Smoke crawled across the plaza like a living thing. Fire lit the city edges. Soldiers lowered guns. Rebels froze. Even Aurora paused mid-stance, spear grip tightening.
Everyone looked at him.
The man on the tower stayed still, coat fluttering in the heat wind. His silver eyes focused only on, the one and only, Nero. Nothing else mattered to him. His voice broke the silence again, low and sharp.
"Nero," he said. "You ran long enough."
Nero stepped forward. His chest rose and fell. Blood slid down his ribs from Aurora's stab wound.
"You should have stayed gone."
The man smirked.
"You always said that," he said. "And you always failed to stop me."
Hana slid beside Nero, breathing hard. Her throat still bruised from Aurora's strike.
"Who is that," she whispered.
"His name is Cain," Nero said. "First of us."
Rhea whispered,
"The Progenitor…"
Aurora's eyes narrowed.
"He was a myth," she said.
Cain stepped off the tower. He dropped dozens of meters and landed in broken stone, silent, effortless. Dust scattered away from him instead of rising. The ground seemed afraid of him.
He walked toward Nero with slow steps.
"You gather strays," Cain said. "Mortals. Outcasts. Pathetic."
Hana read his movements. Her hand drifted to her sword again.
"You talk too much," she said.
Cain's eyes flicked to her.
"You speak like an animal," he said. "Know your place."
Hana's jaw clenched.
"I cut gods before," she said.
"No," Cain said. "You cut mistakes."
Rhea moved in front of her.
"Stand down," she told Hana. "He kills you in one breath."
Cain smiled at Rhea.
"Sharp one," he said. "You see fragments of truth."
Aurora stepped forward now. She raised her spear.
"You enter Eden territory without sanction," she said. "You face judgment."
Cain looked at her like she was dirt stuck to a boot.
"You serve a broken kingdom," he said. "You kneel to tools."
Aurora's grip tightened.
"You presume too much."
Cain raised his hand.
"Silence."
Light bent. Air folded. Aurora's spear cracked in half. The ground beneath her feet shattered. She fell to one knee, teeth clenched, breath forced from her chest. Pain distorted her face.
Hana stepped forward by instinct. Rhea grabbed her wrist.
"Do not," Rhea whispered. "You die."
Cain looked bored.
"If I wished, the sun falls today," he said. "Your little wars amuse me."
Nero's blade rose a little.
"You think you control fate."
Cain's eyes sharpened.
"I shaped your fate," he said. "You walked in my shadow. You breathed my design. You exist because I chose it."
Nero exhaled slow.
"I broke free."
"You think so," Cain said. "But you flee from what you are. Your power sleeps. Your truth sleeps. You refuse to ascend."
Hana looked between them.
"He is saying you come from the same place."
Nero nodded once.
"He made me," he said. "Then tried to break me."
Cain's expression stayed calm.
"You call it breaking. I call it pruning weakness."
Rhea asked,
"What do you want now."
Cain spread his arms.
"The end of this world. Your battle means nothing. Mortals squabble. Empires fall. I begin the next age."
Aurora pushed herself up with shaking arms.
"You cannot."
Cain barely turned his head.
"Try to stop me," he said. "See the price."
Nero took one step forward.
"You have one problem."
Cain's brow lifted.
"Name it."
Nero's voice stayed steady.
"I am still here."
Cain's laugh echoed sharp.
"You think you oppose me," he said. "You fought children compared to me. You swung your sword at pawns. You crawled in dirt with rebels. You forgot your nature."
Nero lifted his blade.
"I remembered humanity."
"Humanity fails," Cain said. "Power rules."
Nero pointed his sword at Cain's chest.
"Power without soul dies empty."
Cain's smile vanished.
"I grow tired of your ideals," he said. "You abandon your throne. I claim it."
He lifted his hand. Light gathered. The air shook. Stone cracked. Soldiers screamed. Rhea shielded her eyes. Hana braced for death. Aurora tried to stand.
Nero whispered,
"Not today."
His aura surged. A shockwave rippled. Cain's light faltered for one second. Dust jumped. Fire bent away. The city seemed to hold its breath.
Cain stared.
"You awaken," he said. "Finally."
Nero's eyes glowed faint gold. Cracks of energy crawled across his arms. His voice deepened.
"You harm them," he said. "I end you."
Cain nodded once, approving, hungry.
"You rise like I hoped," he said. "Good. Fight me. Fall. Reborn under my will."
He took a stance.
"Come."
Nero raised his sword.
But before they clashed, a roar rolled through the sky. A new force arrived. Engines thundered. Dozens of aircraft flew above. Heavy metal shook windows. A second faction entered the city.
Rhea stared in shock.
"That banner… no. Not them."
Hana hissed.
"Another army."
Aurora's eyes widened.
"They picked this moment."
Nero felt it too.
"Everything converges," he said.
Cain smiled like a man watching fireworks.
"Yes," he said. "Let the world collapse."
He spread his arms.
"From ashes I build truth."
Nero clenched his blade.
"You build graves."
Cain's eyes flared.
"You face fate now," he said.
The sky cracked with sound. Bombs dropped. Troops descended. Smoke swallowed streets.
The world beneath them broke into chaos again.
And Cain vanished, leaving only his echo:
"The final dawn waits."
Nero breathed deep.
He knew something now.
Cain would return soon.
And that next time
someone would die.