Envale was a ruined town. Broken angel wings lay scattered on the stone roads, some still faintly shining. The mist held close to the ruins. Every sound the Zenith Guard made felt too loud, like the village was waiting for them to break the silence.
Then the ground began to shake.
It started small, a low thrumming they barely heard over their footsteps. But it quickly grew, vibrating inside their bones and rattling their teeth. The air pushed back against them, heavy and alive.
Out of the thick fog, she walked.
Her harp floated next to her, its strings singing with every move of her hand. Silver hair flowed around her. Each step she took seemed to echo twice, once in the street, and once in a deeper, strange place.
"Melody," Lucy said, her voice sharp and steady.
The goddess looked them over, her eyes bright and impossible to read. Her lips curved into a smile that wasn't warm, but chillingly certain.
"The Zenith Guard sent children to fight a goddess?" Melody's voice rang like a loud bell. "How pointless."
Robert set his jaw. "We're not children. Say that when my sword is in your throat."
Melody ignored him, her gaze sliding past Allen, Silvia, and Lucy to land on Eleanor.
"Ah…" The sound stretched out, a long, drawn-out note. "The last Sun Angel."
The squad froze. Eleanor's face tightened, but she held her silence.
Melody tilted her head, watching Eleanor like a hawk studying a mouse. "I expected a glorious fire. A massive storm of light. But all I see…" She took a step forward, sound waves cracking against the buildings, "is a nervous candle flame, waiting for a breath of wind."
Allen coughed, spitting out a bit of blood, the veins standing out on his neck. "D-Damn… she hasn't even attacked."
Eleanor raised her massive axe, fire burning bright in her golden eyes. "If I'm just a candle," her power flared, releasing intense heat, "I'll burn you down until there's nothing left."
Melody's smile disappeared for a second, then returned, wider and colder.
"Strong words." Her harp played a single, sharp chord that seemed to tear the air apart. "Do you understand what you face? I am a Supreme Goddess. I can erase you just by stopping sound."
She snapped her fingers.
The world went mute. No wind. No footsteps. No heartbeat. Even the simple sound of air leaving their lungs vanished.
Robert blinked, his eyes wide with fear. "The… the noise is gone!"
Melody's mocking laughter echoed through the silence, clear and perfect. "This is my stage."
Eleanor refused to let the silence panic her. She gripped her axe tighter. Golden power burst from her, fire ripping through the unnatural quiet.
Melody's gaze sharpened. "Good. Show me, Sun Angel. Can your light cut through the void?"
The silence cracked.
Dozens of black feathers fell from the fog, twisting like knives. Each one exploded, taking the shape of twisted limbs, snapping wings, and split jaws. The square instantly filled with Black Angels. Their eyes looked like broken, glowing glass, and their voices hissed together like a chorus of shadows.
Allen pulled his blade free, muttering. "Knew she wouldn't play fair."
Robert gave a strained grin. "I needed a warm-up anyway." He tried to ignore the slight tremble in his grip.
Silvia planted her feet, her blade catching the gloom. "Be smart. They are her puppets. That means…"
"They will be worse," Lucy finished in a low, flat voice. Her own aura spread out, a steadying force for the squad.
Melody's laughter floated over the chaos. "You came to fight a god. But your bodies are shaking before the simple song of my shadows." The harp strummed, and the Black Angels screamed, rushing forward as one.
Eleanor attacked first, golden fire carving wide arcs through the fog. Her axe cut two creatures in half, but three more took their place immediately.
Allen rushed in next to her, his blade moving fast. "I can burn too, Eleanor!" His steel sliced through the dark bodies.
Robert charged, loud and wild. "I'll race you to ten, Allen!" He crashed into one Black Angel and drove his sword up, silencing its hiss.
"Fools," Silvia snapped, but her own movements were deadly and exact. She killed three with quick, short strikes, her eyes cold and focused.
Peter didn't rush. He raised his hand casually, and the world seemed to warp around him. A Black Angel lunged, but its body suddenly twisted and fell, shaking like it was caught in a nightmare.
"Stay sleeping," Peter said, flicking his wrist.
Three more charged. Peter sighed, his blue eyes glowing under his silver hair.
"Divine Art: Dream Trap."
Reality bent around the creatures. They stopped instantly, frozen mid-air, as if a movie paused. Then they dropped, their bodies limp, their minds trapped in endless sleep.
Eleanor stared. "You… just knocked them out?"
Peter tossed a small, red berry into his mouth. "Worse than that. They're stuck in nightmares they won't wake up from."
But the Black Angels kept coming, stitched together from pure noise. Their shrieks shook the buildings and rattled the bones of the Guard.
Lucy finally moved into the center. Her calm voice sliced through the mayhem. "Stick together. Her silence messes with your mind. Stay close to me, or you will disappear."
Eleanor felt a jolt of panic. "Disappear?"
She saw it happen. Allen cleanly cut down a Black Angel, but the next second, his body flickered, like the world was pulling him apart. His voice came back distorted, as if he was calling from deep water.
Melody's voice was sweet and cruel. "Yes… let the void take you. One by one, you'll join the rhythm of silence."
Katya was alone. Deep in a hidden cave, the air was thin and still. She held a cold, crimson glow in her hand—the powerful energy of the Void, carefully controlled by the ancient lessons of Vorlag.
Her core memory was not of training, but of the day the Supreme Goddess's power had crushed her village. The sound of stone crumbling, the smell of dust and blood, all caused by a chaotic, uncontrolled divine force. That memory was the root of her fear, and the core of her will to act.
Eleanor is the sun, all raw heat and no cage. The world doesn't need more burning chaos. It needs the control.
Katya needed to be stronger than Eleanor, not because of hate, but because she saw the massive risk in Eleanor's lack of discipline. She trusted only the calculated strength that came from sacrifice and absolute control. Vorlag's training was based on a simple exchange: control for emotion. She had chosen control.
She focused on the crimson sphere. The friction was a cold ache in her soul, the dark power fighting the light left in her spirit.
Why do I need to be stronger?
She pictured the destroyed village again. The image of uncontrolled, beautiful power that could wipe out everything. She needed to be the iron lock on the world's most dangerous weapon. She needed the strength to stop any uncontrolled angel or god if it became necessary.
A final, brilliant flash of crimson light exploded from Katya. She didn't flinch or gasp. The power settled inside her, cold and absolute. The pact was finished.
A voice, low and emotionless, sounded in the cave. It was Vorlag, speaking through a psychic link. "The Void is stable. Now, move. Your target is the Temporal Rift Generator, far to the east. The Zenith Guard is distracted. If they fail, that rift will bring true disaster. Close it. Prove your choice was worth the power."
Katya opened her eyes. They no longer held any softness, but burned with a terrifying, calculated crimson. She stood up, feeling the immense, disciplined power inside her soul.
Her path was clear: to acquire and apply the kind of absolute control Eleanor could never choose.
She launched herself from the cave, flying straight and true toward her lonely, vital mission.