The wind howled through the prayer fields. Where once there had been silence, now the grass was painted red. Helios knelt beside Cael Vathiel's body, the priest's blood drying against his palm. The morning sun climbed higher, cruel in its beauty, burning gold across the corpse of the last holy man who had truly believed. For a moment, Helios couldn't breathe. The world had gone still, and in that stillness, he heard the echo of Cael's final words: "Become a monster… and learn to control it." But inside, Helios felt what Cael had described, something ancient and furious, boiling within him. He rose slowly, the light bending around his body like heat. His shadow stretched across the field, long and sharp. Every step toward Sanctus replayed Cael's final moments in his mind. The archers on the walls had already begun to reload their arrows. Helios stopped for a moment, lowering his hand to graze the grass, feeling its texture, its life. He studied its color, its quiet existence beneath the blood. Then he stood again, and his pace began to quicken, faster, and faster, until he moved so swiftly that the archers above couldn't track him. One of them shouted and loosed an arrow. It never reached him. The shaft shattered midair, torn apart by a surge of Helios's mana. When he reached the first wall, he drove his hand straight through the stone. The city walls of Sanctus trembled. Far away, Bow and Halo were sitting on a rooftop, finishing their breakfast as they watched the sunrise. They heard the explosion first, the thunderous sound of mana slamming into stone. "Hey… that came from…" Bow froze, eyes wide. "The direction of Helios?!" Halo's jaw tightened. "Are you sure?" "Yeah," Bow said quickly. "I've seen him go that way before. To talk to that old man he likes." Halo rose, unsheathing his blade with a sharp metallic ring. "Then he's not alone over there." The bells of Sanctus began to ring, not for prayer, but for war. Bow and Halo exchanged a single look. Their auras flared, and together they bolted toward the sound. Helios's fist was buried deep in the wall. He strained to pull it free as the archers lined up above, bows drawn and ready. "FIRE!" their captain shouted. A volley of arrows rained down. Helios roared, wrenching his hand free and leaping upward with a burst of mana that cracked the ground beneath him. He scaled the wall like a phantom, his movements like a swimmer's front stroke through air and stone. As he climbed, he realized something, these archers were trained. The arrows were infused with mana. His eyes sharpened, glowing gold. He moved faster. The arrows pierced his flesh, but he didn't stop. Every strike only fueled the fire inside him. Finally, he vaulted over the parapet, landed atop the wall, and ripped one of the arrows from his body. He twirled it once and drove it into the first man he saw. The archers dropped their bows, pulling daggers for close combat.
Helios smiled darkly. "Belanor…" he whispered. They fired again, another storm of arrows. One buried into his stomach, another through his shoulder, another tore through his thigh like a cruel reminder. The pain burned bright and hot, but so did his focus. The world narrowed to the hiss of bowstrings and the thunder of his heartbeat. Helios's mana flared, gold and blinding. The heat rippled through the air, distorting the light around him. Pain no longer slowed him. It sharpened him. The first archer lunged forward, abandoning his bow for a curved dagger. Helios twisted aside, grabbed the shaft still embedded in his shoulder, and ripped it free with a snarl. The blood sizzled against the energy radiating off him. Before the archer could swing, Helios drove the arrow through his throat. He spun, using the falling body as a shield just as two more daggers flashed toward his ribs. Steel sliced his side, but Helios didn't flinch. He turned with the motion, caught one man's wrist, and slammed his knee into the other's jaw. The crack echoed across the wall. Another attacker rushed from behind. Helios ducked low, felt the dagger whistle over his head, and rolled forward. He snatched a fallen arrow, flicked it backward without looking, the shaft buried itself in the man's throat. "Too slow," Helios muttered. He tore another arrow from his abdomen, the sound raw and wet. Holding it in a reverse grip, he dashed forward. Mana-charged arrows rained from the tower above, glowing blue as they sliced through the sky. Helios didn't dodge, he moved with them. He stepped between their paths, deflecting one with his forearm, another with the arrow in his hand, each motion faster, sharper, more deliberate than the last. An arrow struck his side. Instead of collapsing, he caught it mid-pierce, snapped the shaft in half, and used both broken ends as twin blades. The