The battlefield wasn't a place.
It was everywhere.
As the Heralds of Silence descended, the very laws of nature crumbled in their wake. Mountains cracked and reversed formation. Rivers ran dry in one breath, then overflowed in the next. Time sputtered like a broken heartbeat.
Kael soared upward, his form blazing with celestial energy. Constellations pulsed across his skin, his eyes twin suns ablaze with wrath.
Below, Lyra and Valen rallied what remained of the resistance—mages, warriors, and demi-beasts. But their powers flickered, unreliable in the Heralds' presence.
"They're unraveling reality itself!" Lyra shouted, parrying an invisible strike that came two seconds too late—and still somehow struck first.
Kael knew this fight wouldn't be won with strength alone.
He had to bend the cosmos to his will.
The Herald of Time struck first, raising a massive hourglass that twisted the light around Kael. It dragged his body through fractured loops—forcing him to relive the same instant over and over again.
"Submit," it echoed. "Let silence restore order."
But Kael—newly forged in the Crucible—growled, and with a cry that split the void, he shattered the loop with a swing of his blade. Starfire erupted outward, dispersing the hourglass into dust and timelines undone.
Then the Herald of Prophecy opened its scroll.
Words flew like blades, each letter sharp with fate itself.
"You shall fall. This is written. This is truth."
Kael's power flared, but the words sank into his soul, slowing him, weighing his wings. He felt doubt—crippling, suffocating.
Until Lyra's voice rang out, clear and defiant:
"You make your own story, Kael! We believe in you, not the stars!"
Her cry broke through. Kael roared, slicing the prophecy apart midair, shredding the scroll in one blinding burst of will.
Then the third Herald stepped forward—the Child of Silence.
It did not speak. It did not strike.
It simply opened its eyes.
And the world began to die.
Stars dimmed.
Hope cracked.
Even Kael faltered as the light in his chest flickered.
But in that darkness…
He remembered why he fought.
The Entity within stirred—no longer a parasite, but an ally. A partner.
Kael whispered, "Lend me your true light."
The Entity responded.
Together, they became more.
Kael erupted with divine radiance, golden and infinite. He wasn't just light or shadow. He was balance. He was choice.
And with a wave of his hand, he reignited a dying sun.
The Child of Silence blinked. For the first time… it flinched.
Kael raised his blade.
"Let me show you what noise truly is."
And the god struck.