Smoke coiled like serpents through the shattered sanctuary of the Church. The air was thick with the stench of blood, burning stone, and divine fire. The ancient god had risen—and the city of Velmire trembled under its shadow. As the Syndicate fought tooth and nail beneath its monstrous form, each heartbeat felt like a countdown to the end.
---
*The First Fall*
Ruby collapsed to one knee, the curse raging through her veins like wildfire. Her body convulsed, her vision swimming as the mark on her back seared with heat. She could barely breathe—barely hold her blade. But the ancient god's gaze turned toward her, drawn to the chaos within her.
"Thorne...!" she gasped, barely managing to cry out.
But he was already there.
Thorne's sword slashed upward, intercepting a burst of searing flame directed at Ruby. The blow sent him skidding back across the marble floor, his boots carving grooves into the stone. He coughed once—blood flecking his lips—but he stood firm.
"Get up," he growled. "You don't get to fall now."
Ruby's eyes flickered—fighting the pull of darkness—as she forced herself back up. But her strength wasn't hers anymore. The curse inside her had awakened… and it was hungry.
---
*Ashen's Sacrifice*
As the battle raged, Ashen Veyr stood before the altar, his body glowing with red-hot energy. The flames of his past—the inferno of pain and torment the Church had forced on him—flared violently around him.
"I was born in fire," he murmured, lifting both hands as his body split with light. "And fire is how I'll end."
He stepped into the god's path, summoning every ounce of power left in his broken body. Flame erupted around him—blue and white, fierce and unnatural—as he slammed both fists into the altar.
The explosion ripped through the chamber.
Stone shattered. Priests were incinerated in an instant. The god reeled back, shrieking in a voice that rattled bones. And Ashen…
Ashen was gone.
Thorne screamed, the sound lost beneath the fury of collapsing walls and divine wrath.
---
*Ruby's Awakening*
The shockwave knocked Ruby to the ground. She blinked, dazed, her body shaking uncontrollably. But as she pushed herself up, something had changed. The curse—the flame that had tormented her—was no longer tearing her apart.
It was flowing through her. Listening.
Ruby stood, her crimson hair whipping in the wind, eyes glowing faintly as if reflecting the god's own fire. The power she had once feared now answered to her. It had bonded with her, recognizing her will to fight—not destroy.
She lifted her sword, now coated in flickering flame.
"I am not your vessel," she said coldly to the god. "I'm your executioner."
And she leapt.
---
*The Turning Tide*
The battle shifted. With Ruby's power unleashed, the Syndicate rallied. Kaela's explosive devices detonated in perfect rhythm. Lysena, healing faster than her own hands could move, revived fallen allies. And Thorne—wielding twin blades soaked in holy blood—carved a path through the last line of possessed priests.
As Ruby struck the god's core, a final scream tore through the night.
Light engulfed the chamber.
And then—silence.
The god was gone. The altar destroyed. The ritual broken.
---
*Ashes and Aftermath*
Velmire burned. The Church's upper ranks were decimated, but the cost was unfathomable. Ashen's sacrifice. Dozens dead. A power Ruby could barely control. And the Syndicate… forever changed.
In the ruined sanctuary, Ruby knelt where Ashen had fallen. Her blade rested beside her, her fingers wrapped in scorched cloth. Thorne joined her in silence, placing his hand on her shoulder.
"We won," he said quietly.
Ruby's eyes stayed on the scorched floor. "At what cost?"
Thorne didn't answer. Because there wasn't one.
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*End of Chapter 16*
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