The silence between Kairo and Jarek stretched like a drawn blade. The wind in the Ember Wastes howled as if trying to drown out the words neither of them wanted to say.
Kairo stood, his muscles still aching from the battle with the Flame Guardian, divine energy still burning faintly under his skin. But he didn't raise his spear. Not yet.
> "You disappeared for three years," Kairo said. "And now you show up… glowing like a goddamn relic?"
Jarek's eyes dimmed a little, but the intensity behind them didn't fade.
> "Because I was preparing for this moment."
> "You mean lying."
Jarek gave a faint nod. "That too."
He stepped forward, slow and deliberate. Kairo didn't move.
> "You were never just a boy with no mana, Kairo. The day I found you—covered in blood, barely breathing—I knew what you were. You were… a vessel."
Kairo frowned. "A vessel? For what?"
> "For power. For potential. For something the gods feared enough to bury. The Codex Ignis didn't choose you by accident. It was meant to find you. Because your bloodline was forged in the ashes of Titans."
---
Kairo's mind spun. Titans? Vessels? None of this made sense.
> "You trained me to fight, not to believe in bedtime stories."
> "Because if I told you the truth too early, they would've found you. And killed you before you even reached C-rank."
Kairo clenched his fists. "Who?"
Jarek's voice lowered, as if the very Wastes might hear.
> "The Pantheon. The false gods who rule the skies. You were born to break their chains."
A crack of thunder echoed across the horizon. The sky flared red.
The Codex on Kairo's back pulsed.
> "You expect me to believe that I was chosen to fight gods? That I'm some kind of divine rebellion?"
Jarek smirked. "You're more than that. You're the end of the old world."
---
Kairo turned away, staring into the distance where the Flame Guardian had fallen.
He remembered the moment he touched the shard. The surge of power. The feeling that his soul had unlocked something ancient and angry.
He had felt like a weapon.
And now, Jarek was confirming it.
> "So what do you want from me? To keep training? To become your little god-slayer project?"
Jarek's voice was firm.
> "I want you to survive. Because from here on, they're going to hunt you like never before."
Kairo finally turned back, his eyes sharp.
> "Then they'll have to catch me first."
---
Before Jarek could respond, the ground shook violently.
A fiery rift tore open in the sky above them.
And from it descended a figure draped in white and gold armor, face hidden beneath a burning helm. Wings of light unfurled behind him, casting shadows across the Wastes.
> "Kairo Valen," the figure boomed, voice echoing like judgment itself. "You have violated the Divine Accord. Surrender the Codex Ignis."
Jarek cursed under his breath. "They found you faster than I expected."
> "Who is that?" Kairo whispered.
> "An Arbiter. A divine executioner."
The Arbiter raised a spear of radiant light and pointed it toward Kairo.
> "By order of the Celestial Court, you are hereby sentenced to obliteration."
---
Kairo stepped forward, fire rising in his veins. He summoned his own spear, now burning with Godflame.
> "If they want the Codex…" he said, eyes narrowing, "…they'll have to take it from my corpse."