They were so fucked.

The Silver Knight's barrier was slowly cracking and yielding to the never-ending rain of pink flames. He grunted, clearly being pushed to his limits. However, they had to face the truth. He wouldn't last long.

The sound of the countless meteors crashing against the ever-weakening protective layer and the rest of the kitchen was unbearable! Would their journey end in this hell? They would burn to their deaths, and Stella could only sit down and watch?!

Her growing fear was cut short by the Knight's surprise request. "Stella, I need you for this!"

The girl's eyes widened. "What?!"

The Knight tried to explain as fast as he could. "Your Saniya! Touch my barrier with both hands!"

His voice carried such a sense of urgency that Stella didn't even think of questioning his plan. It was either blindly trusting him or dying. Guess what option she picked.

The girl jumped off Lien's back. "Like this?" She put her hands on the shield. Her hands were graced with a surprisingly pleasant warmth. It almost made her forget about their impending doom.

The Knight confirmed. "Yeah! Now listen carefully!" He paused to breathe. Talking was proving to be an almost impossible task. "You succeeded in making your Saniya flow through your body! Now, I want you to transfer this energy to my barrier."

Stella was understandably freaking out. How in the world was she supposed to do that? It was hard keeping this excess energy in check, and now she needed to transfer to a magical bubble?! The hell?!

The hero noticed that and cheered for her. "C'mon, you can do it! It's easier than you think! Picture your Saniya as a river, then picture a tributary, but in reverse!" His voice attempted to be heroic but cracked constantly throughout.

Stella didn't know much about rivers but understood the overall message. It was like opening a faucet, she assumed. She closed her eyes, retook deep breaths, pictured her Saniya slowly seeping from her body, and then focused on the warmth of the Knight's barrier, trying her best to ignore all the chaos around her.

After a few seconds, she felt something. She was getting a little weaker than before. Was it working?

The Knight's voice answered everything she needed to know. "Yes! That's it! Keep going!"

Lien chimed in with the cheerleading. "Go, Stella! Go! Go! Go!"

Slowly but surely, the girl was getting a better feel at this Saniya business. She could sense her energy channeling through her fingertips and powering up the spell. She opened her eyes and watched in awe as the barrier had no more visible cracks.

"Holy shit! I'm actually doing it!" The Human shouted with the intoxicating satisfaction of contributing to their survival.

After another minute of relentless assault, the infernal comets stopped coming. With a loud sigh of relief from both the Knight and Stella, the barrier dissolved into tiny golden sparks.

Lien howled. "We did it! You did it!" She grabbed Stella's shoulders and frantically shook the Human. She was about to throw up!

Thankfully, the pup stopped, allowing Stella to catch her breath. Strengthening the dome took a lot from her. "Yeah... I can't believe I pulled that off..."

The Knight fell with his back on the ground, breathing heavily. Stella watched him with concern. "You're gonna be okay, Knight?"

He weakly nodded. That was enough of an answer for the girls.

She took a moment to take in the state of the kitchen. All furniture it once had was turned into a valueless, broken heap of trash. The table, the cabinet. Only the cauldron was unharmed, only brought to the floor.

Then Stella stared at the cause of all this mess. Panting, just like the Knight, and fell to her knees.

The Human harbored a hatred towards the Ogre. She trashed her own home and almost murdered two of her fellow Monoke just to get her.

Now that she was led to this pathetic state, it was time to teach this bitch a lesson.

Stella cracked her knuckles and let her rage freely flow through every muscle, every tissue, and cell in her body. Her aura brightened once again in response.

While she stepped towards her gigantic target, Lien decided to walk with her. "Whatchu doing?"

Stella gave a mischievous smirk. "I'm going to beat the shit outta her."

"Nice! Let's go!" There was not even a drop of malice in the pup's voice.

That killed Stella's mood. It was hard to keep in touch with her edgy side with that pillar of unwavering joy beside her. It was mind-boggling how she just agreed to do acts of violence like it was nothing.

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Stella had only the weirdest of company, huh?

Another thing that completely destroyed any of the girl's violent urges was seeing the witch loudly coughing. And then she vomited a concerning amount of blood.

Stella quickly retreated as the blood almost touched her boots. "Gross! Gross! Gross!"

Lien clutched her snout. "Yikes! Blood vomit, not a pleasant smell."

On second thought, punching her in that state just felt wrong. Stella didn't know why she ever felt like that. Maybe it was because the giant was already suffering enough?

Eh, whatever. It was time for the girls to pack their things and leave.

"Wha... Where the hell are ya going...?" Grýla's weakened voice and ragged breathing only increased the girl's pity for her. So weird.

The good news was, the witch's voice was not deafeningly loud anymore, as it was apparently a feature in adult Ogres.

Stella put a hand on her hip and spoke in a dismissive tone. "Ma'am, look at you. This is over! Now go to sleep and quit nagging!"

The Human turned her back to the Ogre once again, only to be surprised by another tremor. What was this crazy old hag doing?!

Magenta sparks ran through Grýla's body while she slowly got to her feet again. Stella still didn't understand. The Ogre's movements were slow and sluggish, showing she didn't have the energy to keep fighting.

Well, Lien disagreed. "Stella, this is bad!"

