Fariel stood unmoving after Kevlar’s words, his expression frozen for a brief, fragile moment.

  Then he laughed.

  Not a sharp laugh.

  Not a mocking one.

  It was hollow. Echoing. As if something inside him had cracked and the sound leaked out.

  “Hahaha… oh dear, Shadowborn,” Fariel said, spreading his arms slightly. “Such arrogance are always filled with hypocrisy”

  Kevlar’s fingers tightened around his swords.

  “You think yourself a savior of the world... of humanity,” Fariel continued, voice calm once more, dangerously composed, “but with that kind of power… you will be feared long before you are ever worshipped.”

  “Such pathetic ideal will only bring an end to yourself. And worse... it will be by the very hand of those you had protect.” Fariel mocked.

  Kevlar twitched—just slightly.

  “Humans will always fear what they cannot control,” Fariel said, eyes narrowing. “That truth is older than all. I understood it better than anyone.”

  He tapped his chest.

  “That is why I will not rule through power. Instead I will guide them. With benevolence. With order. With direction.”

  Kevlar scoffed.

  “You call it benevolence,” he replied coldly, “but it’s just tyranny wrapped in kindness. Fear disguised as mercy.”

  Fariel frowned.

  “In the end,” Kevlar continued, voice rising with conviction, “you’re just a selfish man trying to stand above everyone else. You don’t want to save the world. You want to own it.”

  Fariel’s eyes darkened.

  “And you will only ever use your power for yourself,” Kevlar said, taking a step forward, violet embers flickering faintly in his gaze. “Never for others.”

  He paused.

  “You call my ideal pathetic?” Kevlar asked quietly.

  “From where I stand… the pathetic one is you.”

  That struck.

  Fariel’s jaw tightened.

  “You fear being left behind,” Kevlar pressed on. “Being forgotten. Being discarded like a relic of the past.”

  Fariel’s breathing grew uneven.

  “That’s why you scheme. That’s why you climb over corpses. That’s why you sacrifice everything around you—because you’re terrified of being irrelevant.”

  “SHUT UP!” Fariel roared.

  Mana exploded outward as his wings flared violently.

  “What do you know!?” he shouted. “You were the chosen one! Borned with everything! Strength! Power beyond comprehension!”

  He pointed accusingly at Kevlar.

  “You never had to fight just to exist! Never had to kill to survive another day!”

  His voice cracked.

  “What is so wrong with me wanting to be better!?”

  Silence followed.

  Then Fariel laughed bitterly.

  “They doubted me. Questioned me. Looked down on me,” he said. “And now?”

  He spread his wings fully.

  “Look at how far I’ve come.”

  He lowered his arm slowly.

  “And everyone else?”

  “They’re either buried or in ashes.”

  Fariel’s eyes gleamed with manic resolve.

  “With my newfound power,” he declared, “I will bring equality. I will start a new age for humankind.”

  “They will all follow my path,” he continued. “They will evolve.”

  Kevlar asked one question.

  “And those who don’t?”

  Fariel smiled.

  “Then they will become the ashes of the new age. Just like those that once stood against me”

  A heavy presence stirred beside Kevlar.

  Lumiel stepped forward, his wounds partially sealed, his mana surging violently around him.

  “So this was your goal from the beginning,” Lumiel said bitterly.

  “Haha… we were all pawns.”

  He clenched his fists.

  “From awakening us to spouting fake loyalty.”

  “It was foolish to think humans would still worship us after so long.”

  His mana spiked.

  The air trembled.

  “But how dare you even think of...” Lumiel snarled, “using my brothers!”

  Fariel turned to him with a smug smile.

  “Oh, my Lord Lumiel,” he said lightly. “It was you who led them to their fate.”

  “Afterall... your vengeance was your will.” Fariel finished it with a smirk.

  “LIES!” Lumiel shouted. “This was your plan! You knew I was confused and in anger! Yet you kept instigating us and provide false information while hiding in the shadows!”

  Fariel shrugged.

  “False information? It was your own choice to trust me, and it was also your decision to deemed annihilation upon humanity. How was this my fault?” he said it nonchalantly.

