Darkness blanketed the skies like a suffocating shroud. The stars had vanished, devoured by the presence of the Shade Lord. Even the gods trembled in silence.
Leon hovered above the burning battlefield, divine flames flickering against the encroaching void. Zeratheon pulsed in his grip—unwilling to dim but uncertain against this new foe.
The Shade Lord stood in the air like a scar in space itself, humanoid only in silhouette. Its body writhed in and out of visibility, cloaked in layered shadows. Where its feet should have been, the sky curled inward. Where its eyes should have glowed, abyss stared back.
"You are not welcome in this reality," Leon declared, his voice echoing like thunder across the broken heavens.
The Shade Lord didn't respond with words.
It moved.
---
First Clash
The air split as the Shade Lord lunged—silent, sudden, and absolute.
Leon met it head-on, flaming wings surging. Zeratheon collided with a blade of darkness that formed from the Shade Lord's arm, the impact sending shockwaves that shattered floating islands below.
For a brief moment, time fractured.
Elyra and Vex, still engaged in battle with the remaining skybeasts, froze mid-motion. Pyrrhan gasped as reality flickered.
Tharos's voice crackled through the earpiece. "Leon! That thing… it's disrupting the flow of time itself!"
Leon gritted his teeth, eyes locked with the shadow's void-like gaze. "Then I'll burn through time."
He unleashed a flare of golden flame so pure, it momentarily re-ignited the stars above.
---
Fading Light
But the Shade Lord was faster than thought.
It reappeared behind him—silent, shadow-cloaked fingers aiming straight for Leon's spine.
Leon twisted, blocked, slashed.
Still too slow.
The blow landed.
Darkness coursed into his body, tearing at his soul.
He screamed, not from pain—but from the sensation of being unwritten.
"LEON!" Elyra cried, sensing the rupture in his essence.
But he endured.
Through sheer will and divine fury, he stabilized his core and channeled the core flame directly into the wound.
The shadow hissed and recoiled.
Leon dropped slightly in the air, panting.
"Can't fight it like a beast… This is something ancient."
---
Council Reformed
Below, the other leaders rallied. Seeing their God-King wounded had sparked fury, not fear.
Pyrrhan stepped forward, raising his staff. "Channel your flames through me! The Accord stands united!"
The warriors of flame obeyed.
Dozens of conduits linked into Pyrrhan's core, and he launched a column of solar fire skyward, striking the Shade Lord's side.
It screamed for the first time—a high, shrieking wail that made the clouds bleed.
Leon took the opening.
He soared forward, Zeratheon igniting into a spear of concentrated divinity.
"Now, Astra!"
From a tear in the veil above, Astra dropped, riding a celestial falcon made of light.
She hurled a prism-shaped device toward the Shade Lord.
"Void Lock—activate!"
The prism expanded in midair, wrapping the Shade Lord in translucent seals of starlight.
Leon dove like a comet.
Zeratheon struck.
The explosion swallowed the sky.
---
Shattered Veil
When the light faded, the Shade Lord was gone—but not destroyed.
A rift remained where it stood, pulsing like a wound in space.
Leon hovered above it, shoulders heaving.
Astra floated beside him. "We only delayed it."
"Good," he said. "Then we find a way to end it permanently."
Behind them, the sun reignited.
The beasts retreated.
Ashenfall had survived—for now.
---
Whispers Beneath the Stone
Back on solid ground, within the council chambers, the leaders reconvened. Their expressions were grave, tired, but determined.
Tharos adjusted the central display. "That rift left a mark in the web of reality. Its echoes are spreading."
A waveform appeared, glitching and chaotic.
"If these reach the Nexus Star before we do…"
Leon understood. "The Shade Lord will rewrite fate itself."
Vex frowned. "And how the hell do we beat a thing like that? You saw it—felt it."
Elyra answered quietly. "We don't fight it as we are."
Everyone turned.
"We ascend beyond ourselves."
---
The Path to Ascension
In a secluded chamber lit by glowing glyphs, Astra led Leon toward an ancient altar. It pulsed with soft violet and gold energy.
"This is the Temple of Echoes," she said. "Here, champions in the First Cycle trained to resist time erosion and fate inversion."
Leon stepped into the circle. Symbols crawled up his legs.
"Zeratheon called it the Flame of Origins. You call it the Nexus. What do you call it, Astra?"
She looked into his eyes.
"I call it the end of all timelines… or the birth of a new one, if you win."
Leon closed his eyes.
"I will."
---
A New Oath
Later that night, as stars returned to their rightful place, Leon stood alone at the peak of Ashenfall.
He pressed a hand to his chest.
He could still feel the mark left by the Shade Lord.
Not pain.
A warning.
Zeratheon hummed at his side.
"The path forward will test everything," he whispered to the wind. "But I will rise. Not as a man. Not even as a god."
He looked to the horizon.
"But as the King of Fate itself."
---
To be continued…