ButIn the deepest sanctum of the celestial vault, where even time dared not tread, a single light began to pulse slowly, rhythmically, like the heartbeat of something ancient.
The crystal prison that had held for millennia cracked.
Then shattered.
And from its radiant shards stepped forth a being older than scripture, older than Heaven's first flame
Azareth, the First Seraphim.
The Awakening
Golden wings, larger than cities, unfurled like blades of divine judgment. His eyes opened each one a burning sun. His armor was forged from the breath of stars, his soul woven from forgotten oaths.
Azareth rose with a calm that split reality.
"Who calls me forth?" his voice echoed through every plane.
A trembling priestess knelt before him, barely able to look upon his form.
"The Light… is failing. The Abyss marches. The Thrones are gone. We… we need you."
Azareth's gaze passed through her, through the walls, through the sky itself settling far away. On Ethan.
A long silence followed.
And then, a whisper.
"He lives."
Abyssal Nexus – Throne of Shattered Stars
Ethan stood before the Map of Worlds, a massive floating ring etched with ever-changing symbols. It pulsed violently.
Selene narrowed her eyes. "Something's wrong."
Ethan felt it too. A pull in the fabric of existence. A presence he hadn't felt since…
Before the abyss.
Before death.
Before his rebirth.
"A Seraphim?" Darius asked, hand already on his blade.
Ethan nodded slowly.
"Not just any Seraphim. Him."
Selene's expression turned grim.
"Azareth."
Even the abyss recoiled from that name.
Echoes of a Forgotten Past
Memories that Ethan had buried long ago stirred.
A battle in a past life when he was still mortal. A time when he fought beside the angels. When he stood at Azareth's side… and then against him.
Azareth had once defied the Throne to protect mortals. But when he saw how easily men turned their blessings into weapons, he renounced them.
He was sealed away for heresy. For rebellion.
And now, he was free.
"Will he fight us?" Selene asked.
Ethan didn't answer at first.
Then: "He won't fight us… yet. He'll come to speak."
"To speak?" Darius frowned. "Why?"
"Because he still thinks I can be saved."
The Sky Cracks Open
That night, a second rift tore through the heavens.
But this time it did not come with screams or darkness.
It came with silence. With light. With judgment.
Azareth descended, alone, his wings folded like a cathedral.
The world stood still.
Even the abyss paused.
Ethan stepped forward from his throne of shadows, his generals behind him, and looked up at the figure of his old companion his old enemy.
"Azareth," he greeted.
"Ethan," the Seraphim replied. "Or what remains of him."
Their eyes locked.
And the world held its breath.
Offer of the Divine
The wind howled through the Abyssal Citadel, though no natural breeze stirred. The mere presence of Azareth warped the air itself, light and shadow fighting for dominance in a world ruled by darkness.
The throne room fell silent.
Ethan remained seated on his throne, carved from the bones of ancient gods, one leg casually draped over the armrest. His abyssal core pulsed with eerie calm. Selene and Darius stood to his flanks, tension crackling like static between them and the intruder.
Azareth walked forward, unarmed.
He needed no blade.
Every step left glowing imprints of holy flame, etched momentarily upon the obsidian floor before being swallowed by the abyss.
"You still carry it," Azareth said at last.
Ethan raised an eyebrow. "Carry what?"
"The hatred. The sorrow. The betrayal. They cling to your soul like barnacles on a drowned man."
Ethan chuckled. "And you came all this way to preach?"
"No." Azareth's golden gaze locked with his. "I came to offer you a chance."
The room darkened.
Not from the abyss but from the weight of the impossible.
A Choice Etched in Eternity
Azareth extended his hand, glowing with radiant energy. A sphere formed above his palm brilliant, pure, a spark of primordial light.
"The Flame of Reclamation," he said. "The last remnant of the original light untainted, unshaped by gods or mortals."
Ethan narrowed his eyes.
"You want me to destroy the abyss," he said.
"No. I want you to transcend it. To rise above the curse. To be more than a king of corpses and shadows."
Selene scoffed, stepping forward. "You dare"
Ethan raised his hand to silence her.
He stood, slowly.
"Let me guess," he said to Azareth. "I take this flame, burn away the abyss… and return to the fold? Rejoin the same hypocrites who watched me die? Who abandoned their chosen? Who condemned you to a crystal coffin?"
