Ashfall City had never known a morning like this.
The sun didn't rise; instead, the sky split.
From horizon to horizon, a vast crimson eye opened—its iris ringed with lightning, its pupil a spinning vortex that swallowed the dawn. Clouds tore apart, revealing swirling rivers of fire and shadow that poured downward in slow, divine spirals.
Every bell in the city clanged at once. Every soul, mortal or otherwise, felt a single command crawl into their bones.
"Kneel."
And across the city, they did.
Only one figure remained standing at the heart of the temple ruins—Hayate, his coat torn, his hand wrapped around the Devouring Sword, its edge still humming from the battle beneath the city.
Lirien stood beside him, her silver wings flickering in the unnatural light. "She's not waiting anymore," she said, voice hushed. "The Goddess is descending."
Hayate's gaze stayed on the eye above. His pupils shimmered with fragments of gold and scarlet—echoes of the Sovereign's essence still burning in him. "Good," he murmured. "I'm tired of running."
The Descent
Lightning fell like rain.
Each bolt struck the city walls, exploding in halos of holy fire. Statues crumbled. Entire watchtowers folded into molten rubble. The air reeked of ozone and something older—divine retribution made manifest.
Then the light solidified.
From the sky emerged six silhouettes—beings with no faces, only burning crowns and eyes of white fire. Their armor bore the insignia of the Goddess: the sigil of Judgment, the Circle of Absolute Order.
[Warning – Divine Enforcers Detected: Class Ω Entities Confirmed]
[System Advice: Combat not recommended.]
Lirien's grip tightened around her staff. "Six Enforcers… that's not a warning, that's execution."
Hayate raised his sword. "Then let's see how divine law handles disobedience."
The Enforcers raised their spears in unison. The first one's voice boomed, shaking the ground.
"Bearer of the Devouring Star—by decree of the Goddess of Silence, your existence is a sin. Your light, a corruption. Your soul, a stolen flame."
Hayate smirked. "Then she should have chained it better."
The Battle Begins
The first Enforcer struck. A spear of light crashed down faster than sound—Hayate barely moved aside as it split the courtyard, carving a crater where he had stood.
The second followed, wings cutting arcs of plasma. Lirien countered with radiant wards, her voice rising in an ancient celestial incantation. Each word summoned layers of glowing symbols that spun around her, deflecting divine blasts.
"Hayate!" she shouted. "If we don't break their link to the Eye, they'll keep respawning through divine channels!"
He leapt backward, landing on the shattered temple altar. "Then I'll cut the link."
The Devouring Sword flared. For a heartbeat, the entire world dimmed.
He swung once. The wave of energy that followed devoured the light around it—sound vanished, color bled out, the Enforcers' eyes flickered.
Two of them fell, dissolving into ash and fragments of broken halos.
The others recoiled.
"Blasphemy confirmed. Initiate Absolute Judgment."
They raised their hands. The Eye above them widened.
Divine Judgment
The sky screamed.
A column of light thicker than the city's walls descended, engulfing everything in its path. Buildings turned to glass. Air became fire. For a moment, even time stuttered.
Lirien grabbed Hayate's arm, wings curling around them as she chanted a desperate shield. "This will kill everyone—!"
Hayate's mind raced. The Chain Sovereign's essence… I can forge divine energy. Bind or redirect it.
He drove his sword into the ground. The runes beneath Ashfall flared—those same hidden veins of ancient light now bending to his will.
[Ability Activated: Divine Chain Forging (Prototype)]
Chains of pure starlight erupted from the ground, linking sky to earth. They wrapped around the descending beam, diverting it, slowing it—until it shattered into streams of harmless sparks that rained across the city like falling stars.
The citizens below gasped, watching the miracle unfold.
Hayate panted, one knee on the ground, steam rising from his skin. "Still… alive…"
Lirien exhaled in disbelief. "You bound divine judgment. Do you realize what you just did?"
He grinned weakly. "No. But it worked."
The Eye Speaks
The clouds boiled again. The Eye's iris narrowed, and a voice, vast and merciless, rolled through the heavens.
"Impressive, my little thief. You've learned to defy divinity."
Hayate's expression hardened. "I didn't steal your power. You abandoned it."
"Bold words for a mortal with borrowed strength. Shall I remind you what you truly are?"
The Eye blinked—and suddenly, he was no longer standing on solid ground.
The world around him melted into white. The air hummed with the sound of a thousand voices whispering in reverse.
