The sun rose over Phoenix Manor in a blaze of golden light, casting long shadows across the stone courtyard. The last vestiges of blood, ruin, and betrayal had been scoured from its foundations. Reforged wards shimmered faintly in the air, humming with raw power. Soldiers in black-and-gold uniforms patrolled the perimeter—part of the new Vanguard Corps sworn to Ethan Hale.But the man himself?He stood alone in the northern tower balcony, suit tailored to perfection, staring at the distant mountains as steam curled from a cup of black coffee.Behind him, Aria Hale entered the room.“They’re arriving,” she said, voice soft but urgent.Ethan didn’t turn. “All of them?”Aria nodded. “Even the Korrigan Witches. The Ash Seraphim too. They brought gifts.”Ethan smirked faintly. “Let’s hope it’s not another cursed dagger.”Aria laughed once, but the humor didn’t last. Her eyes flicked toward the courtyard below, where soldiers formed ceremonial lines, foreign dignitaries disembarked from bla

Thunder rattled the shattered windows of the Phoenix Fortress’s central atrium. Flames from toppled torches cast shifting shadows across stone. Ethan Hale, blade still humming with mystical energy, stood amid ruins, his chest heaving.Above him, the sky flared with violet lightning as Veyrion and Lilura—sibling gods—fought an ethereal war of raw element and spiritual might. Veyrion’s golden light clashed with Lilura’s crimson fire in midair, sending shockwaves that shook the fortress.Below, masked whispers echoed: keep your eyes on the Horned God. But Ethan’s steel resolve was fixed on the rift above.Was Lilura an ally—or a wild card?In between strikes, Veyrion’s voice ricocheted across realms:Veyrion (voice rippling like steel):“You unleash chaos beyond mortal control—why? To make a statement or to destroy what remains?”Lilura’s laughter rolled like thunder:Lilura:“Order without freedom is a prison, brother. I will tear down your cage!”Ethan remembered the legend: Veyrion bo

Chapter 49: The Door of AshesLocation: Phoenix Citadel — Cracked Sky, Minutes After Lucian’s EscapeThe winds screamed like dying gods.Phoenix Citadel trembled on its floating anchors, shadowed now by the monstrous figure hovering above—the Horned God, draped in tattered twilight and crowned with bone and flame.Its voice was not heard, but felt, crawling down every spine like ancient guilt.“Ethan Hale. Lucian Hale. Two branches from the same tree… both bloomed in arrogance.”And then—without moving—the Horned God opened the Door of Ashes.A spiraling gate formed from fractured runes and scorched memories. Ash rained from it like snow. Through it, time unspooled.Everyone near the rift—Ethan, Aria, Kai, even Oracle Naria—saw everything.Flashback: The Origin of the Horned GodLocation: Before Time — The Realm of ConceptsBefore flame, before stone, before breath… there was Balance.And Balance had two keepers.Elarion, the Flame of Order.Veyrion, the Shadow of Chaos.Together, the

Ash still hung in the air where the Door of Ashes had once stood.The light that had exploded from its collapse was gone now—replaced by uneasy silence, fractured ley lines, and a sky split with fine cracks like shattered glass. The battle had ended… or so they thought.But the Ferrymen had already begun their march.Phoenix Citadel, Emergency Command Deck – 03:44 AMRed alarms pulsed. Communications flickered. Winds howled like banshees.Lucian Hale stood at the center of the chaos, holding Jasmine’s shattered pendant in one hand, and Ethan’s scorched godblade in the other. Neither of them had returned.Behind him, Mira’s voice was tight.“Every scrying mirror we’ve got reads the same thing—static. It’s like the First Realm has swallowed them.”Elise Monroe leaned over the console, eyes hollow. “That Door was never just a gate—it was a fuse. And we lit it.”Lucian’s jaw tightened. “Then we prepare. If we can't get them back, we make sure there’s something left to return to.”He turne

“When suns go silent, it is not the absence of light that should scare you.It is what dares to walk freely in the dark.”—The Codex of UnmakingPhoenix Citadel – Ground ZeroA scream pierced the sky—not human, not divine, but cosmic.Seris hovered above the burning remains of the courtyard, her form no longer childlike, but apocalyptic. Wings of abyssal glass arched behind her. Her hair flowed like ink in water. Her voice carried across continents as if whispered in every ear:“Let the false flame die.”With a single motion, she raised her hand toward the Origin Flame.From the highest tower of Phoenix Citadel, Ethan Hale watched as the relic that had burned for millennia began to flicker.“No,” Ethan growled, sprinting through the shattered war chamber. “She won’t take it.”Behind him, Jasmine followed, blood dripping from a cut above her brow, a ward-shard still embedded in her shoulder. “If the flame dies—”“We all do,” Ethan finished, drawing the Blade of Dominion.The Sunfold Ri