leaking mana fused with his own, golden light crawling up his arms. He exhaled. Then vanished. To the archers, he became a blur of light and blood. He weaved through their ranks, the broken arrows flashing crimson arcs. A dagger caught his chest, he seized the attacker's wrist, spun, and slammed his forehead into the man's face with a crunch that silenced him forever. Another slashed from behind. Helios pivoted, kicked off the wall, and came down with a rising strike from his broken arrow. The man's body fell in two pieces before it even realized it was dead. Mana hissed through the air like the breath of a forge. Helios caught another arrow mid-flight by its fletching, spun it like a knife, and hurled it into an enemy's chest. The impact detonated in golden light, his mana igniting the shaft from within. "Belanor," he whispered again, voice trembling with fury. "You'll pay for this…" Blood blurred his vision, but he kept moving, pure instinct guiding each strike. The wall became a storm of screams, smoke, and light. A final archer charged, dagger raised. Helios met him halfway, sliding his weapon along the man's arm and driving it deep into his gut. The archer gasped, eyes wide. Helios leaned close, voice low. "You deserve this." He tore the arrow free, kicked the body from the wall, and watched it vanish into the streets below. When silence finally fell, Helios stood alone. His breathing was ragged. Blood dripped from his wounds, pooling at his feet. Only the wind spoke now, carrying the ringing of bells and the faint scent of fire. He looked down at his trembling hands, still clutching bloodied arrows. Mana still burned wild inside him, begging to be unleashed, to tear, to burn, to kill. But then Cael's voice echoed again in his mind. "To stand at the edge of wrath… and choose restraint…" Helios closed his eyes, exhaled, and let the arrows fall from his hands. From the rooftops, Bow and Halo finally caught sight of him. "HELIOS!" Bow shouted. "THE OTHER CARDINALS, THEY'RE DEAD!" Helios looked up, face calm despite the blood running down his chest. "Yeah, I suspected as much. I heard the fighting from your side." Halo landed beside him, sword drawn. "You okay? Looks like you had… fun." Helios smiled faintly. "Yeah. But the holy man's gone too. Turns out he wasn't just a priest, he was the Holy Priest." Both of their eyes widened. "I never would've guessed," Halo said quietly. "He was the leader of this whole nation…" Helios nodded. "Yeah. But right now, we need to find Belanor. While we help these people… let's do it with a smile, even if we lose." He glanced up at the sunrise. "The holy man, Cael, he said something before he died: 'When this world burns your faith, when the gods stay silent and the sun turns cold… smile.'" He turned to them, his expression steady. "So even when we're in the worst possible situation, smile. Got it?" Halo and Bow exchanged smirks. Halo nodded firmly, while Bow looked up at the glowing sky. "Understood you loud and clear, bro." But before they could move, a faint hum filled the air. A blue crystal rose slowly into the heavens, spinning faster and faster until it became nothing but a speck. A massive magic circle formed above the city, glowing brighter than the sun. Then came the roar. A shimmering barrier descended over Sanctus like a dome. Citizens screamed as they tried to flee toward the gates, but when they reached them, they bounced back as if hitting invisible walls. Halo's eyes widened. "That's a high-tier containment spell. Belanor must have triggered it, to trap everyone inside the city!" Helios's face darkened. "He's going to perform the sacrifice… I thought we still had time." "Well, what are we waiting for?! We need to help the people escape!" Bow shouted. Helios and Halo both nodded in agreement, breaking into a sprint toward the chaos in the distance. The closer they got, the clearer the horror became, knights were binding civilians together, forcing them to kneel in rows across the plaza to keep them from fleeing. Halo's eyes burned with determination. This… this is my time to shine. To prove I'm not dead weight. He turned to Bow and Helios. "I've got this plaza! You two go and help the others, free as many people as you can!" Helios met his gaze, giving a sharp nod. "Stay safe, Halo." Halo smirked. "I don't plan on dying today." With that, he leapt from the rooftop, landing in the middle of the plaza with a burst of energy that cracked the stone beneath his boots. The knights turned in shock as he drew his blade, lightning sparking along the edge. "Come on then!" Halo roared, drawing their attention away from the terrified civilians. As the knights rushed toward him, Helios and Bow split off in opposite directions, racing through the smoke and chaos to find others in need.