  “And now you were even seconds away from surrendering to your enemy before I arrived,” he said mockingly. “How laughable.”

  “You and your brothers are nothing but leftover trash from a forgotten age.”

  “And trash,” he finished coldly, “should be discarded.”

  Lumiel lunged.

  Kevlar caught his shoulder.

  “Calm down,” Kevlar said firmly. “He’s provoking you.”

  “I won’t accept his mockery!” Lumiel growled.

  “And if you went ahead and die?” Kevlar snapped. “Who will protects what’s left of your brothers? Who will remember those that had fallen?”

  Lumiel froze.

  Kevlar exhaled.

  “This filth has been scheming for years,” he said. “His words are weapons and not to be trusted lightly.”

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  Fariel’s gaze sharpened.

  Kevlar narrowed his eyes.

  “This whole time, I had being sensing something wrong with him,” Kevlar muttered. “His mana… it feels like him, yet not him.”

  Lumiel replies “Same... he felt like one of us... but also not.”

  Fariel smiled faintly.

  This one is troublesome, he thought. As long as he stands, I won’t be able to get Lumiel.

  “Seems like i had wasted too much time talking...since you won’t make a move,” Fariel said aloud, raising his hand, “Then allow me to help you so.”

  The ground cracked open.

  A colossal tree root erupted beside him and splitting apart to reveal Serena, bound and glowing faintly within.

  Kevlar’s breath caught as his calm demeanor shifted into concern.

  “Serena!”

  Lumiel staggered.

  “That is Sidrien’s power… what did you do to my brother!?”

  Kevlar’s voice dropped dangerously low.

  “Let her go,” he warned, violet flame igniting fully in his eyes.

  “Before I lose control.”

  Fariel laughed.

  “She’s been wonderful company,” he said. “So, I won’t be returning her.”

  Kevlar and Lumiel Dashed toward him in a flashing speed.

  Multiple roots surged upward along their path trying to bind them.

  Lumiel’s used his holy blades to cut through but it barely scratches them.

  But Kevlar’s violet flame slice through like it made of paper.

  Fariel frowned.

  “Tch. That flame is still a problem.”

  Kevlar growled.

  “He’s baiting us to attack this whole time... just to capture us?”

  “Likely to absorb us...i do not know how but it seems he had found a way to steal power from others” Lumiel whispered.

  Kevlar’s expression hardened.

  “A thief in a shell then.”

  Fariel’s gaze flicked between Kevlar and Lumiel.

  Too sharp.

  Too quick.

  They’re realizing it, he thought. I can’t drag this out any longer.

  His lips curled slightly.

  If I can’t capture them both… then I’ll take her.

  With the Origin of Light in my grasp, I can hold even the Shadowborn and an Archangel at bay.

  Fariel raised his hand slowly.

  “Looks like I’m short on time,” he said calmly.

  “It’s time to move on to the next one.”

  As his fingers reached toward Serena.

  The air split.

  A massive, axe-shaped arc of flame tore sideward from behind him.

  Fariel’s instincts screamed.

  He twisted aside at the last possible moment, the blazing edge slicing past his shoulder as he simultaneously willed the World Tree roots to constrict—trying to seal Serena away and retreat.

  Too slow.

  The flaming axe cleaved straight through the base of the root.

  The World Tree wood—something that had resisted divine mana and holy blades alike—was severed cleanly.

  The binding shattered.

  Before Fariel could react again, another presence flashed in.

  Darkness surged.

  A hand coated in abyssal shadow ripped through the remaining roots as if tearing wet bark apart. The entrapment holding Serena collapsed, and in a single motion she was carried away—vanishing from Fariel’s reach.

  She reappeared behind Kevlar and Lumiel.

  Draculius stood there, Serena cradled in his arms.

  Her body was limp. Her breathing faint. Scars marked her skin.

  Draculius’ expression was wrath made flesh.

  Fariel staggered back a step, confusion flashing across his face.

  He turned.

  The figure standing there—surrounded by heat so intense the air itself warped—was impossible.