Azareth said nothing.
That was answer enough.
Ethan laughed.
"I am the abyss. I don't need your flame. I am fire."
The throne room darkened further, shadows rising like waves around him.
"But…," Ethan said, voice quiet, deadly, "for old times' sake… I'll consider it."
A Rift in the Ranks
Later that night, Ethan stood alone on the highest spire of the citadel, the Flame of Reclamation still hovering in the air before him, untouched.
Selene joined him, her gaze sharp.
"You're not actually considering it, are you?"
"No," Ethan replied. "But I needed him to think I was."
"Why?"
Ethan's voice turned cold.
"Because Azareth may be powerful… but he's not just here to redeem me. He's here to judge me."
Darius emerged from the shadows behind them.
"Should we kill him?"
Ethan shook his head. "No. Not yet."
He turned his gaze to the horizon, where the stars seemed to flicker in warning.
"We'll let him carry his message back to the Holy Kingdom."
"And when he returns?" Selene asked.
Ethan smiled.
"Then we'll remind him why the abyss can never be saved."
Far Above, Far Away…
Azareth stood upon the clouds, staring down at the dark land below.
Behind him, a second figure emerged armored in white-gold, eyes glowing with wrath.
"You offered him mercy?" the Seraphim growled.
Azareth nodded.
"He refused it?"
Azareth's silence was answer enough.
"Then the heavens will weep," the second said. "And the world will burn."
Azareth closed his eyes.
"…So be it."
The Lightbreaker Rises
The centennial chapter began not with thunder… but with silence.
A pregnant, suffocating stillness that blanketed the world.
High above the clouds, the heavens opened not in beauty, but in wrath. Divine banners of light unfurled across the sky, blotting out the sun itself. From this holy breach descended a figure unlike any before.
Not a Seraphim.
Not a god.
Something more.
The Lightbreaker.
The being was encased in radiant armor that shimmered with every color of the spectrum. Wings made of crystallized light spanned across the heavens, each feather a blade capable of severing fate itself. Eyes like twin stars gazed down upon the world not with mercy, but with judgment.
Trumpets did not announce his arrival.
The world did.
Tides shifted. Winds died. Magic across the continents faltered for but a breath.
And every abyss-touched creature in existence fell to their knees, clutching their heads, screaming.
Abyssal Citadel – Throne Room
Ethan staggered forward, one hand pressed to his temple. The pulse from the heavens struck his very core ripping through the abyssal power that coursed through him.
"Ethan!" Selene shouted, catching him.
Darius fell to one knee beside them, his blade trembling.
"What is that?" he grunted. "It's not just holy it's... beyond."
Ethan's breath was ragged.
"I… I've never felt this before."
The Flame of Reclamation still floating beside his throne began to flicker violently, reacting to the presence above.
And then it shattered.
The light scattered into nothingness.
Selene stared.
"The Lightbreaker… destroyed the Flame?"
Ethan's voice came low.
"No. It claimed it."
Above the World
The Lightbreaker hovered in silence.
He spoke not with voice, but with will.
"The Abyss has refused the divine."
"Then the divine shall become the sword."
"Let judgment descend."
Behind him, from the holy breach, poured legions of radiant warriors each one forged from divine law, burning with celestial hatred. Not just the Seraphim Knights.
These were the Archons.
The original protectors of creation.
Banished long ago for being too ruthless, too absolute.
And now?
Now they had been unleashed.
Elsewhere – The World Reacts
The news of the Lightbreaker's descent spread like wildfire.
In the floating city of Aetheros, the mages fell to their knees in worship.
In the Eastern Empire of Xianlong, ancient dragons stirred, remembering the old wars.
In the Sunken Tombs of Vex'Mir, undead kings screamed in agony as the light pierced even their forgotten domains.
And in the cursed forest of Ymir's Veil, where a single Abyssal blossom had sprouted…
…it withered.
Ethan's Resolve
As the abyss recovered, Ethan stood tall.
His breathing calmed.
His abyssal core stabilized.
And a new hunger ignited within.
"They sent a god," he whispered.
"No," Selene murmured. "They sent an executioner."
Ethan's eyes gleamed, darker than night.
"Then we'll kill a god."