"[Grand Purification]!" she screamed, her voice raw with effort and determination. "[Elemental Convergence]! [Sacred Disruption]!"

Three master-level spells cast simultaneously, all of them targeting the central ritual. It should have been impossible—no mage her age should have had the power or control to manage even one spell of this caliber, let alone three at once.

But Morgana had trained her well. And more than that, Freda understood that failure here meant the end of everything. That gave her strength beyond her normal limits.

Brilliant white light flooded the chamber, burning away corruption-magic like dawn burning away night. The elements themselves responded to her call—fire, water, earth, wind, light, darkness—all six converging on the ritual sphere simultaneously, tearing it apart from multiple angles at once.

The skeletal form inside the sphere reached out with one partially-formed hand, as if trying to grasp at life, trying to claw its way into existence through sheer will. Satou could feel the malevolent intelligence behind those empty eye sockets, the ancient evil that was so close to returning.

Then the purification magic hit with full force, and the form began to crumble. Bones that had been forming dissolved back into nothing. The flesh that had been growing evaporated. The dark magic sustaining the resurrection was purified and dispersed into harmless ambient energy.

The skeletal hand reached out one final time, fingers grasping at nothing, then simply... dissolved into particles of light that faded into nothingness.

The ritual arrays on the floor cracked and shattered, lines of power going dark. The altars collapsed, bones scattering across the floor, the careful arrangements destroyed. The runes on the walls flared once with green light, then went dark permanently. The sickly green illumination faded, replaced by clean white light from Freda's magic.

Then Freda herself collapsed, completely and utterly drained. She'd pushed far beyond her limits, and unconsciousness claimed her before she even hit the ground.

Kelvin caught her before she could fall, the young elf's body limp but still breathing steadily. "She's alive," he confirmed, checking her pulse. "Just completely exhausted. She'll need days to recover from this."

For a long moment, nobody spoke. They just stood there in the now-silent temple, processing what they'd just prevented. The air itself felt cleaner, lighter, as if a terrible weight had been lifted from the world.

"Is it over?" Urgot finally asked, his young voice uncertain. "Did we stop it?"

Satou extended his senses, scanning for any remaining corruption or active dark magic. He probed the ritual circles, the altars, the walls, even the air itself.

Nothing. Just normal background energy. The temple was clean. The ritual was destroyed. The connection to whatever dimension the First Demon Lord had been banished to was severed completely.

"It's over," he confirmed, and he felt the tension drain from his body as he said it. "The ritual is destroyed. The First Demon Lord won't be revived."

Shadow moved through the chamber, examining the destroyed arrays and scattered bones with professional interest despite their injury. "This was close. If that third cultist's final sacrifice had been allowed even thirty more seconds to take effect, the resurrection would have achieved critical mass. The ritual would have completed, and nothing we could have done would have stopped it."

"But we did stop it," Grimnir said firmly, leaning heavily on his axe. Blood still seeped from his wounds, but there was satisfaction in his voice. "That's what matters. The bastards failed."

Satou nodded, then moved to the three cultists' bodies. [Devour] activated on each of them in turn. He felt their knowledge and skills flow into him—dark magic techniques, ritual theory, forbidden knowledge accumulated over years of study.

All of it was tainted, all of it was dangerous, but it was also potentially useful if properly understood and controlled. Know your enemy. Understand their methods. That knowledge could be the difference between victory and defeat in future confrontations.

<System Notification> New Skills Acquired:

[Ritual Magic Understanding] - Comprehensive knowledge of complex magical ceremonies

[Dark Arts Resistance] - Significantly improved defense against forbidden magic

[Soul Siphon] - Energy absorption from fallen enemies

[Corrupted Speech] - Can speak and understand the language of demons and dark entities [Ritual Disruption] - Can identify and break active magical workings

[Blood Magic Theory]- Understanding of life-force manipulation techniques

[Dimensional Sensing]- Can detect tears or connections between dimensions

They exited the temple, and the difference was immediately apparent. The oppressive weight that had hung over the valley was gone. The air felt normal again. Reality felt stable rather than twisted.

Chief Krrax was waiting outside with a contingent of lizard-folk warriors. The chief's remaining eye was scanning the temple anxiously, clearly worried about what might emerge. Warriors stood in defensive formations, weapons ready.

When he saw Satou's team walking out intact—bloodied and exhausted, but alive and victorious—relief flooded his features so powerfully that it was almost physical.

"The ritual?" he asked simply, voice tight with tension.

"Destroyed," Satou confirmed. "The First Demon Lord will not be rising today. Or any day, if we have anything to say about it."

The chief let out a long breath, then seemed to sag slightly as tension he'd been carrying for months—no, probably years—finally released. His shoulders dropped, his weapon lowered, and for just a moment he looked less like a hardened war chief and more like an exhausted man who'd been pushed beyond his limits but somehow survived.

"Then it's truly over," he said quietly, and there was wonder in his voice. "The war, the corruption, the slaughter, all of it. It's actually... over."

"Not quite," Satou said gently, not wanting to dampen the chief's relief but needing to be practical. "You still have hundreds of wounded to tend to, a valley to rebuild, infrastructure to repair, and a serpent tribe leadership vacuum to fill. The fighting is over, but the work is just beginning."

Krrax nodded understanding, military bearing returning as he straightened his shoulders. "You're right, of course. But at least now we have a future. We have hope. That's more than I dared believe this morning when I woke up expecting today to be my last."

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