The sky above the Heavenly Spire was a chaotic canvas of war. Fifty flying pirate ships, their bone hulls reinforced with salvaged storm plating, broke through the cloud layer in a V-formation. Their cannons roared, spewing Storm-Shot—cannonballs wrapped in blue lightning—that tore through the pristine white towers of the Sky-Wing Clan's floating city.
Below them, hundreds of Sky-Wing warriors mounted on armored Griffins poured out of the Spire's hangars. The air filled with the screeches of beasts and the clash of steel.
"Target the ship engines!" ordered Captain Great Tooth from the helm of his flying flagship, the Void Shark. "Don't let those birds get close!"
On the deck, Elara moved like a blur. She stood on the highest mast, her bone bow singing a deadly song. Every arrow she loosed was imbued with Abyssal Thorns, catching the Griffin riders mid-air, binding them, and sending them plummeting to the ocean miles below.
"Keep them off the Admiral!" she shouted to the pirate crew.
But the Admiral didn't need protection.
Vikram was a black comet cutting through the battlefield. His Wings of Asura Monarch pulsed with void energy, propelling him faster than any Griffin. He ignored the small fry, his eyes locked onto the central Spire where Seraphina was held.
The Duel in the Clouds
Highlord Aeros stood on the highest balcony, his face contorted with rage. His beautiful city was burning.
"Filthy ground-walkers!" Aeros screamed. He spread his own four magnificent white wings. "You dare invade the domain of God?"
He launched himself into the air to intercept Vikram.
They collided in mid-air with a force that shattered the windows of nearby towers.
CLANG!
Vikram's Ocean God Trident clashed against Aeros's Sword of Light.
"God?" Vikram sneered, pushing Aeros back with brute force. "I've met gods. You're just a pigeon with a superiority complex."
Aeros, realizing he was physically outmatched by Vikram's Titanium Skin and Asura Armor, retreated violently. He hovered fifty meters away, gathering light energy into his wings.
"Sky Art: Blinding Nova!"
Aeros became a sun. A flash of pure, concentrated light erupted from his body, intended to permanently blind anyone looking at him.
The pirates on the ships cried out, covering their eyes. Even Elara had to look away.
But Vikram didn't blink.
The purple Eye of the Demon God embedded in his chest armor glowed.
[Artifact Active: True Sight.]
[Illusion/Blindness Effect: Negated.]
To Vikram, Aeros wasn't a blinding sun. He was just a man, clearly visible, concentrating a massive amount of energy in his chest core.
"Found you," Vikram whispered.
He didn't attack directly. He used Phantom Steps to blink above Aeros.
Aeros, thinking Vikram was blinded and disoriented, was preparing a follow-up attack when he felt a terrifying pressure from above.
Vikram descended feet-first, using the gravity-enhancing property of his Earth Gene.
"Asura Drop!"
He stomped down on Aeros's back, smashing him through three layers of floating rock platforms. They crashed onto the main plaza of the Spire.
CRASH!
Aeros lay in a crater, coughing up golden blood. His armor was cracked. "Impossible... how can a human... see through the light of heaven?"
Vikram landed softly beside him, twirling his trident. "I told you. I'm pest control. I see everything."
He was about to finish Aeros off when the Spire suddenly violently shook.
The Angel's Awakening
Deep inside the Dungeon of Light, Seraphina heard the battle outside. She felt Vikram's aura.
"He came..." tears mixed with blood on her face. "He really came."
Aeros's guards, panicked by the invasion, rushed into her cell. "Kill her! The Highlord ordered it if the city fell!"
They raised their spears.
Seraphina looked up. Her golden eyes, dim for days, suddenly burned with an intense, blinding white light.
"No," she whispered.
The light spikes in her wings exploded. The cage melted.
The guards froze. The air around Seraphina became superheated plasma.
"NO ONE TOUCHES HIM!"
The roof of the dungeon was blasted open from the inside.
A pillar of pure white light shot up into the sky, visible from miles away.
From the light, Seraphina emerged.
She was no longer the weak prisoner. She wore armor constructed of solid light. Her two wings had become six, spanning twenty feet. A halo of pure energy floated above her head.
[System Alert: Ally Awakening Detected!]
[Target: Seraphina.]
[Evolution: Archangel (Incomplete Form).]
She saw Vikram fighting Aeros below. She saw the Griffin riders swarming the pirate ships.
She raised her hand to the sky.
"Divine Judgment: Rainfall of Light!"
Thousands of light-spears rained down from the heavens. They didn't hit the pirate ships. They struck every Griffin, every Sky-Wing guard, with pinpoint accuracy.
