Flickering traces of power hung in the air, echoes of what Kael had done. Their order lay ruined because he refused to obey. Not just ignored - smashed into pieces - their enforcers fell apart under his reach. Running now, their soldiers vanished into silence. Yet one truth settled deep - he'd barely started.
Far off, the gods kept their eyes open.
Before long, movement followed. They prepared without warning.
Power surged in Kael's pale gaze as he faced the First Sovereign. Next time, they'd come back fiercer.
The First Sovereign nodded. "Yes. And they will not come alone."
Wind ripped at the broken stones, swirling ash from old wars into the air. Out of the corner of an eye, movement - the Titanborn shifted, rising slow from their crouch.
Out of nowhere, the fighting started once more. A low sound came, shaking the ground under their feet like it meant every word.
Kael tilted his head. "Then it's time to stop playing defense."
The First Sovereign let out a dry chuckle. "Bold. You remind me of myself before the fall."
Kael smirked. "Except I don't plan on falling."
A shiver ran through the air as Kael reached forward. The world wavered, unsteady, when his fingers moved.
Beyond the quiet, he started pulling pieces together.
Out there, his thoughts drifted ahead, slipping through what most never see, crossing into the quiet hush of the Eternal Rift - where fighters who vanished long ago refuse to fade.
Fade by fade, their names slipped away. Quiet swallowed every fight they'd known. Yet something hummed beneath Kael's skin - restless, close.
"Awaken."
The air shuddered.
Fragments of space cracked near the broken stones, jagged openings in dark and shimmering tones tearing through what was solid. Out stepped shapes, drawn slowly from inside those gaps.
A shadow looms where stone bones click into place - its blade scrapes sky, longer than valleys. Midnight metal wraps its frame, cold as buried thunder. The weapon swings slow, like continents shifting under skin.
A shape moves under shimmering light, stars slipping across a woman's form like water. Her fingers spark with deep-space energy, each pulse humming low echoes of distant collapses.
A figure rises - chains like liquid fire curling round his limbs, each scar on his skin telling fights that came when history was still silent. His past burns through every mark.
One stood against heaven long ago. Another vanished without a trace, just like the rest before him.
Now though, these obeyed him. He held them close, a quiet shift beneath his voice.
The First Sovereign watched with an unreadable expression. "You truly mean to wage war against the divine?"
Kael held the stare. "This isn't about battle." His hand tightened, while the air around them throbbed like a heartbeat.
"Retribution."
Above, past where people dwell, the sky began to shake. Thunder rolled through spaces no human had ever touched.
Away from any clock, on seats blazing like stars, the Tribunal held still. Fate's god stared, then law, then ruin - each saw Kael break what could not be broken.
A shape in gold cloth stood still, light twisting like smoke across its face as it began to speak.
"He has gathered the Forgotten."
A shadow moved through layers of what seemed real, tightening its grip. This one believed the Forsaken had no right to be
Aetherion rose at last - the man who once turned against Kael. From his lips came a sound that seemed older than time, spreading through the room.
"Then it is time we remind him why gods do not kneel."
The heavens split open.