The wind screamed as heaven and earth collided. The first clash between Rai and Seraphine tore the sky apart. Her blade, Aetherbrand, blazed white-hot, cutting through the mist like the will of a god. Rai parried with his cursed sword, and the impact sent shockwaves rolling across the shattered forest.
Kael staggered back, shielding his face from the radiance. The cultists fell to their knees, chanting prayers to their fallen star while the ground itself fractured beneath their feet.
"Why do you fight me, heretic?" Seraphine's voice thundered like judgment. "The flame demands your end."
Rai's crimson eyes narrowed. "You call yourself flame—but you burn what you don't understand."
Their swords met again, and sparks of black and gold rained through the air. Each swing of Seraphine's blade left streaks of fire that didn't fade—they hung suspended, forming runes in the sky. Rai recognized them instantly.
"Celestial seals…" he muttered. "You're not just a knight."
"I am the Hand of the Eternal Flame," she declared, wings of light unfurling behind her. "And you, Vowbound King, are the wound the world refuses to heal."
Rai's chest ached at the title. "That name died with me."
"Then why," she roared, "does your soul still burn brighter than any god's?"
Her sword erupted in flame, and the light expanded into a storm of divine fire. The entire battlefield became a sunlit inferno. Rai raised his palm, summoning black seals that swirled around him like a halo of ash. Each rune countered her flame with shadow, each whisper of his curse swallowing light itself.
Kael could barely see through the brilliance. "Rai! You'll both destroy everything!"
Rai ignored him. The more Seraphine pushed, the more his forgotten power awakened. His seal markings crawled up his neck, glowing gold and crimson. When he struck again, his blade moved faster than sound, slicing through the air in arcs of molten darkness.
Their swords clashed again and again—until Seraphine's guard broke. Rai's blade grazed her shoulder, cutting through the sigil glowing on her armor. She screamed, falling to one knee, but her eyes burned fiercer than before.
"Do it," she spat. "Finish me. That's what gods do, isn't it?"
Rai froze. The wind fell silent.
Her words hit deeper than any blade. In that moment, Rai saw something—an echo behind her defiance. Her face blurred, and for a heartbeat, he saw Lyra: the same eyes, the same sorrow hidden behind duty.
"Who are you?" Rai whispered, lowering his weapon.
Seraphine looked away, trembling. "You don't remember me, do you?"
Rai's pulse quickened. "What did you say?"
The knight's voice softened, almost breaking. "You swore… you'd burn every star if it meant saving her. And when the gods fell, I watched you die for it."
Lightning flashed across the sky. Kael froze where he stood. "Rai… she—"
Seraphine raised her head, tears turning to steam as they met the fire on her cheeks. "Lyra wasn't the only one who bore your curse."
Rai stepped forward, eyes wide. "You—"
But before he could finish, the sky split open. A beam of divine energy crashed down between them, hurling them apart. A voice, vast and echoing, rolled through the heavens:
"The Eclipse stirs. The chains tremble."
The light faded, leaving behind only silence and ruin. Seraphine lay unconscious, her sword dim. Rai stood over her, chest heaving, eyes glowing faintly gold.
Kael ran to him. "What was that?"
Rai's voice was barely a whisper. "The gods are waking… and they're inside me."
He looked down at Seraphine, then at the burning sigil on her neck—a mirror of the seal on his own.
"She's bound to me," he muttered. "Not as my enemy… but as my fragment."
Kael frowned. "Fragment?"
Rai turned his gaze to the sky, where the stars had begun to flicker unnaturally—like eyes opening one by one.
"She's part of my vow," Rai said quietly. "And if she remembers what I buried… the world will burn again."