BANG!

His normal heart stopped beating, but as if sensing his ridiculous proximity to death, his Wills and Spirits moved on their own, infusing their essence into his other three hearts.

BOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!

Each of their thumps echoed like deafening explosions, each beat carrying oceanic tides of energy, a seemingly endless rush of elemental aether rising from within him.

His cores were replenished in no time, and with furious intent, his normal heart began to beat once more just as his three hearts fell dormant yet again.

BANG!

Uriel’s body seized and his eyes snapped open, his mouth opening wide to gasp for air, his fingers and toes curling at the chaotic influx of responses flooding his nerves.

He turned over and vomited foul, dark liquid mixed with droves of his own blood. He hacked out chunks of his own flesh, the strain so deep his eyes watered and tears began to fall.

"...!"

Finally free of all the filth that was in his body, Uriel could breathe at last, his heartbeat settling down as his body began to cool.

He leaned back as he sat on his knees and stared at the dark skies above, his mind worn and flesh at its limits.

He didn’t even bother checking his arm, as he knew it’d be useless and most likely amputated, nor did he check the wound piercing into his chest, as he knew it’d be a whole host of issues.

He simply closed his eyes and took a deep breath in.

’I d—!’

WHOOOSH!

The clouds of darkness and light that had consumed the surroundings were swept away by powerful gusts, the space over the sea clearing out as he regained sight of the palace.

There, at the peak of the palace’s rising stairs, he saw her, standing straight and looking at him with a smile, his glaive piercing through her chest.

She shook her head, and blood leaked from the corners of her lips. She looked down at the blade that had pierced her chest.

"A memento of the lost dragons? That’s dangerous."

She grabbed the large blade skewering her body and, as she clenched her jaw, pulled it out of herself, her warm blood spilling and splattering across the ivory stairs as she did so.

She gasped in pain and threw his blade away.

"But there is a reason why they fell. If even at their peak, those madmen had their wings cut, what could a memory of their fallen radiance do to me?"

Her butterflies rushed towards her, flooding into her wound and easily mending it.

More specifically, Uriel could see streams of time aether woven under the might of a strange spiritual law, working not to heal the damage but to entirely undo it.

"I, Miquella, always carry out my Will."

She wiped the blood leaking from her lips. Her dark robes tightened further around the curves of her divine body just as her flaming hair grew, falling to become a river of silver radiance that reached her feet.

Her once silver blade shook, shedding its form as if it were rust, becoming a magnificent, long blade of ivory, deeply etched with crimson runes that stank of iron—of blood.

She pointed it at Uriel.

"And so, as I said, I will slay you, for you are a betrayer."

Silence followed.

"..." Uriel stared at her with equal disbelief and hopelessness, unsure how she had simply shrugged off his attack.

He sighed, then forced himself up to his feet. He extended a palm, and runes flickered around his fingers, exerting a force that pulled his glaive right back into his grasp.

He swayed slightly as he regained it, still off balance due to his mangled body and arm, but he rapidly corrected himself.

"Is the grandiose announcement needed? Just come and kill me, Miquella."

[First Wood Star Echelon: Slithering Pillar]

Vines bloomed across Uriel’s body, wrapping around his limbs and flesh to form a solid exoskeleton that made the disability of his body a mere afterthought.

As bloody as he was, when he smiled, he still remained incredibly charming, albeit slightly demonic in nature. His gaze was that of a predator, and his countenance that of an imp, one that thrived in chaos.

"Come."

SHOOO!

One of Miquella’s butterflies sped across the air, reaching him in a beat, but before he could react, the butterfly warped space, and in its stead, Miquella appeared, already poised to attack.

Uriel met her head-on, his glaive slicing across the air not to parry but to attack. He didn’t care if she cut him to pieces as long as she died first.

"The wings of the butterfly rule over the echoes of time and heaven."

Time slowed to a crawl—in the most literal of ways.

In the wake of Miquella’s slowly descending blade, dozens upon dozens of afterimages formed, as if her sword had multiplied a hundred times over.

"But in the end, echoes can only ever originate from unity."

The afterimages of her blade gained substance, then, shockingly, rushed to snap into her blade, as if they were fusing into the original.

And that was because they did.

SHI!

The blade became so fast—as if the force of a thousand strikes had been condensed into one—that Uriel couldn’t react. A large gash was torn across his chest.

But—

"But what truly separates unity from multiplicity?"

—Miquella’s singular strike didn’t stop. She struck once, yet Uriel felt it again and again, his wound deepening and worsening long after her blade had passed, as if her strike was replaying again and again.

But Uriel didn’t step back, nor did he wince. He didn’t even seem to care to react to her maddening use of spiritual laws.

He simply struck, his glaive cutting horizontally across her belly, shredding her robes apart and severing her skin and flesh, threatening to spill her guts.

But they didn’t. Butterflies instantly rushed to the wound, mending it in a beat. Uriel noticed this and instantly adapted.

If physical attacks were useless, then he’d attack her mind.

"Aht, aht, aht."

From her slice that had cut Uriel’s chest open, Miquella continued into a backhanded slash that rose toward his neck, just as the gash on his chest lit ablaze with an explosion of fire aether she had left without him noticing.

It didn’t harm him, due to his immunity—but this time, it didn’t burn his reserves either. She had specifically targeted the light aether Uriel had infused into his body, the very thing allowing him to match her speed.

POP!

The energy infused across Uriel’s body shattered and burned away under her might, and his speed plummeted, rendering him unable to dodge or block her—

CRACK!

A loud, whip-like crack echoed in the air as Uriel unleashed his Simple Domain, regaining control and exploding with a tide of light aether.

With practiced ease, he weaved beneath her cutting blade, then kicked forward, aiming for her chest—only for it to be blocked by her free forearm.

Still, taking advantage of her awkward position, he pulled his leg back and twisted his hips, using the momentum to launch a piercing thrust at her throat.

Miquella remained calm. Because she had missed, she had overextended and couldn’t use her blade to parry, and with her other arm having moved to block his kick, she would be too slow to block again.

But she didn’t need her body to block. The world would do it for her, and—

"Ah!"

Having expected her to rely on her control over the world, Uriel burned a massive amount of aether to suddenly expand the range of his Simple Domain.

Their surroundings became as dark as the void—a zone of no energy, laws, or intent. A zone where Uriel ruled.

A zone where his Will could bloom.

Taking inspiration from Korynth, he let his killing intent paint the domain, its hue deepening to crimson just as a crushing force slammed into Miquella’s mind. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

She blanked under the sudden assault of his raging will, not having expected him to switch so abruptly.

She was unable to stop his glaive from tearing into her throat and severing her head from her neck.

WHOOOSH!

"Chrysalis is the bridge from larvae to butterfly, such as death is the bridge from weak to strong."

Uriel’s eyes widened and his heart shook.

’How in the...’

She died, yes, but the world refused it.