The light faded slowly from the heavens, leaving behind a single crater of molten snow.Arden stood at the edge of the ridge, his cloak fluttering under the icy wind, watching the golden smoke rise where the star had fallen.
He already knew who had come.
"So… even the gods couldn't stay away forever," he murmured.
Behind him, Ryn tightened her grip on her dagger. "That aura… it feels like sunlight wrapped in sorrow."
Arden said nothing. He turned and strode down the frozen slope, steps steady, expression unreadable.
✦ The Descent of the Goddess
Inside the crater, surrounded by blazing embers of divine fire, she lay still — silver hair cascading like a river of moonlight. Her body shimmered faintly, fragile yet radiant, her white gown untouched by the snow melting beneath her.
Her eyes opened slowly — violet, soft, and full of ancient grief.
"So this is… the mortal world again," she whispered.
She rose to her feet. Her wings unfolded with a whisper of light, scattering motes of gold across the air.
The aura she carried was enough to make lesser creatures kneel instinctively. Yet beneath that divinity, there was… pain.
"Arden…" she breathed, voice trembling. "After all this time… you still walk among the living."
By the time Arden reached the edge of the crater, the divine storm had already quieted.
The moment their eyes met, time seemed to stop.
"Celestia," Arden said, his tone calm but edged with something unspoken. "You haven't changed."
"And you…" she replied softly, "should not exist."
They stood only a few meters apart — two beings who once defied Heaven together, now separated by fate itself.
The silence stretched, thick with old memories.
Arden finally broke it. "So they sent you. I wondered which of the angels they'd throw at me next."
"Not an angel," she said. "A goddess. Your sentence demands no less."
He smiled faintly. "Then let's skip the pretense. Are you here to kill me, or save me again?"
Her expression wavered. "If I could choose… I would save you."
A sharp wind swept through the clearing. The tension between their auras twisted the very air.
"But I am bound," she whispered. "If I hesitate, Heaven will erase me. You know that."
Arden stepped closer, golden Qi flickering around him. "Then they've already taken your freedom. All that's left is to decide whose chains you'll break first — theirs or mine."
✦ Clash of Light and Shadow
Celestia closed her eyes. A single tear fell, dissolving into light.
Then her wings flared open — and divine magic filled the sky.
"Forgive me, Arden."
A thousand lances of light rained down.
Arden's sword flashed from its sheath — one sweeping arc of golden Qi cutting through the storm. The blast shattered into mist, scattering harmlessly into the snow.
He didn't advance, but his aura surged like a tidal wave, pushing back the divine pressure that threatened to crush the mountain itself.
"Still the same," he said quietly. "You attack without hatred, but with duty. That's why you'll never win."
Celestia's eyes glistened. "And you — still bound by your pride. That's why you'll never find peace."
They clashed again.Divine magic met Qi.Light met shadow.
The collision tore the landscape apart — snow vaporized, rocks melted, the sky bled gold.
But within that chaos, their eyes never left each other.
✦ Echoes of the Past
Between strikes, fragments of memory flickered in their minds —The day they stood side by side against Heaven's armies.The night they swore to create a new world of freedom.The moment she betrayed him to save his soul.
Every flash of power carried the weight of those memories.
At last, Celestia's magic faltered. She dropped to one knee, panting, her radiance dimming.
"Why… why do you fight still?" she whispered. "You've already died once."
Arden's voice was steady. "Because I remember what it felt like to kneel to something unworthy. I won't do it again."
He lowered his sword — not out of mercy, but out of conviction.
"Leave, Celestia. I'll not kill you. But if you stand with Heaven next time… I won't hold back."
Celestia looked up at him, eyes full of pain. "You think this ends with me? The Emperor has awakened the Conclave. They will send armies of gods. You cannot face them all."
Arden turned away, sheathing his blade. "Then I'll climb their heavens again… and tear them down one by one."
The goddess watched him leave — the man she once loved, now a mortal defying eternity.
As he vanished into the storm, she whispered to the wind:
"If fate must choose a monster to end the gods… then let it be you, Arden."
She spread her wings and vanished into light, returning to the sky — carrying both sorrow and defiance.
✦ End Scene
Back in Wintercrest, the flames of battle still burned in the northern skies.The first divine emissary had fallen.The goddess had returned.
And as night fell, a single star flared bright red above the North — the omen of the War of Heavens and Mortals.