The sky cried fire.
What once was pure—golden, blinding, divine—was now ash on the wind. Heaven itself, once thought untouchable, trembled beneath the force of her will. The stars dimmed in reverence or fear. Maybe both.
Lina didn't care.
She stood at the gates of Elarion, the heart of the celestial realm, with Andra beside her—his infernal armor cracked from battles, his crimson eyes locked on the heavens above like a predator returned to the old hunting grounds.
"What's the plan?" he asked, voice rough from the climb.
Lina raised a hand, and with one thought, the gates of Elarion—etched with prayers and lined with the breath of angels—shattered into a thousand dying hymns.
"We don't knock."
—
The city inside was golden. Silent. Unnatural.
Not a soul moved.
The angels had fled, scattered like embers on the wind. Only one remained, standing in the throne of the Divine Seat.
A woman with silver skin and hollow eyes.
"You are not welcome here," she said, voice echoing like eternity.
"I've never cared much for invitations," Lina answered.
"You would burn all creation just to sit on a throne?"
"I would burn it," Lina said, stepping forward, "to keep the one I love safe. To make sure no other god takes him from me. To make them all remember that fire doesn't beg."
Andra's smirk was pure sin.
The silver angel rose. "Then you'll die for love."
Lina laughed. "No. I'll rule for it."
—
The battle was not a clash.
It was an extinction.
Lina's flame didn't just scorch the city—it rewrote it. Every wall, every holy hymn, every whisper of divine light turned to ash and was reborn in violet fire. Andra moved through the chaos like a blade, cutting down any who dared raise a wing against her.
The silver angel fell last, her wings burned to dust, her final scream echoing into nothing.
And Lina? She stood on the ruins of heaven with a crown of ash and embers, looking at the void left behind.
"I thought it would feel more… final," she said softly.
Andra came to her, blood and flame in his wake. "Because it's not the end."
She turned to him.
"What do you mean?"
"This world isn't afraid of gods anymore, Lina. They'll come for you. From the shadows. From the forgotten corners of the stars. Things that don't kneel to flame or time."
She blinked slowly. "Let them."
—
That night, they sat atop the ruins of the divine palace, the stars close enough to touch.
She leaned into him, her hand resting over his.
"You're not afraid?" she asked.
"Terrified," Andra whispered. "You terrify me."
"Then why stay?"
"Because no fire has ever felt like home before."
She smiled.
And kissed him under the bleeding sky.