Chapter 967 – The Falling Star
Kael
The light had stopped feeling like light.
It was weight.
It was heat.
It was pressure crushing every bone in his body, every breath scorched out of his lungs.
Kael staggered through the haze, vision doubling and warping. His armor hung in tatters. His sword felt like it weighed the world. The god's presence filled everything — sight, sound, even thought.
He swung anyway.
His blade met radiant flesh, and for an instant, he felt resistance — then it was gone. His strike had meant nothing.
A hand of pure light struck him in return, breaking ribs, crushing air from his chest. He flew backward, slammed into stone, rolled through fire and debris. His head hit something hard, ringing like a bell.
He coughed, spitting blood, his words slurring out through cracked lips.
"Strike the sun… and it only burns brighter… huh…"
The god advanced through the wreckage, its voice calm, booming like a cathedral bell.
"Why do you still stand? You cannot destroy the light."
Kael laughed weakly, leaning on his sword as if it were a cane. "Destroy it? Nah…"
His eyes were wild, unfocused, the crimson glow fading in and out.
"…just wanna dim it… a little…"
He tried to step forward and collapsed instead, one knee to the ground. His chaos aura flickered like a dying flame.
"Kael to the Hollow," he muttered deliriously, his voice shaking. "The stars burn slow tonight… tell the moon I'll be late…"
The god tilted its head, as if studying him — a creature fascinated by the absurdity of mortal persistence.
"Your soul fractures beneath my light, daemon."
Kael smiled through bloodied teeth. "Guess… I'll have to patch it later."
He tried to raise his sword again. It didn't move. His arm refused to obey. His entire body screamed.
The god lifted one glowing hand, divine energy gathering in its palm — a sphere brighter than the sun.
Lyria
The forest burned behind them.
Every flash of light was another detonation, another scream from the heavens. Lyria ran, carrying Eris's half-conscious body over her shoulder while Varik and Fenrik supported Kael's aunt — the dragon, now in her humanoid form, weak but breathing. Zerathis led the group, his face locked in a snarl, his movements frantic.
The night sky pulsed like day with every impact from Kael's battle.
"Damn it—he's still fighting!" Varik shouted, looking back.
Lyria felt her throat tighten. "He told us to run."
"Yeah? And since when do you listen to him?"
Before she could respond, a massive explosion lit the valley, washing the world in white light. The air itself rippled with divine pressure, and they all dropped to their knees, choking under its weight.
"Kael…" Eris whispered, her voice trembling. "His aura—it's fading…"
Lyria clenched her jaw. "He's not dead. He can't be."
"Lyria," Zerathis growled, wings twitching. "If he falls—"
"He won't." Her tone left no room for doubt, though fear made her stomach twist.
They pressed on, deeper into the woods, toward the rendezvous. But every few steps, Lyria looked back. Every time, the horizon flashed brighter, then darker, then brighter again.
Until it didn't.
For the first time since the battle began, the sky went completely black. No divine glow. No chaos flare. Nothing.
The silence was suffocating.
"Kael…" she whispered again, this time barely audible.
Kael
He floated.
At least, he thought he did. The pain was distant now, just a hollow throb somewhere beyond his awareness. His body refused to move. The world was little more than fractured light and sound.
The god's form loomed above him, radiant and perfect.
"You have fought well, creature of chaos. But this is where your flame ends."
Kael's eyes twitched open — barely slits. His thoughts came scattered, tangled like thread in a storm.
"End?" he murmured, voice raw. "No… no, see… stars don't end…"
The god paused, the light around its head dimming slightly.
Kael chuckled, delirious and broken. "They just… fall… burn out loud enough… to be remembered."
He coughed violently, spitting blood that turned to steam before it hit the ground.
"I'll… I'll burn loud enough for them to find me…"
The god raised its arm for the final strike.
Kael smiled through his agony, eyes rolling back as he whispered, barely coherent:
"Eris… Lyria… don't cry… the moon… still loves the dark."
The light descended—
—and the world vanished in white.