  “…You!,” Fariel muttered.

  Even Lumiel froze.

  “Israfel!” Lumiel exclaimed. “You… you’re alive!”

  Relief washed over his battered features.

  “I am so glad…”

  Israfel smiled warmly.

  “How could I be gone,” he replied, “when my brother still needs protecting?”

  Lumiel swallowed, emotion choking his voice.

  “…Thank you.”

  Israfel glanced sideways.

  “You should thank the old man,” he said lightly. “He spared me—and told me you’d need me soon.”

  He looked back at Fariel, grin widening.

  “And it looks like I arrived just in time, brother.”

  Fariel’s confusion twisted into rage.

  Being ignored—dismissed—infuriated him.

  He lunged.

  Israfel didn’t move.

  A pillar of fire erupted around him, roaring skyward. The World Tree wood that brushed against the flame blackened instantly, then vanished—burned away completely.

  Fariel recoiled, barely managing to evade, slipping behind Israfel in a desperate attempt to make contact.

  The pillar flared outward.

  A shockwave of heat blasted Fariel away, sending him crashing through a nearby building in a cloud of debris.

  Israfel turned slowly and began walking toward the rubble.

  Lumiel called out urgently, “Brother—be careful! If he touches you, he can absorb your power—even your Origin!”

  Israfel stopped at a safe distance and nodded, still smiling.

  “I’ll handle him,” he said calmly.

  “You all stay back and relax.”

  The rubble exploded.

  Fariel burst out, wings flaring wildly, eyes burning with madness.

  “RAAAARGH!!”

  “I WILL KILL YOU!”

  “Everything was going according to plan!” he screamed.

  “Until you had to interfere!!”

  Israfel’s expression hardened.

  “You stole and abused my brother’s power,” he said quietly.

  “Used it in a way he never would have accepted.”

  Flames intensified around him.

  “I shall burn it away,” Israfel declared.

  “As that is what he would have wished.”

  Fariel laughed.

  Not a composed laugh. Not a confident one.

  A sharp, grating sound that echoed against the shattered stone and burning air.

  “Hahahaha!”

  “Stop trying to make him a righteous one!”

  He spread his arms wide, wings scorched and uneven.

  “Before I did anything, he used his power to bind Serena just like I did.”

  “So how am I abusing his power,” he sneered, “when I’m using it exactly as he was?”

  Israfel’s expression hardened, the fire around him responding to his rising fury.

  “Sidrien’s mission was to recruit her,” he said coldly.

  “At most, binding her was to prevent unnecessary resistance.”

  His eyes burned brighter.

  “But you…”

  “You aimed to absorb her—just like you did with my brother.”

  The flames around his axe flared.

  “That power was never meant to be wielded by someone like you.”

  Fariel barked out another laugh, shrill and defiant.

  “Hah! Then why don’t you try and take it back from me!?”

  “Unfortunately…” his grin widened, desperation bleeding through bravado,

  “…you can’t! Hahahaha!”

  Israfel moved.

  The flaming axe came down in a single, brutal arc.

  A crescent of fire tore across the ground, slicing through rubble, stone, and scorched earth alike. The heat warped the air itself.

  Fariel barely avoided it, throwing himself aside as the slash carved a molten scar across the battlefield.

  For the first time—

  Fear flickered across his face.

  Israfel noticed and smiled.

  “Where did all that bravado go just now?” he asked calmly.

  “Didn’t you challenge me?”

  “Why run away?”

  Fariel skidded to a halt, breathing hard.

  “Who said I was running!?” he snapped.

  “I was just dodging your attack!”

  Israfel stepped forward, flames roaring louder.

  “You think I’m stupid?”

  “The entire time you were talking, you were looking for an opening to escape.”

  His voice dropped, dangerous and precise.

  “You underestimate an Archangel who survived an age of war. I could read you like an open book”

  The fire around him surged.

  Israfel suddenly disappeared from Fariel sight.

  Fariel braced, instinctively raising his defenses—certain the next strike would come head-on.

  It didn’t.

  Israfel blitzed past him.

