The tremors had not stopped since Kael's awakening. Across kingdoms, lands that had never known earthquakes were splitting open, and seas rose like wild beasts against their shores.
Yet the true terror was not in nature's wrath—it was in the whispers spreading faster than wildfire.
"—A god has awakened."
"—No… not a god. Something darker."
"—If we do not strike first, the world will fall to him."
In the marble halls of the Celestial Dominion, the High Priests bowed before their sacred flame, which now flickered black. Their leader's face was pale as ash.
> "He carries the power of both heaven and abyss. Such existence cannot be allowed. Summon the Seraph Blades."
In the hidden chambers of the Shadow Guild, assassins gathered, their eyes gleaming with greed.
> "A monster has risen. Whoever slays him will own the fear of nations."
Even in the frozen wastes where the sleeping titans lay entombed in ice, something stirred. A great eye cracked open beneath the glaciers, glowing red as if recognizing a rival.
The world was no longer waiting. It was preparing.
Back in the ruined battlefield, Kael stood silent, the last echoes of thunder rolling away. Selene, Arion, and Lyra kept their distance, eyes shadowed with uncertainty.
None of them dared speak first.
At last, it was Lyra who whispered, her voice tight with worry:
"Kael… do you even hear yourself anymore? You're not the same person we swore to follow."
Kael turned, his eyes burning with an otherworldly glow. His voice was calm, yet it carried the weight of a thousand storms.
"I am more than what I was. And soon, I will be more than what this world can contain."
The shadows at his feet pulsed, stretching outward like roots searching for blood.
Arion exchanged a sharp glance with Selene, his whisper a dagger between them:
"If we wait too long, he won't just fight our enemies… he'll become one."
Kael's head tilted slightly—he had heard every word.
And though his lips curved into a faint smile, the abyss in his eyes promised that something had already begun to break inside him.
Kael's steps echoed on the fractured stone as he moved forward, each stride leaving behind a faint scorch mark, as though the earth itself recoiled from him.
The air grew heavier, suffocating, and the sky above rippled with veins of violet lightning. The abyss whispered to him—words not of comfort, but of power.
> "You are no longer bound by mortal chains. They will betray you. Strike first. Rule before you are caged."
Kael clenched his fists. He wanted to resist. He wanted to hold onto the flicker of humanity Selene's voice always awakened in him. But the abyss inside was relentless, whispering with the sweetness of poison.
Selene stepped forward, her eyes brimming with determination despite her trembling hands.
"Kael… you're changing, but I know there's still a part of you that remembers who you are. Fight it. Don't let this consume you."
For the briefest moment, the storm in Kael's eyes faltered. The glow dimmed, and a shadow of doubt cracked through his expression.
But then the world itself seemed to test him.
A sudden flare of white light tore across the battlefield as a host of radiant beings descended from the heavens—Seraph Blades, summoned by the Dominion. Their wings blazed like burning suns, and in their hands were weapons forged from pure celestial fire.
The lead Seraph's voice boomed like a judgment:
"Kael, bearer of forbidden echoes, surrender your power or be cast into eternal silence."
Selene's heart froze. She knew what this meant—the world had already marked him as an enemy.
Arion drew his blades with a curse. "Damn it… they've come too soon!"
Lyra's hands trembled, shadows coiling into defensive wards. "Kael, what will you do?"
Kael stood still, his hair whipping in the storm, his expression unreadable. For a heartbeat, silence reigned.
Then his lips parted into a whisper that carried like thunder across the ruined field:
"I will not bow."
The abyss surged through him in a violent wave, fusing with the strange divine spark still lingering in his core. Darkness and light clashed within him, exploding outward in an aura that made even the Seraphs falter mid-flight.
> "God or Devil…" Kael's voice twisted with power, both terrifying and mesmerizing. "…I will be the one who decides.
And as the Seraphs prepared to strike, the shadows at Kael's command rose like an army of ancient specters.
The battle for the world had begun.