[Heart of Orynx — Lunareth, Elders' Room]
A meeting was already underway in the Elders' Room when the news arrived.
Kaelvyr was under attack.
Because of his connection to every angel, Kaelvyr had alerted them himself. The warning had travelled through their bond like a sudden wound spreading across the entire angelic presence. The elders had felt the danger before the messenger even finished speaking.
"We are in danger!" the First Elder shouted as he rose from his seat.
The Second Elder's expression hardened. "I cannot believe the King would attempt something like this. He truly intends to wipe us all out."
The Fourth Elder stepped forward. "We have to reach Astravon Empire and help Kaelvyr. If he dies, we die with him."
The Main Elder stood at the head of the chamber. His voice was calm, but urgency filled every word.
"Tell everyone to take their weapons. We are going to Astravon Empire."
The room erupted into movement.
The elders separated, gathering whatever weapons and equipment they needed before returning to the chamber. When they had all assembled again, they stood together in a single room and lowered their heads.
The Main Elder raised his hands.
"May our ancestors and the Angel Origins who came before us protect us," he prayed. "May the creators of Orynx and Arkalyth, our universe, guide us through what is coming."
The others repeated the prayer, their voices merging into one solemn sound.
Then they stepped outside Lunareth.
The moment they crossed beyond its boundary, they found an army waiting for them.
Demons filled the area ahead. Spiritual beings stood among them as well, but something about their presence was wrong. Their bodies were tense, their expressions distant, and their energy seemed forced into obedience.
The elders barely had time to understand what they were seeing.
The army surged forward.
The angels met them head-on.
The collision sent waves of energy through the surrounding land, and the war began.
[Astravon Empire]
Eris moved first.
She crossed the distance between herself and Kaelvyr in an instant, positioning her mouth directly in front of the hand he was about to place on Krios. A marking appeared along one side of her mouth.
"Break!"
Kaelvyr's eyes shifted toward her.
He stopped immediately. His hand halted just before touching Krios, and he turned his body in the same motion, knocking Zarek away from him.
Eris's expression changed.
"Destroy!"
Krios vanished from Kaelvyr's reach.
The world seemed to pause for a fraction of a second. Then time resumed its normal flow.
Kaelvyr's kick struck Eris in the stomach and launched her through the street. She flew into several buildings, breaking through them one after another. Zarek was sent in the same direction, his body crashing through the structures after her. The two of them landed on the left side of the battlefield, among the ruins and a short distance from one another.
Krios, however, had retreated in the opposite direction. He stood on the right side of the battlefield, separated from Eris and Zarek and positioned a little farther away from Kaelvyr.
For a moment, silence returned.
Kaelvyr looked down at his hand and smiled.
His left hand—the hand he had almost used to touch Krios—had been destroyed.
He did not look at Krios.
Instead, he turned his attention toward Eris and Zarek, who were struggling to rise among the ruins on the left side of the battlefield. Krios remained on the opposite side, still a short distance away from Kaelvyr.
Krios tightened his grip around his sword.
He is unbelievably strong, he thought. But he still isn't using his full power. If he were, this entire area would have been destroyed by now.
His eyes moved toward the building beside him. Despite everything that had happened, it remained standing.
That little angel… Krios realized. He is holding back because of her.
His gaze returned to Kaelvyr:
And even while holding back, he is this powerful?
Another thought forced its way into his mind:
Why does my energy keep disappearing whenever I try to harm him? I'm a hybrid too, a rare one! ,Yet Eris managed to damage him.
Krios's expression sharpened:
Ahhhh!!!!.
He launched himself toward Kaelvyr.
"Krios, stop!"
Eris's voice cut across the street.
She had already forced herself upright. Zarek stood beside her, and both of them stared at Kaelvyr.
"Don't attack him," Eris ordered. "We need to think."
Kaelvyr smiled.
"How amusing. You're trying to defeat me strategically while standing directly in front of me."
Eris straightened completely. Her aura began to rise as she steadied her body.
"You two can do the thinking this time," she replied. "I've been helping you think long enough."
She lowered herself into a fighting stance and withdrew her energy until almost nothing could be sensed from her body.
Then she looked at Kaelvyr.
"Your Holy Edict almost destroyed my command." Her smile widened. "It seems I'm finally fighting my master."
Eris turned toward Krios.
"Be quick. I'm not using energy for now. I'll fight him with pure skill and strength."
Kaelvyr's Holy Energy increased around him.
Eris bent her legs and leaped into the air. She rose so high that the street disappeared beneath her. Then she stepped onto the air itself, using her energy as physical matter and standing above the battlefield.
"But if I get the chance," she added, "I'll use it."
