Chapter 3 — The Wrath That Burns Heaven
Naelira's nails dug into her palms until they bled.She could barely breathe.Her eyes locked on the battlefield below ...not as a warrior, but as a daughter who feared she was about to watch her father's child die.
"Rigorus…" her voice cracked, swallowed by the chaos.Every heartbeat felt like a hammer strike to her ribs.And yet, she could not look away.
Kaelvron's boots touched down, dust curling around him in slow spirals.He stalked toward Rigorus, each step deliberate, a predator approaching its prey.Rigorus lay there, body still, chest unmoving.
Kaelvron smirked."It's over."
But then...
A twitch.A smile.Not the smile of relief.Not the smile of a man returning to life.It was the kind of smile a man wears when he has decided to burn the world down.
Rigorus's hand rose slowly, impossibly steady, pointing toward the heavens.
The wind stilled.The clouds churned as though the sky itself feared what was coming.
And then...
A BOOM so loud the air itself split.
The halo appeared.Absolute Halo.It didn't just glow — it detonated around him, a perfect ring of light and crimson fire that expanded with the force of a divine explosion. The shockwave tore the clouds into shreds and forced Kaelvron to dig his feet into the ground just to remain standing.
Rigorus dropped his hand.
The sky answered.
Thousands ... no ...tens of thousands of swords fell, each a streak of burning crimson, as if the heavens themselves had shattered into blades. They screamed as they tore through the atmosphere, their sound so sharp it felt like it could slice flesh.
Kaelvron leapt away, but Rigorus appeared in front of him like a phantom, slamming a fist into his gut so hard the ground buckled beneath them. Kaelvron's breath exploded from his lungs. His balance broke ... and that's when one of the falling swords slashed clean through half his arm.
The wound didn't heal.It burned.The flesh smoked, as if the sword had carved its hatred into him.
Kaelvron's eyes widened.What… what kind of monster is this?
The second rain came.He didn't get time to think.
Rigorus was on him again, moving like a rabid beast, his body twisting in impossible angles, each motion laced with killing intent so dense it warped the air around him. His eyes glowed pure crimson ... not a trick of the light, but an aura so thick it burned itself into Kaelvron's vision.
The third rain fell.There was no pause, no mercy.Kaelvron found himself surrounded ... swords on every side, and in front of him, the devil in human skin.
A blade passed straight through Rigorus's body ... not cutting, not harming ... and still the man kept coming.
Unconscious, yet still moving, Rigorus launched his final punch toward Kaelvron's chest...
...when a hand caught it.
A single hand.
The force rippled outward, cracking the ground for miles.Behind that hand stood Kaelvron ... barely standing, limbs missing, body shaking. His earlier arrogance had shattered into raw fear.
The man who caught Rigorus's punch?Vaelus.
The same monster who had razed their church to the ground.The same butcher who had slaughtered everyone Rigorus loved there.
Vaelus didn't just block the punch.He slapped Rigorus across the face.The strike was so brutal it hurled him ten meters away like a ragdoll.
Rigorus hit the ground, but before the dust even settled, an invisible force yanked him back ... dragging him upright, forcing his eyes open.
And then he saw the face.
Vaelus.The predator.The murderer.The executioner.
Vaelus's hand shifted into a stance Rigorus had seen before ... the same one Kaelvron had used for his imitation of Crimson Tempest.
But this wasn't imitation.This was the original.The kind that could erase a soul from existence.
Rigorus's instincts screamed.His bones felt cold.If this hit landed, there would be nothing left of him to bury.
Vaelus whispered it."…Crimson Tempest."
Time stopped.Not metaphorically ... the world froze.
A man appeared beside Rigorus.His voice was calm, almost lazy."Clock Puppet. Clock Master."
The air turned to glass.Sound died.Within thirty meters, nothing moved ...not even the falling dust.
In that suspended eternity, the man touched Rigorus's shoulder ... and they were gone.
Time snapped back.
Kaelvron staggered.Vaelus blinked, finding empty space where Rigorus should have been.
For a heartbeat, neither moved.
And then Vaelus smiled.Not the smile of amusement.Not even curiosity.It was hunger.
"Oh… he's still alive."He tilted his head, crimson eyes narrowing."Then things are about to get interesting."
Far from the battlefield, a blur raced across the land ... Kaelen Vorath Nemoran, the Imperial Protector, the traitor son. His back bore the limp body of Rigorus.
Who the hell is this bastard? Kaelen thought, his strides devouring the ground. Is he insane, picking a fight with that demon Vaelus? Even in my prime, fighting alongside the Emperor's best, I couldn't touch that monster.
He glanced at the man on his back.Lucky brat… lucky the prince and princess told me what was brewing in the Draevens. I came only to see… and found this mess.
Kaelen's jaw tightened.The princess seemed to like this man. Fine. I'll save him. I'll take him to the Imperial House. These lands are nothing but ruins now. The civilians are gone. This war zone is just dust and ghosts.
And so, with the speed of a tempest and the weight of a war behind him, Kaelen vanished into the horizon ... carrying the man who had just made the heavens rain blood.