Dawn came without a sun.
The ceiling of the Abyss lightened from absolute black to bruised violet, like flesh pressed too hard. And then—
The choir began.
At first it was only pressure.
A tightening behind the eyes.
A single note—perfect, braided from a thousand Seraph throats.
MMMMMMMM—
The sound pressed downward, physical and merciless. Stone groaned. Shadows bled from the pores of every defender clinging to the bastion. The two remaining Soldier drones twitched in place, hollow sockets leaking violet mist like tears they could not shed.
Levi stood on the eastern parapet.
One pace to Aria's right.
She had not corrected him.
Her blackened wings were half-unfurled, feathers snapping in the wind that screamed up from the Fracture Line.
WHOOOO—
The spiderweb crack in her mask had spread overnight. A thin fracture now reached the corner of her mouth.
Below them, the chasm burned with crawling ground-lightning.
Above, the sky drew breath.
Aria spoke first, voice low and steady.
"Remember what you promised."
Levi's fingers tightened around the greataxe.
"I remember."
The Protocol stirred.
Clink… clink…
Chains shifted in his soul like serpents waking.
Then the choir rose—
AAAAA—
—and the first wave came.
Hundreds of Seraph Knights descended in flawless formation.
Six wings each. White fire blazing. Sanctified lances leveled downward in perfect symmetry.
Holy fire fell like meteors.
SHRRRRAK—BOOOOM—
The bastion shuddered.
Stone liquefied where bolts struck. The Mage on the western wall screamed incantations, hurling unstable shadow spheres that detonated too early, scorching his own robes. Torren bellowed orders, voice fraying, as the two remaining Warriors locked shields beside him.
On the eastern parapet, Levi and Aria fought back-to-back.
Not shield and master.
Partners.
A lance of light curved toward Aria's blind spot—left side, where the mask's fracture gaped widest.
Block it, Servant. Obey.
The Protocol screamed.
Levi lunged without consent—
—but Aria's hand snapped out, closing around his wrist.
She yanked him aside.
The lance grazed her wing instead.
HSSSSSS—
Black feathers ignited in cold white flame. Ichor hissed as it struck stone.
She did not cry out.
Her grip tightened until bone creaked.
"Together," she hissed.
Then she released him.
They moved as one.
Aria raised a warped barrier—once a holy ward, now a devouring shadow. Light struck it and vanished without sound. Levi stepped into the gaps she left, axe swinging in heavy arcs stolen from Kargan's memory.
«Iron Skin» surged.
SREEEE—
Sparks screamed as lances glanced off his arms.
They held the eastern edge.
For a while.
Then the Mage broke.
A Seraph Captain hovered above the central breach. Its halo flared like a collapsing star. The Mage screamed and tried to match it—mana overcharged, eyes bleeding violet.
The backlash hit first.
He cooked from the inside.
Skin split.
Shadow boiled out in steam.
HHHHSSSS—
He collapsed screaming, already dissolving into gray ash before he struck the stone.
No one reached him.
Torren roared—rage and grief fused into one sound—and charged the breach. His greatsword cleaved a Knight's arm at the shoulder. Then a head.
He lasted thirty seconds.
A lance punched through his chestplate—
THUK—
—lifting him off his feet.
Across the chaos, his eyes locked with Levi's.
His lips moved.
Don't waste it.
Then he fell.
The body struck stone and began to dissolve.
Levi fought toward him.
Knights dove.
He swung blindly, mechanically—«Reckless Charge» bleeding through without permission. Kargan's manic laughter clawed at his throat.
He reached Torren anyway.
Knelt in the spreading ash.
Closed eyes that stared at nothing.
Ash clung to the blood on his fingers.
When Levi stood, the bastion was already dying.
Sanctified fire burned in patches shadow could not smother.
Only Aria and Levi remained standing.
The two wounded Warriors held the rear stairs, buying seconds.
The Seraph host pulled back to reform.
The choir softened to a distant hum.
mmmmmm—
A lull.
Smoke drifted.
Ash fell.
Aria leaned against a half-melted pillar. One wing smoked. Blood slid slowly from her side, refusing to clot. The left half of her mask finally slipped away during the fighting.
For the first time—
Levi saw her face.
Scarred.
Exhausted.
Once beautiful in a way the Abyss despised.
A pale eye—silver, almost luminous—met his.
"Still won't block for me?" she asked.
Her voice was raw from shouting corrupted oaths.
Levi swallowed iron and ash.
"Not even if it kills me."
The Protocol answered.
Pain detonated inside him.
