The sky did not darken.
It brightened.
Too bright.
At first, the citizens of the capital thought it was dawn arriving early.
Then the light intensified.
Golden.
Absolute.
Blinding.
Kael was already awake when it began.
He stood on the balcony of the Atticus estate, watching the fractures in the heavens widen like splitting glass.
The dragon inside him was not calm.
It trembled.
Not in fear.
In recognition.
"They're coming," Kael murmured.
The air pressure shifted.
Birds dropped from the sky mid-flight.
Windows shattered across the noble district.
Then—
The clouds parted.
Not naturally.
They folded back like curtains.
And something stepped through.
Humanoid.
Radiant.
Six wings of burning light spread behind a tall, armored figure.
Its face was smooth marble, expressionless.
A crown of rotating sigils hovered above its head.
When it spoke, the sound did not travel through air.
It pressed directly into every mind in the capital.
"Deviation confirmed."
People collapsed in the streets, clutching their heads.
Knights fell to their knees.
Even seasoned mages screamed.
The Abyss System flared violently in Kael's vision.
> Entity Identified: Correction Apostle
Designation: Seraphel Unit 03
Threat Level: Catastrophic
Purpose: Eliminate Deviant Anchor (You)
Kael exhaled slowly.
"So they sent management."
The Apostle's faceless gaze locked onto him instantly.
Not scanning.
Already aware.
"Primary anomaly located."
Its wings beat once.
The shockwave flattened an entire city block.
Kael vanished from the balcony an instant before the blast erased the estate's upper floors.
He reappeared on a distant rooftop, sliding backward from the impact pressure.
Too strong.
Far beyond constructs.
This was not a puppet.
This was authority.
The Apostle descended slowly toward the city center.
Each step mid-air formed solid platforms of condensed light beneath its feet.
Knights scrambled into formation.
The Holy Cathedral bells rang violently.
Darius emerged onto the grand plaza, fully armored, sword blazing with full divine output.
He looked up.
And for the first time—
He hesitated.
The Apostle spoke again.
"Hero unit acknowledged. Stand aside."
Darius tightened his grip.
"I will not permit destruction."
"You are not target."
"Then leave."
The Apostle's head tilted slightly.
"Insubordination."
A single wing flicked.
A beam of condensed radiance shot downward.
Darius raised his blade just in time.
The impact shattered the plaza and sent him crashing through cathedral steps.
Blood spilled across white marble.
Kael watched from above.
They were ants to it.
If it unleashed full output, the capital would vanish.
He leapt.
Landing between Darius and the descending Apostle.
Darius coughed blood.
"You cannot win," he rasped.
"I know," Kael replied calmly.
The Apostle's gaze intensified.
"Deviant anchor. Surrender."
Kael smiled faintly.
"No."
The Apostle raised one hand.
The sky cracked.
Not metaphorically.
Literally.
A fissure opened above, revealing endless blinding machinery beyond the heavens.
Threads descended.
Not dozens.
Thousands.
Every golden strand locking onto Kael.
The dragon roared inside him.
Pain exploded through his nerves.
The Apostle spoke one final time.
"Erasure authorized."
The threads tightened.
Kael dropped to one knee as light began tearing pieces of shadow from his body.
Skin split.
Blood evaporated mid-air.
The dragon core pulsed wildly.
Bond Strain: 91%.
Darius forced himself upright.
"Release him!"
He charged.
The Apostle did not turn.
A pulse of light sent Darius flying again, armor cracking.
Kael's vision blurred.
So this was what erased him in previous cycles.
Not heroes.
Not fate.
This.
The dragon's voice finally formed words inside his mind.
— Not again.
Kael's breath hitched.
"You remember," he whispered internally.
— We died. You died. They erased us.
The threads dug deeper.
His body began disintegrating at the edges.
He could surrender.
Let the cycle reset.
Let another version of him try again.
But he was tired of dying.
"Level Two," he rasped.
The System flickered violently.
> Warning: Forced Evolution
Survival Probability: 34%
Proceed?
"Yes."
The dragon roared.
Not restrained.
Not partial.
Full.
Darkness exploded outward from Kael in a column that split the descending threads.
Black scales erupted across his arms.
Horns tore through his hairline.
Massive shadow-wings burst from his back, fully formed.
Not skeletal.
Real.
The plaza cratered beneath him.
Civilians screamed.
Knights staggered.
The Apostle paused for the first time.
