The sky had changed.
Where once it blazed with the golden hue of the Celestial Order's dominance, it now churned with thick clouds and streaks of violet lightning. The surface world felt the shift—even if they didn't understand it. Farmers halted mid-harvest. Priests paused mid-sermon. Children stared upward, sensing that something ancient had awakened.
And atop a cliff overlooking the capital of Andrelia, Graxion stood in silence.
Behind him, the Forgotten Pantheon had risen—stone gods once buried beneath time now marched in formation. Towering figures of obsidian and shadow, their bodies cracked with glowing lines of violet essence. They did not speak. They obeyed.
Kaen stood beside him, still catching his breath. "You sure this isn't a little... overkill?"
Graxion's eyes scanned the city below. "They wanted to erase the shadow. Now they'll remember it forever."
The capital's defense towers shimmered with divine shields. Knights of the Celestial Order formed barricades in the streets. From the palace spire, holy cannons hummed with power drawn directly from the sunstone at its peak.
"They're expecting you," Kaen muttered. "They've rallied everyone."
"Good," Graxion said.
He held out his palm.
A spear of shadow formed in his hand—its edge flickering between existence and void. The same weapon the statues once used in the War of Sundering, reforged in his image. It pulsed with hunger.
"They called us monsters. Cursed. Forgotten. But we were guardians once—before the blood. Before the lies."
Kaen sighed. "And now?"
"Now we become their reckoning."
He raised the spear. The Pantheon moved as one.
"March."
---
In the palace below, Selena was barely standing. Bandaged and furious, she leaned on a cane as priests healed what they could. Her golden armor was dented, her pride even more so.
"He's coming," she said, to the gathered council. "And if we don't break him here, there will be no tomorrow."
A robed figure stepped forward—Archon Elian, the last of the old guard. His beard shimmered with light particles, and he carried the Crown of Lumis, said to channel the very voice of the Creator.
"We underestimated him," Elian admitted. "He carries not just shadow, but memory. He fights with purpose, not vengeance."
Selena's fingers twitched. "He's still my brother. That means I know his weakness."
"Family?" Elian asked.
"No," she growled. "He wants to be remembered."
---
The first explosion tore through the outer wall.
Graxion didn't wait for ceremony. The Pantheon charged with inhuman speed, each step shaking the earth. Soldiers fired beams of divine energy—some struck, but most were absorbed by the shadows that cloaked the giant warriors.
Kaen leapt from rooftop to rooftop, disabling snipers and setting off flash bombs. He wasn't born for war—but he was damn good at causing chaos.
From the center of the city, Selena descended like a comet, blade drawn, fury ignited.
She and Graxion collided in the air.
Steel met shadow. Light clashed with void. The impact sent shockwaves in all directions, toppling towers and shattering shields.
"You'll destroy everything!" she screamed.
"I'm rebuilding what you broke!" Graxion roared.
Their blades danced. Every strike echoed with memories—of shared childhoods, of betrayal, of the curse that divided them. The people of the capital didn't see a tyrant and a hero. They saw two gods locked in a storm no one could stop.
---
By nightfall, the city would burn.
And from its ashes, only one legacy would rise:
The Light that oppressed...
Or the Shadow that remembered.