An hour later, in an abandoned park full of mighty oak trees and clusters of flowers in the west quarter of Camborne, loyal Kaborian soldiers grappled with the advancing Yugdab forces. Blood defiled the lush, once-green grass, mostly from the invading forces, who found themselves unable to push through enemy lines and overtake the rest of the city. 

Without warning, a strange, glowing orb arced over the Yugdabs' heads, landing between opposing forces and emanating a wave of mysterious purple energy on impact. The shockwave mowed down all the Kaborian soldiers, except for one single man who cowered behind his shield. He promptly retreated into a grove of trees, his screams echoing through the park as he did so. 

Finally, the bright light subsided, revealing the crouched form of Hadigama with his sword stabbed into the ground. He opened his eyes, slowly rose to his feet, and glanced back sharply at his astonished men. 

"What're you looking at?" Hadigama barked, "I didn't clear your path merely so you could stand around and gawk at me. Go on!" 

With choppy movements, the warriors rushed back into action. In the meantime, Hadigama looked around for the quickest way out of the park and into the city proper. Once he had decided his route, he dashed forward, smashing through the fence as he did so. As he took a step to cross the street, he heard the twang of a bowstring above, and sure enough, an arrow clattered to the ground at his feet. 

Hadigama's gaze travelled up the height of the building, and his scowl deepened as he noticed Kahiri standing atop it with her gaze locked on his form and her bowstring already pulled back for another shot. He growled and blocked her arrow with a gauntlet. Next, he turned to a nearby building with a strange, green glow in his hands. One by one, the bricks moved out of the structure and levitated over to Hadigama's feet, slowly forming a stairway as they did. 

When the makeshift stairway had been completed, Hadigama slowly ascended to Kahiri's position. The archer backed away from the edge of the rooftop as her glaring opponent came closer. 

"Alas, Kahiri Oriann," Hadigama began in a pleasant tone, "fate has brought us together again." 

"I don't believe in fate." Kahiri declared. "God orders all things." 

"Now, that depends on which god you speak of, little lady." 

"There's only one." Kahiri stated flatly. "Your pantheon is made up of a bunch of troublemaking demons, at best." 

Hadigama growled. "How dare you tarnish Anjaflic's holy name with such degrading terms? You will pay for your disrespect!" 

"How so? The one true God, who holds the only real power, is on our side. You'd better tread lightly." 

Without answering another word, Hadigama raised his hand and faced the palm at Kahiri. He shot a blast of red energy at her, one so large that as long as the power emanated from his hand, he lost sight of the archer. 

When the crimson cloud cleared, Hadigama's gaze landed on a completely unscathed Kahiri, who stood in the exact same position as she had been before he fired. 

Kahiri smirked. "Wait a minute. That was the full extent of your god's power?" 

The orange streaks in Hadigama's eyes turned red as his glare deepened. "No, it wasn't. You want to see everything he's got?" 

Kahiri shrugged. "Sure, why not?" 

Hadigama huffed and widened his eyes. Two twin rays of white light shot forth from his corrupted eyeballs and he swept them up and down Kahiri's body. While she herself remained completely unharmed, the Yugdab champion trembled and perspired violently. Eventually, the beam flickered and fizzled out as Hadigama fell to the ground in weakness. 

Kahiri took one step closer to her fallen opponent. "No offense, but how come your god's powers do more harm to his followers than his enemies? Isn't he supposed to be a god of war?" 

With great effort, Hadigama pulled himself to his feet once more and unsheathed his sword. "You shall suffer for your insolence!" 

"Will I?" Kahiri questioned as she snatched an arrow from her quiver. "I guess we'll have to limit this fight to physical realm, because if my Savior intervened, it'd be bye-bye to you." 

"You clearly underestimate the power of Anjaflic!" 

"Do I? Please educate me, because as far as I've seen, all he can do is make pretty lights surround his enemies." 

"Once I recover my strength, I will show you the might of Anjaflic!" 

"Alright. Maybe that'll give him some time to wake up and lend his people a hand." 

Finally, Hadigama's temper snapped. He rushed at Kahiri with his sword poised for a beheading strike and swung it with great power. The archer swiftly ducked under the blow and slid between the Yugdab champion's legs. As she leapt to her feet behind him, she shot her arrow into an armor joint. Just before the projectile made impact, Hadigama spun and very closely avoided injury. 

While Hadigama advanced on Kahiri with hungry eyes, she stepped back toward the edge of the roof, stealing quick glances behind herself as she did so. Finally, she fired another shot at her foe, who merely grabbed the arrow in midair and snapped it between his fingers. Without hesitation, he continued his steady advance. 

