The Court was gone.
The mirror shattered. The thrones silent.
Kael and Lyra stood alone again.
But the air was different now—thicker. As if the universe held its breath, waiting to see if they'd truly dare to climb higher.
Kael turned to her.
"They're not finished with us."
Lyra smirked.
"No. But they're afraid."
He raised his hand.
The Starfall Tome opened, glowing brighter than ever.
Page Three pulsed. Blank.
Waiting.
And above them…
A tower rose.
It had no foundation.
No top.
Just endless steps spiraling into the sky—carved from forgotten language and celestial spite.
[ LOCATION: THE ASCENDANT SPIRE ]
[ Warning: Each floor reflects a god you dethroned—or a self you buried. ]
[ Outcome: Either kill them again, or let them consume you. ]
Kael stepped forward.
"Let's start climbing."
The first floor welcomed them with a breath of cold air.
A battlefield.
Scorched. Bloody. Familiar.
Kael froze.
He knew this place.
The War of Ash and Silence.
A memory the system had erased from every version of him.
A moment he was never supposed to remember.
And there—at the center—
A child's corpse.
Wrapped in burnt cloth.
Still warm.
Still reaching toward him.
Lyra's voice cut through the stillness.
"Is that…?"
Kael's jaw locked.
"My sister."
Suddenly, the child moved.
Its eyes opened—white fire inside.
Its voice was not hers.
It was the god of memory.
"You abandoned this pain to survive. Now wear it, or fall beneath it."
The world shifted.
Kael collapsed to one knee—pain ripping through his chest like truth sharpened into spears.
He saw her die.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Lyra grabbed his face.
"Kael, look at me."
"I killed her," he gasped. "I ran. I lived."
Lyra didn't flinch.
"Then fight for the version of you who didn't get to."
Kael stood.
Trembling.
Crying.
Then he whispered:
"I remember her name."
He spoke it.
The world shook.
The child vanished.
And a sword appeared in Kael's hand—one he'd never forged.
One his sister had once drawn in crayon when she said, "You'll be my knight."
He clenched it.
And whispered, "I'll kill them all for you."
[ FLOOR ONE CLEARED ]
[ Memory Reclaimed – Trait Gained: KNIGHT OF THE FORGOTTEN ]
[ Sword Unlocked: "Sibling Oathblade" ]
The second floor rose without pause.
This time… a cathedral.
Moonlight bleeding through stained glass.
Lyra stiffened beside him.
Kael glanced over.
"What is it?"
Her face had gone pale.
"I know this place."
A throne stood at the far end.
Upon it—
Lyra.
But not this Lyra.
Regal. Cruel. Smiling like a god.
"You failed the Trials, girl."
"You could've ruled perception. But you chose love."
Kael gritted his teeth.
Lyra stepped forward.
"No. I chose truth."
The false Lyra laughed.
"Then wear it."
The stained glass shattered.
And hundreds of eyes emerged from the walls.
Watching. Judging. Tearing her apart emotionally.
Lyra screamed.
Her own memory-echo whispered:
"Weak. Soft. Touched by a man. How mortal."
Kael moved—
But she raised a hand.
"No. This one's mine."
She reached inside herself.
Pulled out a shard of glass.
And stabbed it into her own heart.
Not to die.
To reclaim.
Light poured out of her chest.
And when it cleared—
Lyra stood in a cloak of starlight, eyes gleaming like galaxies.
[ ASCENSION RECOGNIZED: EYE OF DUALITY AWAKENED ]
[ Passive Ability: OBSERVER JUDGMENT – Reflect divine narrative back at its source ]
She looked at Kael, breathing hard.
"I am the one who watches."
Kael smiled.
"And I am the one who rewrites."
They stepped into the next stair—together.
The third stair was silent.
No memory.
No illusions.
Only a platform of shimmering crystal floating above the stars.
At the center—
A man knelt.
Kael halted.
This wasn't a version of him.
Nor a god.
It was something else.
Something… waiting.
The man raised his head.
His eyes were hollow. His voice—
"Name: Kael Ashmark.
Violation: Theft of Godright.
Sentence: Erasure."
A spear formed in his hand.
Carved from judgment.
Etched in truth Kael refused to accept.
Lyra narrowed her gaze.
"He's a Herald. A direct servant of the Divine Crown."
Kael didn't flinch.
"He's the one they send when they're scared to come themselves."
The Herald stood.
And the sky bowed around him.
His voice turned godlike:
"This is not vengeance. This is correction."
Kael stepped forward.
"No. This is the part where I make the gods bleed."
[ STARFALL TOME: PAGE III — WRITABLE ]
[ Authority Command: BREAK SEQUENCE INHERITANCE ]
[ Input Phrase: ONE SENTENCE CAN END A KINGDOM ]
Kael raised the Tome.
The page opened—glowing gold, bleeding power.
And with a single line of ink, he rewrote everything.
"The Herald forgot how to breathe."
The spear shattered mid-throw.
The Herald gasped—choked—fell to one knee.
Kael moved in.
No hesitation.
No mercy.
His sister's blade in hand.
One strike.
Clean.
The Herald's head hit the ground.
The stars above screamed.
[ DIVINE MESSENGER — TERMINATED ]
[ Trait Acquired: "One Who Writes What Cannot Be" ]
[ Realm Status: ALERT ISSUED TO GOD-TIER ENTITY ]
Kael stood over the body.
Then looked at Lyra.
"They're not going to send messages anymore."
"They're coming themselves," she whispered.
Kael turned toward the sky, where a throne of black flame now descended.
And from it…
A voice beyond voices.
"Ashmark. You climbed too far."
"Now watch what falls with you."