The tide of battle turned instantly. The Griffin riders were decimated.
Vikram looked up, shielding his eyes. "Damn. My wife is scary."
The Fallen Highlord
Aeros, seeing his army destroyed and Seraphina awakened, lost his mind.
"NO! THAT POWER IS MINE!"
He scrambled to his feet, ignoring Vikram. He flew straight at Seraphina, intending to rip the Sky Heart from her chest before her evolution was complete.
"Seraphina, look out!" Vikram shouted, activating his wings to chase him.
But he wasn't fast enough. Aeros was burning his own life force for speed.
Aeros reached Seraphina, his hand transformed into a claw of light, aiming for her heart.
Seraphina, still disoriented from the awakening, couldn't dodge.
SCHLINK!
A sound of flesh being pierced.
But it wasn't Seraphina who was hit.
Elara had fired a grapple-arrow from the ship, swinging across the battlefield. She threw herself in front of Seraphina, taking Aeros's light-claw through her left shoulder.
"Elara!" Seraphina screamed.
Elara gritted her teeth, blood pouring from the wound. She grabbed Aeros's arm, trapping him.
"Got you... you pigeon," Elara hissed, her eyes glowing green. "Thorn Bind!"
Black vines burst from her wound, wrapping around Aeros's arm, anchoring him to her.
Vikram arrived a second later.
He saw Elara wounded. He saw Aeros trapped.
The rage Vikram felt now was colder than the Abyss. It was a quiet, absolute void.
He didn't yell. He didn't make a grand speech.
He simply placed the tip of his Trident against Aeros's chest core.
"Void... Consumption."
He didn't stab. He activated his Void-Glutton pet's ability through the weapon.
A black vortex opened at the tip of the trident.
"AAAAHHHH!" Aeros screamed as his light energy, his life force, his very soul, was sucked out of his body and into Vikram's weapon.
His armor crumbled to dust. His white wings turned grey and withered. His skin shriveled up like a prune.
Within ten seconds, the Highlord of the Sky was nothing but a dried husk.
Vikram pulled the trident back. Aeros's corpse crumbled into ash and blew away in the wind.
The Reunion
Vikram caught Elara before she fell. He quickly poured a high-grade healing potion onto her wound. The Wood Gene within her also accelerated the healing.
"You idiot," Vikram scolded her gently. "Why did you jump in front?"
Elara smiled weakly. "She is the Queen of the Sky... I am just the guard. It's my job."
Seraphina landed beside them, reverting to her normal form, though her clothes were tattered. She dropped to her knees, hugging both of them, crying uncontrollably.
"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..."
Vikram pulled them both into a hug, his black armor contrasting with Seraphina's white light and Elara's green energy.
"It's over," Vikram said, looking around at the burning Heavenly Spire. The remaining Sky-Wing clan members were surrendering to the pirates. "We won."
He looked at Seraphina.
"I believe," Vikram smiled tiredly, "this is your chair now."
He pointed to the golden throne that stood on the highest platform of the Spire.
Seraphina shook her head. She stood up, holding Vikram's hand, and led him to the throne.
She forced him to sit on it.
Then, she knelt before him, placing her forehead on his knee. Elara knelt beside her. Mira, who had arrived on a pirate ship, joined them.
The pirate crews on the ships below cheered.
"ALL HAIL THE SKY KING! ALL HAIL ADMIRAL DOLLAR!"
Vikram sat on the throne of the sky, looking out over the clouds and the ocean below. He had conquered the sea. He had conquered the sky.
But as he looked at the horizon, his Dongxuan Sutra gave a warning—not of danger, but of something else.
A message appeared on his system interface, cutting through the celebration.
[System Alert: Signal Intercepted.]
[Source: Unknown coordinates in the 'Red Desert Layer'.]
[Message Decoded: "...Is anyone out there? This is General God-Killer. I survived the fall. I am trapped in the ancient ruins. There is something here... something older than the Sanctuaries. It's waking up. If Dollar is listening... help..."]
Vikram's eyes narrowed. God-Killer? The man who had tried to kill him in the First Sanctuary? He was alive?
And what was "older than the Sanctuaries"?
Vikram stood up from the throne. The celebration was over.
"Pack up," Vikram ordered his queens and his pirate army. "We have a rescue mission. Or an execution. Depending on my mood."
The journey was far from over. The Second Sanctuary still held its deepest secrets buried in the sand.
Author Note: "If you like the story, please vote with Power Stones! It helps me write faster."