He stood alone before a towering, feminine figure cloaked in shifting light. Her face was obscured, but her eyes—those endless, calm eyes—pierced through him like glass.
"Do you remember the last time we met?"
Hayate's breath hitched. "No. I—"
Images slammed into him: a temple of gold, a shattered crown, his own hands covered in celestial blood. A voice—her voice—begging him not to take the Star.
"You devoured my heart," she said softly. "Now, it beats inside you."
He staggered back. "That's… not possible."
"You are my creation, Hayate. My failed attempt to destroy the cycle of gods."
His sword trembled in his grip. The truth felt like poison.
"And now," she whispered, "I will unmake you."
Return to the Battlefield
The vision shattered.
Hayate gasped, back in the temple ruins. Blood trickled from his eyes. Lirien was shouting his name, dragging him out of the crater left by another blast.
"Snap out of it! You stopped breathing for ten seconds!"
He clenched his fists. "She showed me… everything."
"Then use it," Lirien snapped. "Because she's not done."
The Eye flared again—its center forming into a massive spear of condensed divinity. The remaining four Enforcers merged into it, their forms becoming the weapon's core.
[System Alert: Catastrophic Energy Detected – Impact Imminent in 30 seconds.]
Hayate rose, his aura crackling. "Then we end this now."
He lifted his blade, summoning every ounce of the Sovereign's forged chains, every ember of the Devouring Star. The air bent around him; gravity warped.
Lirien's voice broke through the roar. "You can't survive that output—!"
"I don't need to." He smiled faintly. "I just need to win."
The Birth of the Devouring Sky
The spear fell.
Hayate leapt, slicing upward. The world went silent.
Two lights collided—divine gold and devouring black. The explosion erased color, erased distance, erased everything.
For those watching from the city below, it looked as if two suns had clashed above Ashfall, their fusion tearing a scar through the clouds.
When the light faded, Hayate hovered midair, surrounded by a storm of floating runes. His hair drifted weightlessly, his eyes twin stars of red and gold. Behind him, a massive circular sigil glowed—a black sun devouring a golden halo.
The Goddess's voice trembled for the first time.
"What have you become?"
Hayate's voice echoed like thunder. "The thing you feared most."
He swung his sword once more. The Eye cracked. A web of fractures spread across the sky, each pulse sending waves of divine backlash through the heavens.
Lirien shielded her face, awestruck. "He's breaking divine law itself…"
The Eye screamed—and then exploded, scattering light like shattered glass.
Aftermath
Silence.
Ashfall City lay in ruins and radiance.
The sky above was empty once more. Only faint golden embers drifted down like snow.
Lirien limped toward him, wings burned at the edges. "Hayate…"
He turned, expression unreadable. His aura was dimming; cracks of light ran along his arms.
"I… contained the blast," he murmured. "But something's wrong."
[System Warning: Host Integrity – 7%]
[The Devouring Star is attempting to stabilize… Error.]
Lirien's eyes widened. "You're overloading. You have to let it go!"
He looked at her and smiled weakly. "If I let it go, it'll consume the world."
"Then we'll find another way!"
He closed his eyes, feeling the heat burning inside his chest. The Goddess's last words still echoed in his skull.
"You devoured my heart."
He whispered, "Then maybe it's time to return it."
His body began to glow. Runes spiraled around him, each one forming a chain of light. He pressed a hand to his chest—and pulled out a fragment of pure, pulsating energy.
Lirien screamed, "No!"
He hurled it skyward. The fragment burst, reforming into a small, silent sun that floated above the ruins. The light spread across the heavens, sealing the fractures in the sky.
When the radiance dimmed, Hayate was gone.
Only his sword remained—its blade half-buried in the temple stone, still humming softly.
Epilogue: The Goddess's Shadow
Far above the mortal realm, in the fractured remains of the divine plane, the Goddess of Silence sat upon her empty throne.
Her hand touched her chest—where a faint heartbeat now pulsed once more.
"You returned it," she murmured. "Foolish boy."
Her eyes opened, glowing with mixed grief and fury. "Then I will come for you myself."
The temple bells of Ashfall rang again. But this time, it wasn't warning—it was mourning.
[QUEST LOG UPDATE]
[Main Quest: The Goddess Descends – Phase II Completed]
[New Quest: The Lost Star – Find Hayate's Soul]
[System Status: Dormant. Awaiting Reconnection.]