The wind screamed like a dying god, ripping trees from the earth and tearing shingles from rooftops. Lisa's home was nothing but rubble, divine wards shattered, and the air thick with impending death. The sky split in three as a thunderous crack echoed through the realm.
They had arrived.
Ruhamiel, the God of Wind and Sky, hovered high above, his robes forged from stormclouds and cyclone. His face bore no emotion, only the still silence of the upper heavens. His body pulsed with tempestuous might, the winds obeying his every breath.
Evanoriel, God of Stone and Earth, strode through the wreckage like a walking mountain. His obsidian armor pulsed with veins of molten gold, each step shattering the foundation beneath him. Earth bent to his will—and broke at his command.
Chaziel, the God of Premonition, floated between them, not walking, not flying, simply existing. His robes were woven from timelines themselves, constantly shifting in color and form. His eyes glowed dimly with calm cruelty, already knowing the outcome of the battle to come.
Lisa stood at the forefront, flanked by Elizabeth, Valen, Orin, Dain, Jacob, and Brad. Their breathing was heavy. Their fate, uncertain. And Kol was nowhere to be seen.
"We came for what was never yours to keep," Chaziel said, voice echoing in every mind. "Lady Lisa must return."
Lisa clenched her fists. Divine light bled from her skin.
"If you want me... you'll have to kill me first."
Elizabeth stepped forward, summoning her full might. Demonic shadows and divine radiance merged around her form. She was goddess, witch, and monster—all in one.
Evanoriel raised one stone-crusted hand. The earth itself screamed. A forest of jagged stone spears erupted beneath Elizabeth, but she launched skyward, her wings beating with blinding force.
She rained radiant sabers down like holy meteors. Evanoriel crossed his arms, letting the blades shatter harmlessly against his crystal hide.
With a single stomp, he unleashed a quake that rippled like thunder. Elizabeth dropped, caught in its shockwave, and Evanoriel met her mid-descent with a mountainous fist to the ribs.
Crack. She slammed into the earth, coughing blood.
But she rose, eyes glowing crimson-gold.
Dark magic surged from her hand, and she cast a curse that warped gravity around Evanoriel. The titan slowed.
She dashed forward, blades spinning. Slash to the neck, thrust to the gut, a spinning arc to the jaw. each attack breaking chunks of his obsidian armor.
Evanoriel grunted, impressed.
Then he grabbed her face and buried her into the earth with a force that split the mountain range in the distance.
She did not rise again.
The twins attacked as one.
Orin blinked through time-fractured space, his twin daggers coated in dark ethereal fire. Valen lashed out with infernal chains, twisting through the sky like burning serpents.
Chaziel didn't move.
He simply adjusted.
Every time Orin appeared, Chaziel was already facing him, dodging before the strike even began. Valen's chains wrapped him—then reversed in direction, binding Valen instead.
"You can't surprise me," Chaziel whispered. "I live outside of time."
He raised a single hand. The twins were thrown into a psychic storm—a thousand timelines crashing into their minds at once.
They screamed. Blood poured from Orin's ears. Valen tried to break the vision with raw willpower, but Chaziel was there again, plunging a temporal blade into his back.
"You were dead before you raised your hand."
Orin lunged in desperation, but Chaziel disappeared, reappearing behind him, whispering into his ear:
"Time devours courage."
Then darkness.
The storm thickened as Ruhamiel descended.
Brad muttered as he activated a circle of runes beneath their feet."haven't done this in a while." channeling divine glyphs into a towering golem of stone and silver. Dain roared, swinging Valen's chains, while Jacob flanked left, enhanced strength propelling him like a cannonball.
Ruhamiel raised his hand.
The winds obeyed.
The golem shattered before it touched him, ripped apart by micro-tornadoes. Dain's chains wrapped around the god—only for Ruhamiel to rise upward, dragging Dain into the sky. He flung the giant down like a toy, bones snapping on impact.
Jacob struck him in the chest—and for the first time, Ruhamiel bled.
He looked down at the wound. Then he smiled.
"Sky answers sky."
A storm-spear formed, three meters long and glowing blue.
He hurled it at Jacob, piercing through his shoulder and pinning him to the ground. Brad tried to form a barrier—but Ruhamiel unleashed a vortex of slicing wind. The barrier cracked, shattered. Brad fell.
Dain dragged himself up, leg twisted grotesquely.
He tried to swing his chain again, but Ruhamiel met him with a hurricane punch that crushed his chestplate inward.
Silence.
Lisa stood alone.
Her sword of divine light hummed, shaking in her grasp. Her body glowed with raw, unstable energy. Her divine self screamed within her to run. But she stood her ground.
"You will not take me."
Chaziel moved first. He didn't attack. He raised his hand, and the timeline around Lisa unraveled.
Chains of divine light wrapped her arms and legs.
"It is done," he said. "You have lost."
Lisa screamed, unleashing a blinding flare that scorched the sky.
But the chains held.
Evanoriel and Ruhamiel moved in. Together, the gods surrounded her. She collapsed to her knees.
Chaziel laid a single hand on her forehead. The light in her eyes faded.
In a blink, they vanished.
The battlefield was quiet.
Then came the rustle of cloaks, the hiss of magic.
The Hidden Coven emerged from folds in reality, shadow and fire licking at their heels.
"Take them," the eldest witch commanded. "Their bones still hold breath."
They gathered the broken bodies—Elizabeth, the twins, Jacob, Brad, Dain.
A younger witch looked up at the sky.
"Where is Kol Vaelros?"
The elder witch's eyes narrowed.
"Still atop Mount Union... but when he descends, the heavens will break."
Then they vanished into smoke.