The Great Sages continued down the dirt road, the hills slowly flattening as the distant kingdom grew larger with every step. The morning sun climbed higher, casting long shadows across the land. The breeze carried the faint scent of stone and dust now, the unmistakable smell of a kingdom bracing for war. Even the birds had gone quiet, as if the world itself sensed what waited ahead.
Eiden slowed.
Then he stopped.
The others halted behind him, instinctively mirroring the shift in his posture. None of them spoke. None of them needed to. Something in the air had changed.
The breeze died. The grass stilled.
A pressure settled over them, heavy and suffocating, like an unseen hand pressing against their skin. Even the sunlight dimmed, as though the sky itself recoiled.
Vaelus squinted toward the horizon. "What's with the air…"
His voice trailed off.
Because then they saw it.
High above the distant kingdom, suspended in the sky like a divine executioner's weapon, hung a massive spear. A colossal construct of shimmering energy, its size rivaling a falling meteor. Its surface pulsed with bright green light, veins of power crawling across it like living lightning. The air around it warped and twisted, bending under the sheer force radiating from its core.
The spear loomed over the kingdom, casting a long, unnatural shadow across its walls.
Vaelus's jaw dropped. "Woah… what the hell…"
Before anyone could speak another word—
The spear fell.
It dropped from the heavens with impossible speed, tearing through the clouds as a deafening hum ripped across the plains. The ground trembled beneath their feet. The air vibrated. The sunlight flickered.
Then—
Impact.
A blinding explosion of bright green light erupted across the horizon, swallowing the kingdom in a dome of radiance. The shockwave tore across the land, ripping dust from the earth and shaking the Sages to their cores. The wind roared past them, violent and wild, whipping their cloaks like banners caught in a storm.
The sky itself seemed to scream.
When the light finally faded…
Silence.
Where towering walls once stood, only shattered stone and drifting dust remained. The spires had vanished. The banners were ash. The castle, the heart of the Angel King's domain, had been reduced to rubble. Nothing more than broken bricks scattered across a ruined plain.
Morvath exhaled slowly. "Damn… it seems like Yajin killed the Angel King."
Eiden didn't blink.
"Don't be a fool," he said, voice steady. "That attack isn't nearly powerful enough to kill the Angel King."
As if answering him—
Two figures burst into the sky.
One shone with a blinding white aura, wings spread wide, feathers glowing like molten silver. The other radiated a brilliant green light, the air around him crackling with raw power. Their presence alone distorted the clouds, bending the sky around them.
They collided mid‑air with a thunderous shockwave.
Spells erupted in every direction, streaks of white and green light tearing across the heavens. The sounds of blades clashing echoed even from miles away, ringing across the plains like divine thunder. Each impact sent ripples through the clouds, scattering them in violent bursts.
The two figures darted, spun, and crashed into each other with impossible speed, throwing each other across the sky like falling stars. Every strike carved new scars into the air. Every clash shook the land beneath the Sages' feet.
Vaelus swallowed hard. "They're… insane."
Selyndra's eyes narrowed, golden hair whipping in the wind. "This is a battle between kings."
Eiden stepped forward, cloak fluttering behind him as the sky lit up with another explosion of white and green. His eyes reflected the distant war, calm and cold.
"And we're walking straight into it."