The shrine trembled beneath the strain of unleashed power. Cracks webbed through the ancient stone like veins of molten gold, light pulsing from beneath each one as though the earth itself could not contain what was being done here.
At the center of it all stood Merlin or what was left of him. His body was a ruin, patches of flesh turned ashen and translucent where his soul had burned through its vessel. His eyes glowed with an unnatural brilliance, twin suns flickering within a collapsing husk. His robes hung in tatters, rising and falling in the cyclone of raw magic he radiated.
Beside him, Kazuki barked orders, voice sharp over the thunder and the clash of spells, "Hold the eastern flank! Don't let the angels regroup Merlin is with us!"
Merlin didn't respond. His gaze was fixed ahead, on the wave of demons and celestial horrors pouring through the broken veil surrounding the shrine. A massive, four-winged seraph spearheaded the assault, its burning halo dripping molten gold, its voice a deafening hymn of annihilation.
Merlin raised one skeletal hand.
"Silere," he whispered.
The angel's voice died instantly its throat sealed by an invisible twist of Transfiguration. A second later, it was flung back as the air itself folded in half; Merlin had conjured blades, ripping the creature's wings into ribbons before it could scream.
Demons lunged forward to fill the void serpentine beasts with obsidian carapaces and fire in their veins. Kazuki leapt into the fray, his sword crackling with runes, slashing through one demon's neck while another's claws scraped his shoulder. He shouted a word of power, and the blood that hit the ground ignited, forming a burning sigil that consumed three more monsters in a burst of azure flame.
Merlin's hand moved again faster, almost imperceptible. Statues lining the shrine walls groaned and shifted, their stony faces twisting into grim determination. He had animated the temple itself. Pillars bent, shattering angels under their own falling weight. Stone lions roared to life, mauling anything with wings or horns.
But even that wasn't enough. The sky cracked as a celestial hammer descended, thrown by a divine being too large to fit inside mortal comprehension. Merlin looked up, his form flickering, and raised both hands.
"Fractura Caeli!"
The hammer froze midair, reality itself buckling. The sky shattered—literally shattered like glass. Fragments of wind, lightning and light scattered like shards, slicing through the descending host. Each piece burned holes through demon and angel alike, raining unnatural gore onto the ruined earth.
Kazuki shielded his eyes. "You'll destroy yourself!"
Merlin laughed a rasping, hollow sound that no longer seemed to come from his throat. "That bastard brought me back for this, I shall give him what he desires however misguided it is."
He swept his staff through the air, and the storm came not of rain, but of arcana. Every form of magic known to man burst forth from him at once: bolts of lightning shaped like runes, waves of Transfiguration turning demons into collapsing pillars of salt, spectral dragons of pure illusionary fire spiraling upward to consume angels mid-flight. He even tore open the ground beneath them, releasing a tide of spectral hands—the trapped souls of fallen mages, bound to his command one final time.
Kazuki fought alongside him, covering Merlin's flank with graceful precision. Each time Merlin faltered—each time his hand shook or his legs buckled—Kazuki was there, slashing apart whatever tried to strike him down.
But the price was showing. Merlin's skin cracked like burned parchment, and arcs of uncontrolled energy licked across his body. When he turned his head, one side of his face was already gone—just bone glowing with inner light.
A demon general, its chest carved with runes of hate, crashed through the front line and slammed its claws into Merlin's ribs. The sound was wet and final. Kazuki shouted, cutting the monster down, but Merlin barely reacted. Instead, he raised his other hand, pressing two fingers together.
"Exaudi—"
A pulse of light detonated outward, vaporizing the demon entirely. The shockwave knocked Kazuki to the ground.
Merlin staggered forward, his movements slow now, his voice breaking apart. "Kazuki… the veil must hold… I will buy you minutes. No more. That bastard I can feel it he's doing something haaa." He laughed dead blood leaking from his mouth
"That bastard finally completed his ritual. I can only buy so much time."
Kazuki rose, blood in his mouth. "You're buying eternity."
Merlin smiled faintly. Then, with a flick of his wrist, he opened his final spell.
Dozens of rings of runes spiraled around him, layering like clockwork. Each symbol was older than Hogwarts, older than Britain itself. The runes began to collapse inward, fusing into him. The ground shook, and light poured from every crack in his form.
"Let it be done," Merlin whispered.
He slammed his staff into the earth.
The resulting blast was silent—but it erased the front lines. Angels disintegrated mid-flight. Demons howled before turning to smoke. The very fabric of reality shuddered as if time had skipped a beat.
When the smoke cleared, Kazuki stood alone in the crater of what had been the shrine. The temple was gone—every trace of the invading host reduced to ash. At the center of the ruin lay Merlin's staff, half-melted, still humming with lingering power.
Kazuki dropped to one knee before it, head bowed.
"Rest well," he whispered. "You gave us the seconds we needed."
***
Beyond the mortal plane, in the cold brilliance of the magic, where the light of creation never dimmed, the gods watched.
The veil rippled before them an endless expanse of black silk threaded with the souls of the dying. Every mortal life that flickered out made the fabric shimmer with faint, pitiful light. Through it, they saw everything: the smoldering ruins of Hogsmeade, the storm-wreathed shrine where Merlin's corpse still burned with power, and the scattered battlefields across the world where humanity clawed for survival.
They stood upon a platform of pure celestial metal that floated in the void the Throne Aeternal, where no mortal or spirit had walked in millennia.
Zeus, eldest of them, leaned forward from his seat, lightning crawling across his form like veins of fury. His voice rolled through the Aether like thunder over an endless sea.
"Pathetic," he said, contempt dripping from every syllable. "Even now, their greatest mage destroys himself just to delay the inevitable. They are stubborn, but they are dust."
Across from him, Hades, cloaked in the stillness of shadow, watched the mortal realm with eyes like dying stars. His expression was unreadable, voice deep as a grave, "They fight with desperation, brother. That is all mortals have ever known. They think defiance gives meaning to their death."
Zeus scoffed, lightning flaring from his jaw.
"And it does them no good. The boy-king Merlin only postpones their ruin. When the veil breaks, the world will be ours again. No mortal, no wizard, no dreamer can halt what's coming."
From beside them, Athena, radiant and terrible in silver armor, rested her spear against her shoulder. Her tone was cool, analytical the tone of one who had seen too many wars end the same way, "They believe their courage makes them equal to gods. It would almost be admirable… if it were not so pitiful."
The other gods murmured in agreement. They stood arrayed like constellations, the old pantheon reborn, their divine forms blazing across the Aether as they watched humanity's last convulsions below.
"The veil weakens," Athena continued. "Soon, Father, it will open, and the world will remember who its true masters are."
But before Zeus could reply, the Aether shuddered.
A faint tremor ran through existence subtle, but unmistakable. The gods froze. The veil pulsed once… twice… then began to hum, a low, resonant note that carried through eternity.
Shiva who was silent up until now narrowed his eyes. "That… is not the sound of the veil weakening."