✨ Interlude: The Thrones Above
Location: The Celestial Vault, Throne of Heaven
Angels stood like statues around the marble dais, wings furled, eyes closed in forced silence. At the center, on a throne carved from light and bone, sat Azeriel—His Radiance, the False Savior.
He stared into a mirror forged from angel glass.
Within it, images flickered:
Lilith at the Spire of Remorse, screaming in her reflection.
Ethan turning to steam and flame.
Sarah, cloaked in spectral time, rewriting her own fate.
He exhaled, long and slow. The candlelight around him dimmed.
"Too fast. She's growing too fast."
From the shadows behind the throne, a figure emerged—robed, faceless, its presence suffocating.
"Your sister has become what you feared," the creature said in a voice like iron tearing silk."Shall I... intervene?"
Azeriel raised his hand. "No. She hasn't reached the seventh Spire. Not yet. Let her rise. Let her hope."
He leaned forward, eyes glowing.
"Because I want her strong when I break her."
The Spire of Storm and Blood
Thunder cracked across the sky like a whip.
Lilith, Ethan, and Sarah stood at the base of the next spire. It spiraled high above, surrounded by screaming winds and blood rain, its surface carved from jagged obsidian and vein-like roots that pulsed with crimson light.
Lightning struck the cliffs around them.
The storm whispered promises:
"Only the broken pass."
"Only the cruel rise."
Lilith narrowed her eyes.
"Let's finish this."
⚡ Floor One: The Bloodwind Trial
The moment they entered, a cyclone of crimson wind hurled them apart—forcing each into their own path.
🔥 Ethan's Path:
He landed in a crucible of molten iron, where spirits of past fire-wielders danced in circles around him, chanting:
"Your fire is borrowed. Prove it's yours."
Flames surged at him from every direction. He activated Steamform, dodging the attacks, but they kept coming—testing not his power, but his resolve.
He had to create something from his fire—not just destroy.
Ethan inhaled and formed a twin-bladed spear from flame and vapor—his first construct. The spirits bowed and vanished.
He moved on.
🌙 Sarah's Path:
She walked a bridge of shadows where time flickered unnaturally. Her own past selves kept reappearing—versions of her that had fled.
"Run again, Sarah," one said."It's always worked before."
She closed her eyes and used Chronoblink—not to escape, but to step into her bravest moment: the night she chose to stand by Lilith.
The bridge solidified. Her ghosts vanished.
She pressed forward, stronger than ever.
🩸 Lilith's Path:
She faced a battlefield where her own demonic army turned on her.
They screamed:
"You are not our queen. You're a fallen girl playing war."
She fought them alone—using her Soulbrand to mirror their attacks and overcome them one by one. Each victory hurt her. Each loss stung deeper.
Then, from the smoke, her younger self—Lily—stepped out.
"Do you even remember me?"
Lilith lowered her sword.
"Yes," she whispered. "But I'm not you anymore."
Lily smiled—and became flame.
Lilith walked through it, unburned.
They reached the storm heart together.
There, tethered to a throne of lightning, waited the guardian.
👤 Warden of Storms Profile:
Name: Thandros the Skyburned
Height: 9'0"
Weight: 700 lbs of muscle and fury
Powers: Storm Summoning, Blood Lightning, Weapon Echo (copies any weapon used against him)
Origin: Once a god of wind, Thandros was betrayed by Heaven and chained to this Spire. His fury powers the storm that surrounds it.
He rose with crackling laughter.
"I've waited eons for prey worthy of the storm."
He lifted a massive halberd, shaped like a thunderbolt, and the final battle began.
Ethan tried to steam past, but Thandros echoed his movement—appearing behind him in a burst of lightning.
Sarah vanished mid-strike, but he hurled chains of electricity that snatched her from time itself.
Lilith fought hardest—black flame against white lightning—but even Soulbrand could barely keep up.
"We can't outpower him!" Ethan shouted.
"No," Sarah growled, bleeding. "We outlast him."
Together, they baited his copied attacks. Every time he used Weapon Echo, he grew more unstable—until finally, Lilith leapt from behind, imbued with Ethan's flame and Sarah's invisibility.
She drove her soulbound sword into his heart.
The lightning went silent.
Thandros smiled as he died.
"Good. Let the skies weep when you fall."
🌩️ After the Storm
As the tower collapsed, a bolt of purified lightning struck the trio. It didn't harm—it blessed.
Ethan's spear now holds permanent form and can redirect lightning.
Sarah's cloak now phases through attacks for a second after time-blink.
Lilith's Soulbrand can now retain a stolen power for one minute.
They stood beneath calm skies for the first time in months.
Six Spires down.
Only one remains:
The Spire of Judgment.
A place where Heaven and Hell meet—where all sins and all truths are laid bare.
Lilith stared into the horizon.
"My brother's waiting."
Sarah held her hand.
Ethan stood at her side.
And together—they walked toward the end.