The three warriors stood facing each other, with others fighting all around them, and everything was about to be decided in the next few moments.
Noah didn't wait. His hands were ablaze. He vanished, leaving only a whirlwind in the spot where he had been standing.
He had seen this coming.
Arthur moved with impossible speed. His spear sliced through the air right next to where Noah reappeared. The strike was fast and precise, forcing him into a violent block. The sharp tip of the spear whizzed past his face, and a massive shockwave exploded behind him, reducing the entire building to dust and rubble.
"Tch..." Arthur said, taking a step back. "Faster than I expected."
Noah turned, his eyes ablaze.
"And your weapon is free."
Arthur laughed loudly, as if he'd heard the best joke of his life.
Then Kael appeared. From the side.
His long sword glinted in the light of the burning ruins. He tried to strike Arthur in the side. The blow was clean, fast, and calculated.
Too simple.
Arthur didn't turn around. Instead, his spear began to break apart into black pieces, which immediately reassembled into a black shield behind his back.
The sword struck the shield, ricocheting with a loud clang.
"Is that all?" — Arthur asked, without turning around.
"What…" Kael replied, taking a step back.
Arthur clenched his hand, and the shield crumbled back into a spear.
"You don't understand this power, but you'll soon come to grasp it," he said as his Demon Arc began to glow red.
Suddenly, a steel barrier shot up from the ground beneath Noah's feet, trapping him in a small cage.
"What?!" Noah shouted.
At that very moment, five sharp daggers appeared around Kael, aimed at his head, neck, and heart. He couldn't move.
Arthur ignored them.
"Now your god will die."
Inside the cathedral, Mayuri was treating the other wounded, whom the priests were still carrying in. She didn't know what was happening when she heard the sound.
It wasn't a heartbeat.
It was the sound of something growing. Something awakening from a long slumber.
She raised her head.
On the altar, where impure, black blood lay, stood a figure.
It was a tall man with intense purple hair. His bright eyes looked down with an almost regal indifference. He wore long, dark robes adorned with golden patterns and a white cloak flowing from his shoulders
"This is impossible, King of Hearts Fais!" cried one of the priests.
Fais did not look at him. He looked at Mayuri.
His eyes were full of sorrow and understanding, which terrified her more than anything else.
"What has happened here..." Fais replied calmly.
One of the priests approached him and knelt before him
"Azrok attacked us... The senior priest died defending this girl," said one of the priests
"Azrok... I see you're safe now. Goddess Luna will send reinforcements soon to help you treat the wounded," Fais said calmly as he jumped down from the altar.
At the same time, Valdor was running across the rooftops, his lungs burning and his heart pounding like a hammer. All he could see was Sylphia's black cloak, appearing and disappearing. She was faster. She was always faster.
Finally, he caught up to her on a large, open roof of the city palace. She stood at the edge, looking down at the burning land. She didn't turn around.
"Sylphia!" he shouted, stopping a few meters away from her. "Why?! I know it's you!"
Her head tilted slightly.
"Valdor. You've always been so stubborn." Her voice was the one he remembered, but stripped of all the warmth it once held.
"What did they do to you!?"
"They didn't do anything to me. They opened my eyes." She finally turned around and took off her cloak. Her face was blank, emotionless, but her eyes… in her eyes he saw the fires that had destroyed capitals. "This world is corrupt, Valdor. The gods who rule it are a disease. Nathan will cure it."
"Nathan! You know he's the one who destroyed our kingdom of dragons — now you're on his side!" Valdor shouted
"Our kingdom fell because it was weak. Led by pride and fear. Nathan gives strength. He gives purpose."
"Why do you speak of our kingdom like that… it's your home…" Valdor shouted, drawing his sword.
"My home is where the future lies, not the past."
She raised her hand. A wave of pure darkness shot from her palm, moving at unimaginable speed. Valdor could only raise his sword to create a barrier. The darkness struck it with such force that it sent him staggering back several steps. The barrier cracked in thousands of places, but it held.
"Sylphia... what is this..." Valdor replied in shock.
"A power you will never comprehend."
This time she attacked physically. She vanished and reappeared beside him, her hand clenched into a fist, tinged with the energy of darkness. She struck Valdor in the side. He doubled over, and pain shot through his body. He managed to block her second blow, but the force of the impact made his hands tremble.
"You're much stronger than during our old training sessions..." he hissed.
"That's because now I'm fighting for something more important than your ego."
She took a step back, giving him a moment to catch his breath.
"Come with me, Valdor. Nathan will give you a purpose, too. He gives you the strength you crave."
"He destroyed everything I knew!"
He looked at her, and in his eyes, she was no longer the girl he knew. Only her shell remained. She melted into the shadows, vanishing from the roof. He was left alone, with pain in his body and a heart that had just broken for the second time. He fell to his knees, and tears dripped onto the ground.
"Why… Sylphia..." Valdor muttered.
Why. The question hung in the air, thicker than the smoke billowing over Azrok. It was like a stone in Valdor's throat, heavy and hard to swallow. An answer was forming in his mind, but it was too terrible to speak aloud. She hadn't left him. She had been transformed. His thoughts drifted back in time, to the days when the Sun of the Dragon Kingdom had not yet set.
It was a warm, summer day. The air above the training ground swirled with heat, and the sounds of weapons striking the armor were like music. Young Valdor was fighting Sylphia, sweating profusely as he tried to break through her defense. She was fast, agile, and her attacks were like rain — rapid, relentless, and hard to predict. Her sword was an extension of her arm, fluid and confident.
