Clicking my tongue, I jumped back—just barely avoiding the vortex of spiraling light magic that carved through the air where I'd stood a moment ago. That thing wasn't just for show—it devoured mana like a starving beast.
One of my clones landed beside me, panting slightly.
"What do we do now?"
The other clone landed behind us, crouched low with twin pistols drawn.
"Why are you even talking? We're all thinking the same thing."
"Stall," I said, already tracking the cracks spreading along the inner dome. Thin red fractures spread across the obsidian like lightning. "His tantrum earlier cracked the barrier. We buy time. That's all we need."
"The other one's analyzing the weak point, so we just need to keep this bastard occupied," one of them added.
I shot her a glance. "Stop talking. Mind link works fine."
Our tails lashed behind us—each one trailing a smoky, reddish glow, the mark of our divine blood and cursed roots. It smelled like burning ice and ash. Raw power condensed into twitching nerves.
The vortex faded—and the god descended, his blackened wings spread like judgment.
Eight of them.
Even darker than before, and yet he still radiated holy light. Divine irony.
"Father, I don't think we can win here," Logan muttered from the sidelines.
"Shut up, boy. You've never seen real power," the god snapped, his voice grinding like a blade through gravel.
"Look at that," one of my clones said, amused. "He's got four pairs of wings now."
"All black. Still using light magic. Must be having an identity crisis."
"Focus," I growled, but couldn't suppress a smirk. "Those wings are our cue."
Smoke coiled more violently off our bodies as we charged up.
"Let's make him work for it."
The god snapped his gaze toward us.
"You've been chatting for too long…"
He suddenly appeared between us with a loud boom, his hand already swinging in an arc of compressed air.
"Shit!"
All three of us dropped ice shields mid-motion. The pressure strike shattered the first layer, cracked the second, and only barely dispersed on the third.
My ears rang. Blood trickled from my lip.
'Air pressure... like what Amari was practicing,' I thought grimly, planting my heels into the ground. 'But refined. Weaponized.'
Before I could recover, he was already moving—spear out, stabbing straight at my heart.
One clone blurred forward.
"NOT today!"
The spear hit her dead center.
There was a flash—not blood, but light breaking apart illusion and magic.
The clone didn't scream. She simply froze, fractured—and shattered into snow and glass-like ash, dissolving into the wind.
"Dammit," I hissed. "One down."
My second clone raised her rifle and emptied a clip directly at the god's back while I lunged forward from the opposite side.
We caught him mid-turn. My blade carved into his ribs, shallow but sharp, and her bullets cracked his shoulder blade, divine ichor spraying from the wound.
But he didn't flinch.
He grabbed my arm with one hand and spun—slamming me into the ground hard enough to crater it.
CRUNCH.
Pain bloomed through my ribs.
I coughed but activated a blood seal beneath my skin, knitting the worst of it.
Above me, my last clone moved with elegant precision—switching from rifle to dagger, blinking into range with foxfire trailing her feet.
She slashed his neck—and he twisted, letting it land shallowly before retaliating with a burst of light.
CRACK.
Her leg was ripped off at the knee, and her body was flung across the dome.
"FUCK!" I screamed, flickering back to my feet.
I flash-stepped behind the god, grabbing the half-conscious Logan by the neck and lifting him like a ragdoll.
He blinked.
"Wh—wait, wha—"
"Let's see how heartless Daddy really is."
The god paused mid-lunge, watching as I held his son up like a meat shield.
My last clone crawled into position, AR-56 aimed at the god's chest, breathing heavily.
"Fire."
She didn't hesitate.
The god reacted fast—too fast.
He fired a beam of searing light straight through the boy's stomach and into my shoulder. The impact was enough to rupture the muscle, and Logan screamed—barely alive but bleeding out fast.
I dropped him and gritted my teeth, teleporting backward.
But that single moment cost me.
The god appeared above my last clone, spear ready.
"No—!"
She raised her gun to block—but it was too slow.
SHHHHK!
The spear pierced through her chest, but her hand remained steady, finger still on the trigger.
"Got you…"
BOOM.
