The northern winds carried the smell of ash.
As Lyn and Umbra tore through the clouds, lightning forked around them, and the sky opened like a wound that refused to close. Below, the citadel's towers bled fire—each spire surrounded by fragments of divine runes breaking apart one by one.
Rhea's voice reached through the wind. "We're flying into a battlefield!"
"Exactly where we need to be," Lyn answered, gripping Umbra's mane as the beast's wings stretched to their full span.
Umbra roared, and the heavens answered. The roar wasn't a sound—it was a force that tore through mana itself, unraveling divine glyphs that had stood for centuries.
Beneath them, the army of rebel tamers followed, riding dragons, wyverns, and spirit-beasts wreathed in aura and smoke. For the first time in history, the sky was theirs.
A voice rang out through the storm—deep, commanding, almost godlike."Traitor of the Crests. You trespass upon sanctified air."
From the citadel's peak, a radiant figure emerged—clad in silver armor with golden wings of pure mana. The emblem of the High Council burned upon his chest.
Umbra's eyes narrowed. —The Arch-Tamer of the North. Alaric.
Lyn's gaze hardened. "I remember him."
Rhea shouted from above. "The man who sealed Umbra during the Great Hunt?"
Lyn's voice turned to steel. "Yes. And the one who slaughtered the First Rebellion."
Alaric raised his spear, its tip glowing with the light of the gods. "You carry a shadow that should not exist. Kneel, and your death will be clean."
Lyn's reply was a whisper, almost lost in the storm. "I don't kneel to chains."
Umbra's wings ignited with dark fire as they plunged toward Alaric. The air screamed as shadow met light, and the impact shattered a chunk of the citadel's barrier. Lightning split the sky into veins of gold and black.
"You should have stayed forgotten!" Alaric thundered.
"You should have stayed human," Lyn spat back, striking with his crest blazing across both arms.
The clash was like the birth of a new sun. Light devoured shadow, shadow consumed light—and in that chaos, the Fourth Seal pulsed again, bleeding symbols into the air.
Rhea dove through the fragments, directing the rebel flyers. "Form the wings! Protect the crest-bearers!"
From the east, a new shadow loomed—a colossal creature with feathers of molten silver and eyes like dying stars.
Umbra growled. —That is no beast of man.
"The Fifth Seal's guardian?" Lyn breathed.
The creature's screech tore through the storm, and even Alaric faltered.
"Impossible… that seal was—"
"—Broken," Lyn finished.
The sky lit crimson as the guardian's wings unfurled, stretching across the horizon. Its feathers fell like burning embers, each one slamming into airships and divine runes alike.
Umbra spoke lowly, almost reverently. —The Seraph of Silence… the last creation of the gods.
"And it's waking up angry," Lyn said grimly. "We need to control its descent before it wipes everything out."
Rhea's voice came through static bursts of mana. "We can't! That thing's crest signature is off the charts—it's rewriting the sky!"
"Then we rewrite faster." Lyn raised his palm, his crest flaring to full light. "Umbra—synchronize!"
Umbra's body convulsed as their bond deepened beyond mortal limits. For a brief heartbeat, Lyn saw through Umbra's eyes—a storm of memories, endless skies, and a face that whispered his name from long before this life.
—Do you remember why we fought? Umbra's voice trembled with old pain.
"To break the bonds that chained us," Lyn answered, his voice steady. "Not just for us. For all who were forgotten."
Together, they rose higher. The rebellion's banners shone below them, fluttering like sparks of defiance in the tempest.
And for the first time, even Alaric hesitated.
Umbra's wings spread fully, darkness streaked with gold flame. Lyn's crest burned with symbols unseen since the dawn of tamers.
"You want a sky purified by gods?" Lyn shouted into the storm. "Then face one forged by mortals!"
They struck.
Light and shadow collided in an explosion that tore through clouds, exposing the stars themselves. The Fifth Seal cracked in a blinding flash, its energy spiraling down like celestial blood.
When the storm finally broke, the citadel was in ruins—and above it, two figures hovered, locked in combat between worlds.