"Looks like you have a visitor," Tyler said with a knowing smile, ignoring Seraph's invitation to sit on the Seraphim King throne."A visitor?" Seraph asked in confusion. "There is no being who is powerful enough to infiltrate my castle. Not even Zeus!""I didn't say they were a being…" the young man replied with a shrug.The words had barely left his lips when the floor beneath them began to ripple. Water welled up from the crystal tiles, rising gently at first.Then, like a spring bubbling from an underground lake, the water began to swell higher, lapping at Tyler's ankles, his calves, until it reached his knees.The water was cool, carrying the scent of fresh rain and exotic lakes, shimmering with magical light that reflected the hall's crystal glow.Tyler felt healed of all his pain, wounds, and exhaustion from climbing to the cave. He looked up toward Seraph with his six wings folded majestically.The supreme being's face had changed. The joy of liberation faded into something vu

"Get away from me," Tyler growled, pushing Kat away. Apparently, Natalie's arrival and her promise to help him hadn't changed his apocalyptic decision at all. The Sword of Surtr hung frozen in the sky, its massive blade still spanning horizon to horizon, and its white-hot runes pulsing like angry hearts. Heat waves rippled downward in relentless pulses, making the ground groan. Tyler hadn't dismissed it yet, merely paused its descent. His devilish form also remained unchanged. His sudden, brutal shove made Kat fly backward, and she landed hard yards away in the ash, rolling to a stop with a pained gasp. Mamushi hissed protectively, slithering to her mother's side. Lilith's forked tail lashed in alarm, her demoness eyes wide with genuine fear. Even Kat, the ancient goddess, looked up at him from the ground with something new in her expression—terror. He had gone past the threshold of saving. Tyler straightened himself, the black fire rising higher around his form. "If anybody dares

"You can summon God?" Tyler blurted out, his teenage voice cracking with disbelief. He pushed his chair back and slammed his hands down hard on the porcelain surface, making the teacups rattle and the tea slosh over the rims."Natalie, tell me you're joking. Did you say you can summon the actual, all-powerful, creator-of-everything God? That's not just crazy, that's completely ridiculous.""No one summons God, or even feels his presence. Not Seraph, not Destiny, not anyone in any lore I can see in the Akashic Records. How could you even say that with a straight face? It sounds like the most insane thing I've heard since Wings Island. Are you sure it's not some trick of the garden or Ashley's visions playing games with her?"Natalie didn't look away, even though she twisted a napkin in her hands slowly. "I get it, Tyler. I really understand what you mean. When it first hit me, when Ashley's visions started guiding me, and I started piecing together what I am, I thought the same thing.

Tyler raised his hand, snapping his fingers sharply. The aerial pause shattered. With a monstrous groan, the Sword of Surtr shivered and resumed its fall, its flames roaring louder as it accelerated.Apocalyptic omens erupted worldwide again. The skies darkened further, earthquakes rumbled distant continents, tsunamis crashed coasts, and volcanoes stirred.Victor didn't hesitate. "Limiters release!" he shouted, his body surging with power. Dark energy exploded around him, coiling like living shadows. He grew rapidly, over ten feet tall in seconds.His form became shrouded in swirling blackness that absorbed light, and his muscles bulged with impossible density. From his back, dark, scaly wings erupted, crackling like lightning.Victor's eyes glowed crimson. With a boom like cannon fire, he launched skyward, soaring straight towards the descending blade.The group watched him fly towards his target, breathless. Kat gripped Yara's arm. "I have a sudden crush on this Peerless Man. Is he

God's voice boomed like a hangman's. "I've come down for one reason. To take my granddaughter Natalie with me into the divine void. She is an anomaly, born outside the weave of my creation. Her existence risks destabilizing the universe and triggering a crisis. She must return to nature and dissolve into the source."Then, before anybody could respond, without any warning, God snapped his fingers. Natalie's body began to shimmer then, as if it were a water ripple. The edges of her outline shivered.The young woman's body turned into light particles, drifting away like mist in the wind. She gasped, reaching for Tyler with her eyes streaming. "No… Wait… This is too soon…"Tyler jumped to his feet, releasing his seraphim wings with an explosion of power. He roared in defiance, brandishing the Excalibur, which appeared in his grip with a crack. "No! You might be God, but I won't let you take Natalie!"Just as planned, Victor unlocked his abilities instantly, all his limiters shattering. D