spirit. 

"What will happen now?" asked Du Xiu. 

"Now we will focus on healing the world. The cycle will continue as it should", the spirit replied. 

They looked at each other before all eyes were on Gao Ri. 

"What will you do now? Kong Zhi is dead and the other clans went back into hiding", they asked. 

The Winged Demon looked back, his wings were closed and fully bandaged. He thought for a moment before answering. 

"I'll bring everyone to the Cerulean Fortress here, expand it into a city. This will become the starting point to uniting the races and rebuilding what we have lost over the past years."

His voice was hopeful and his eyes seemed bright. This really was a chance at healing. 

"We've really lost a lot in this war."

Yu Zhen sighed as she looked at the grass. 

"But we won. If we didn't, our homes would've been destroyed", said Nie Xia.

Gao Ri then looked at her. 

"Any demon that opposed him would've either died or ended up in slavery, your people would've been met with the same fates."

"I know. I know." she replied. 

Du Xiu then turned around. 

"We owe it to those that sacrificed themselves to win this war. Let's do what we can to make sure it wasn't in vain."

After speaking, he walked away, evidently going back to rest and do a bit of paperwork even. 

Di Yu and the other Messengers went to leave as well. 

"We must head back to the High Council, there is much to report and we have a duty to fulfill. I bid you all farewell." 

They lowered their heads and cupped their fists in respect before leaving.

"So the girl's really gone..."

Zi Jing spoke quietly. Nie Xia and Yu Zhen glanced at him, joining in his grieving. 

"I didn't think you'd care so much about her. But yes, it is saddening to see such a bright flame die so soon."

Nie Xia spoke calmly, for once, his face didn't have a cheerful smile. 

"So much potential, gone just like that."

"But that is the risk of our life", said Yu Zhen, "Live or die. I'm sure she knew that and she was prepared for it."

Zi Jing looked at them before letting out a long breath. He took something out of his spatial ring, a metal flask, unscrewing it and pouring some out in front of him. 

"For you girl, I hope that we'll see each other in our next lifetime. It was a shame that I could not examine your sword but... at least I saw it with my own eyes", he said. 

He then took a swig before handing it off to the other two commanders, who did the same. And then they had a moment of silence, uttering not even a single word as they paid their respects. 

And one by one the others went back to their work, Zi Jing was the last to go, standing up to return to his quarters.

There was a mountain of paperwork and plenty of things to do on this road to recovery.

But peace doesn't last forever, it never does.