Valdris dangled helplessly within Kael's grasp while violent streams of abyssal darkness crawled across his white armor like living parasites, consuming the celestial energy protecting his body piece by piece as the underground world continued collapsing around them.
The executioner struggled violently.
Yet it accomplished nothing.
Kael's hand gripping his throat felt immovable, absolute, as though the laws of existence themselves had decided resistance was meaningless.
Cracks spread across Valdris's armor.
His divine aura flickered chaotically.
And for the first time since becoming one of the Twelve Thrones' executioners, he felt death approaching.
Real death.
Not merely destruction of the body.
Erasure.
Kael's black eyes stared directly into his.
Cold.
Bottomless.
Ancient beyond comprehension.
"You fear me now," the dual voice echoed through the collapsing abyss. "Yet once… you stood among those who begged for my power."
Valdris's pupils contracted instantly.
Those words—
Only beings from the Sovereign Era could have known the truth hidden behind the Celestial Accord.
"No…" Valdris whispered weakly.
Kael tilted his head slightly.
Fragments of forgotten memories surged continuously behind his eyes.
He saw towering celestial palaces floating above dying stars.
He saw kneeling rulers offering entire worlds in exchange for forbidden strength.
He saw betrayal.
Chains.
War.
And twelve figures standing together beneath a silver sky while holding the fragments of a broken throne.
The Twelve Thrones.
The predecessors of the Celestial Accord.
The very beings who had sealed the Final Eclipse.
Suddenly, Kael's grip tightened.
Valdris coughed blood violently.
"You wear their symbols," Kael said quietly. "Tell me…"
The surrounding darkness intensified enormously.
"…do the remaining Thrones still tremble when they hear my name?"
Before Valdris could answer—
BOOOOOOOOOOM.
A deafening explosion erupted above the abyss.
The entire underground world shook violently as an overwhelming pressure descended from the heavens themselves.
Even Kael paused.
Seraphine immediately looked upward.
Her face lost all color.
"No…" she whispered. "They came too quickly…"
The ceiling of the abyss split apart.
Then the sky appeared.
Not the ordinary night sky above Valthorin—
but a gigantic circular rift glowing with silver fire.
Space itself had been torn open.
And from within the dimensional fracture—
figures emerged.
One.
Then three.
Then dozens.
Each cloaked in luminous robes covered with ancient celestial scriptures, while enormous halos floated behind their bodies like miniature suns illuminating the darkness.
The air itself screamed beneath their arrival.
Kael slowly released Valdris.
The executioner fell heavily onto the shattered platform, gasping painfully while darkness continued corroding his divine aura.
Yet his eyes now contained relief.
"They answered…" he muttered weakly.
The newly arrived figures descended slowly from the heavens, their presence alone causing reality around the abyss to stabilize unnaturally.
At their center floated an elderly man wearing silver robes brighter than moonlight itself.
Unlike Valdris, whose aura resembled a sharpened blade, this being radiated overwhelming authority.
Ancient.
Calm.
Terrifying.
Six enormous rings of light rotated silently behind him.
Seraphine immediately lowered her head slightly.
"The High Arbiter…"
The old man's silver eyes moved across the ruined abyss calmly before finally stopping upon Kael.
Silence followed.
Even the darkness surrounding Kael seemed to react cautiously.
Then the old man spoke.
"So the Eclipse has truly returned."
His voice was soft.
Yet the moment he spoke, the collapsing chamber itself stabilized completely.
Falling debris froze midair.
Fractured stone halted.
Even the violent energy storms paused unnaturally.
Authority over reality.
A Sovereign-level existence.
Kael stared upward silently.
The black wings behind him moved slightly.
"You are not one of the original Twelve," the dual voice stated.
The old man nodded calmly.
"No. I was born long after the Sovereign War ended." His expression remained unreadable. "But I inherited the duty they left behind."
Behind him, the celestial figures slowly spread throughout the air above the abyss, forming an enormous circular formation around Kael.
Thousands of glowing symbols emerged simultaneously across the sky.
A sealing formation.
Seraphine's eyes widened immediately.
"They're going to imprison him again…"
Valdris slowly stood despite his injuries.
Blood covered his mouth, yet hatred still burned within his eyes as he looked toward Kael.
"He must be erased before the awakening completes," he said harshly.
The High Arbiter remained silent for several moments.
Then he sighed softly.
"Valdris," he said calmly, "look carefully."
The executioner frowned.
The old man's gaze remained fixed upon Kael.
"That is not the true Eclipse."
The abyss grew silent.
Valdris's expression changed instantly.
Seraphine looked upward sharply.
Even Kael's dark eyes narrowed slightly.
The High Arbiter continued quietly.
"The real Final Eclipse still remains sealed beyond dimensional reality." His silver gaze sharpened. "This boy is merely the vessel carrying its fragmented consciousness."
Kael's body froze slightly.
Vessel.
Fragmented consciousness.
The voice inside him suddenly became furious.
"Lies."
The darkness exploded outward violently.
BOOOOM.
Several celestial figures in the sky staggered backward as black lightning surged across the abyss.
Yet the High Arbiter remained completely calm.
"You are incomplete," he said softly toward Kael. "A shadow clinging to a mortal soul."
Kael's expression twisted slightly.
Pain surged through his mind instantly.
Fragments of memory collided violently within him.
Which memories belonged to him?
Which belonged to the Eclipse?
The voice inside him roared again.
"I AM THE ECLIPSE."
The black aura intensified catastrophically.
Yet the High Arbiter simply raised one hand.
Immediately, the giant sealing formation above the abyss ignited completely.
Silver chains descended from the sky like divine judgment.
The moment they touched the darkness surrounding Kael—
the abyss trembled violently.
Kael's eyes widened slightly.
The chains were suppressing him.
No—
suppressing the Eclipse consciousness itself.
The High Arbiter looked directly at him.
"You still possess humanity, child," he said quietly. "Fight it now… or eventually your existence will disappear entirely."
Those words pierced through the chaos inside Kael's mind.
Humanity.
For a brief moment—
he remembered.
The small apartment in Valthorin.
Training alone beneath the rain.
Laughing with ordinary classmates.
Dreaming of becoming stronger.
Dreaming of living.
Not destroying worlds.
The black aura around him flickered.
The voice inside him immediately became enraged.
"Do not listen to them."
Pain exploded through Kael's skull.
He grabbed his head violently as darkness surged chaotically around him.
Seraphine stepped forward instinctively.
"Kael!"
The High Arbiter's expression hardened slightly.
"He's resisting."
Valdris immediately shouted, "Then seal him now!"
The celestial formation above intensified.
More chains descended.
The darkness surrounding Kael began collapsing inward violently as conflicting forces tore through his body.
Then suddenly—
Kael screamed.
Not in fear.
In agony.
BOOOOOOOOOOM.
A catastrophic explosion of black energy erupted outward from him in all directions, instantly shattering dozens of descending chains while enormous cracks spread through the stabilizing dimension itself.
The celestial figures recoiled.
Even the High Arbiter's eyes narrowed.
Something was wrong.
The aura erupting from Kael was growing unstable.
Wild.
Chaotic.
The voice inside him laughed softly.
And far away—
beyond dimensions—
inside the throne room chained within eternal darkness—
another seal broke.