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CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
Three fronts. Three impossible battles. The war for heaven had begun.In the hunter barracks, Korvain's forces fought with desperate precision against opponents who should have overwhelmed them in minutes. The former General of Heaven's Armies had positioned his troops to exploit every vulnerability in the Archon's defenses—two centuries of planning condensed into a single morning of carefully orchestrated violence."Hold the eastern corridor!" Korvain's voice cut through the chaos as he deflected a strike that would have cut him in half. "Don't let them reach the armory!"His soldiers obeyed, divine and mortal fighters working together in ways that should have been impossible. The hunters they faced were stronger individually, but Korvain had spent lifetimes studying their tactics. He knew where they would attack, how they would respond, and most importantly, where their training had left gaps in their thinking."They're pulling back!" Lieutenant Veras called out. "Main force retreat
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
The safe house felt different in the predawn darkness. Smaller somehow, and larger at the same time—cramped with bodies and supplies, but expanded by the weight of what was about to happen.Kael had spent the last forty-eight hours in a state of constant motion: coordinating logistics, reviewing plans, speaking with allies, reassuring the frightened, and steadying the brave. Now, in the quiet hour before dawn, he finally allowed himself a moment to be still.In five hours, they would launch an attack on the most powerful being in existence. They would do it without Veridian's resources, without overwhelming force, without any real certainty that they could survive the day, let alone win the war. They would do it because the alternative was watching everything they believed in disappear into the Archon's vision of perfect order.He found himself at the small desk in the corner of his room, staring at a blank piece of paper. Ava was sleeping fitfully in the bed behind him, her rest inte
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
The next three days were a study in managed chaos.Word of Kael's refused alliance with Veridian spread through the resistance like wildfire, carried by whispers and encrypted messages and the simple fact that in a realm of gods, nothing stayed secret for long. The reactions ranged from fervent approval to barely concealed panic."You've lost us," Commander Lyros said bluntly during an emergency strategy session. The former Divine Guard officer had defected after watching his squad ordered to execute mortal refugees. "Half my contacts were waiting on Veridian's resources before committing. Without them—""Without them, they'll have to commit based on their convictions instead of their calculations." Celestine's voice cut through the murmur of agreement. "Which, yes, means we'll lose some. But the ones who stay will stay for the right reasons.""The right reasons won't stop the Archon's hunters.""No. But they might be worth dying for."The debate went around and around, the same argum
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
The temple district of Aethermoor had been reduced to ruins, but Veridian's private chambers remained untouched—a bubble of pristine order amid chaos. Kael walked through corridors lined with artifacts from a thousand fallen civilizations, each display case a reminder of what the god of wealth had survived by never choosing sides until victory was assured."You came alone," Veridian observed from behind a desk carved from crystallized starlight. The golden-skinned deity looked exactly as Kael remembered—beautiful in the way a blade was beautiful, all elegant lines and hidden edges. "Either very confident or very desperate.""We both know which one." Kael didn't sit, though Veridian gestured to a chair that probably cost more than most mortal kingdoms. "The Archon's consolidating power. In three days, maybe four, he'll have enough loyal forces to crush what's left of the resistance without breaking a sweat.""And you want my resources." Veridian's smile didn't reach his eyes. "My netwo
CHAPTER FORTY
POV: Kael / AvaThe cost of the attacks was measured in more than numbers.Kael walked through the rubble of what had been a neighborhood, stepping over debris that had been someone's home, someone's life, someone's accumulated years of meaning. The destruction was deliberate—not targeted at military assets or strategic positions, but at civilians. At believers. At anyone who had dared to hope for something different.This was the Archon's message: there is no safety in resistance. There is no shelter in faith. There is only submission or suffering.It was effective. In the hours after the attacks, reports came in of faithful wavering, of worshippers questioning whether the cost was worth the cause. People who had believed in Kael's message were suddenly confronted with the reality that belief could get them killed.But something else was happening too.Among the rubble, among the grief, people were helping each other. Believers and non-believers working side by side to dig out surviv
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
POV: KaelKael drafted the principles in a single night.He sat alone in a small room, writing words that would shape how millions understood their place in the cosmos. The weight of it pressed down on him—every phrase could be misinterpreted, every principle could be twisted, every attempt to create something good could become a tool for harm.But Maya was right. The faithful needed something. Without structure, belief became chaos. Without principles, devotion became fanaticism. Without guidance, people filled the void with their own interpretations—and some of those interpretations were dangerous.So he wrote.Not commandments—he had seen what commandments became in the hands of beings who demanded absolute obedience. Not laws—laws required enforcement, and enforcement required power that could be abused. Guidelines. Invitations. A framework built on everything he had learned in three years of humanity.The core tenets emerged slowly, each one paid for with the weight of experience
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