05/12/2025
Chapter 30: Judgment Cast in Shadow
Seraphaine hovered, smoke rising from her chest where Nikenmo’s beam had struck.
Her wings spread wide. Her body trembled—not from pain, but fury.
“You dare strike me,” she hissed, “with light that was never meant for you.”
Her eyes locked on Azron, then Jace. And finally, Nikenmo.
“Divine power in the hands of traitors… and mortals. How far the system has fallen.”
Above her, the swirling black sphere of energy pulsed—and then began to grow.
It doubled in size in an instant, lightning arcing across its surface. Screams echoed from within—echoes of corrupted Chi and the rage she poured into it. The sky warped around it, bending inward like space itself was collapsing.
Seraphaine raised one hand toward it and shouted, her voice cracked with wrath.
“You took everything from me! My station. My order. My purpose!”
The wind screamed in unison.
“So I’ll take everything from you. Your bodies. Your names. Your world.”
She hurled the sphere forward.
The air split with a roar.
The apocalyptic energy surged across the sky, swallowing light and sound, tearing toward the battlefield like a star gone mad. The ground cracked in its wake. Stones lifted into the air. The pressure crushed the very space around it.
Reiken’s hand went to his blade.
“Can you redirect it?” he asked, glancing at Nikenmo. “Like Azron’s blast?”
Nikenmo’s expression was pale. He shook his head.
“Not after the last one. I’ve got nothing left.”
Garron braced himself, slamming his hammer to the ground. “Then we’re done.”
Jace took a step forward.
“No.”
Azron moved in front of them all.
His shield lifted. His wings spread.
“I’ll stop it.”
They turned to him—silent.
Azron looked at each of them, then to the sky.
“I used to run from what I was,” he said. “But not anymore.”
Without waiting for permission, he launched upward—wings flashing gold, sword trailing light behind him.
He flew toward the collapsing star of death.
Straight into the dark.