The air was heavy with despair. Smoke and shattered magic lingered in the sky like the dying breath of resistance. Azire lay bloodied and gasping, Maya's earrings cracked, Daiki groaning beneath the weight of Eclipse Gauntlet's backlash. Hollie clutched her broken sword, and Suna's light had dimmed to a flicker.
Before them stood Thal'Zir, the Hollow Star, a god reborn from the void, towering with cosmic malice and eyes that shimmered with apocalyptic certainty. He raised a hand, gathering a spiral of distorted starlight above his palm.
"This is mercy, little kings and queens. I erase you not out of hatred… but irrelevance."
Just as the void storm began to collapse inward—ready to consume them all—
A piercing whistle shattered the tension.
In an instant, shadows danced. Feathers—black as midnight, sharp as blades—rained down from the sky like a warning.
BOOM.
A pillar of darkness erupted between Thal'Zir and the group. From within it stepped a figure, tall and regal, his golden eyes glowing like dying suns. His wings unfurled wide—wreathed in obsidian fire—and his presence alone silenced the cosmos.
Leviathan had arrived.
"You talk too much," Leviathan said, cracking his neck, then flexing his fingers as if bored.
Thal'Zir narrowed his gaze. "The king of the fallen angels crawls from his hole? You must know this fight is beyond you."
Leviathan grinned, stepping forward slowly. "Beyond me? No. Beyond them… for now, maybe. But you're not dealing with a fledgling demon king or a gauntlet brat anymore."
He knelt beside Azire without breaking eye contact with Thal'Zir, brushing a thumb over the boy's forehead. "You did well, Azire," he whispered. "Sleep now."
Then he stood and cracked his knuckles. His shadow stretched unnaturally far as the battlefield itself began to warp around him.
"Let's see how a void-god handles me."
Thal'Zir launched the starlight spiral. Leviathan raised a single hand. SNAP.
The magic unraveled like cheap thread.
A collective gasp echoed across the ruined battlefield.
Thal'Zir took a step back. For the first time… he looked unsure.
Leviathan smiled, eyes blazing with divine contempt. "Round two."