Alden's breath was shallow, his body paralyzed with exhaustion. The divine glow around him flickered like a dying ember. He had given everything, and yet—Kael still stood. Strong. Unshaken.
The swirling mass of void energy above Kael's palm pulsed violently, bending reality around it. The air itself seemed to scream under its weight.
"This time," Kael said, "you won't get back up."
Alden gritted his teeth. His body refused to move, but his mind refused to surrender. Kael thrust his hand forward. The void collapsed inward, then exploded outward in a wave of unstoppable destruction. Alden's world turned black.
For a moment, there was nothing. No pain. No sound. Just an endless abyss swallowing him whole.
Then—
A voice. Faint. Distant.
"Not yet."
Alden's eyes snapped open. He wasn't on the battlefield anymore. He stood in a place that shouldn't exist—a vast expanse of golden mist, swirling in slow, deliberate patterns. Stars blinked in and out of existence above him, their light guiding him forward. And there, standing before him, was her. Seraphina. But not the broken warrior who had fallen beside him. This Seraphina burned with an ethereal glow, her body untouched by wounds, her eyes holding an ancient, immeasurable power. Alden staggered. "You're—"
Seraphina reached out, touching his forehead. Warmth flooded through him. Memories, sensations, energy—everything rushed back in an instant. His pain faded, his fatigue erased. "You're not done," she said softly.
Alden clenched his fists. His body—no, his very essence—was different. Stronger. Sharper. He wasn't just standing. He was rising.
The golden mist around them trembled.
Seraphina's form flickered.
Alden's eyes widened. "Wait—you're—"
She smiled. "Go."
And just like that, the world shattered. Alden's eyes snapped open.
He was back. The battlefield stretched before him, the devastation untouched. Kael's final attack was still in motion, the void energy surging toward him like an inescapable doom. But Alden was different now. His hand shot out. The void stopped. Kael's eyes narrowed. "Impossible."
Alden slowly pushed himself to his feet. The divine glow around him was no longer flickering—it blazed. His spear, reforged by something beyond the gods themselves, pulsed with raw power.
Kael clenched his jaw. "So that's how it is?" Alden's grip tightened.
"No," he said.
He vanished.
In the next instant, his spear pierced through Kael's chest.
Kael gasped. Not in pain, but in shock. He looked down at the golden weapon embedded in his body. The void around him screamed, recoiling violently as divine energy burned through it.
For the first time, Kael staggered.
Alden locked eyes with him. "This fight," he whispered, "isn't over."
Kael chuckled—low, breathless. Blood dripped from his lips. His smirk returned, but it was weaker now.
"Interesting."
The battlefield trembled. The true battle had just began.