The horizon split in two as light and shadow clashed across the heavens, a cathedral of ruin igniting with divine fury. The air smelled of ozone and ash, every breath heavy with the taste of ending and rebirth.
Kael stood at the epicenter of it all, sword planted in fractured marble, cloak torn and burning at the edges. His companions formed a semicircle behind him, wounded but unbroken.
Above, wings like burning banners tore through the clouds. Dozens of Archons descended—each draped in white flame, faces hidden behind golden masks that wept molten tears.
"Divinity… tainted by mortal will," one of them hissed.
"Blasphemy must be erased."
Kael didn't flinch. His eyes—those crimson voids of power—glowed brighter. "Then you've come to die."
The first Archon struck like lightning. Its spear cleaved the ground where Kael stood, splitting the marble into molten rivers. Kael vanished in a burst of black lightning, reappearing behind the Archon and driving his blade through its back.
It didn't scream—only exploded into feathers that turned to ash.
The others screamed now.
Seren drew her twin blades, intercepting a streak of radiant energy meant for Kael. "You always have to provoke the gods, don't you?" she shouted over the roar.
Kael smirked. "Only when they deserve it."
Orin let out a ragged laugh, loading a glowing shard into his crossbow. "You two can flirt after we survive!" He fired—the projectile exploded midair, scattering a rain of silver fire through the Archon ranks.
Elara raised her staff, summoning spectral chains of red light that wrapped around one of the winged figures and tore it from the sky. Lysandra followed with a pulse of dark mist that consumed its scream.
For a moment—it looked like they could win.
Then the sky itself moved.
A colossal figure emerged from the rift above, its body a cathedral of living light. The Archon Supreme, Seraphen. Six wings of burning gold unfurled, each feather a blade of creation.
The pressure alone forced Kael to one knee. His aura crackled, unstable, his veins glowing like molten veins of obsidian.
"Kael Rivenhart," the Archon's voice boomed, shaking the ruins. "Bearer of forbidden flame. You have slain the False God… and now claim his throne."
Kael rose, step by step, until he stood tall again. His blade hummed in resonance with the storm above. "I claim nothing. I fight for the right to exist without chains."
Seraphen raised a hand, and a halo of a thousand suns ignited behind her.
"Then burn with the rest of your kind."
The world vanished in white.
Kael crossed his blade just in time—the impact hurled him through what remained of the court, stone and light erupting in all directions. The companions were thrown aside, barely shielded by Lysandra's wards.
When Kael crashed to the ground, the marble shattered like glass. Smoke coiled from his armor; his breath came ragged and sharp.
But he was smiling.
"Finally," he said through blood and grit. "Someone worth the fight."
The red lightning returned, snapping like serpents across his arms. His blade pulsed—crimson sigils crawling up the steel, glowing hotter than before.
Above him, Seraphen descended, wings stretching across the sky like judgment itself.
Kael leapt to meet her.
Lightning and flame collided again and again, shockwaves tearing the clouds apart, exposing a chasm of stars. The sky became a battlefield of gods, every blow carving pieces of heaven away.
Seren watched from below, eyes wide. "He's… stronger than before."
"No," Lysandra whispered. "He's breaking himself apart to keep up."
Each strike Kael unleashed made his aura darker, heavier. The crimson hue deepened to black. The red halo that once shimmered behind him now flickered—unstable, almost alive.
"Kael!" Seren shouted, running forward. "Don't push it—"
A streak of divine light slammed between them, cutting her off.
Kael glanced down briefly. His lips curved in something between pain and resolve.
"This ends before it consumes me."
He vanished.
A heartbeat later—
the sky exploded.
The clash split the heavens open, the blast lighting the ruined world like a second sunrise.
When the light faded, Kael and Seraphen stood locked blade to blade, wings of crimson lightning and gold flame clashing like twin storms.
Seraphen's mask cracked. "You would defy eternity for mortals?"
Kael's voice came low, filled with wrath and exhaustion.
"For the one thing eternity never understood—choice."
He twisted his sword.