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The battle escalated into something wordless and devastating no speeches, no declarations, only instinct, will, and violence echoing through a world made of light and branches.
Arthur drove himself upward through the canopy of the World Tree, shadow wings snapping open behind him. Dozens of heavenly soldiers intercepted him, their armor gleaming like silver suns, weapons glowing with divine radiance. They didn't shout or cry. They simply moved perfectly coordinated, perfectly expressionless, born for war.
Arthur met them head-on.
A soldier dove, spear aimed for his heart. Arthur flicked two fingers. Ruler's Authority crushed the spear mid-thrust, bending it into a useless curl of metal before hurling the soldier backward with invisible force. Another approached from behind, sword raised high. Arthur twisted midair, his shadow blade cutting a clean arc, slicing through the soldier's helmet and face in a single silent stroke.
No hesitation or mercy.
Another formation descended in a tight diamond pattern, synchronized so precisely they might as well have been a single organism. Their lances glowed brighter, charging for a simultaneous burst.
Arthur clenched his fist.
A massive shadow construct like a six-pronged iron wall materialized around him. The energy lances struck it, exploding into ripples of dark mist. The wall cracked, then shattered but it bought him the second he needed.
He surged forward.
His blades carved through their formation, movement so fast the air exploded. Wings were severed, armor split, bodies torn into light. A soldier grappled him from the side, trying to restrain his arms. Arthur dissolved his blade into mist and reformed it behind himself without turning severing the soldier's spine in one brutal attack.
Another group came from below, a spiral formation meant to overwhelm him.
Arthur spun, extending both blades outward. Shadow constructs burst along the length of the blades serrated extensions snapping like jagged teeth. As he turned, the constructs shredded through the tight formation, bodies splitting apart mid-spiral, feathers and silver fragments scattering through the glowing air.
The branches of the World Tree groaned.
The sky flickered from gold to violet as shadows and divine light collided.
A soldier managed to clip his side with a blade of pure radiance. It scorched through his shirt and sliced skin. Arthur was impressed for a moment then he simply grabbed the soldier's wrist with Ruler's Authority, dragging him mid-flight into the path of his spinning blade.
The soldier's wings were severed in one smooth stroke.
For a moment, the wingless soldier fell silent, expressionless, staring up at Arthur with empty, newborn eyes.
Arthur raised a hand.
A massive shadow rifle formed in midair, the barrel long, sleek, carved from pure shadow. Mist curled off the edges.
He aimed.
BOOM.
The shot echoed through the entire dimension, a thunderous crack that shook the branches. The soldier's head vanished in a burst of mist, body collapsing into particles of fading light.
Arthur dismissed the rifle, its form dissolving into shadow dust.
The remaining soldiers swarmed him.
Arthur flew downward, cutting through the onslaught, weaving between branches, blades flashing violet. Ruler's Authority threw soldiers aside like weightless dolls; shadow constructs crushed helmets, impaled torsos, snapped wings. He used the world around him bouncing off branches, diving through gaps, slashing upward from impossible angles.
Every movement was sharp and beautiful in its brutality.
His darkness swallowed their light.
It was the purest kind of battle silent, efficient and lethal.
Arthur spun one last time, a spiraling arc that cleaved through three soldiers at once, sending them crashing down through the branches like falling stars.
Then, utter silence.
Arthur descended onto a wide branch, boots touching the bark with a soft thud. The air was thick with silver, gold, and violet particles drifting like snow.
Two more soldiers fell from above, hitting the branch behind him with heavy thumps both dead, helmets cracked, wings limp.
All around him the battlefield sprawled in eerie calm.
Hundreds... thousands of heavenly soldiers lay scattered across the enormous branch and tangled roots. All dead.
Arthur stood at the center of it all.
His clothes were torn, slashed in places; blood streaked across his cheek, his ashen white hair was tousled from flight and combat, yet his breath deep was steady.
His violet eyes glowed brighter than ever, pulsing with power and focus, casting a menacing sheen over his face.
Shadows curled around his boots like obedient serpents.
He didn't say a word.
The remains of the heavenly soldiers were like an army that had died on sacred ground, not in violence, but in ritual.
Something tugged at him.
Not guilt or pride.
He exhaled slowly.
Then he closed his eyes.
His shadow spread out beneath him, stretching wider and wider across the massive branch like a living sea of darkness swallowing the ground.
His lips parted steady and absolute.
"Arise."
The command rippled through the world.