Every time their blades clashed, he felt a spark. It was more than just rivalry. It was chemistry, an understanding that transcended words.
"Are you okay?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. Her face glistened with sweat, but a smile played on her lips.
"You have to try harder," he replied, trying to hide his fatigue. He attacked with renewed energy, but she defeated him again, smoothly dodging his strike and pressing the flat side of her sword against his neck.
"You're looking at my sword, not my movements," she said quietly, her breath warm on his cheek. "You're fighting with strength, and I'm using your strength against you."
She turned away and sheathed her sword. "You're good, Valdor. But you have to stop fighting as if you have something to prove."
He looked at her, and in her eyes he saw not only a warrior, but also a friend. He saw something more that he couldn't quite put into words.
"I'll teach you," she said, suddenly serious. "If you stop being so stubborn."
"Stubborn?" — he snorted, but smiled. "Just because I don't want you to beat me every time."
"Give it your all, Valdor," — she retorted with amusement.
It had been such a simple day. Full of sunshine, laughter, and the promise that everything would be all right. Now, crying on the roof of a burning city, Valdor realized just how fragile that promise had been. How much he and Sylphia were part of something that had been broken, crushed to dust, just like their kingdom. And he didn't know if those pieces could still be put back together.
He returned to the present. The pain in his chest wouldn't subside. It wasn't just the pain of losing the kingdom anymore. It was the pain of losing her. The real her. The one who now stood by Nathan's side was a stranger. She was just a memory, a shadow bearing her face.
He stood up, rubbing his eyes. He couldn't stay here. He had to act. But what? He could join the fight downstairs, but that made no sense. He had to get to the source. He had to understand what Nathan had done to Sylvia. He had to stop him.
Before he could take a step, he heard a voice behind him.
"Valdor."
He spun around, his hand immediately reaching for his sword. A figure in a cloak stood there, but it wasn't Sylphia's cloak. It was dark, but covered in silver runes that glowed in the light of the burning buildings.
The apparition lowered its hood, revealing a face that was both his and not his. It was a man with features similar to Valdor's, but his skin was as pale as paper, and his eyes burned with a white light. It was a being he knew only from legends.
"I am not your enemy," said the Shadow. His voice was quiet, but it carried across the entire roof. "But you cannot go alone against Nathan. His power grows with every passing second."
"Who are you?!" Valdor asked, still ready for battle.
"I am who you are. The part of you that you have turned away from," replied the Shadow. "I am your Alter Ego."
Chaos reigned in the cathedral. Priests were running everywhere, carrying the wounded and shouting orders. Mayuri tried to focus, but the sight of Fais, the King of Hearts, standing in the center of it all with unnatural calm, distracted her.
She realized he wasn't here just to comfort them.
Arthur approached the barrier surrounding the cathedral, placed his right hand on it, and as his Demon Arc flashed red and cracks began to spread across the surface, he noticed a figure standing at the entrance, so he slowly removed his hand and smiled slightly.
"You finally showed up, Fais!" he shouted.
Fais stood before him. His demeanor was calm, almost detached from the chaos around him. He was unarmed.
"Arthur of Azrok, this is where your path ends," said Fais, his voice like soothing music.
"You're going to tell me what to do? You, who sat on the throne alongside Luna for centuries and did nothing?" Arthur retorted, gripping his spear.
"Calm down, Arthur. Your hatred is like a disease eating you from the inside. I see pain in your heart, but your path is wrong," said Fais, his eyes filling with sadness.
"It is you who do not understand. I destroyed what I loved to protect what remained. And I destroy what is dangerous to protect the future," Arthur said.
"You are mistaken. You are just as mistaken as Nathan. And you will pay for it," said Fais, his eyes beginning to glow purple. He reached for the long sword on his back
At the same time, Valdor looked at his alter ego in disbelief. This figure standing before him was both a stranger and a familiar face.
"That's impossible," he muttered.
"Nothing is impossible, Valdor. I am your other half. The one you hid because you were too afraid to admit it," — replied the Alter Ego, rubbing his hands together. "Your desires, your passion, your strength. All of that is me, too."
"Why are you appearing now?"
"Because your kingdom has fallen. Because Sylphia… has changed. Because Nathan exists. Because the world needs someone — remember how you found a piece of the dragon's core?" asked Alter Ego
"Yes... I found it in the castle ruins. It gave me my power," replied Valdor.
"The dragon's core wasn't just a source of power. It was a key. A key that opened a door. A door to me. You still need to gather the other three that have been scattered across the world," said Alter Ego. "And here is your first clue: 'Where the sun dies and the waves sing a song of the end, there lies the heart of ice, waiting to be warmed.'"
Valdor looked at him, and a spark of hope appeared in his eyes.
"So where is this place?" he asked.
"It's not a place. It's a person", — Alter Ego replied with a smile. "The heart of ice. You must find someone who has a heart of ice."
"How am I supposed to do that?" Valdor asked.
"We're going to do it. From now on, we're a team," said Alter Ego, placing a hand on Valdor's shoulder, and then his body began to flow into Valdor's, and his eyes began to glow white. Valdor felt a wave of power surge through him. It was a power he had never experienced before. It was his own power, but amplified. He understood.
"Now we are ready," he said, his voice deeper, more confident.
Noah, fighting inside the cage, was beginning to lose patience. He struck the steel bars with all his strength, but they didn't budge.
To be continued in the next chapter