The night sky was restless. Constellations twisted as though recoiling from the presence of their true master, and the moon hung lower, its glow subdued. The gods whispered among themselves, but the chaos of Olympus mattered little in the far reaches of the world — in the dominion carved out for demons, where fire burned against endless night.
There, Leonidas stirred.
The Demon King had felt the tremor ripple through creation — the awakening of Uranus, the Titan of the Sky, once shackled, now free. He could feel the pulse of that cosmic presence even here, in the depths of his domain where mortals dared not tread. His demonic subjects trembled in their keeps, sensing their lord's unrest.
But Leonidas did not stay to calm them.
He knew what this meant. For Megumi. For Ava. For Chloe. For the world.
Without a word to his kin, Leonidas departed his citadel of obsidian stone. The doors split open with a crack of hellfire, and he stepped into the void beyond. Black flames trailed his cloak, wings of shadow unfurling as he ascended through the night sky.
He was not going to Olympus.
He was going to the one who had returned.
⸻
The Summit Beyond Worlds
The higher he rose, the less the stars seemed fixed in place. They shifted, flowed, like an ocean of light, bending around an unseen gravity.
There, at the point where the heavens bent and the earth vanished beneath endless dark, Leonidas found him.
Uranus did not sit a throne of gold. He reclined upon a bed of grass that had no right to exist this high, his human form draped in simple robes, his gaze fixed on the stars. His body shimmered with the quiet majesty of eternity, like the whole of creation hummed within his skin.
"You came," Uranus said, his tone soft, as though he had been expecting no less.
Leonidas hovered in silence for a moment, wings curling tight against his back. He let his boots touch the ground and walked forward without bowing. "I did. Not for Olympus. Not for your children. I came for him."
That earned the faintest smile. "You sound like him."
"Megumi?"
Uranus nodded. "He carries fire enough to consume the world — or warm it. But that fire does not belong to him alone. He holds something older inside. Something that will test us all."
Leonidas's crimson eyes narrowed. "The First Fallen King. The King of Erasure."
"Yes." Uranus's voice did not waver. "It is waking. And Megumi's mortal frame cannot contain it forever."
⸻
The Demon King's Plea
Leonidas's hand clenched into a fist at his side. "Then tell me, Skyfather — what am I supposed to do? I have walked beside him since the moment his power was but a flicker. I've seen him bleed for love. For justice. For vengeance. He has borne scars no god would dare carry, and yet he still chooses life."
The Demon King's voice thundered with restrained fury, but there was pain beneath it. "He doesn't deserve this curse. He doesn't deserve to lose himself to some ancient shadow. If there's an answer, tell me."
Uranus shifted, sitting upright. His gaze cut into Leonidas, piercing but calm. "Do you know why I favor you, Leonidas?"
Leonidas arched a brow. "Favor me?"
"Yes." Uranus's eyes softened, though they still burned with starlight. "Because you are a king who did not ask to be one. A demon, yet you wear your crown not with cruelty, but with loyalty. You love as fiercely as you war. That is why he trusts you. Why Nyx, Medusa, and Ava all trust you. Because you are not a mask. You are true."
Leonidas inhaled sharply, lowering his gaze. "Then help me save him."
For the first time, Uranus's expression darkened. "That is not a choice that belongs to me. The King of Erasure is not my creation. He is not bound by sky or earth. He is the silence after the end. I cannot erase him. None can."
⸻
The Impossible Choice
Leonidas's wings twitched, shadow spilling from their edges like smoke. "So what, then? We watch him burn? We let the boy suffer until nothing is left?"
"No." Uranus's voice deepened, resonating like the hum of galaxies. "We prepare. But you, Demon King — answer me this. If the day comes when Megumi is gone, and only the Erasure King remains, could you end him?"
The words struck like a blade to Leonidas's chest. His breath caught. He thought of Megumi laughing with Ava. Holding Chloe. Standing on battlefields with fire in his eyes, never yielding. The thought alone hollowed him.
But his nature — his truth — would not let him lie.
"If it meant saving her… saving Chloe… saving the world he loves…" His voice trembled, but he forced it steady. "Then yes. I would kill him. And it would damn me for eternity."
For a long moment, Uranus studied him. Then, gently, the Titan placed a hand on Leonidas's armored shoulder. "That is why I respect you. Not because of your crown. Not because of your power. Because you are willing to bear what no one else will."
⸻
Two Kings, One Burden
Uranus's gaze shifted back to the stars. "Do you know what I see when I look at Megumi?"
Leonidas shook his head.
"I see my sons," Uranus said. "Cronus. Zeus. The others. I see what fear made of them. What power twisted them into. And I wonder, if I had been more than just sky — if I had been a father — would they have been different?"
For a heartbeat, Leonidas saw not a god, not a Titan, but a man. A father who carried regret deeper than eternity.
"And now," Uranus whispered, "I see Megumi. I see a chance for what I lost. He is wrath and love in equal measure. He resists even when resistance should be impossible. That is why I tested him. Not to break him — but to see if he could hold. And he did. Barely. But he did."
Leonidas's jaw tightened. "Then you believe he can fight it."
"I believe he must." Uranus's eyes returned to him, sharp and glowing. "Because if he fails, the Erasure King will not simply kill. He will unmake. The gods, the titans, the mortals, your demons — all will vanish, as though none of us ever were."
⸻
The Weight of Trust
The silence that followed was suffocating. For once, Leonidas felt the enormity of the sky pressing on him, as though Uranus's words had given gravity to despair.
But he straightened his back, wings folding tight. "Then I'll stay by him. Until the end. I'll fight to keep him whole. And if I can't…" His voice cracked, but he did not falter. "I'll be the one to end it. Not Zeus. Not Cronus. Not you. Me."
Uranus's lips curved faintly. Pride, or sorrow — perhaps both. "That is all I could hope for."
The Titan rose, his body shimmering with the light of constellations reborn. For a moment, Leonidas thought the stars themselves bowed to him.
"Go back to him, Demon King. Be his anchor. His shield. His reminder of what he is. You may yet be the voice that saves him when no blade can."
Leonidas exhaled, a long, steady breath, then turned to leave. "If fate demands I cut him down, then I'll do it. But until then, he is my brother. My king. And I'll fight for him, even against the sky itself."
Uranus closed his eyes, a faint smile on his lips. "Then perhaps he truly stands a chance."
As Leonidas descended back into the dark, Uranus's form dissolved into starlight, spreading across the heavens until only the quiet hum of the cosmos remained.
The Demon King returned to his domain, heavier than before — but resolute. He had been given no comfort, only truth. And truth was enough.