The weak die like ants, while the strong survive only in fear of their own downfall.
Sluth thought this as he watched David punch a hole straight through his zombie brother.
His wife and children—angels in his eyes, carved so perfectly they could have been statues in Akkad's honor—crumbled to dust as Tom cut them down faster than a blink.
But what of those caught in the middle of the food chain?
What of those neither weak nor strong? Do they run like cowards, clutching at another tomorrow, or fight like warriors and hope for another day?
Sluth never got the chance to choose. His body betrayed him—his head fell, tumbling into one of the tomb holes.
He heard crackling thunder shake the pyramid as he drifted past the graves of his ancestors.
Light struck him as he squinted into the flames. Not ordinary flames—no, these were phoenix flames, the kind only whispered about by his elders.
The phoenix-like man fought Akkad, fire and ice clashing blow for blow, sparks and shards scattering like fragments of a broken sky.
Blaze remembered his stick fights with Bill as he carved a sword from his phoenix feather, aflame and radiant. Akkad mirrored him, forging his own weapon of frost. Their swords collided, fire against ice, creation against ruin.
Though Sluth was a mummy with no eyes, there was still a spark in his hollow sockets as he watched the duel unfold.
"Only the strong truly hold the key to freedom,"
he muttered as Blaze fully awakened—both man and phoenix—clashing with Bill the Scorpion. Sluth's sight couldn't keep up, so he described it to himself the only way he could: like a Leucospermum protea blooming against the wide sky.
But then—like spotting a stain of mud on a princess's dress—his gaze caught something else. Kael.
He wasn't shining, nor swift, nor strong. He moved like a shadow—blending with the darkness, not diminishing the beauty of the stars but completing it, like the night sky itself.
Kael stood in the middle of the food chain. What was his choice?
Would he fight like a warrior? Could he ever reach freedom?
No one praised the night—but they always praised the stars it carried.
Was that his fate too?
"If only," Sluth whispered as darkness consumed him, "if only at the end of my life I could gaze into his eyes… then maybe I would know freedom."
Light returned—in a distant place where pawns fell in a chess game between two women.
"This boy, Blaze. He isn't truly of my blood. He was a failed attempt to recreate me. And yet… he wields my power well. I'm considering adopting him as my son."
Fiona sipped her tea as her opponent slid her knight across the board.
"If you deem him worthy, I won't interfere. Have you seen his future?"
Fiona moved her bishop.
"He has a tragic yet fascinating path. He walks my path. But…" she trailed off, her glow burning brighter.
Her opponent tilted her head, waiting.
"I attended one of those hero-choosing ceremonies. Their fates were already written. But one boy—when I looked into his eyes—I saw something else. His eyes… so deep, so beautiful, as if they could swallow me whole." Fiona smiled, her phoenix glow spilling into the room.
Her opponent trembled as she lifted her cup. "What is his fate?"
"Not even I, the Goddess of Light, could see it. I looked, and all I saw was darkness."
The cup slipped from her pale fingers, shattering against the board.
Two men robed in white and gold dropped to their knees.
"Madam—the clone phoenix is fighting Akkad. And… there seems to be another force. Dark. We don't know if it's ally or foe."
"Do you know his name?"
"His name is Mikael," her opponent whispered.
Fiona smiled, eyes flashing. "Request a gate. I'll watch this fight up close. No interference."
"Very well, madam."
Fiona moved her queen.
Her opponent's voice cracked. "I'm not ready to meet my son."
"Checkmate."
Sweat evaporated from my skin as I danced between lava cracks and ice shards.
Bill and Blaze clashed, thunder ringing with every blow.
The impact forced them apart. Blaze leapt—not like a fighter, but like a dancer—each step ending in a clash, each thud on the earth a strike exchanged with Akkad before retreating again.
Akkad's tail shredded. His fists splintered before they reached Blaze.
Akkad's heart raced. Fear coiled inside him—not of Blaze, but of the shadow.
Kael.
Akkad prided himself on detecting threats long before they came. But Kael… he hadn't noticed Kael until it was too late. Until it felt like the reaper's embrace.
Blaze's feathers burst into clones, swarming Akkad.
Akkad cut through the illusions, lashing out with whips of ice. I lunged, severing his arms and legs, leaving only his head clinging to survival.
Blaze appeared before me, his fist burning, harnessing the dragon, striking Akkad with a critical blow.
We moved to finish him. My katana which carried his blood shifted and became him.
His cold hand caught me first.
"You're a dangerous pest," he hissed, freezing me solid.
Blaze impaled him from behind—but it was only a clone which crumbled to snow.
"If that boy were born centuries ago, he would have been a god," Akkad murmured, stepping toward Blaze, who stared at my frozen form.
Far above, Fiona's feathers quivered.
"Blaze… how far will you go?"
