Lightning danced across the blood-orange sky as the Arbiter descended, his wings slicing through the air like divine blades. The pressure of his presence alone was enough to make the Ember Wastes tremble—stone cracked beneath Kairo's feet, the very air sizzling with raw celestial energy.
Jarek moved to stand beside him, unsheathing a long, rune-carved blade that shimmered in the fading light.
> "We don't run from Arbiters," he muttered. "We bury them."
But Kairo's heart was pounding—not with fear, but something else. Anticipation.
The Codex Ignis flared open behind him, pages fluttering like a storm, symbols rearranging themselves, forming a new sigil in the center.
The Arbiter raised his spear, a weapon made from pure radiance.
> "This is your final warning. Surrender, or be erased."
Kairo narrowed his eyes, then stepped forward, ignoring the heat, the wind, the sheer divine pressure crushing down on him like a mountain.
> "You're from the Celestial Court, right?" he asked, voice calm.
> "I am Judicator Kaelus, First Blade of the Skydwellers."
> "Good. Then when I kill you, they'll know I'm coming for them next."
---
Without warning, Kaelus vanished—blinking forward faster than mortal sight.
Kairo barely raised his spear in time to parry the divine strike. Sparks of mana exploded around them, shockwaves blasting the sand into spiraling cyclones.
Jarek leapt into the fray, clashing with Kaelus from the side. His blade met the Arbiter's spear with a deafening ring, and for a moment, the ground beneath them shattered like glass.
> "Kairo!" Jarek shouted, dodging a blinding arc of light. "Channel the Codex—use the Titan Rune!"
Kairo bit his lip, focusing inward.
The page in the Codex glowed hotter—until it turned molten red.
A strange force poured into him, heavier than before. Ancient. Primeval.
He roared—and flames erupted from his limbs, not just orange but threaded with black and violet streaks. The air around him warped with the heat of awakening power.
Kaelus paused, eyes narrowing beneath his burning helm.
> "Titanblood…"
> "Damn right," Kairo growled, then launched himself forward.
---
Their clash sent tremors across the Wastes.
Kaelus fought with deadly precision—each strike aimed to kill, each movement enhanced by divine law. But Kairo was no longer the weak boy who once flinched at a goblin's roar.
He twisted under Kaelus's blade, his spear striking like a comet.
Clang!
Kaelus staggered back, armor cracked at the chest.
Jarek took the opportunity—his blade slicing across the Arbiter's wings, severing one with a burst of golden blood.
> "You are nothing but mortals," Kaelus snarled, rising again, wings broken but fury burning brighter. "You fight like gods, but die like insects."
> "We're not gods," Kairo said. "We're the fire that burns them down."
---
Kaelus raised his spear high, the skies splitting open. A divine seal appeared above, glowing with holy light.
> "Enough. Let judgment fall."
The beam descended—an obliterating column of pure divine power meant to reduce everything to ash.
But Kairo didn't retreat.
He stabbed his spear into the ground, channeling everything the Codex gave him.
Flames burst upward, colliding with the beam. For a moment, the two forces struggled, a clash of heavens and hellfire.
Then the light cracked.
And shattered.
---
Kaelus fell to one knee, stunned.
Kairo approached slowly, aura blazing like a sun.
> "Tell your gods," he said, pressing the tip of his spear to Kaelus's throat, "that their time is over."
With a final surge, he struck.
The Arbiter's body dissolved into sparks of light, carried away by the broken wind.
---
The battlefield fell silent.
Jarek walked to Kairo's side, eyes wide with awe.
> "You've crossed a line that can't be uncrossed," he said. "They'll send more. Stronger. Angrier."
Kairo looked down at his hands, still trembling with power.
> "Good," he whispered. "Let them come."