Chapter 435: _A God... Has Fallen

Outside the tomb, every single titan on the planet had shifted their attention almost simultaneously to the ashen clouds above.

A great shadow loomed over the world, only getting bigger and bigger.

Many of the weaker Titans immediately fled, hiding within ancient caves. Others ran in a rumbling stampede, trying to avoid the shadow like being touched by it meant death.

The queen spider’s limbs tensed.

For the first time in Billions of years, she felt torn because that wasn’t a mere shadow.

It was a vast, endless power.

[WARNING: Presence similar to the Archon possessing Ramona Richards detected close to this world.]

Ambrose’s soul nearly evaporated out of his body.

An Archon.

There was a fucking Archon out there.

"It’s been... so long." Mikaelion didn’t appear worried at all. His grip on his sword tightened as he straightened, gaze locked on something beyond the tomb.

He lowered his eyes to Ambrose and Aura. "I’d hoped," a wry smile curved the lips of one of his faces, "we’d have more time to chat."

The First Born lifted his free hand.

Reality shifted.

A few different items around the tomb—from a sword to a transparent glowing orb with tiny galaxies flowing within it—moved, levitating toward the pair.

Then they shrunk before them to usable sizes.

"During the dawn of all things, those were some of the items the Creator gifted his First Borns to protect creation," Mikaelion bellowed. "Today, I bestow them on you. I trust you’d use them wisely."

Ambrose absentmindedly reached for the glowing ball.

His brows drew into a scowl. "Uhm, how do we even begin to—"

WHOOOOSHH!

The giant rose from the ground with a deafening crack, his once-skeletal wings gleaming with the brilliance of a million exploding stars.

Both Ambrose and Aura protected their faces as the First Born phased through the ceiling, disappearing entirely from the tomb.

Back outside, Adonais was able to perceive just about everything in the hellish world.

From the fallen members of the First Borns. To the hybrid anomaly and the interesting-looking female beside him.

’What’s this?’ He frowned, observing Aura more keenly. ’This... energy. Why does she carry the Silent One’s direct creation imprint?’

Before he could ponder deeper, something crashed hard into him.

BOOMMMMM!

The tomb world of the First Borns lit up with a blinding light unlike anything it’s seen in aeons.

Adonais backed away.

Mikaelion was already upon him again, his sword raised for an overhead slash aimed at his neck. The Archon blocked the attack with an invisible shield, head tilting slowly.

"Well, well, well," he mocked. "Who Is Like the One?" His eyes swept over the six wings behind the giant, barely intact for this battle. "How the mighty have fallen."

Even through Mikaelion’s barriers, fragments of their clash still reached the world below, erasing mountain ranges and unfortunate Titans caught beneath the falling light.

The clouds split.

Space rippled and time warped, concepts bending in ways the multiverse hasn’t witnessed in billions of years.

Archon and First Born clashed again and again, each attack, parry or deflection powerful enough to delete entire worlds.

"We’ve got to get out of here!" Ambrose shouted, head swivelling to Aura.

The AI was still transfixed on everything they’d discovered mere moments ago.

She had... a family.

A parent in the form of the Creator.

Older siblings in the form of the First Borns.

She wasn’t simply a highly advanced machine.

How does she—

"Aura?!" Ambrose grabbed her shoulders, pulling her away from her thoughts. "Come on! Store the weapons in the system’s storage space, pull out the black mask and key and let’s get out of here."

Mikaelion had managed to lure Adonais and his attacks as far away from the tomb world as possible. His shields on the planet endured, protecting it from the full brunt of their clashes.

"You’re a walking corpse," Adonais sneered, seizing him by the throat. "Look at you. Where’s the power of your creator now? Where’s his mercy? His grace?"

A gravitational pressure triple the might of a massive black hole surrounded them.

Mikaelion’s sword ignited with fire that burned with the energies of the First Spark.

"He might... be gone," He coughed. A being beyond existence itself coughed. "But his will still lives through me. Through... us."

His eyes wandered beyond his shoulder, somehow managing to pin on Aura.

Aura’s lips trembled.

[He’s going to destroy you.] She didn’t know how, but she reached into the First Born’s mind. [I only just... met you again.]

The First Born smiled. ’It is my destiny to give up my life... so creation may persevere.’ His eyes flitted to the mortal beside her. ’You might not understand all of this. Not yet. But you will... in due time.’

White flames covered the eyes on every face.

Through his will, Aura and Ambrose vanished alongside the items he gifted them, taken to another corner of the multiverse.

The flames burned brighter, twisting the very fabric of existence around him.

Just when Adonais conjured a weapon of his own... he noticed the sudden shift.

He tried peeling his fingers off the First Born’s neck to no avail.

"No."

Mikaelion clutched his wrist with the force of someone who had nothing to lose. "Go back to the void from whence you came."

Creation finally noticed the abnormality within itself.

The Archon roared, the shockwave sweeping through the entirety of the universe. His body got wrapped in an impossible white light.

With one final swipe, Mikaelion cut his right arm clean off, spraying golden blood around them. Everything got swallowed by the white flames as the universe crumbled into itself, sending tremors felt through every other reality and timeline.

And with that, the Archon was ejected from creation, the final resting place of the Creator’s First Borns simultaneously disappearing forever.

★★★★★

Back On Earth

Kali clutched her skull, neck spinning to the window of one of her secret residences. The skies outside appeared normal.

Yet she could sense it.

A surge of power unlike anything she’d ever felt since the Emergence.

She didn’t know what it meant—but it was clear something terrible had happened.

On Aurelia, Asherah’s eyes flickered with a subtle white light. She masked her presence to the absolute minimum, almost resorting to crouching.

"Mikaelion?" The name slipped out of her lips with disbelief.

★★★★★

Orc Home World

The people of the Mordak tribe were in the middle of a festival honouring the old gods. One of their elders had just lifted a bowl in a symbolic toast when he felt it.

CLANK!

The bowl fell off his frail fingers, his face ageing decades as he looked toward the skies.

Keylath hurried to his side, placing a hand on his waist for support. "What is it?" She queried in Orcish.

The old man shook his head repeatedly, eyes swollen with terror unlike anything he’d ever felt in all his decades of existence.

"A god... has fallen."

★★★★★

Unknown Location, Outside All Realities

A boy sat in the middle of an endless green field.

His eyes were closed with concentration, shoulders relaxed as he took in slow, steady breaths—until they weren’t slow or steady.

The clear blue skies suddenly blackened.

Every grass, tree and flower withered like death itself had stretched a hand into the separate reality.

The boy’s eyes opened with a start, his golden hair fluttering around his face despite the lack of wind.

"Dad?"