A bright flash of silver light shot through the air, screaming toward Oliver like a falling star. His heart pounded. He barely managed to twist his body just in time, but the divine blade still caught him. A thin, burning line sliced across his side, and pain flared through him like fire. His breath hitched. His muscles tensed. He gritted his teeth, forcing himself to stay standing.The pain was unbearable, but Oliver had no time to recover. He clenched his fist, pulling every last ounce of strength from his body, and sent a wave of dark energy crashing toward his enemy.The angelic warrior before him barely moved. It did not flinch. It did not hesitate. In the blink of an eye, it was simply... gone.Then, another attack came. A golden spear, shining so brightly it hurt to look at, shot toward his heart.Oliver’s instincts screamed at him. He raised his arm, trying to block the strike, but the divine energy ripped through his defenses like they were made of paper. The impact sent a sh

Oliver took a deep breath and stepped through the golden doorway.For a moment, everything disappeared.There was no sound. No feeling. No warmth or cold. No weight to his body. It was as if he had stepped into nothingness itself.Then, without warning—fire.It wasn’t like normal fire that burned skin and turned flesh to ash. No, this was different. This fire did not consume his body, but it tore through him all the same. It burned inside him, deep and painful, like something was being carved into his very soul.Oliver gasped and stumbled forward. His knees buckled, but he forced himself to stay upright. He looked down at his hands, expecting to see them blackened and ruined by the flames. But instead, glowing scars stretched across his skin, shining like molten gold. He could feel them—searing, permanent. His wounds had not vanished. They had not healed. Instead, they had changed, becoming part of him, forever etched onto his flesh.Pain throbbed through his body, but it was more tha

The unexpected pause in the Chamber room led to a sudden storm of activities again. Before Oliver could react, the sword came down on him with a stroke that was much more than just a strike-it was a pure and unstoppable force of divine energy by the warden. The moment that blade touched the polished floor, the stone burst apart as brittle glass.A very deep fissure spread under Oliver's feet, and along with it came the high impact shockwave that rattled his bones. Nothing could make Oliver fall, though. He would not show weakness.An abbreviated, sharp intake of breath and then Oliver, twisting his body, pivoted just on his heel so that he could dodge that next stab. The warden's blade whirred through the air, so close to his skin he could feel the searing hot divine energy that burned it. The pain was sharp and unforgiving, but he bit down hard and forced it away. He had been at war before. He had felt worse pain.But this fight was different.The warden moved in and, in rain-weep, em

Oliver’s vision went white.For a moment, there was nothing—no sound, no air, no sense of time. Just pure, blinding light swallowing the world. Then, as suddenly as it had come, the light cracked apart, shattering like glass. The battlefield slammed back into existence.And Oliver was falling.His stomach lurched as he plunged through the air. Wind roared past his ears, the force pressing against his body. He caught glimpses of the battlefield below—jagged cliffs, glowing rivers of molten gold, ancient ruins half-sunken into the void.Then—A Warden. Right above him.Its golden eyes burned like miniature suns. Its blade gleamed, raised high, a storm of divine energy gathering around it.Oliver twisted mid-air, his instincts screaming.The sword came down in a streak of light.He barely moved in time. The edge of the blade grazed his arm, searing pain ripping through his body. He clenched his teeth to stop himself from screaming as the heat spread like wildfire.He hit the ground hard,

Oliver’s body twisted as something cold and dark wrapped around him. A tendril, black as the deepest night, sank into his chest. It did not pierce like a sword, nor burn like fire, but pulled. It reached into him, deeper than flesh, deeper than bone, deeper than soul. He gasped, his breath coming out in ragged bursts of golden mist. His entire form flickered, the brilliant light that once shone from him now dimming under the crushing weight of the void.A voice slithered through his mind, slow and ancient. It did not shout. It did not growl. It simply was.“You are still afraid.”The Abyssal Watcher did not speak with lips. It did not move closer. It did not need to. The voice came from everywhere, from nowhere, from within his own thoughts. It was calm, patient, and unshakable.Oliver clenched his fists. He would not let this happen. He refused to be swallowed.A surge of light flared from deep within him. Celestial energy crackled across his skin like tiny lightning bolts. The abys