The battle was over, but the air still reeked of ash and holy fire.Kael stood amid the ruins of what had once been the Black Fang’s training yard. The stone was cracked, the ground still smoldering where divine light had struck. His disciples were silent, some kneeling, some whispering prayers, others staring in mute disbelief at the thing glowing across their master’s chest.The seal burned like molten gold. It pulsed with every beat of his heart, spreading threads of light along his veins until his skin shimmered faintly beneath the blood and soot.Aelira pushed through the frightened crowd. “Kael..”He raised a hand before she could touch him. “Stay back.”The sigil flared again, bright enough to sear the shadows from the corners of the courtyard. Kael clenched his jaw, forcing a breath through gritted teeth. It felt as if molten chains were coiling around his ribs, burrowing into his soul.One of the younger disciples dropped to his knees. “Master, the heavens have marked you…”

The storm hadn’t stopped since the ritual. Crimson veins of lightning crawled across the night sky, echoing Kael’s pulse. Every flash mirrored the mark burning faintly on his chest, the Crimson Seal of Defiance as if the heavens refused to forget what he’d done.Inside his chamber, the air shimmered with heat. Blood runes still stained the stone floor. Kael sat before them, bare-chested, breathing slow and steady. In front of him lay the first Fragment of the Godslayer Blade, recovered from the burning temple, a jagged shard of metal blackened by centuries, faintly throbbing with crimson light.Aelira stood in the doorway, arms folded. She hadn’t spoken to him since the ritual.Finally, she broke the silence. “You haven’t slept in three days.”“I can’t,” Kael murmured. His voice was low, distant. “It’s calling.”Her wings rustled uneasily. “That fragment?”He nodded. “It knows me.”Aelira’s expression darkened. “It shouldn’t.”Kael didn’t answer. He reached for the fragment, and the

The storm finally broke. Crimson lightning split the clouds as Kael stepped forward, the Godslayer dagger humming like a living heart in his hand. Below, the armies of ten sects surged, banners of gold, azure, and obsidian unfurling like waves crashing against a cliff of defiance.The Black Fang disciples roared behind him, their formation sigils glowing with blood-red light.“Form lines!” Elder Thane shouted. “Defensive rings, three layers! Archers, channel qi!”The mountain trembled under the force of so many cultivators releasing power at once. The air burned. Rocks turned molten.Kael raised his hand, his voice slicing through the chaos.“Black Fang! The gods call us heretics—then let’s give them reason to fear the word!”A thousand crimson formations flared at once. Energy surged through the ground, feeding into Kael’s core. His aura exploded outward, crushing wind and will alike.Then, he moved.The first enemy charge met him at the valley mouth, a flood of cultivators from th

The sky was no longer sky. It was a wound, ripped open, bleeding light and fire.Kael stood amid the ruins of the Ten Sect War, the earth quaking beneath his feet. The divine beacon born from the blood of the slain descendant still burned above, a pillar of crimson and gold tearing through the heavens. Every cultivator left alive had dropped to their knees, trembling under its radiance.Aelira’s voice cut through the chaos. “Kael, you’ve called them down!”He didn’t answer. His eyes were fixed on the storm forming above, the shape of wings, vast as mountains, stretching across the clouds. Lightning licked their edges, and from the center of the storm, a single eye opened, blinding, merciless, divine.Aelira’s wings unfurled, light surging from her palms as she threw up a barrier of shimmering energy. Divine fire struck it like a hammer, shattering the first layer instantly. She grit her teeth, rebuilding it with her own blood essence. “Get your disciples out!”“They’re yours,” Kae

The battlefield still smoldered. Smoke coiled through the ruins like ghosts refusing to leave. The air was thick with the stench of blood, ozone, and something older, divine residue clinging to shattered earth. The Ten Sect armies were gone, their banners nothing but ash on the wind.Only one banner still stood.Black Fang’s. Torn, scorched, but unyielding.Kael stood at the center of the desolation, cloak fluttering against the hot wind. Around him, the surviving disciples of the Black Fang knelt, bruised, bloodied, but alive. Aelira stood beside him, pale but unbroken, her divine wings folded behind her like dimmed embers.No one spoke.They were waiting, for words, for direction, for something to fill the silence left by gods and death.Kael’s gaze swept the horizon. He saw the corpses of the proud, sect masters who had sworn their faith to the heavens, divine champions who believed themselves untouchable. Now they were dust beneath mortal feet.He turned, voice low but sharp. “R