"Unauthorized evolution."
Kael lifted his head.
Both eyes now molten gold.
"Correction denied."
He launched upward.
The speed shattered surrounding glass.
He collided with the Apostle mid-air.
Light and abyss detonated across the sky.
Shockwaves rippled for miles.
The Apostle countered with precision.
Blades of radiant geometry formed in its hands.
They slashed across Kael's torso.
Black scales cracked.
Blood like liquid shadow spilled.
Pain was unbearable.
But he did not retreat.
He grabbed one wing of light and bit into it.
Yes.
Bit.
Dragon instinct overtaking.
The Apostle's wing shattered in a spray of sigils.
For the first time—
It recoiled.
Below, Darius stared in disbelief.
Kael was no longer merely human.
He was becoming myth.
The Apostle extended both hands.
A sphere of pure correction formed between them.
City-erasing magnitude.
Kael sensed it instantly.
If that detonated—
Everything below would die.
He dove downward.
Wrapped both massive wings around the Apostle.
And forced it higher into the sky.
The sphere detonated.
Above the cloud layer.
The explosion turned the heavens white.
From the ground, it looked like a second sun igniting.
Kael screamed as his wings disintegrated under the blast.
Scales burned away.
The dragon roared in agony.
They plummeted.
Crashing through clouds.
Through air.
Through control.
The Apostle recovered first mid-fall.
It reassembled its wings.
Prepared a final spear of light.
Below—
The cathedral.
The plaza.
Civilians who had not evacuated fully.
Kael saw them.
He made a choice.
He twisted mid-air.
Positioned himself between the spear and the city.
The Apostle hurled it.
The spear pierced through Kael's chest.
Light erupted from his back.
The dragon core cracked.
Bond Strain: 99%.
He did not scream.
He only smiled faintly.
"Not this time."
He grabbed the spear embedded in him.
Pulled it deeper into his own body.
And unleashed everything.
The dragon's full roar shook the capital.
A pulse of abyssal flame erupted outward from his core.
The spear shattered.
The blast consumed the Apostle at point-blank range.
Light fractured.
Wings tore apart.
The Apostle's body destabilized mid-air.
It looked at him one final time.
"Anomaly… expanding…"
Then it disintegrated.
Completely.
No regeneration.
No retreat.
Gone.
Kael began falling.
Fast.
Unconscious.
Darius sprinted forward below.
Too far.
Too high.
Too late.
A figure moved first.
Cedric.
He had rushed into the plaza during the chaos.
He saw Kael falling.
Without hesitation—
He stepped directly beneath the impact point.
And activated the forbidden barrier artifact he had sworn never to use.
A dome of translucent energy expanded outward.
Kael crashed into it like a meteor.
The barrier held.
For one second.
Then shattered.
The impact reduced the plaza to rubble.
Dust filled the air.
Silence followed.
When it cleared—
Kael lay unconscious in the crater.
Alive.
Barely breathing.
The dragon core flickered weakly.
Cedric lay nearby.
Still.
Darius approached slowly.
Knights gathered in stunned silence.
Darius knelt beside Cedric first.
No pulse.
The barrier had redirected too much force.
He had absorbed the fatal remainder.
Darius closed his eyes briefly.
Then he looked at Kael.
The villain who had shielded the city.
Twice.
Now three times.
The narrative had broken completely.
Above—
The fractured sky slowly began sealing.
But not fully.
Not cleanly.
Some cracks remained.
Permanent.
Far beyond mortal sight—
In the chamber of light—
Silence.
One voice finally spoke.
"Seraphel Unit 03… terminated."
Another replied.
"Escalation required."
A third voice, colder than the rest:
"He is no longer a deviation."
A pause.
"He is becoming a rival system."
—
Back in the ruined plaza—
Kael's eyes opened faintly.
He tried to move.
Failed.
Darius stood over him.
"You won," Darius said quietly.
Kael's voice was barely audible.
"No."
His gaze shifted weakly toward Cedric's body.
"We paid."
For the first time—
Darius removed his gauntlet.
Placed his bare hand over Kael's shoulder.
Not as commander.
Not as hero.
But as ally.
"This is war now," Darius said.
Kael closed his eyes.
"Yes."
The dragon inside him whispered softly.
— We survived.
Kael answered in silence.
"For now."
The capital still stood.
But the sky would never look the same again.
And somewhere beyond—
Something far older than Apostles had begun to awaken.
—