A few seconds later, Kahiri glanced back and panicked as she realized she had reached the edge of the roof and Hadigama currently stood between her and her escape. Her eyes widened as Hadigama came into range and swung his sword down. At the last moment, Kahiri turned so that instead of removing her arm, the sword stroke merely sliced the quiver off of her back, as well as a layer of her skin. 

Kahiri screamed as the blade ate into her back and the quiver fell to the ground below, with all her arrows still inside. In a desperate move, she blindly jabbed her bow backwards. When Hadigama stumbled away while clutching his dislocated kneecap, she scuttled her way to spacious footing. 

Hadigama hissed and spat as he struggled to find strength to stand on his injured leg. While he chanted to Anjaflic for strength, Kahiri swept her gaze across the rooftop in search of a new weapon. A grin spread across her face as she spotted a single arrow that had missed the Yugdab champion earlier in their scuffle. She hurried over to it and fitted it to her bowstring before she spun around to face Hadigama once more. 

Hadigama moaned as he laboriously rose to his feet. A purple glow emanated from his dislocated kneecap and caused Kahiri some pause as she beheld the spectacle. She closed her eyes for a second in silent prayer before she released the arrow and watched it fly. The projectile shattered the patch of violet energy immediately on impact and pierced deep into Hadigama's throbbing leg. 

The Yugdab swordsman gritted his teeth and charged at Kahiri once more with limping steps. She calmly backed away while subtly leading him to the edge of the rooftop. When he finally gathered the strength to lunge at Kahiri, she swiftly side-stepped and caused him to stumble very near the edge. Just before he tumbled over the precipice, he regained his footing and turned to face his opponent once more. 

With a swift crouch, Kahiri evaded another strike from her determined opponent. Then she leapt forward and kicked into his chest with all her might, sending him tumbling over the edge of the rooftop. She stood and watched his descent victoriously, flinching a moment later at the sight and sound of his body splattering on the ground below. Finally, she turned with a sigh and headed for the interior stairway leading off the rooftop. 

******************** 

Several minutes later, Kahiri pushed through a door and found herself outside again. When she spotted Qwarten perched atop an oblong boulder many yards away, she hurried over and leapt up to stand beside him. 

Qwarten sharply glanced over at the movement in his peripheral vision before the corners of his mouth lifted slightly. "Hey, Kahiri, what's new?" 

"Their champion is dead, so I don't know how I could ask for anything more." 

Qwarten pointed at the masses of retreating Yugdab soldiers in the distance. "You could ask for that." 

"Why're they giving up so easily?" 

"Well, I think they saw their leader die, maybe even felt it spiritually somehow. But also, I subdued their executive officer, Hendell, and threw him into captivity. Without leadership, I guess their war effort falls apart." 

"Wow. I can't believe this is it. I thought this was gonna be a bloody campaign lasting at least weeks." 

"I know. This is almost like the stereotypical ending to one of those Haspodian plays. The defeated villains ride off into the sunset while the hero and his lady watch and turn it into some romantic moment or something." 

Kahiri grinned up at Qwarten. "Are you gonna kiss me? Then we can complete the scene." 

Qwarten chuckled. "Darling, you know I know better than that." 

"What do you mean?" 

"I've met your father, remember, and he seems to be a man who would rather place his stamp of approval on us first." 

"Do you really care what he says?" 

"I know if I were him, I'd want me to." 

"That didn't make a lick of sense." 

"It wasn't supposed to." Qwarten lowered his head, closed his eyes, and kissed Kahiri's cheek. "Consider that a foretaste." 

Kahiri closed her eyelids and sighed. "And a sweet one it was." 

"Now," Qwarten began in an abruptly professional tone, "I think we should allow Meg to bring the champion's body before the Senate so she can finally get paid. After all she's been through, she at least deserves that." 

Kahiri nodded. "I totally agree. I'll go find her." 

With that, the archer dashed off in search of the redheaded bounty hunter. 

******************** 

A/N: Oh my goodness, guys. We've only got one more chapter left! *commences unbridled cheering* 

But not to get ahead of ourselves, we need to talk about this chapter. We got one heck of a final fight between Kahiri and Hadigama, both physically, spiritually, and (funniest of all) verbally. Then, we got a really cute moment between her and Qwarten that was just the right balance of romantic and humorous. 

Anyway, if you enjoyed all that, please give this chapter a vote and bless it with some comments as well. :D 

One thing I do want to ask is, do you think this finale feels like a good payoff after all the hardship the characters have been through, or a cheap ending because this author didn't have any more ideas? (Or somewhere in between?) 

I hope you have a great day, and I'll see you in the next chapter, which will be the last. (I'm not sure how to feel about that.)