Gathering what remained of her power, Grýla roared for the last time and conjured a maelstrom of Saniya! It shaped like a dome around her but entirely different from her shield spell. It was bright, overwhelming, and chaotic.

Almost like...

"GRÝLA IS BLOWING HERSELF UP!" The Knight shouted, finally standing up again.

"WHAT!?" The girls cried in unison.

"Wasn't she tired from the jam or something? How is she doing that?!" Stella desperately asked.

"Let's talk while we run!" The hero gestured towards the jam wall.

While they desperately ran for their lives, the Knight explained. "Saniya connects our three components: body, mind, and soul! Grýla is willing to burn the energy keeping her together to turn herself into a bomb!" By the time he finished, they got to the base of the wall.

Grýla laughed maniacally at them. "It's too late! Even if ya climbed that wall, the explosion will turn this cave into a fucking crater!"

Even in her last moments, she couldn't stop mocking them, could she?

"Can't we stop her from charging?" Stella asked.

"Stella, you can feel the heat coming from her, right?! We are not strong enough to pierce through that Saniya!" The Knight grew more impatient.

Lien agreed. "Yeah, there's no way we can stop her."

The Knight pointed at the top of the barricade, far away. "Lien, take Stella and climb as fast as you can!"

Stella asked. "What about you?!"

The hero... didn't answer.

Oh shit...

"You... You're going to..."

"The truest of heroes know when to give their life to save another!" His cheesy voice returned, as firm and unwavering as ever. "You two are the only ones who can survive this encounter! Now go!"

Stella's mind split in half. She couldn't bear to know that the guy she got attached to was sacrificing his life without a second thought. However, she also didn't want to die.

Was she a terrible person to desire for her survival?

The Knight apparently didn't think that way. "You have a long life ahead of you, Stella." He flashed a thumbs up. "Live it to the fullest! That's how you will repay me!"

Stella started to break into tears. She had known the guard for only hours, yet he did more for her than any adult she met before. Lien rushed at the Knight with a big hug.

"I don't want you to die..." The pup's voice was muffled.

The hero returned the embrace. "You're a brave Wolf, just like your mother. Now, please! You're wasting precious time!"

The girls begrudgingly complied. And so, their way up officially started.

Lien was the least affected by the fight, stamina-wise. Her strong muscles were pivotal for their speedy climbing.

Stella watched the hero shoot the last of his ammunition at the Ogre, probably trying to delay the explosion. All of the time wasted crying for his fate could ultimately lead to their demise, but strangely, Stella did not regret that. She needed at least some closure if she wanted to proceed with living.

Stella barely cared for the occasional slip-ups Lien went through on their way up. Her mind was tormented by the fear of death and the grief from losing the Knight.

She never thought she would cry for someone she barely knew, not once, but twice.

----------------------------------------

The Silver Knight:

Alas, this was the end of a legend. The Silver Knight's last hurrah!

As he saw the colossal and chaotic mass of Saniya about to end his life, his mind was calm and serene, more than it had in years.

Stella and Lien would survive, be found by the Dragon's Guard, and then be safe. This was all that he wanted.

This... was the perfect death.

The hero walked towards the soon-to-be exploding witch. As he approached her, she snickered. "Try to punch as hard as ya want! You're too weak to stop me!"

Her tone completely changed when he sat next to her and meditated. "W-what are ya doing?!"

"Meditating! I think it might help with this dying thing." The hero spoke with the purest joy and not a shred of irony.

"You're not taking this seriously! I will destroy everything in my lair!" Her frustration grew.

He hummed. "I know. Although your children, Jóla, and your husband are probably in the lair. You're gonna blow them up for the greater good?"

Grýla scoffed. "Of course not, you dimwit! I used telepathy to tell them to flee when I started fighting you."

The Knight sighed. "That's a relief! But what about Lien? You do know she has a mother, right? Would you rea-"

The dome of energy around her shrank considerably as she got flustered. "Listen, I don't wanna do this, alright?! But I have to! Can't let those monsters run amok in our home! So if I must kill one or two Monoke to keep the peace, so be it!"

"Even children?"

"Listen here, you little sh-" Her eyes widened, then she paid attention to her spell. "Aw, you slimy little bastard! Nice try!" Then her Saniya burst again to its previous size. "Ya almost got me! Now, I'll keep my mouth shut!"

The guard nodded. "It was worth a try." Then, he also kept himself in silence.

Only the sound of the swirling Saniya filled the volcanic room. It reminded him of the self-destruct sequences in the old games he played in his youth. They indirectly shaped his career path. It almost made him feel nostalgic.

No, that life was over. The Silver Knight plunged into a life of devotion to Sayama's people and justice. And that was all that mattered.

Maybe now... He could see someone good when gazing upon the mirror... In the afterlife... where probably stuff like mirrors don't even exist...

Maybe the floor was reflective? And how abo-

CRASH!

The Knight's meditation got interrupted by whatever had crashed next to them. Even Grýla had lost her concentration again.

There was a cloud of dust concealing its identity. The hero's heart started to pound with desperation. Was it the girls? Have they failed?!

"Stella?! Lien?!"

A familiar voice answered. "Fortunately, no!"

The dust settled, revealing five figures. All who the hero knew very well.

"You guys!" The Knight cried with renewed hope.

The cavalry has arrived! Well, maybe "pack" would be a more fitting term.