The morning after the fire was different.
Not brighter.
Not warmer.
Just... quieter.
Like the world itself was holding its breath.
---
Lucius walked ahead without looking back.
No hesitation now.
No weight dragging behind his steps.
Just a blade at his side and five hearts tethered to his soul.
Each of the girls stayed close, but none said a word.
Because last night changed something.
Not just in him.
But in all of them.
---
They reached a clearing by midday.
It was too quiet.
Even Velda paused mid-chant and lowered her rune scroll.
Claire shifted, sensing something unnatural in the stillness.
Zara unsheathed her blade without needing a signal.
Lilith's wings rippled.
And Lucius—
Lucius felt it before any of them.
> A presence.
Not walking.
Not approaching.
Descending.
---
The sky cracked like glass.
No thunder.
No lightning.
Just a clean, perfect silence—
And from it, she emerged.
---
A woman.
If you could call her that.
She floated six feet above the ground, wrapped in gold-thread robes that shimmered like untouched ice.
Her eyes were pure white, no pupils, no emotion.
Her voice didn't echo.
It simply was.
---
> "Lucius Nachtveil."
He didn't flinch.
> "You shouldn't exist."
He took a step forward.
The girls closed ranks behind him.
Zara at his right, Claire at his left, Lilith above, Velda already building a glyph trap in the earth behind them.
Lucius's voice was calm.
Dead calm.
> "And yet."
---
She didn't respond.
She only raised a hand.
The sky didn't roar—
It simply vanished.
---
A beam of pale divine light fell from nowhere—
no heat, no warning, just erasure.
Lucius didn't move.
The girls did.
Claire's barrier flared blue-white, cracking but holding.
Zara sprinted forward, slashing the air with twin blades that screamed with rage.
Velda unleashed a rune combo that hadn't been written in 300 years.
Lilith threw herself into the sky and dove like a falling star.
---
Still—
The Divine Agent barely moved.
---
She whispered:
> "Fate does not permit those who resist remembrance."
Lucius's eyes flared.
> "Then tell Fate to come down here and say it to my face."
---
The Blade of the Last Name ignited with silver fire.
It didn't cut the air—
It devoured it.
---
Lucius dashed.
Not away.
Forward.
Straight into the godborn light.
---
His slash collided with the Agent's hand—
And time itself shuddered.
---
For one second, nothing moved.
Not the leaves.
Not the light.
Not even the screams.
Just a crack forming in the space between Lucius and the sky.
And then—
It shattered.
---
The Divine Agent staggered back.
Her face didn't change, but her robe dimmed.
Her hand was smoking.
Lucius didn't smile.
He didn't need to.
Because for the first time—
A god saw him as more than a leftover.
She saw him as a threat.
---
Zara landed beside him, panting.
> "She's not like the others."
> "No," Lucius said. "She's worse."
---
Velda's voice came through the glyph-link:
> "She's a memory warden."
> "Not here to kill you."
> "She's here to erase you."
---
Claire's barrier cracked again.
Lilith was mid-air—wings torn, feathers falling like ash.
The Divine Agent extended both arms.
Symbols of old faith spiraled behind her.
> "The boy who defied erasure."
> "The king who was not chosen."
> "The name not written in the Book of Continuity."
---
> "Lucius Nachtveil—"
> "You do not belong."
---
Lucius lowered his blade slightly.
Then took one step forward.
> "Maybe not."
> "But I remember everything you tried to erase."
---
The ground beneath them ignited.
Oaths.
Names.
Lives.
Not just his.
All the ones the gods had stolen.
They poured into the Blade of the Last Name like light into a dying sun.
Lucius's eyes flared silver and crimson.
---
And behind him, the girls stood taller.
Zara raised both blades, teeth bared.
Claire set her staff into the earth and began a prayer that burned in blue flame.
Velda whispered a forbidden spell only Lucius had permission to hear.
Lilith—bleeding, broken, smiling—hovered above, her wings ablaze with vowfire.
---
The Divine Agent raised her hands once more.
> "This is the last warning."
Lucius stepped forward again.
And said the one line he meant with everything left in him:
> "Then send your best."
---
The sky cracked again.
The real fight had only just begun.