The world trembled.
The skies cracked open and wept fire.
Blinding eruptions of light — not lightning, but something older, louder, and far more violent — split the heavens in shrieking protest.
Each collision between power and will cracked the ground open like dried bone.
The sky was no longer a dome but a screen of chaos — red, white, and seething with the might of gods and the fury of forgotten weapons.
Every flash rang with the weight of extinction.
And then came the voice.
Smooth. Cruel. Mocking.
"You've grown over the millennia. I almost didn't recognize you."
A blade of energy hissed past the smoke.
"I'm not one to waste time, demon."
A laugh echoed, dark and amused.
"Ouch. That hit me... right in the pride. Or was it my ass? Hard to tell these days."
He didn't smile. Her wings beat once, sending a shockwave that tore through the clouds.
"You talk too much, Asmodeus."
She emerged from the flames like a shadow in silk, her eyes burning violet and wild.
