I found myself unable to move. Redbeard had sacrificed himself so that Bella could keep living. He sacrificed himself so Ianite could go through with the plan. He sacrificed himself for the rest of us, despite how he was against us in the past.

We couldn't let him down now.

The only problem was that Ianite was still breaking apart her soul. How were we going to keep the Shadows occupied until then?

"You see?" he bellowed, suddenly erupting with laughter. "I can kill you weaklings with ease! This isn't like before. There are no exceptions to my wrath this time. Everyone will die!"

I shot him repeatedly, my arrows regenerating as I used them up. They were hurting him, but not enough. The swords were what would really damage him. Unfortunately, nobody wanted to get close enough to the Shadows to be able to actually hurt him. But we were getting desperate now.

"You'll pay for what you've done!" the priest yelled, dashing close to him and swinging his sword through his stomach.

The Shadows recoiled, but recovered quickly, extending his hand toward the priest. "Will I, now? You fool."

Champwan raced from behind me and attacked the Shadows from behind, hitting him repeatedly with incredible skill. "Don't even try to hurt my friend!"

The Shadows growled and tried to smack Champwan out of the way, but the ninja jumped away to avoid his attack. The smoke struck the ground, and it exploded at his touch. Letting out a yell of fury, he darted toward Mianite.

The god was prepared. A bolt of lightning struck directly on the Shadows, taking out a lot of his health. "I thought you were supposed to be powerful, father!" Mianite teased, glaring at the Shadows. "This is pathetic!"

"PATHETIC?" the Shadows fumed. "DO YOU WANT TO SEE PATHETIC?" Before any of us could react, he spun around and sent a burst of smoke toward us. His aim seemed to be careless, but I heard it collide with a person behind me.

I spun around just in time to see the edge of the smoke hit old man Spark in the chest. His blue eyes grew enormous, and he toppled to the ground. His green glasses slid off his face, and clattered to the ground next to him.

"No..." I whispered, in a voice too quiet for anyone to hear. I hadn't been very close to Redbeard, so it hadn't pained me this much when he had fallen.

But Spark and I had become almost family in the ten years we'd spent together here.

NOBODY would touch Spark and live. Not even the most powerful being known to man.

"What are you going to do, Jeriah?" the Shadows laughed. "Were you not expecting to lose some of your friends? Did you forget who you were fighting?"

"That's enough!" Mianite roared. I could tell that both deaths had deeply affected the god as well, and his attacks were driven by sheer rage. White flames filled his palms, and he launched himself at the Shadows. He fought back, deflecting the white fire with his black smoke.

I stood still, frozen, unsure of what to do next. My world had flipped upside down, and I was too shocked to move.

"Oh... my..." Snapping out of my daze, I turned to see Ianite emerge from behind the house. She looked incredibly weak, and two violet orbs were hovering by her side. She slowly lifted her hands and covered her mouth as she stared at Spark and Redbeard's lifeless bodies.

Making sure that the Shadows didn't notice, I made my way over to where Ianite was. "Come on, while Mianite's fighting him! You need to give Alyssa and Bella the pieces of your soul!"

It seemed like she hadn't heard me. "They... dead? It's all my fault! I treated both of them badly... I never apologized!"

We were running out of time. "Ianite," I hissed, my voice firm. "Do you want to make it up to them?"

"How?" She sounded like she was on the verge of sobbing. "They're dead... gone..."

"They didn't die for you to stand here and let the Shadows take over this land!" I snapped. "Redbeard died so Bella could live. Now go give her this piece of your soul. Aren't you going to avenge him?"

Ianite blinked a few times, and then her gaze hardened. "You... you're right. I have to do this." Gathering up her strength, she plunged into the battle.

The battle between Mianite and the Shadows was growing worse and worse as time went on. Both of them were fighting to spill as much blood at possible. The Shadows' deadly smoke was being deflected by the fire, and the lightning bolts were dealing damage, but there was no telling how much longer Mianite was going to remain with the upper hand. I knew that his energy could run out at any time, and he could become too weak to continue the fight. But, on the bright side, the Shadows were occupied.

"Ianite..." Bella croaked as the goddess made her way over to the bleeding girls. "Are you sure?"

"This is the right thing to do," Ianite said, trying to keep her voice low. "Now go be the heroes this realm needs."

The purple orbs entered Bella and Alyssa, and they began to float up into the air. They glowed with a bright purple aura, and their eyes sparkled with energy. They were ready for a fight.

"We won't let you down," Bella told her, confidence in her voice. Then, building up all the fury they had suppressed for so many years, they charged at the Shadows.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY, MIANITE!" Alyssa screamed. "THIS IS OUR FIGHT NOW!"

As the girls raced by, the priest and Champwan handed them their swords. Now that they were defenseless, I moved forward to block them from the Shadows' possible attack. No more people from our side would die to this twisted being.

Mianite jumped off of his father, and sent a rush of lightning bolts to strike him down and keep him from following the god. The Shadows, greatly weakened, turned to find three females with the powers of goddesses charging straight at him.

"NO!" The Shadows sent out both of his arms in the direction of each girl. Before the smoke could hit them, both Bella and Alyssa held the flat part of their blades toward it. As it collided with the sword, the weapon shimmered purple and the smoke dissolved without leaving a scratch.

"Your time has come!" Bella screamed, swinging again and again at the Shadows. "Thirty years ago, I began this war against you. It ends today. It ends now!"

"You lost last time!" the Shadows hissed, trying to break the sword with his fist. However, Ianite's powers seemed to have made the weapon unbreakable.

"Well, I wasn't there last time!" Alyssa yelled, attacking from the other side. Her red eyes gleamed with fury, and her brown ponytail flew from side to side as she swung her sword.

"And neither was I." Her voice much calmer, but also boiling with rage, Ianite pulled out her lavender bow and put a golden arrow on it.

The Shadows cackled, but the fear behind his eyes was apparent. "I've done what I needed to. Attacking me won't bring back Redbeard, now will it, Ianite? Fighting me won't revive your precious Spark!"

"No," she snarled, "it won't." She released the arrow, and it sped over Bella's head and struck the Shadows directly in the forehead. "But the least I can do is avenge them."

Alyssa and Bella stepped back as the Shadows began to glow with a golden aura. His features melted into a blob of smoke, which was slowly turning purple. For a second, he became the colors of Ianite, and then he began to melt into the air.

Everyone stopped to watch in awe as the Shadows melted out of existence. The only thing he left behind was a large burn mark directly underneath where he had been standing, and some gray smoke drifting into the sky.

He was gone.

What to do now? Nobody seemed to know.

"Ianite," Alyssa breathed, looking up at the goddess with admiration. "You gave us the pieces of your soul we needed to defeat the Shadows."

"And you were the one who ended up taking him out," Bella breathed, still starting at the place where the Shadows had disappeared. "You stayed. You helped us."

"It was the least I could do." She turned to Spark and Redbeard's motionless bodies. "They sacrificed much more than I did."

I slowly approached the pirate, leaning down to see if there was any hope left for him. I put my hand on his chest, but there was no heartbeat. He truly was gone.

I looked up and shook my head, and Ianite's eyes began to tear up once more. Trembling, she went over to Spark.

And then, at her touch, the old man's eyes twitched and opened, ever so slightly. "I... Ianite?" he croaked, looking up at her. "You... am I dead?"

After a moment of stunned silence, Ianite burst into tears, and began to laugh at the same time. She leaned down and hugged Spark gently. "No, my dear. You're alive."

"Oh, good." He let out a sigh as Ianite let go of him. "I really wanted to know if we were going to win the battle or not. I would hate to have died for nothing."