The sky split open.

Thunder didn’t roll—it roared, howled, like a beast wounded by fate. The heavens bled crimson as celestial lightning arced through the skies, searing the firmament. Rain poured down, not water, but something heavier—mixed with ash and divine residue. Olympus itself trembled.

High upon the *Altar of Judgement*, chained by glowing celestial runes, knelt a boy.

*Kyrillos*.

Barefoot, beaten, and broken—not by combat, but by betrayal. His once radiant robes were in tatters, his body scorched with marks of restraint, divine bindings pulsing against his skin.

He was seventeen.

The boy once praised as the Prodigy of the Silver Flame, the Heir of the Celestial Phoenix Sect… now a heretic, condemned by those who once toasted his victories.

Around him stood the *Twelve Grand Houses*, their banners flapping wildly in the divine storm. Faces half-shadowed under golden helms and jeweled crowns, yet none dared look him in the eye. Only one figure, hidden in the rear, wept silently behind a silver veil—*Aphrodite*.

Sophia's scream echoed through the shattered soul well as her body levitated — wrapped in searing light and violent shadow. The Heart of Nyx, cradled in her hands, pulsed like a living thing, both shielding her and consuming her.


The Leviathan laughed through a thousand mouths.


"Your light is pure, girl. Let it be the fuel for my second birth."


Inside the spiritual plane of the Heart, Sophia stood — a projection of her soul — in a place of swirling night and starlight.


She saw memories. Her childhood with Eleni. Her first spell. The day she met Kyrillos. All flickering around her, drawn toward a singular black spiral.


"You think you were chosen," it said. "But you were *created*… for this."


Back in the physical realm, Kyrillos burst through the flames, slamming his soul blade into the magical tether holding Sophia in place.


The blow fractured the barrier — but at a cost. A backlash of soulfire struck him, slashing across his chest and arm, carving *Leviathan runes* into his skin.


Her eyes fluttered — caught between planes.


Her reflection stepped forward. "You want to live? Give up your fear. Let go of control. Let the world burn if you must — and *you* will survive."


Light erupted — not from the Heart of Nyx — but *from her own soul*.


She reached out and shattered the mirror.


The Leviathan screamed. The second tether was broken. The dark mist retreated slightly, and the soul well surged with white light.


Her hand on his cheek. "You once told me — death is only a pause. If I fall…"


She smiled faintly. "Then promise me… if I lose my way again… you'll bring me back."


The Heart of Nyx suddenly pulsed and *embedded itself into Sophia's chest* — no longer a tool, but part of her. Her body absorbed the essence fully. Her hair shimmered with silver strands, and her aura became both serene and terrifying.


And the Leviathan — now weakened — *retreated*, dragging the corrupted Lightguard into the depths below Thalorion.


The city was not saved… but it was no longer doomed.


Chapter 22: Sophia's fate