"Are you sure you wish to return to the Divine Realm?"
"Is that why we are taking the Twilight Carriage?" Libinea asked, eyeing the slow-moving landscape of swirling nebulas outside. "Stalling?"
Raiking stared out the window of the floating transport as the lights of mortal towns flickered far below. "Sometimes a long journey helps one reflect on choices made in the heat of the moment."
"Oh?" She shifted from the seat opposite him to the one beside him, closing the gap with an unnatural elegance. "Are you worried about me, little brother?"
"I just don't want to see you in the state I found you in."
The final words barely left his mouth before he felt a molten warmth brush against his arm.
"What are you doing?" Raiking asked, stiffening.
"What? Didn't you say you wanted me to reflect?"
"And how exactly does resting your head on my shoulder help with that?"
"Have you forgotten how I behaved back then?"
Raiking fell silent, for he had not forgotten. It was precisely the memory he hoped to keep buried. Seeing the usually arrogant Phoenix act this nervous made him question if he should have rejected her offer to join him.
He said nothing. He simply stared at her as her breathing steadied, wondering if she was currently dreaming about the day her magnificent wings were torn from the heavens.
---
[1,000 Years Ago]
"Divine Realm! Your tyranny ends tonight!"
For the first time in a million years, a challenger rose against the heavens. Yet it was not a titan or a god, but a small Phoenix whose wings shone so brilliantly that mortals below believed a second sun was staring into the abyss.
"Who dares!"
Surrounded by a dozen Divine Guards, spears ready to pierce, she faced them with defiance. Yet, they never had the opportunity to attack. With a powerful beat of her fiery wings, she unleashed a wave of flames that instantly obliterated their armor, sending them plummeting to the palace grounds like descending stars.
Libinea was unyielding in her chase. With relentless determination, she swooped down to the palace, landing right before the realm's most revered gates. Spreading her wings once more, she unleashed a searing wave of heat that reduced the reinforcements rushing out of the gates to mere piles of ash, leaving them no time to even cry out.
"Divine Emperor! Do not send these men to die for you! Show yourself!"
SHIIING.
A glint of divine steel tore through the main gates. It carried power too vast to underestimate. She folded her wings to shield her body, yet the steel met her feathers with devastating force. The impact launched her backward, smashing her through layer after layer of celestial architecture until she finally skidded to a halt in the rubble.
"You are not my opponent, Queen of the Phoenixes."
The voice resonated from the palace depths. Though she had never met the Divine Emperor, the tone—and the crushing weight of the strike—confirmed it could be none but him.
"Do not underestimate me, mortal Emperor!" She screamed, launching herself back toward the palace.
Yet her journey was abruptly halted. An unseen force seized her mid-flight, immobilizing her as if she were a fly caught in amber.
"Phoenix. Do not cause a disturbance here."
A voice echoed from everywhere and nowhere—feminine, yet carrying the crushing weight of a collapsing mountain.
Libinea froze. "Goddess of Creation... please do not intervene."
"And what of the mortals below?" the Goddess asked, her voice dripping with cold disappointment. "Has your battle not already destroyed enough settlements? Who will seek justice for them?"
"Then what am I to do? Allow my people to be hunted for eternity?" Libinea struggled fiercely against the luminous restraints, but the grip was unyielding.
"Heed my words, Phoenix. Patience reveals everything, while death leads to nothing."
Libinea's resistance wavered momentarily. Deep inside, she knew hope was lost upon hearing the goddess's words, yet her torment was only beginning.
Two more arms of solid light materialized from nowhere, clamping around the base of her wings.
"ARGHHHHH!" she screamed as the light began to pull.
"Is this what justice is, Goddess?" she cried out.
The Goddess did not answer. There was only the wet, sickening sound of tearing muscle.
With a final, brutal rip, her wings were torn from her body.
Without them, Libinea plunged through the clouds, surrendering to gravity's unforgiving pull on her broken body. The luminous glow of the Divine Realm dimmed above her, forcing her to close her eyes as the wind roared past her ears. Images of her people's suffering filled her mind—young ones returning home without their precious pearls, and the cries of the elderly awaiting children who would never return.
I am so sorry... I have failed you...
CRASH.
She struck the earth. Dust erupted around her. Every bone seemed to disintegrate into dust.
Amidst the overwhelming pain, she managed to open one swollen eye. She hadn't hit a rock; instead, she lay in a crater, just a few feet away from a small, serene pond, its waters as dark as ink.
A man sat there, holding a bamboo fishing rod. He gazed at the ripples in the water—ripples caused by her fall—and let out a sigh.
"You've startled the Void Koi," he remarked. "They only bite once every century."
Libinea attempted to move, but her wings were shattered. She was a mess of bloody feathers and crushed dreams. "Help..." she whispered. "Please..."
BOOM.
The sky was torn apart.
Descending in a pillar of lightning, the Divine General appeared, flanked by a dozen armored elites. They landed around the crater, weapons drawn, their murderous intent suffusing the silent forest.
"There is no escape, traitor!" the General bellowed, brandishing a spear crackling with lethal electricity. "The Emperor condemns you to—"
The General halted abruptly.
He took in the sight of the fisherman's back, his simple black robes, the bamboo rod.
The General's face turned ghostly pale. The lightning around his spear dissipated. He didn't just pause; he dropped to his knees with such speed that his armor clanged against the stone.
"Lord... Lord Raiking!" the General gasped.
The soldiers behind him, realizing who was before them, prostrated themselves into the dirt. They shook, not from discipline, but from the primal terror of a rabbit recognizing it has wandered into a dragon's lair.
"We... we were unaware this was your fishing spot!" the General stammered, sweat trickling down his divine armor.
When the guards nervously glanced upward, they noticed the fishing stool was vacant.
"Where—"
The General's words were interrupted as Raiking's voice emerged from behind them.
"Hmm, so you've encountered the Goddess," Raiking remarked, gazing at the broken Phoenix. "Yet she spared your life, suggesting there's a role you must fulfill... Intriguing."
The guards observed in silence as Raiking waved his hand over Libinea, cleansing her wounds of the lingering energy traces left by the Goddess. Under his influence, her immense celestial form began to diminish until she resembled a small, fragile garden bird. He gently placed her body over his shoulder before disappearing, only to reappear at the fishing spot as if he had never left.
"Why are you still here?"
"M-my Lord, the Divine Emperor sent us to apprehend that Phoenix."
"Oh? So you intend to claim what belongs to me?"
The oppressive aura emanating from Raiking became overwhelming. Two of the guards couldn't withstand the spiritual burden and collapsed, foaming at the mouth.
"N-no, my Lord!" the General exclaimed, bowing so low that his forehead struck the stone with a crack.
"Then you may leave."
With a nonchalant gesture, Raiking sent the divine guards hurtling back toward the heavens. He resumed casting his hook into the void river, while Libinea remained unconscious on his shoulder, unaware of the death she had narrowly escaped.