Nova — The Heartforge Stirs
Heat rippled across the cavern floor as Nova lowered his hand, the last threads of red-gold energy fading into his skin. The Pale Star's explosion still crackled in the air, warping the stone with mirror-smooth lines of molten glass.
Theta stared at him—not afraid, but unsettled, like a hunter watching a prey animal grow fangs.
"Impossible..." the assassin murmured. "The Pale Star is absolute. It erases form, matter, and spirit. No one survives that."
Nova stepped forward, molten light pulsing faintly beneath his skin.
"I didn't survive it," he said quietly.
"I overpowered it."
Kira's breath caught behind him. Raze whispered something that might've been a prayer.
Theta straightened, masklike calm returning to his features.
"You've awakened a deep resonance with the Heartforge. That level of reaction shouldn't be possible for a living vessel."
Nova tightened his grip on his blade. "You said you came to confirm whether the Greys needed to die."
Theta nodded.
"And now I see the answer clearly."
The assassin drew twin daggers of pale fire, their blades whispering like wind cutting bone.
"Yes."
He spread his arms as the white flames roared higher.
"You absolutely do."
The Power Within
Nova didn't speak.
He didn't need to.
The Heartforge pulsed again—
a deep, steady thrum
—not loud, but undeniable, like a second heartbeat threading through his bones.
He moved.
Not with speed—
but with certainty.
With clarity.
Every vibration of the bridge beneath him, every shift in Theta's stance, every breath Kira took behind him—Nova felt all of it.
Like the Heartforge was whispering:
Strike here.
Move there.
Break him.
Theta lunged first, thin lines of pale fire slicing the air. Nova leaned aside, letting the cuts pass through empty space, each movement precise as clockwork.
Then—
he countered.
Triple Strike.
One blow to break the rhythm.
One to carve through the flame.
One to drive Theta back.
The final strike shattered one of the white-fire daggers.
Theta skidded across the bridge, boots carving trenches in the stone.
"...Your body shouldn't be able to handle this," he hissed. "What have you become?"
"I'm Nova Grey," he answered.
"Nothing more."
But something in him whispered:
And something more.
Theta raised his remaining dagger—and the cavern trembled.
Not because of him.
Because of Nova.
Because the Heartforge's glow was bleeding into the air, running along the cracks like rivers of light.
Kira shielded her eyes.
"Nova—Stop! The forge can collapse if you push more!"
But he didn't answer.
He couldn't.
The Heartforge wasn't a power.
It was a presence.
A mind brushing his own.
Not controlling him—
but calling to him.
A connection older than Terra's mountains.
A bond the Crown feared.
Theta realized it too late.
"Heart... chosen," he breathed. "No... it can't be—"
Nova stepped forward, red-gold energy swirling around him.
"Let's finish this."
Sorra — The Sky Under Her Wings
The world became a blur beneath Sorra as she flew, fire and wind spiraling from her hands. The mountains rose like jagged teeth, the air sharpening with every meter she ascended.
"Hold on, Nova... please."
The Academy fell behind her, its towers shrinking into specks of marble and slate. Ahead, the Ironbound Range towered into the clouds. And somewhere deep within that maze of stone and forgotten tunnels—
Nova was fighting.
Hurting.
Maybe dying.
She could feel it.
Not through skill or magic.
But through the bond only siblings share—
a thread of fear that tugged at her heart.
The sky darkened as she crossed into Crown territory.
Storm clouds were gathering unnaturally fast.
No... not clouds.
A formation.
Sorra's breath froze.
An entire battalion of Crown wyvern-riders swept across the horizon, armor glinting, banners snapping.
They were heading straight for the same mountain she was.
Her blood ran cold.
"They're going for Nova..."
Wind coiled around her legs, propelling her faster.
Flames surged behind her, leaving a blazing trail through the sky.
She didn't hide.
She didn't dodge.
She outpaced the entire battalion.
She would get to Nova first—
even if she burned herself out doing it.
Nova — Breaking the Pale Flame
The cavern shook as Theta launched forward again.
His remaining dagger erupted into a blade of brilliant white fire, long as a spear.
"PALE SUN—!"
Nova raised his halberd.
The Heartforge's glow surged.
Their strikes met—
White fire.
Red-gold force.
The shockwave blasted the molten river into spiraling geysers of orange spray. The bridge cracked fully, slabs of stone tumbling into the magma below.
Theta appeared behind Nova in an instant, attacking with a flurry of strikes meant to tear through flesh and bone.
Nova didn't dodge.
He stepped into them.
Silent Step — activated.
Theta's eyes widened—
Nova's movement erased its sound, its intent, its presence.
The assassin's killing blows skimmed harmlessly past him.
Nova's counterattack struck true.
He slammed the halberd's haft into Theta's chest, sending the assassin crashing through a stone column.
The white flames sputtered.
His hood tore away.
For the first time, Nova saw Theta's face—
young, barely older than him.
Scarred, pale, eyes hollow with years of training and conditioning.
A weapon forged by the Crown.
Theta staggered, coughing blood that glowed faintly white.
"You... should not exist," he said. "No one should contain that much power."
Nova didn't raise his weapon again.
He stepped forward, voice low.
"You keep calling my existence a mistake."
His eyes hardened.
"Then let me make one thing clear."
He pointed the halberd at Theta's throat.
"Trying to wipe out House Grey?
That was the mistake."
Theta's eyes flickered.
Not with fear.
With something close to recognition.
Then—he smiled, a tiny, tragic curve of the lips.
"...I see."
He lifted two fingers.
A signal.
From the far side of the cavern, multiple white lights flickered to life.
Kira gasped.
Raze cursed under his breath.
"They're not alone," Kira whispered.
"They've been here the whole time—watching."
Theta nodded faintly.
"The Crown does not send one assassin to confirm a threat."
Behind him, ten Pale Flame operatives stepped out of the shadows, eyes burning like cold stars.
Theta whispered:
"It sends... an extermination squad."
The ten raised their hands.
Ten spheres of white flame roared to life.
Kira staggered back.
Raze pulled her behind broken stone.
The cavern filled with a cold, merciless light—
And Nova lifted his halberd.
The Heartforge answered.
And roared.