The first clash shook the heavens.
Arka's blade blazed silver, cutting through the front line of the Voidborn. Each swing tore trails of light across the battlefield, and every impact scattered the creatures into mist. Yet for every one that fell, two more emerged from the rift.
Seraphiel hovered above him, wings trailing silver fire. With each beat, she released bursts of pure radiance that disintegrated entire ranks of shadows. But even her light began to flicker the rift was feeding them faster than they could be slain.
"Your realm's fabric is weak," Seraphiel called out. "The rift consumes its own balance. We need to seal it!"
Arka blocked a clawed strike and drove his blade upward, cleaving through a Voidborn's torso. "Then tell me how!"
She landed beside him, her expression fierce. "You bear the blood of the Star Wolf the seal must come from you. But you cannot channel celestial energy alone. It will destroy your vessel."
Arka gritted his teeth. "Then what do you suggest?"
Seraphiel reached forward, pressing her palm against his chest. The touch burned, but not with pain it was as if starlight itself coursed through his veins.
"Our essences must resonate. I'll lend you a fragment of my divine core. Together, we may weave the Song of Balance."
Lysander, cutting through another wave nearby, shouted in alarm, "You can't mean merging your essence with a mortal!"
Seraphiel's eyes hardened. "If we don't, your world dies."
Without hesitation, Arka nodded. "Do it."
She smiled faintly a sad, knowing smile. "Then hold still, heir of the Star Wolf."
A circle of runes spiraled beneath them, ancient and fluid, written in a language older than time. Silver light from Arka intertwined with golden threads from Seraphiel's wings, forming a vortex between them. The world fell silent even the Voidborn halted their advance, as though the air itself held its breath.
Then came the Song.
It wasn't music, but resonance a harmonic echo that rippled across dimensions. Stars blinked to life above the battlefield, answering the call. The rift shuddered, its edges collapsing inward.
Arka felt his consciousness stretch, reaching beyond his body. He saw through the eyes of the wolf spirit, through the shimmer of galaxies. And beside him, Seraphiel's light flared, her form half-transparent as she poured her strength into the connection.
But something stirred inside the rift a presence vast and formless. A voice older than gods.
"You dare seal the void, child of both fang and flame?"
The sound ripped through his mind. Arka staggered, clutching his head. "Who?"
Seraphiel's expression turned grim. "The Sovereign of the Abyss. He's awakened sooner than I feared."
The rift pulsed violently, and from within it, a colossal silhouette began to emerge an entity woven from shadow and broken stars. Its mere existence bent the light around it.
Arka felt his heart stutter. The mark on his arm burned hotter than ever.
Seraphiel's voice dropped to a whisper only he could hear. "If you let fear control you now, you'll lose everything. Breathe, Arka. Remember the stars that chose you."
He inhaled sharply, grounding himself. His heartbeat steadied. The sigil on his arm synchronized with Seraphiel's radiance, forming a shared pulse half divine, half mortal.
Together, they raised their hands toward the rift.
The combined light erupted silver and gold entwined forming a vast wolf-shaped aura behind them, howling toward the heavens. Its cry reverberated through the plains, echoing in every soul that heard it.
The rift cracked, folding in on itself. The Sovereign's voice roared in fury as its form was dragged back into the void.
Then silence.
The rift vanished. The remaining Voidborn disintegrated into stardust.
Arka fell to one knee, panting heavily. The runes beneath them faded, and Seraphiel knelt beside him, her wings dimmed almost to transparency.
"You did it," she said softly.
He looked up at her, exhausted but alive. "We did it."
She smiled faintly, but her eyes betrayed something sorrow, or perhaps fear. "You don't understand, Arka. What we just did… it bound us. Our souls are now connected through the resonance. If either of us dies…"
He frowned. "Then the other follows?"
Seraphiel nodded slowly. "Such is the cost of the Song of Balance."
Above them, the stars realigned forming a new constellation: a wolf of light intertwined with a fallen angel.
And in the shadows beyond sight, something vast stirred once more.
The war between Heaven and the Abyss had only just begun.