ML C9, P9- "The Last Bastion"

"The Last Bastion" is the ninth and penultimate Part of "Miracula Luxia" 's ninth Chapter- "King Of Hearts". It was released on 30.04.2020.
== Plot ==
WIth a strong and capable army behind his back, Jared bravely approaches the walls of the city of Bargha- the last stronghold of Farrar's army.
The final battle has begun and there is no going back.
Our heroes must win this battle in the name of all that is sacred and defeat the demons known as "Farrar's thugs". They know how high the stakes are right now- even the smallest mistake will crush their advantage over the surprised thugs and enable them to finish them off.
This is a battle of life and death, of heroes and villains, of saints and sinners. Who will prevail?
== Story ==
Jared smiles.
"Nightmare?"- He says- "You're nothing more than a simple peon who is standing in my way. Don't try to pretend that you're more than that. Because you are not."
"Now please tell me, where is your beloved leader?"
This sudden question makes Nicholas sweat profusely.
He shifts nervously from side to side, trying to hide something about Farrar.
However, it is more than clear that his plan is a failure.
"I-I-I... "- He stutters- "I... "
He smirks and raises his bow.
"I'll never let you get near our leader, Kaos! You will die here and now!"
John smiles.
"That means that he is here- in the city!"- He whispers to Annie.
"Yeah. I knew it!"- She responds and the two of them continue staring at Nicholas.
Jared shakes his head.
"I don't want to kill any of you. There is no need for more blood to be shed. We want peace, that is all."
"So, I will ask you the same question one more time. Kindly."
"Can you please reveal the location of your leader to me, gentlemen?"
Nicholas realizes that Jared is in a moment of weakness. He lowers his weapon.
"Well, you know what?"- He says- "Since you're such a nice guy and you asked us so nicely about the location of our leader, why don't we tell you?"
Jared nods and smiles.
"I'm glad that you finally realized that you're on the wrong side."- He says- "Alright. Tell us."
Nicholas grins and motions at the gate.
"Stand there. We will open it after a few moments."
Jared stares suspiciously at Nicholas, then at the gate. He realizes that the bandit is not very honest about his desire to reveal his leader's location, or maybe not at all.
So this means... that he's leading Jared somewhere.
But that "somewhere"...
Is a trap. Planned by him.
Jared aims his bow at him.
"You cannot trick me, bandit."- He mutters- "I've already experienced such tricks before. Yours is just as pathetic as the last one."
"I know that you don't want to willingly give out the location of your leader to us. So we will force it out of you after we capture you."
The last words that Jared says terrify Nicholas. He realizes that his plan to trick Jared to stand under the gate and kill him is not going to work, so he simply takes a step back.
"Uh... "- He says- "Good job on seeing through my lies."
"But this doesn't mean that I'm going to just surrender to you! No, sir! I won't!"
He stares at the other bandits.
"Kill them quickly! Then we can attack the rest of Avernum!"
John angrily draws his bow and aims it at him.
"Traitor until the end, aren't you?"- He says- "Well, let me tell you this. You will soon regret saying those words and will plead us for mercy. Mark my words."
"But Jared won't answer to your pleas! And neither will any of us. So, prepare to die, you Barghan scum! You and all of your lackeys will fall down, one by one!"
He turns to Jared.
"Whenever you're ready, my friend. I will give it all that I've got."
Jared nods and stares coldly at Nicholas and the other thugs.
"I will not wait any longer. I will enter that city, whether you try to stop me or not! Your leader has commited many crimes and he has to answer for every single one of them!"
"And we shall be the ones who will make him pay!"
He turns to his allies.
"My friends, let us show those miscreants how strong we have become! Together!"
He turns back to the bandits and raises his bow.
"Let's do this! For Avernum!"
"For Avernum!"- Everyone else behind him yells and the fight begins.
Arrows fly both from the walls and below the walls.
Many brave warriors strike down their opponents with a flurry of arrows.
Angry warriors try to smash Bargha's walls and break in to kill the miscreants.
Meanwhile, Jared and Nicholas aim their weapons at each other.
"You want a piece of me?!"- Jared yells- "Well, then come and get it!"
Nicholas grins.
"I'm not going to kill you, Jared. You are too valuable for Farrar."
"Instead, I will kill the one who led this pathetic army to invade our city... "
Suddenly, he shifts his focus from Jared to Commander Jones.
Sadly, the commander doesn't have a weapon that will help him parry the attack.
Nicholas shoots an arrow in the commander's direction...
However, suddenly Jim jumps out of nowhere and bravely stands in front of his brother, shielding him from the blow.
"Oh no, you won't!"- He yells.
Everyone watches in horror as the arrow goes through Jim's eye, forcing him to fall on his knees.
He touches the end of the arrow and smiles.
"That was worth it."- He says and falls to the ground.
"Jimmy! NO!"- Commander Jones yells and embraces his brother.
Meanwhile, an infuriated Jared quickly approaches the walls of Bargha as the bandits try to shoot him down.
"I will... I... I... "- He stutters, tears filling his eyes once again.
"I WILL KILL YOU, YOU HEAR ME?! ALL OF YOU!"
He pulls out his energy sword and looks at the walls.
"Uh, Jared."- John says, realizing what his friend is planning to do- "Are you sure that this... is a good idea?"
"I don't care! I will make that fool pay! He killed my friend! My friend!"- Jared yells tearfully.
Suddenly, his blade's color changes.
John realizes that its temporary element is now Earth.
