The mountain groaned under the pressure of two divine wills.
Every breath, every heartbeat, felt like a drumbeat of war echoing through creation.
Kael's wings unfurled in a blaze of gold, each feather burning like a sun.
Arhaan's chains uncoiled from his arms, glimmering with crimson runes that pulsed to the rhythm of his heart.
Between them, the air warped — light bending, time slowing.
---
Kael raised his blade, Solara, its edge humming with divine resonance.
"I didn't come to destroy you, Arhaan," he said, voice heavy with sorrow.
"I came to bring you home."
Arhaan's gaze hardened. "Home?" He raised the Oathbreaker, flames swirling around him. "You mean the cage they call Heaven?"
The words struck deeper than any weapon.
Kael gritted his teeth. "You think rebellion makes you free? You've just chained yourself to a darker master."
The red glow behind Arhaan's eyes flared.
"I broke my chains, Kael. And I'll break yours."
---
The first strike came faster than sound.
Kael vanished in a flash of gold — the ground exploding beneath where he stood.
Arhaan met him mid-air, Oathbreaker colliding with Solara.
BOOM!
The shockwave tore the clouds apart.
Lightning forked through the sky, carving fissures of light into the dark.
Kael spun mid-air, his blade tracing holy sigils that formed burning circles around Arhaan.
"Heavenly Seal: Radiant Judgement!"
Golden chains erupted from the circles, wrapping around Arhaan's limbs, dragging him downward.
But instead of struggling — he smiled.
"Chains?" he said. "You think they belong only to you?"
His crimson aura flared. The Oathbreaker screamed as runes lit across the sky.
"Infernal Binding: Ashen Dominion!"
Crimson chains burst from his body, devouring Kael's golden ones. The two forces coiled, twisted — divine and damned — until they shattered in a cascade of burning light.
Both were thrown apart, slamming into opposite cliffs.
Smoke. Silence.
Then—two glowing silhouettes emerged from the haze, both still standing.
Kael's armor cracked, golden blood streaking down his arm.
Arhaan's cloak was torn, his chest scorched — but his eyes burned brighter than ever.
---
Kael panted, trembling. "You're losing yourself, Arhaan! That power isn't yours!"
Arhaan lifted his gaze, voice steady.
"It doesn't matter where it came from. What matters is what I do with it."
For the first time, Kael hesitated. He saw it — not madness, but resolve.
The kind of resolve Heaven had long forgotten.
And in that instant, he understood why the High Arbiter feared this man.
---
Far above, in the halls of Heaven, the Archangels watched in silence.
The Arbiter's hands tightened around his staff, fury flickering across his ancient face.
"So… the Oathbreaker's heir rises."
A new light began to form behind his throne — a second divine army awakening.
---
Down below, the rain began again — heavy, cleansing, eternal.
Kael and Arhaan stood across the broken valley, breathing hard.
Neither had won.
Neither had lost.
But something in both of them had changed forever.