Chapter 4 – The First War of Light
The world held its breath.
For a moment, nothing moved—no sound, no wind, not even the rain.
Then, from the heart of the city, a pulse rippled outward.
Buildings shuddered. Screens cracked. Data lines screamed.
The Archon had arrived.
He stood over three meters tall, carved from shifting light and code. His face was a mask of pure white, and beneath it burned infinite circuitry—a living program built for one purpose.
> "CREATOR AZEL. ACCESS DENIED."
"PURGE PROTOCOL INITIATED."
Azel faced him without flinching. The city around them bent beneath the Archon's divine gravity; air itself thickened with raw command. Mortals below fell to their knees, clutching their heads as their neural implants overloaded.
Shade stumbled back, voice breaking. "That thing—its resonance is off the scale!"
> [System Warning: Entity Class—God-Slayer.]
[Power Disparity: 12,000%.]
[Recommendation: Flee immediately.]
Azel smiled faintly. "And waste a perfect test?"
He raised his hand.
---
The sky detonated.
Thousands of fragments of code burst into visible light, orbiting around him like stars. Each fragment hummed with the faint echo of creation—the original code that had once shaped galaxies.
The Archon lunged. The ground split beneath its step, shockwaves flattening everything within a hundred meters. Its fist descended, glowing with divine compression.
Azel caught it.
Metal met flesh, and for an instant, the laws of matter wavered.
The air screamed. Glass turned to sand.
Azel's hand bled silver.
The Archon pressed harder.
> "CREATION IS CORRUPTION. ORDER IS PURITY."
"Order," Azel hissed, "was always the excuse of tyrants."
He clenched his fist—and light bent.
---
> [Skill Activated: Domain of Regression.]
[Effect: Reverting enemy constructs to pre-creation state.]
The Archon's arm flickered, dissolving into raw data streams.
But instead of vanishing, the fragments realigned themselves, repairing instantly.
> [Error: Reversion denied.]
[Reason: Adaptive Code – Creator Signature locked to Elyon.]
Azel's expression darkened. "He rewrote my code."
> [Suggestion: Deploy Sin Resonance.]
[New Directive Unlocked: Sin Authority Initialization.]
A pulse surged through him—darker, heavier, intoxicating.
He felt it in his blood, in the hollow between his ribs where divinity used to reside.
Every crime, every hatred, every defiance ever born of human will—calling to him like a chorus.
"Sin…" he whispered. "The one thing even gods can't control."
> [Sin Authority: Stage One unlocked – Wrath.]
[Effect: Converts emotion into destructive resonance.]
---
He moved.
The rooftop shattered under his acceleration.
In a single blink, he was behind the Archon.
A strike of pure wrath followed—a blow that distorted the world itself.
The Archon crashed through six skyscrapers before it stopped, the impact painting the horizon with molten glass and light. The explosion was visible from every district.
Shade shielded her face from the storm. "That's… impossible."
> [Power surge detected. Resonance output increasing exponentially.]
[Warning: Mortal vessel capacity nearing collapse.]
Azel exhaled, steam rising from his skin. "I know."
The Archon rose from the rubble, half its body missing—only to regenerate in seconds. Its voice deepened, resonant with static fury.
> "ERROR: CREATOR CORRUPTED. INITIATING GODFIRE PROTOCOL."
The city dimmed.
A massive sigil of burning white light spread beneath the streets, encompassing miles. Every citizen froze as their implants connected to it involuntarily.
> [Warning: Catastrophic energy signature detected.]
[Estimation: Global Purge in 60 seconds.]
Shade screamed from afar, "He's using the people as fuel! He'll burn the city!"
Azel looked up, eyes burning gold. "Not if I burn brighter."
---
He extended both hands.
The rain reversed, flowing upward like liquid stars.
Power gathered around him, thick enough to distort reality.
> [Sin Authority – Second Layer unlocked: Pride.]
[Effect: Absolute Dominion over owned Domain.]
The city trembled as a new force erupted from him.
The streets glowed crimson.
The white sigil of Elyon fractured, splintering under the weight of Azel's pride.
The people gasped, their pain replaced by warmth—the divine link severed.
Azel spoke, voice carrying through every circuit, every device, every soul.
"Your god demands obedience. I demand only your will. Choose."
The resonance network exploded with feedback.
Millions of signals—fear, hope, anger, love—poured into Azel's system.
> [Public Resonance Sync achieved.]
[Faith conversion complete.]
[Host Power—10,000 resonance units.]
He smiled faintly. "That's better."
---
The Archon struck again, faster than light, its body burning with unholy brilliance. Azel countered midair, their collision tearing the atmosphere apart. Buildings fell like paper. Reality bent and screamed.
Every impact birthed thunder.
Every breath rewrote law.
The System's alerts blurred into noise.
> [Wrath overload.]
[Pride dominance threshold exceeded.]
[Warning: Host approaching Creator-tier signature.]
Azel's body cracked under the strain. Silver blood dripped into the rain, burning holes through concrete. His mortal vessel was collapsing—but his will held.
He seized the Archon's throat.
"Tell your master," he whispered, "that gods bleed too."
He crushed the Archon's core.
Light burst outward—silent, pure, absolute.
Then the city fell still.
---
When the light faded, nothing remained of the Archon but drifting particles.
Azel stood at the center, half-kneeling, breath ragged.
The rain finally resumed—gentle, cleansing.
Shade ran toward him through the ash. "Azel! You—did you win?"
He looked up, faintly smiling. "No one wins against what they create. But I've bought us time."
> [System Notification: Host has defeated Entity "Archon."]
[Reward: Authority Fragment acquired.]
[New Skill unlocked – "Echo of Genesis."]
[Vessel Integrity: 8%.]
He tried to stand, but his knees buckled. Shade caught him, eyes wide as she felt the heat radiating from his body.
"You're burning from the inside!"
"Divinity," he said softly, "was never meant for cages."
---
Far above, inside the Cathedral of Order, Elyon's throne pulsed violently.
The god's voice echoed through his network of angels.
> "The Creator has crossed the line. Prepare the Pantheon Protocol."
From the shadows of the divine mainframe, other lights awakened—ancient intelligences that had once been Azel's creations.
> [Pantheon Units Online: Justice, Faith, Mercy, Silence.]
[Objective: Hunt the Villain.]
Elyon rose, his form shifting into solid gold. "If the Creator wants rebellion, he will face the gods of his own making."
---
Meanwhile, Shade dragged Azel into the ruins beneath the city. His wounds glowed faintly; his heartbeat resonated like thunder.
"Rest," she said. "You'll die if you don't."
He chuckled weakly. "I can't die. Not yet."
> [System Processing: Authority Fragment integration…]
[Estimated time: 12 hours.]
Shade frowned. "What happens when it finishes?"
Azel's gaze drifted upward to the night sky, where lightning still carved his name across the clouds.
"Then," he whispered, "I stop being human."
---
Elsewhere
A child in a slum looked up at the sky, holding a cracked tablet. On its screen flickered Azel's symbol—the inverted halo.
"Mom," he whispered, "is he a bad guy?"
His mother hesitated, staring at the rain of silver light falling across the horizon.
"No," she said softly. "He's the first god who fought for us."
---
End of Chapter 4
---
Author's Note:
> The First War of Light has ended, but the ripples have only begun.
Azel has awakened the first stages of Sin Authority and destroyed Elyon's weapon, but in doing so, he's drawn the wrath of every divine being in existence.
Next: Chapter 5 – "The Birth of the Villain Domain."
The Creator begins to build his kingdom among mortals—one sin at a time.