The gun's magazine exploded with condensed fire magic point-blank in the god's face. The burst staggered him—long enough for me to lunge and drag my last clone's body away.
But she was already disintegrating. Tail first. Her breath was shallow.
"You'll live…" she whispered.
"No."
She gave me a faint smile as her form dissolved into ash—leaving only a silver ring of mana dust behind.
Alone again.
Bloodied. Exhausted. Barely holding myself upright.
But the barrier was cracking, and I could feel something.
Her.
"Just a little longer," I muttered, crouching low with my blade ready.
The god rose, his face burned, one eye flickering with divine instability.
"I'm done playing with you."
"Then come on," I spat blood. "Let's see what you can do when I'm the last one left."
[Dean—Fortress Interior, Aftermath of the Slaughter]
The scent of blood clung to the walls.
I stepped over the scattered remains of the last angel squadron, smoke curling from the edges of my coat as I walked calmly through the ruined hallway. Burnt banners, holy wards torn apart, pieces of armor—everything was either melted or dismembered.
"Hmm… it's worse than I thought," I muttered, nudging aside a scorched gauntlet with my boot.
Hundreds of demi-human bodies littered the floor. Angels too—some intact, most not. I hadn't even used a tenth of my strength.
'We should've just brought more humans.'
Another doorway, another pathetic attempt at resistance.
"You're no demon."
One of the surviving angels stepped from the shadows, weapon trembling.
I sighed, barely looking at him. "Nope."
I waved my hand lazily. The angel's body split in seven different directions before he hit the floor.
"Brother, charge!!" Another one screamed.
A dozen more angels came running.
"Stacy's not going to be thrilled about the losses," I said, cracking my neck as they closed in.
"Die, human!"
I didn't answer. Just took a breath.
Two meters away from me, they stopped existing.
The hallway went quiet again—except for the splash of meat hitting the floor.
I stepped through the aftermath, lighting a cigarette and tossing it onto the pile. It ignited instantly.
"I should wrap this up before Kitsuna gets here."
My eyes narrowed.
The mana pressure coming from the dome wasn't Kitsuna's anymore. It was the God of Light's. Stabilized. Linked.
She's still alive. But she's bleeding.'
I looked to the far end of the hall. More movement. More noise. But that wasn't my concern anymore.
'I wonder how Stacy's going to react when she sees our kid no… All grown up, buffed out like a monster.' I chuckled. 'Amari's going to lose her shit when she finds out she only fought a clone.'
I cracked my knuckles and vanished into the shadowed hall ahead.
[Sky Fortress—Containment Zone: Eliara & Thorne vs. the Strongest Clone]
The wind howled above the shattered floating plains.
The strongest clone of the God of Light had stabilized. His body pulsed with golden light, but now there was structure to it—calculated, hardened. He was no longer stalling. He was ascending.
Eliara hovered mid-air, chains of celestial law swirling around her like serpents. Her shoulder bled faintly where the last beam had clipped her—but she stood firm.
Thorne, weaponless after the clone snapped his divine hammer in half, now stood on a floating slab of obsidian, fists clenched. His warplate was scorched, smoking—but he still smiled.
"He's nearly done with the girl inside," the clone said. "Once he finishes her, I'll break you both."
Eliara raised a broken chain.
"Then we don't need to win. We just need to keep you here."
The air snapped—and time bent.
Chains shot toward the clone in spirals. The moment they touched his form, the space around him began collapsing—like a black hole made of oaths.
He roared, summoning light spheres in all directions.
"I AM DIVINE!"
The explosion that followed rippled across the sky, obliterating one of the floating platforms completely.
Thorne emerged from the smoke.
"Round two, sunshine."
He leapt.
CRACK!
His fist slammed into the clone's jaw.
The god spun—Eliara's chains coiled again, binding his left wing and shoulder.
BOOM!
Thorne followed with a knee to the chest, cracking divine armor.
The clone erupted in light and knocked them away—but it was clear:
They were stalling him.
And it was working.
Eliara looked up as the dome shimmered—threads of light linking the clones to the core.
"He's copying her energy."
"Then someone better kill him soon," Thorne growled. "Or we're all next."
And the battle raged on.