He erupted, hotter than the lava itself, moving through it as if it were water. Each strike branded Akkad's body, permanent scars carved into the scorpion's flesh.
They moved at light speed, clashing in blurs of fire and ice.
"I won't let you… I won't… let you take all my brothers!" Blaze roared, his cry freezing time for a heartbeat. He drew back, arms trembling with power, and unleashed his strike.
Bill, chained at the limbs, dragged Akkad down with him, enduring pain that could shatter gods.
Yet even as defeat loomed, Akkad tried to keep up with Blaze. He was smiling—smiling despite tasting his own downfall.
"I underestimated them," he thought, as a liquid star stretched out like diamond, binding him in place.
He unleashed his cry, an avalanche of frost, but Blaze shattered it with a feather of flame.
"His weakness is at his lower left rib—strike it with everything you have."
Kael's voice rang inside Blaze's head, telepathic, calm yet commanding. Blaze's fist obeyed, driving into the exact spot. He realized then—without Kael, he never could have saved his brother.
Everything turned white. Bill, still wrapped in chains, stood beside Blaze. Black veins crawled across his body.
"You really had to play hero until the end," Blaze muttered, lighting Bill's lighter and taking a smoke.
"What am I, a princess, that I should sit idle and wait to be saved?" Bill shot back, his voice breaking as they turned their backs to one another, hiding their tears.
Blaze wanted to speak, but no words could carry the weight.
"I'm sorry," he finally whispered.
"I'm the one who screwed up," Bill answered. "What a hero you are—for sparing me when I became a monster."
"You weren't a monster, Blaze. Just lost in a foggy forest." Bill's hand clenched.
Blaze's fist trembled. "The same happened to you. And I'll tell you the same: you're not lost anymore. Let's go home, Bill."
Bill froze Blaze's tears . "The path I chose can't be undone. My fate is hell. What kind of hero would I be if I refused to pay for my own sins? That would be hypocrisy."
"Shut up, Bill! You did nothing wrong—it's this world, this broken—"
Bill pressed his fist against Blaze's chest, feeling his heartbeat.
"As long as this still runs… you can change your destiny. Don't let pride or despair rule you. Calm yourself. Let your heartbeat run slow—it's running a marathon, not a sprint."
Blaze's vision blurred as Bill's body began to fade.
"Find a wife who can temper your flames. Have children, grandchildren. Make Tana and the priest proud. I'm glad she became the mother I never had, glad she lived instead of ending her in my account. The priest too—a father to me. The children… my everything."
"Bill, stop…" Blaze sobbed.
Bill smiled faintly. "Brush your teeth twice a day. Train hard. Walk your path alongside your brothers and sisters—let them catch you when you stumble. Life wasn't so lonely, after all. Thank you, Blaze."
Blaze turned, but his brother was gone. Blaze had collapsed from spiritual fatigue.
"I will not accept such a defeat!" a voice roared. Akkad's body twisted, merging with the pyramid itself. He seized the key, dragging open a gate—a slow, grinding passage back to where Tana and the others waited.
"Why do you fight death?" Kael's voice cut through, calm and terrible. "It is vanity. One way or another, death will always find you. So embrace it… embrace the Reaper."
Akkad's eyes narrowed. "You've shown me much, Kael. But you are not ready for the wars to come."
My katana hovered above me as I locked eyes with him. One by one, I touched it with my fingers.
"Un."
I closed my eyes. The katana vanished. And I was back—back at my mother's grave, back at the red gate, the rebellion, back to Kaein's words:
"You don't need a weapon. All you need is—"
"Deux."
My heart glowed. My mind glowed. My fists glowed.
"Trois."
Darkness engulfed Akkad. A presence embraced him from behind—smiling. He could not move. He felt it at last: not fear, not cold, but death itself pressing against his chest.
"Quatre."
Akkad screamed, unleashing his cry, freezing everything. My fingers stiffened, ice creeping as I tried to close them around my blade.
"Cinq."
I thought of my mother—my visions of her. Was she alive in this cruel world? Did she still think of me?
"Six."
Mom… your son is not strong. Not weak. Just ordinary. A broken boy among the countless of the multiverse. And yet he keeps walking this path. He fights this disease called life. He clings to survival. And still—he longs for truth, for purpose, end…
"Sept."
My body froze, even my eyes. My final finger stopped, inches away from my katana.
Relief swept over Akkad as the gate split wide.
Freedom.
"Khamsa Echad Ichi."
Note : Thank you guys for reading. The next chapter will be the volume final or season final whatever you call it . It carries sexual tension and the ending might be a bot disturbing so be warned. I know this novel has been dark all the way through but I had to warn you guys on this one . Since it critical for volume 2 if I'll ever make it buy tissues, let it be on a rainy cold day at night in a dark room . Have some popcorn and your phone be at 3 percent. Try not to stare at the ceiling to long.