  Fariel realized it too late.

  A fist engulfed in Origin Fire slammed directly into his back.

  The impact detonated outward with a fiery explosion, blasting Fariel forward and driving him face-first into the ground. The earth shattered beneath him, smoke and embers erupting skyward.

  Fariel groaned.

  He was still conscious.

  Still alive.

  That damn Origin Fire…

  It’s burning through my defenses…!

  What a flaw…!

  He struggled to push himself up—

  And screamed.

  A sharp, searing pain tore through his back.

  Fariel twisted his head, eyes widening in horror.

  His wings were gone.

  Burned away. Reduced to charred remnants and ash.

  A massive, blackened scar carved itself across his back, glowing faintly with residual fire.

  His regeneration stalled.

  No matter how he willed it, the wound did not close.

  Panic set in as he had lost the ability to take flight.

  Escape was no longer possible.

  Israfel approached slowly, boots crunching against broken stone, axe resting on his shoulder as he studied Fariel’s ruined form.

  “Sidrien always hated fighting,” Israfel said quietly.

  “Yet he wielded one of the most formidable powers among us.”

  He gestured faintly toward the scorched roots nearby.

  “Both offense and defense—few could match him in direct confrontation.”

  His gaze sharpened.

  “And my fire is one of the few that can counter it directly.”

  Israfel looked down at Fariel’s wounds.

  “…Seeing you now, I finally understand.”

  Fariel forced himself to look up, confusion etched across his face.

  “What… do you mean…?”

  Israfel’s voice was firm, unyielding.

  “Sidrien’s World Tree power was never about the tree itself.”

  Fariel’s breath hitched.

  “His greatest feat was absolute regeneration.”

  “A capability born alongside his power—but honed through countless years.”

  Israfel’s eyes narrowed.

  “Something you cannot simply steal.”

  Fariel shook his head violently.

  “No—no—there’s no such thing!”

  “That’s impossible!”

  Israfel stepped closer.

  “A coward who relies on theft has no right to speak of possibility.”

  His voice softened—not with mercy, but with truth.

  “My brother used his power not for domination—but for healing.”

  “The land, the people, nature itself… all once felt his warmth.”

  “That experience,” Israfel continued,

  “was how he refined his power.”

  He pointed his axe at Fariel.

  “That is why I said from the beginning—you are only abusing his power.”

  “You wield not even a fraction of what he was capable of.”

  “You never understood its true nature.”

  Fariel’s breathing became erratic.

  “No… no…”

  “I am an evolved being…”

  His eyes trembled.

  “I don’t need those thing.”

  “I am superior!”

  Kevlar, Lumiel, and the others watched silently.

  Not with disgust.

  But pity.

  Fariel noticed.

  His voice cracked.

  “Stop… stop looking at me like that!”

  “I don’t need your pity!”

  He forced himself onto one knee, trembling.

  Israfel spoke without hesitation.

  “You look more pitiful now than when you were human.”

  Fariel froze.

  Israfel continued.

  “At least then, you had dignity.”

  “You had presence.”

  He raised his axe slightly.

  “Now you are just an empty shell—housing something that never belonged to you.”

  “You discarded your right to exist the moment you abandoned that.”

  Fariel’s lips quivered.

  “…I was just trying… to be better…”

  Israfel lifted his axe high, flames roaring to their peak.

  “I will burn you away.”

  “This will be your last dignity I am willing to give you.”

  The axe fell.

  It split Fariel in half—while he was still conscious.

  Flames engulfed his body instantly, erasing flesh, bone, and stolen power alike. His form disintegrated as if fading from existence itself.

  As the fire consumed him, a final thought surfaced.

  Ah… so this is what it felt like… to be acknowledged.

  Draculius said as the scene unfold “He who claimed the future belonged to him remained shackled to what came before, and the past, unyielding, denied him the path ahead.”

  “Let us all take this as a reminder.” as Draculius ended his poetic advice.

  Ash scattered into the wind.

  Silence followed.

  The battle had finally come to its end.

  The true instigator was gone.

  And so, all weapons were lowered.