THE SHATTERED SUN KINGDOM
After the war at the valley, the Ashen Dawn moved toward the capital.
Solaria Prime rose on the horizon like a false god — a colossal golden city suspended upon a floating foundation of compressed sunlight. Massive solar pylons pulsed beneath it, holding the city aloft. A radiant barrier encircled everything, glowing with living light.
Lyra observed through her scope.
"Security is ten times thicker than before."
Kael crossed his arms.
"They're preparing for something. Something big."
Ushinai said nothing. He stared at the golden wall, feeling Zell's absence like an open wound.
When they reached the outer barrier, they realized the truth.
It wasn't stone.
Not metal.
Pure, solidified light.
It shifted. It pulsed. It reacted.
Ushinai placed his hand against it.
The wall rejected him violently, launching him backward in a thunderous shockwave. Kael barely caught him before he struck the ground.
Lyra frowned.
"Only Sunbloods can pass."
Zell had been the only one who knew secret routes.
Ushinai lowered his head.
"Then we'll make our own."
---
At nightfall, shadows surrounded the group.
Kael drew his scythes.
But the figures raised their hands.
"Relax," one whispered. "We're not Sunblades. We're the ones they hunt."
Lanterns ignited.
Masked figures stepped into view, their faces hidden behind shattered sun-glass.
The Sunless.
Their leader, a calm young woman with scars across her cheek, stepped forward.
"I'm Iria."
Her gaze locked onto Ushinai.
"You're Ushinai. The Antares."
Ushinai stiffened.
"How do you know that?"
She smirked.
"The King broadcast your face across the entire kingdom."
---
They were led beneath the capital into the Substrata — a forgotten world buried under Solaria Prime.
Collapsed districts. Ancient ruins. Entire neighborhoods erased by history.
Children ran barefoot through smoke-choked corridors. Families hid whenever light footsteps echoed above.
Lyra whispered, horrified,
"…The King caused all this?"
Iria answered coldly.
"The King allows this. Light only shines for those loyal to him."
---
Deep within the tunnels, the air shifted.
A soft whistle echoed.
Iria froze.
"No… he's here."
A man dropped silently from the ceiling.
Black ceremonial armor. White threads running through it. No weapon. No aura.
Only emptiness.
"I've been searching for you," he said quietly.
Valken.
Commander of the King's Shadows.
The strongest assassin in the realm.
Kael stiffened.
"…He wiped out my village."
---
Valken did not attack.
"I am not here to kill you," he said. "The King wishes to see how much you've grown."
He vanished.
Ushinai barely blocked a strike from nothingness. A shadow-palm slammed into his chest, hurling him into stone.
Lyra fired.
Valken caught the arrow between two fingers.
Kael charged in fury.
One strike to the spine dropped him instantly.
"Pathetic."
When Ushinai intercepted with Soulflame, Valken halted mid-motion.
"…Your flame has changed."
Gold-ash energy flickered around Ushinai.
"I won't lose control again."
Valken exhaled.
"The King will summon me for your execution soon. Grow stronger, Antares. If you disappoint him… he will erase your soul."
Then he vanished.
Iria stared in horror.
"That was only one commander."
Ushinai answered quietly:
"I'll learn the one thing they fear."
---
In a sealed chamber beneath the city, ancient symbols glowed faintly.
The Seer from before emerged from the darkness.
"This place once belonged to your father."
Training began.
Not domination of flame — guidance.
Emotional control.
Lucidity under pain.
Precision over rage.
Second Breath — a technique to prevent death by overburn.
Ushinai nearly died twice.
But each time, he stood again.
Lyra watched in silence, fear growing with every scar.
---
Far away, Solaris knelt in the King's sanctum.
Sun-crystal shards were driven into his spine.
He screamed.
The King did not flinch.
"Endure."
Solaris's flame transformed — celestial solarfire streaked with black.
"Go," the King commanded.
"Burn the Antares. Erase his rebellion."
---
As the Sunless prepared revolution, Kael trained fighters, Lyra scouted rooftops, and Ushinai mastered Apex in solitude, the Seer revealed the final truth.
The King was not mortal.
He was a celestial guardian who murdered his own kind, absorbed their suns, and crowned himself ruler.
The Solstice Engine would turn the world into eternal daylight.
No night.
No shadow.
No freedom.
"He wants to burn the world," Ushinai said.
"Yes," the Seer replied. "And he needs your flame to finish it."
---
Then the sky split.
A beam of white fire struck the capital's underbelly.
Solaris descended — reborn, radiant, terrifying.
"USHINAI!"
Panic spread through the tunnels.
Ushinai stepped forward.
"Everyone stay back."
Solaris raised the Spear of Solarus.
"This time, I kill you."
Gold-ash flame ignited.
"I'm done running."
Their powers collided —
ANTARES vs CELESTIAL SOLARFLAME
The capital shook.
The sun cracked.
And the war for Solaria Prime truly began.