Shadows surged upward like pillars of black flame, swallowing the fallen bodies. The heavenly soldiers rose not in their divine gold and silver, but in pure obsidian armor, wings of dark light unfurling behind them. Their helms glowed violet from within, thousands of eyes shining with devotion and hunger.
One by one, they kneeled.
Not a word. Not a sound.
Only the unified, thunderous weight of an army pledging itself to its king.
Arthur didn't admire them.
Didn't revel or even speak.
He simply turned and began to walk, the shadows falling into line silently before melting back into the ocean of darkness beneath his feet returning to him, becoming him.
But then
A tremor rolled through the sky.
He stopped.
He felt it before he heard it. A strong pressure. A presence so immense it seemed to warp the realm.
Arthur lifted his gaze.
Far above beyond the branches, beyond the golden glow space twisted. Something tore through the sky at a speed that cracked the light itself. A streak of blinding radiance plummeted downward, splitting the air into a column of shimmering shockwaves.
The wind spiraled.
Arthur whispered, barely moving his lips.
"There he is."
The figure descended like a falling star, four massive wings unfurling each feather glowing with celestial fire. He struck the branch with enough force to shake the entire realm, bark splintering outward in a crater-like burst.
He was towering easily three times Arthur's size.
Armor thicker than the others'.
Design more intricate and his presence was overwhelming.
And in his hands
A colossal sword, heavy and jagged, but the blade flexed segments shifting like vertebrae suggesting it wasn't just a sword.
It was a whip and a chain, a weapon of brutal versatility and power.
He planted the blade into the bark, the sound echoing like thunder.
Arthur looked up at him not intimidated, not awed.
Simply recognizing something familiar.
The figure's helmet hid his face, but Arthur could feel the intensity of the gaze beneath it. The pressure alone made the air tremble.
A long silence stretched.
Then Arthur smiled, slow and knowing.
"Bellion."
The massive figure's wings flared with radiant light, the world trembling with the weight of the name.
Arthur's violet eyes narrowed, glowing like carved amethyst.
He stepped forward unafraid, almost amused as if greeting an old, inevitable enemy… or the greatest soldier his shadow legion would ever earn.
For a long moment, Bellion did not move.
He simply stood there as if the entire realm was waiting for him to speak.
Then his helm tilted downward, acknowledging Arthur.
And a voice deep, resonant and sorrow-tinged.
"…Monarch of Shadows."
Arthur's smile faded into something quieter eyes sharp and curious.
Bellion slowly removed his blade from the bark, the ground groaning under the weight. The segments of the weapon rattled softly as the chain-like spine loosened.
"I have long awaited this moment," Bellion said. His wings folded slowly, respectfully, though the aura radiating from him was still overwhelming enough to make the very air shiver.
He lifted his head, helm pointing to the World Tree above.
"This place...our birthplace… our cradle… our purpose. It has watched every step taken in your ascent, Arthur Blackwynd." His voice softened. "And I have watched with it."
Arthur didn't interrupt. He let him speak, there was honor in his tone
Bellion lowered his gaze again, and something like regret flickered in his tone.
"Understand this: if there were any path other than combat… any method for me to fulfill my duty without raising my blade against you…" He paused, the tension in his wings betraying the sincerity of the words. "…I would choose it."
Arthur's brows lifted slightly. "You don't strike me as the sentimental type."
Bellion's shoulders shifted not amused, not offended.
Simply accepting.
"I am not," he said quietly. "But I am loyal."
He raised his weapon, the chain rattling, the blade glowing brighter as celestial energy gathered at its edge.
"And loyalty demands that I stand before you."
Arthur's expression hardened out of respect. One warrior acknowledging another.
Bellion continued
"I do not doubt my liege's choices."
"And I do not question the path laid before me."
He leveled the massive sword-whip at Arthur, four wings spreading in a radiant cross behind him.
"Which is why…"
He stepped forward, the ground cracking under his heel.
"…I will be your final obstacle."
The words vibrated through the air, through the bark, through the light itself.
Arthur rolled his wrist, Kamish Twinblade forming in his palm, the violet glow sharpening in his eyes.
"Final obstacle, huh?"
Bellion pressed his free hand to his chest an ancient gesture of respect, of oath, of farewell.
"It has been my honor to stand here."
Arthur smirked, voice low and dangerous.
"Let's make it memorable then."
/-\
If you Like this story! Check out my other stories! Solo leveling in Westeros.
&
If you wish to read more or simply support me than check out my patreon at
"https://www.patreon.com/FrenzyAren"
You can Get Access to 3 More Chapters OR 7 More Chapters if you want