The earth trembled as light and shadow collided.
Astraea's sword came down like divine lightning — Raviel met it with a broken blade, black flame flaring from its edge.
The impact cracked the ground, shockwaves throwing Kael and Lyra back into the air.
Elian shielded his face from the storm of light. "Raviel!"
Raviel didn't turn. His voice was steady, even as divine fire scorched his skin.
> "Stay back, boy! You're not ready to fight her!"
Astraea twisted her blade, forcing Raviel down on one knee.
> "You speak as though you have a choice," she said coldly.
"You are a relic, Raviel. A broken guardian who defied Heaven's will."
Raviel gritted his teeth. "Then let me defy it one more time."
The two powers surged — gold and obsidian — the air itself screamed.
And for a moment, as their blades locked, Raviel's mind slipped back to the moment it all began.
Years ago… Celestara's Great Hall.
Raviel knelt before the High Thrones, chains glowing around his wrists.
Lirael — wings pure silver, eyes burning with tears — stood beside him, facing the angels who once called her sister.
> "The balance is breaking," she said. "The seal between worlds won't hold unless we act."
The Archangel Seraphine's voice echoed from the high dais.
> "You speak of forbidden creation, Lirael. Mixing light and shadow — angel and demon — is blasphemy."
Lirael lifted her head. "It's survival."
Raviel remembered how her wings began to darken, one feather at a time, as if Heaven itself was rejecting her.
> "Then let me be the blasphemy that saves them," she whispered.
The chains snapped.
And in the chaos that followed, Lirael tore open the sky — creating the Eclipsera Seal, binding the Abyss within herself.
Raviel caught her as she fell. Her final words burned into his memory:
> "If I fall, guard the child. He will carry both halves of me. Promise me, Raviel…"
He had promised.
Raviel roared, breaking Astraea's lock.
"You call her a sinner. But without her, your Heaven would have burned long ago!"
Astraea's eyes flashed white.
> "And because of her, it will burn now!"
She vanished in a streak of light — appearing behind Raviel, blade ready to cleave through him.
But Elian moved first.
He raised his hand — and the Eclipsera mark exploded in black and white fire.
The ground ruptured, hurling Astraea back.
Elian's voice shook as he glared at her.
> "Don't call her that."
Astraea steadied herself midair. "Then prove she was right."
She dived, light wings slicing through the smoke.
Elian countered — the unstable seal inside him flaring like a living star.
Their clash tore through the crater.
Kael and Lyra watched helplessly as the sky turned into a storm of broken halos and dark fire.
Elian's body screamed in pain. His veins glowed with both light and shadow — tearing at each other inside him.
He could barely breathe.
Astraea's blade pierced his shoulder, and he gasped, falling to one knee.
> "You cannot balance what was never meant to exist," Astraea said softly.
"Your mother's sin was mercy."
Raviel caught her sword mid-swing, blood running down his palm.
> "And Heaven's sin was pride."
His eyes flared gold.
The sigil on his hand — the twin of Elian's — ignited, linking with the mark on Elian's chest.
Light burst outward — pure, raw, unfiltered.
The world blurred — and Elian suddenly saw it:
His mother, Lirael, standing in a field of stars.
She smiled sadly.
> "Elian… balance isn't something you're born with. It's something you fight for."
Her form began to fade, like dust in light.
> "Don't hate the light… or the dark. They both loved you once."
Elian's eyes snapped open.
His seal pulsed once — steady, calm, balanced.
He caught Astraea's blade with his bare hand.
The divine energy seared his flesh — but the blade stopped.
Astraea froze.
> "Impossible…"
Elian whispered, "My mother believed in both… and so do I."
He thrust his other hand forward — a burst of energy flung Astraea across the field, her armor cracking with divine light.
She landed hard, kneeling, wings trembling.
Her gaze met Elian's — and for the first time, her perfect calm cracked.
> "You… carry her strength."
Elian didn't move. "And her choice."
For a moment, silence reigned.
Then Astraea sheathed her sword.
> "The Heavens will not stop, Elian Vale. But perhaps… I will not be the one to end you."
She turned, wings spreading wide.
> "When the time comes, choose your side — or the worlds will choose for you."
And with that, she ascended, leaving only falling feathers and silence.
Raviel collapsed, coughing blood. Elian caught him, trembling.
"Don't die on me—"
Raviel smiled faintly. "Not yet. I still have to tell you the truth… about what's coming."
Lyra knelt beside them, whispering, "The storm… it's not over, is it?"
Raviel shook his head.
> "No. The seal is waking. And when it breaks… even gods will bleed."