"Incredible."- He mutters- "Just incredible."
Everyone watches as Jared screams in anger and begins to swing the blade at the walls.
Amazingly, the blade is able to generate a huge cavequake as Jared strikes the walls that cracks them.
The bandits stare at the walls and laugh.
"Is that all you've got?"- Nicholas says mockingly.
Jared smiles.
"Oh, if only you realized how weak your walls are now."
"Could you demonstrate it, John?"- He turns to his friend.
John nods and smiles.
"With pleasure!"- He says and swings his energy blade at the walls.
Due to the force of the blow and the cracks, the walls immediately shatter under the weight of John's blow.
Jared walks to the left walls and swings his blade at it. 
The bandits try to flee like cowards to evade the impact, but that does not happen because the walls shatter immediately from the blow.
Most of the bandits are killed by the falling rubble. Those lucky few who are still alive are finished off by Jared's allies.
Meanwhile, Jared approaches a wounded Nicholas.
The man grabs a pipe from nearby and tries to hit the boy with it, but our hero nimbly evades the blow and grabs the pipe from his enemy's hands.
Jared points the pipe at Nicholas.
"Well, I can see that you are going to die nonetheless. So, tell me now, my friend."
"Do you have any regrets?"
Nicholas smirks.
"I'll die with no regrets!"- He yells- "I believe that I've done what's good for my city and I'll protect my leader until my last breath!"
Commander Jones quickly approaches Nicholas and delivers a sharp kick. Directly into his stomach.
As the man screams in pain, the commander turns to Jared.
"Kill him."- He mutters and goes back to his dying brother.
Jared nods and looks at the pipe.
Then he looks at Nicholas.
He shakes his head.
"There is no time for regrets. Yes, I may become a killer, but I will be a killer of unworthy, bloodthirsty worms, like you."
He turns to his friends.
"You don't need to watch. This... is going to be gruesome."
Everyone shakes their heads.
"We're not going anywhere."- Barin and Aimee say.
"He killed our friend and we want to see him die."- Annie continues.
"So, make him die. Rid the world of this evil scum."- John finishes.
Jared nods and lifts the pipe into the air.
"I will not let you say any last words. Because I already know what you are going to say. So I will just finish you off and get rid of your evil presence once and for all."
"Goodbye, traitor."- He says and swings the pipe directly into Nicholas's head, almost crushing his skull in the process.
Nicholas is barely breathing after the blow. He stares coldly at Jared.
"Screw... you, loyalist... scum."- He says before Jared delives a second, much stronger blow, finishing him off."
However, his death does not satisfy Jared. The boy continues bashing the pipe into the dead bandit's skull.
Soon, he stops and looks at the gruesome scene that he has created.
Nicholas is dead. That is for sure. His skull is cracked and his face is completely unrecognizable.
Jared angrily spits at his corpse.
"Scum. Absolute, pathetic scum."- He says before going to see Jim.
The man gets up and stares at Jared with his still-seeing eye.
"Jared?"- He says- "Is that you, my boy?"
Jared nods and smiles tearfully.
"Yes, Mr. Jones. It's me."
"Don't worry. I'm here."
Jim nods weakly.
"Is that man... dead?"
Jared nods.
"Very dead."
Jim sighs.
"Well then. I guess it's time for me to leave this nexus behind."
Jared shakes his head.
"Don't say that!"- He says- "We can still save you!"
Jim smiles.
"No, no. It's too late for good, old me. But you, Jared. You are truly one of a kind, kiddo."
"When my brother told me about you, he said so many nice things. And from what I saw when I traveled with you... I saw a capable hero who is able to be a leader at all times, a talented, kindhearted and brave young man whose heart always beats for the safety of everyone around the world."
He begins to close his last eye.
"I can... see that gleam in your eye."- He says weakly- "The gleam of bravery. Of hope. Of justice."
"Please, Jared. Whatever you do... don't... lose that gleam. Win the battle for me... and for every good person around the world. I know that you can do it!
Having said what he wanted to say to the young hero, Jim Jones, beloved brother of the brave commander Gareth Jones closes his eye, never to wake up ever again.
Jared stares sadly at the grieving Commander Jones.
"Commander... I'm so sorry."- He says.
The commander shakes his head.
"No, Jared. I understand. I forgive you... for not being able to save my brother. I know that it happened way too fast."
"But I... I... I cannot... "
He breaks down and cries at his dead brother's side.
Jared nods stoically.
"I understand, sir."- He says- "Stay here. We will go in and win this battle, in the name of your brother."
Commander Jones nods tearfully.
"Yes."- He says- "Thank you, Jared. I... I wish you good luck."
Jared nods, but before he can tell everyone else to go, Annie, Barin and Aimee stand by the commander's side.
"Sorry, Jared. We can't come."- Annie says- "We talked about this for a while. And we... we want to stay with the commander. Protect him from harm."
Jared nods.
"Understood, Annie. Do whatever your heart tells you to. I will not interfere."
He turns to his remaining soldiers.
"Well, my friends. It seems like there are not many of us left. But fear not! The battle is not over yet! Not until the last one of us dies in there!"
"We will keep fighting! We will show Farrar and his pathetic army of thugs that, even if we lose someone, we are still strong enough to fight back! Is that right?!"
Everyone cheers.
"Then let's go in there and finish them off for good!"
Jared and the rest of his allies (save for the commander, Annie, Barin and Aimee) enter the city of Bargha through the destroyed gate, eager to slay the evil man who is terrorizing all of Avernum once... and for all.