Just then, Sarah struck the Zombie King with her arrow—but it had no effect. Without wasting time, she rushed to Julie, who was still unconscious, and took three crystals from her. Sarah already had three crystals, and now with six in total, her power multiplied by fifteen times.
With her enhanced strength, she launched a fierce attack on the Zombie King. This time, her power was immense—it sent him flying, and the freeze duration from her attack extended from five seconds to a staggering one minute and fifteen seconds. Without hesitation, she turned to attack Saanvi too.
Then Sarah shouted to Muskan, "Stop crying! Wake Julie up—she's the only one who can save Aarav now. Please... stop crying. I don't have much time."
With a soft smile, she whispered "Goodbye," and at that moment, her body exploded into light.
Witnessing this, Muskan broke down completely. But then she understood—Sarah had sacrificed herself to protect them. Gathering strength, she immediately rushed to Julie and took her to Aarav.
Julie, with the remaining crystals, tried to heal Aarav. But without his crystal, and unaware of Sarah's death, the healing wasn't working. Muskan returned to Sarah's body and took her six crystals. Still, Julie's powers weren't functioning properly. In despair, she too began crying.
And then... Aarav died.
Julie, already gravely injured, exhausted all her remaining strength trying to heal him—and perished too.
Muskan arrived only to find both of them dead. Heartbroken, she wept beside their bodies.
Meanwhile, the freeze effect on the Zombie King and Saanvi ended. They approached Aarav and Julie's lifeless bodies, laughing.
The Zombie King began the transformation—turning Aarav into a zombie.
Just then, Muskan appeared, holding all nine crystals—a power surge of 27 times.
In a final desperate act, she dragged Saanvi and the Zombie King away from Aarav's body and unleashed a devastating attack—like a miniature nuclear explosion.
Her body too exploded.
But the Zombie King had already completed the transformation—Aarav was now a zombie.
When Aarav saw Muskan explode before his eyes, something awakened within him. He broke free from the Zombie King's control.
However, only half of the Zombie King and Saanvi's bodies had been destroyed. They quickly regenerated. But the connection with Aarav was lost, and the Zombie King believed him to be dead.
But Aarav... was alive.
Now a zombie with no memories, all he knew was one thing:
He had to kill the Zombie King.
Aarav began his journey. He hunted down a mutant lion and consumed it. Since both were zombies, other zombies didn't attack him. After completing the consumption process, he began hunting other evolved zombies to gain more power:
One evolved zombie...
Two evolved zombies...
Three...
Four...
Five...
After consuming the fifth, he hadn't yet evolved into a Zombie King-level. So he continued...
Six...
Seven...
Eight...
And finally, ten.
Upon consuming the tenth, he evolved into a High-Level Zombie King, capable of taking human form—with 75% of the real Zombie King's power.
He began hunting other zombie kings, extracting their crystals. After collecting three zombie king crystals, he became 675 times stronger than the real Zombie King.
But the process had taken one year.
Suddenly, something began to change in him. He grew desperately hungry, losing control, searching for human flesh. He had only eaten one mutant lion in his journey. The hunger consumed him, and he fainted.
When he opened his eyes... he found himself in a beautiful, unfamiliar place.
Two figures stood before him—Fragment of Light and Shadow of Darkness.
They embraced him.
He was stunned, but also felt an unknown warmth—like a lost boy finally returning home.
Then, Shadow of Darkness spoke:
"My dear son… I know how much pain you've endured in that world. But the mission you were sent on… you failed."