Far to the south, the Council's armies gathered.
Ten thousand soldiers. Divine paladins. War mages. Soulforged golems—each one enchanted with the power to destroy mountains.
And at their front stood a figure wreathed in silver flames—a woman with black iron wings and a blade made of pure starlight.
Her name was Seraphis, the Angel of Vengeance.
The Council's strongest enforcer. But more than that—she was a former ally of Kaelith.
A woman who had once fought beside him… until he betrayed her.
Now she would kill him.
---
Seraphis raised her blade.
"Velmora stands as a heretic's den," she declared. "A wound upon this world. We will cleanse it."
The paladins roared.
But she was not foolish.
Turning to the council's mages, she spoke calmly. "Activate the Celestial Siege Array. We burn the academy before we even touch the walls."
Mages nodded, raising crystalline orbs that pulsed with divine energy.
A spell formation formed in the sky—vast, golden, swirling with ethereal chains.
---
Back in Velmora, the sky darkened again.
Ash looked up.
"Something's coming," Rhiessa whispered.
"It's not just something," Lyssara muttered, her smile fading. "It's a siege spell. They want to erase us."
Arin grinned, trying to stay cheerful. "So we shoot it down?"
Ash's expression was cold.
"No. We unmake it."
He raised both hands.
"Everyone, to your positions. War starts now."
---
The sky above Velmora blazed with divine light—golden circles spinning, chains coiling, runes burning.
Seraphis watched from the distance, her gaze cold.
"It's over," she whispered. "Even he can't—"
Her words froze.
The light bent. Twisted. The divine array pulsed, then shattered.
Crimson light exploded from Velmora, tearing through the divine chains.
And then a voice echoed across the sky.
> "Is this the best the Council has? Pathetic."
Seraphis clenched her fist.
> "Kaelith…"
But the sky did not calm. Dark clouds surged, lightning crashing. A second formation began forming.
And this time, Seraphis raised her blade, silver flame
s erupting around her.
> "All forces—advance. We burn that place to the ground."