Chains carved inward—white-hot, soul-deep.
He staggered.
Knees struck stone.
Aria stepped forward, catching his shoulder before he collapsed fully.
She felt the tremor in his shadow.
Saw the violet runes flicker across his skin—punishment manifesting.
Her grip tightened.
Not in anger.
In recognition.
The choir rose again.
AAAAAA—
Second wave.
The Seraph Captain returned.
Eight wings now.
Its halo burned brighter. Gravity warped around it—stone crumbs lifted, ash spiraled upward.
It descended straight toward Aria.
Recognition gleamed in its perfect, empty face.
Fallen kin.
Traitor.
Aria stepped forward.
Black feathers hardened into blades along her wings. Old paladin oaths spilled from her lips—twisted now into curses that made the air bleed.
Levi moved with her.
Not in front.
Beside.
The duel was brutal and close.
No grand armies.
Just two fallen things—and one Servant who refused his place.
The Captain's lance blurred.
Aria parried with a wing—
KRRSSSH—
—feathers shattered like glass.
She countered with pure shadow.
It grazed the halo.
Light screamed.
Levi circled, axe heavy.
Knights dove to assist.
«Reckless Charge» fully ignited.
Kargan's rage flooded his limbs.
He laughed once—short, shocked, not his voice—
—and buried the axe in a Knight's chest.
Black and white blood mixed on the blade.
The Captain's halo flared wide.
A burst of gravity and light.
Meant for Aria.
Levi saw it.
The Protocol howled triumph.
Block it. Die for her. Obey.
He planted himself anyway.
Not in front.
Beside.
Light.
Pain.
Black.
He died.
Fast.
Brutal.
The void between deaths opened—violet runes drifting.
⊳ Shadow Designated "Levi" has perished.
⊳ Respawning…
He opened his eyes mid-fall.
Body reforming from smoke and ash.
The axe already in his hands.
He landed swinging.
The blade bit deep into the Captain's lowest wing.
SKRRAAAAA—
Light screamed.
The Captain recoiled upward, halo flickering.
Wounded.
Not slain.
It retreated into the choir.
For now.
The bastion groaned.
A final wall section slid into the void.
Aria's voice cut through the chaos.
"Retreat."
The rear stairs were gone.
The Warriors with them.
Only the chasm remained.
Aria grabbed Levi's arm.
They ran.
Leapt together.
Slid down scree of bone and molten glass into the shadows below the Fracture Line.
Above them—
KRRAAAAAASH—
—the bastion collapsed fully.
Violet lightning devoured what remained.
They landed hard in a shallow ravine.
Shelter waited—a cave mouth carved by centuries of grounded storms.
Aria slumped against the wall.
Her side wound steamed, deep and slow to close.
Levi knelt nearby, breathing ash.
Torren's dissolving remains still clung to his armor.
A notification flickered—private.
⊳ Shadow Designated "Torren" has perished.
⊳ Commencing Memory Inheritance… 1% transfer authorized.
⊳ Skill Acquired: 「Last Stand」
⊳ Unique Memory Fragment Obtained
Hands—rough and steady—guiding a younger shadow's grip.
"Elbows in, lad. You're not holding the shield—it's holding you. Don't waste it."
The memory struck like a quiet blow.
Levi whispered without realizing—
"Don't waste it."
His voice broke.
Aria watched the violet glow reflect in his eyes.
Saw the new runes settle beneath his skin.
Strength.
Faint.
Real.
"What did you just take from him?" she asked softly.
Levi froze.
A hundred lives of secrecy.
One hundred and fourteen masters.
He could lie.
The Protocol would allow it.
Instead—
"A piece."
Silence stretched.
Wind howled beyond the cave.
The choir was gone.
Only thunder remained.
Aria studied him.
Then nodded once.
"Keep it safe."
She did not ask more.
Her remaining mask fragment slipped away during the slide—lost somewhere above.
Both eyes visible now.
Silver.
Tired.
Human in a way the Abyss could not erase.
She leaned her head back against stone.
"We're not going back to a camp."
Levi understood.
Deserters.
Or something worse.
The chains inside his soul were quieter now.
Cracked.
Bleeding.
He asked—the first question he had ever asked a master.
"Then where?"
Aria's gaze drifted into deeper shadow.
Where no banners flew.
Where orders died.
Her answer was almost lost in the wind.
"Somewhere we choose."
They sat at the cave mouth as violet light faded into night-cycle.
Side by side.
The war raged above.
But down here—
In the dark—
Something small, defiant, and dangerous had begun.