Chapter 668 - Less than two hours left*

Alicia had seen almost everything in the last three millennia. The reason why the witches were divided was because not all queens were good. Many who were good in the beginning eventually became evil. Even if one good and great queen rose and unite the witches, the next queen will ruin everything, and the cycle begins again. Perhaps what the witches needed was a good ruler that will not die after a few decades. They needed one good ruler that will live forever and won’t be replaced by someone that could become evil and ruin everything all over again... just like the vampires.

While Alicia was focused on her own thoughts, something suddenly pulled her attention. Something dark, dangerous, and suffocating seemed to wrap around the entire city suddenly.

Everyone’s eyes fell towards the direction of Zeres’ hideout, and they saw a thick shadow forming into a vortex. A shadow that doesn’t seem to belong to this world.

Lilith immediately sensed the immense power. Even Kyle and Lucas were already in their alert mode. Their survival instinct had made their body and mind focused on their surroundings. All of them knew that something unthinkable was going to happen.

"What’s this? What’s happening?" Kyle asked as the shadow seemed to be turning even thicker, wider, like a black mist that was darker than the night.

Lilith had her eyes wide as she looked at Alicia.

"It’s a spell!" Lilith exclaimed, and Alicia nodded. Even in her powerless state, Alicia could tell, just by seeing that shadow, that someone had used the ultimate forbidden spell.

"A spell?" Kyle asked, looking at the two witches with curiosity and alarm.

"Yes. It’s the demon summoning spell!" Lilith answered. Her eyes filled with shock and horror.

Alicia clenched her fists tight. She had seen one of the previous queens used this spell in her memories. This spell wasn’t just forbidden because of the demon but also because this spell will require the life of the one performing the spell. One greedy queen had tried it before, thinking that she was strong enough to summon a demon without dying, but she failed and died a gruesome death.

"Zeres..." Alicia said disbelievingly. No one could perform that spell without dying but him! "What are you doing? Why would you do this?" she asked in a weak voice.

"His Highness is not giving any signal yet," Lucas said, looking obviously unsettled. The feel of this dark shadow was just too ominous to keep them stay calm. They all knew this was trouble—a much bigger trouble than the undead vampires. No, a legion of undead vampires won’t even hold a candle to this!

"What should we do?" Kyle asked, anxious. "Should we go check on them?"

"No!" Alicia spoke. "It’s too dangerous. Lilith, do you have a crystal ball with you?"

Lilith nodded, and the young witch immediately moved to set up her crystal ball. They must know what was going on!

...

Meanwhile, Alex’s face looked utterly grave as he looked up towards Zeres. A circle had appeared behind him, and ominous shadows kept coming out from it. The shadow reeks of death and hell, and serious danger. This was something much more dangerous and threatening than Dinah.

It wasn’t just because of Alex’s instinct. This time, Alex was certain that this would be one much bigger trouble because of Zeke’s reaction. For the first time in a very, very long time, something changed in Zeke’s expression. And anything and anyone that could change Zeke’s expression, no matter how subtle the change was, was definitely nothing but bad news.

"What’s going on?" Alex asked when he saw Zeke clenched his fists tight.

"Get ready, Alex," Zeke said instead of answering Alex’s question. "I’d like you to attack him now. At. Full. Force." He stressed. "Bring him down here, and I’ll deal with him on the ground. Now, Alex. There’s no time. We have to stop him!"

Despite the confusion, Alex immediately moved. The sound of urgency in Zeke’s voice made Alex moved without question. When was the last time Alex heard Zeke spoke like that? He couldn’t even remember anymore.

Alex catapulted to the sky, but just as he was about to reach Zeres, something dark and powerful blocked him.

Another creature with wings. Wait! Demon?!

"Damn!" Alex cursed as he clashed against the demon. "What the hell are you doing, Zeres!!!" Alex could only yell in frustration as he fought with the demon.

Another demon appeared from the vortex of shadow and then another one.

"Damn it! Stop summoning these monsters!" Alex yelled again as more demons went after him.

But Zeres acted as though he didn’t hear Alex’s complaints at all. Zeres’ gaze was fixed to Zeke.

With dark, villainous eyes, Zeres slowly descended, not averting his gaze from Zeke. Dark shadows were moving around him, and black lightning was hitting the ground as Zeres landed on the ground.

"Now, do you realize what a threat I am? Kiel?" Zeres asked. His voice was emotionless and deadly. "I remembered what you said before. That you’d find a way to have me dead If I become the villain... I can summon an entire army of demons and spread them all over the world, Kiel. And you know I’m not bluffing, right?"

Zeke didn’t respond. But Zeres could see he had finally made Ezekiel serious. He just knew that no one could ever fulfill his wish but this man. Kiel would do anything and everything to annihilate any threat, whoever it was.

"If I’m still alive at midnight, demons will roam around the earth and create chaos you will never ever cover-up, Kiel. I know you’d eventually managed to kill me, but the world will never be the same again after that. So if you don’t want this peace you’ve been working so hard to keep in the last hundreds of years not to be destroyed, kill me now. You have less than two hours left." Zeres paused, and his eyes blazed with hellfire. "If Alicia dies before me, you’ll regret it."

___

*unedited