The world was quiet after the storm of gods.
The clouds that once wept ash and lightning now broke apart under the calm glow of dawn, and the sea beneath the northern sky whispered as though afraid to disturb what had just occurred.
And from that same sky, a streak of black light fell.
It wasn't violent—it was graceful.
A thin arc of obsidian radiance cut through the clouds, folding space as it went, until it landed gently upon the familiar soil of Velithra City—the place where Ashura Bellet once called home.
The people who looked up could only see the silhouette of a man walking down from the heavens. The air around him shimmered; it didn't burn or crackle—it simply bent, as if the laws of the world itself moved aside to make room for his existence.
When his feet touched the ground, flowers that had wilted from the frost of the previous night bloomed again in violet hues. A single wind brushed across the city streets, whispering his name.
"Ashura…"
He walked quietly, no longer carrying the tension of battle.
His robe—a flowing mixture of black and faint azure—drifted with a faint glow. His long hair, now streaked with silver, framed eyes that had seen too much yet somehow still held that human calm beneath their godlike stillness.
The first place he went was home.
The door to the Bellet estate opened before he even touched it.
Standing there, frozen in shock, was Arlena Bellet, his mother. Her hands trembled as she pressed them over her mouth. Behind her, Gina, his younger sister, blinked rapidly, her eyes already filled with tears.
"A-Ashura…?" Arlena whispered, almost afraid to believe what she saw.
Ashura smiled faintly. "Mom. Gina."
He said no more. He didn't need to.
They ran to him—Gina first, clinging to him with a sob, followed by Arlena, who simply placed her hand over his chest as if to reassure herself that he was real, alive, and breathing.
But the warmth she felt wasn't quite the same as before.
There was no heartbeat—only a pulse, rhythmic and deep, resonating like a quiet drum that reached through existence.
"Ashura…" Arlena whispered, looking up into his eyes. "What have you become?"
He looked down at her and smiled softly. "Something that can keep you safe."
Later that evening, as twilight draped over the city, Ashura gathered the members of the Amethyst Guild. They filled the grand hall—faces he'd fought beside, laughed with, bled with. The strongest among them stood closer: Kai, Lysera, Kalen, Mirae, and the others.
He stood before them—no longer as their leader, but as something far beyond it.
"The Amethyst Guild…" Ashura began, his voice steady, clear. "It has served its purpose better than I could have ever imagined."
Whispers filled the air. Some thought he was announcing a new mission. Others felt something heavier coming.
"But the world is no longer the same," he continued. "The Outer Gods have already set their gaze upon this planet. Their vessels hide among humans. Their commanders move in the shadows. This is no longer just about monsters, or dungeons, or rank."
Kai clenched his fists. "Then what is it about, Ashura?"
Ashura looked at them with eyes that gleamed faintly like twin voids of light.
"It's about survival. It's about legacy."
The hall fell silent.
"I'm disbanding the Amethyst Guild."
Gasps. Cries of disbelief. Lysera's eyes widened in shock. "You can't—Ashura, you are the Amethyst Guild!"
He smiled gently. "No. You all are. I was only its beginning."
He turned to Kai, who stiffened as the weight of that gaze met his. "From this day on, you will lead it. Train them. Shape them. Prepare for what's coming."
Kai's jaw tightened. "Why me?"
"Because you're the only one stubborn enough to stand against gods even when you shouldn't," Ashura said, chuckling faintly. "You remind me of myself before all this… before the throne."
When the meeting ended, silence lingered like smoke.
Ashura stayed behind in the empty hall, staring at the insignia of the guild on the wall—the amethyst star surrounded by lightning streaks.
Lysera approached quietly, her voice soft. "You're leaving again, aren't you?"
He didn't look at her. "I have to."
"Why?" she asked, tears welling. "Why must it always be you?"
Ashura turned then, his expression unreadable. "Because I am the wall between this world and everything that wants to unmake it. The moment I stop… everything stops."
That night, he returned home.
Arlena and Gina were waiting for him at the balcony overlooking the city lights. He sat between them quietly, the three of them watching as fireflies danced in the dark.
After a long silence, Gina spoke first. "Are you really going away again?"
Ashura nodded slightly. "Yes."
"Why?"
He exhaled, eyes drifting toward the moon. "Because there's something worse than death coming, Gina. And if I stay here too long… it'll find you. Find everyone."
Arlena's hand trembled as she gripped his sleeve. "Ashura… what does it mean—to be what you are now?"
He looked at her, and the air shifted—time itself seemed to pause around his words.
"To govern the Throne of Black Light…" he said slowly, "means to stand between the two oldest truths of existence: the void and the light. Every soul that ever existed came from one of them. Light gives form, void takes it back. Both are infinite… both are alive. And I sit in the center where they meet."
Arlena frowned faintly, trying to grasp his words. "But what does that mean for you?"
"It means I am neither divine nor mortal," he said. "Divine power depends on worship. Mortal power depends on limits. I have neither. I govern both."
He turned his hand palm-up, and above it, black and white energy swirled together—two contradictions embracing each other perfectly. "Light cannot exist without void. Void cannot consume without light to define it. Together, they are creation, destruction, balance. I am that point of convergence—the sovereign of what exists and what refuses to."
The words carried a calm, heavy finality that made Arlena's eyes glisten.
"So you'll leave us again…"
Ashura nodded. "Yes. But I'm not gone. Everos and the others will guard you. And as long as this world exists under the law of black light… nothing will touch you."
He stood then, looking down at them with that same gentle smile from long ago. "Don't wait for me to return. Just live. That's all the proof I need that what I'm doing is worth it."
Arlena reached out and cupped his face, her thumb brushing over the faint scar that still marked his cheek. "You've changed so much…"
"Maybe," he murmured. "But I'm still your son."
As the first light of dawn crept over the horizon, Ashura stepped out into the garden.
The petals swayed under the soft pulse of his aura.
He glanced toward the sky—the direction of the distant stars beyond which the Outer Gods stirred.
"Outer beings… invaders… gods…" he whispered. "It doesn't matter what they call themselves."
He raised his hand. Lightning—black and brilliant—spiraled upward, splitting the clouds like a silent promise.
"While I still breathe, this world is mine to protect."
And when the wind carried his voice away, the morning air shimmered faintly with his vow—
a whisper of voidlight lingering on the breeze.
The Sovereign of Black Light had spoken,
and the heavens themselves bowed in silence.