Kaelvyr jumped after her.
The force of his movement created a powerful shockwave below him. He stopped in the air a short distance away, his Holy Energy wings spread behind his back.
Eris stared at him.
*I hate fighting.*
Kaelvyr moved first.
The two of them collided in the air.
Kaelvyr swung his Holy Energy sword toward Eris's body. The blade passed through the space where her body had been a moment earlier, but Eris twisted away and avoided being cut in half.
Kaelvyr did not give her time to recover.
He followed immediately, swinging again and again. Every attack forced Eris to move. She stepped across the air, bent backward, twisted around the blade, and slipped past each strike by the smallest possible distance.
Kaelvyr changed his approach.
He slashed through the air.
A massive wave of Holy Energy tore away from his blade and rushed toward Eris.
Eris turned too late.
The attack was already upon her.
Her eyes narrowed.
*Disappear.*
The Holy Energy slash vanished.
Kaelvyr's expression changed.
The attack reappeared directly in front of him.
The Holy Energy struck his body, but Kaelvyr absorbed it immediately. The light dissolved into him without causing damage.
He stared at Eris.
"How surprising. My own attacks do not affect me, but how did you do that?"
Eris smiled.
"Your Holy Edict only cancels energy that can be detected on the outside. So I placed my command inside the attack."
She raised one finger toward the markings along her mouth.
"I was born from essence. I possess an extraordinary talent for controlling what exists within reality."
Kaelvyr studied her.
"Doesn't your energy have something to do with your Reality Commandment?"
Eris laughed.
"Yes, it does. But when these markings appear, I only use it internally." Her eyes sharpened. "And when I do that, reality bows to me."
Kaelvyr smiled faintly.
*Fool.*
He watched the strain hidden beneath her confidence.
*That Reality Commandment is consuming her energy from within. She must already be close to exhaustion after breaking through my Heavenly Barrier and destroying my hand.*
The two of them clashed again in the sky.
Below them, Zarek and Krios watched the battle from the ruined street.
"We have to use the Abyssal Devourer," Zarek said. "I wanted to wait until Kaelvyr was weaker so he wouldn't have the chance to avoid it."
Krios shook his head.
"Wait. Eris told us to think. I'm certain she found a way to fight him, but she wants us to discover it ourselves."
He looked upward.
"She can't continue for much longer. Her energy is already weakening."
"Then what are we supposed to do?" Zarek asked.
Krios's eyes suddenly widened.
"Wait… Nova."
Zarek looked around. "What about her? I can't see her."
"No, that's not what I mean." Krios kept his eyes on Kaelvyr. "Kaelvyr fought Nova before, but he didn't use Heavenly Barrier or Holy Edict."
Zarek frowned. "You weren't present for that fight. How would you know?"
"There are rumors."
"You believe rumors?"
Krios's expression grew darker.
"We have no other choice." He turned toward Zarek. "Prepare the Abyssal Devourer. I know what I have to do."
Zarek exhaled slowly.
"Let's hope it works."
At that moment, Eris fell from the sky.
She struck the ground with such force that the earth split open beneath her, creating several deep cracks across the street.
Zarek immediately rushed toward her.
Krios followed with his eyes but remained focused on Kaelvyr.
"Take care of her," he ordered. "Give her your energy. You both use the same type, and we need her power as well as yours. Wait for my signal."
Zarek's eyes suddenly widened.
"Krios… behind you!"
Kaelvyr was already there.
His hand was reaching toward Krios once again.
*Slash!*
The two figures separated.
Kaelvyr looked down.
His hand had been cut off cleanly.
Krios stood before him, radiating an immense amount of Spiritual Energy. His sword remained raised, and a fierce smile crossed his face.
Good, Krios thought. That means I was right.
He looked directly at Kaelvyr.
"So…"
His energy surged around him.
"Let's have a rematch."
*****
[Varynthia]
Nova looked around the moment the carriage stopped.
The entire area appeared destroyed. Broken structures surrounded the road, and the atmosphere was filled with the remnants of violence. Before she could fully understand what had happened, another shockwave tore through the area and shattered part of the carriage.
Nova's eyes widened.
She stepped out and saw the beasts that had been pulling the carriage lying motionless nearby. She immediately dropped beside them and placed a hand against one of their bodies.
Then a voice called from ahead.
"Hey! Over here!"
Nova lifted her head.
A female figure stood among the destruction. She looked like a beast—or at least, that was what Nova assumed from her appearance.
Nova rose to her feet:
"Were you the one who destroyed my carriage?"
"Yeah," the female figure replied. "So what?"
Nova studied her from head to toe.
"You look weak." Her expression became curious. "You'd better not disappoint me."
To be continued…