The light didn't end. It burned and it breathed.
A sun had been born inside the ruin, not of flame, but of will, the raw force of something so deeply rooted in protection that it had become sacred.
Nola hovered at the heart of it, her body radiating gold, and her katana pulsing like a beating heart in her grip.
She felt someone was with her.
Not just the pressure of power surging through her veins or the heat licking at her skin.
But the presence of someone.
Steady and warm.
A voice, soft but unshakable, settled in her thoughts, not spoken aloud, not even whispered.
"You're not alone, little sister. You never were."
Nola gasped.
Her eyes widened, and the light within her flickered, not from weakness, but from recognition and the feeling of protection.
It was Auriel.
The realization struck her like a second blast, less violent, but far deeper.
This power… it hadn't come from inside her.
It had come through her.
From him.
Her brother.
Her distant, always lost to duty brother had saved her. A ghost of a sibling who was the commander of the entire Sun Legion.
And yet… here he was.
Not in body.
But in spirit.
In light.
"I told you I'd watch your back when it counted."
Tears welled in her eyes. She blinked hard, not out of weakness, but to see more clearly.
The warmth behind the light wasn't divine.
It was familial.
It was him.
His promise. The one he'd made when they were kids, when she scraped her knee trying to follow him into the training yard. He had knelt beside her, wiped her tears and when she asked him about the war when in eldhollow.
His words were always same.
"When it matters most, I'll be there."
She had forgotten that moment.
But he hadn't.
And now, as she floated above the battlefield, golden energy surging from her limbs and blade, she understoo, Auriel hadn't abandoned her.
He had become her shield.
The power she had used?
Not stolen.
Not borrowed.
Shared.
And below her, the monster screamed.
All four faces writhed in pain.
The blast hadn't just wounded it. It had broken the cycle.
Where it once healed instantly, its flesh now burned.
Its limbs crumbled into cinders mid-motion. Its clawed arms were severed. Its hooves cracked and splintered. The weeping face melted like wax, black tears turned to steam.
The smiling face twitched in agony, the skin peeling back into ash.
"You... were never meant... to shine... this bright..."
"You are... light in the wrong place..."
"You are-"
"the END."
Then came the final pulse.
A golden beat, like a heartbeat amplified across the walls of the ruin.
The energy didn't explode, it dissolved.
The creature, piece by piece, turned to dust. Each face collapsed inward. Each voice sputtered into silence. Limbs broke into fragments of ash, floating upward into the golden light.
Until all that remained was a hollow imprint in the floor, a crater of scorched stone and quiet.
Silence returned.
But this time, it wasn't dead or cold.
It was... complete.
Nola landed gently.
The light around her faded, shrinking into her blade like a candle being sheathed in a lantern.
She fell to her knees.
Exhausted.
But not broken.
Not alone.
Felix groaned behind her.
Ari was still kneeling, hands pressed to his chest, glyphs glowing weakly—but glowing.
"He's alive," she said, breathless. "I... I think he's stabilizing."
Tris stepped forward, his bow lowered, eyes wide in disbelief. "What the hell was that?"
Vera didn't speak.
She only looked at Nola.
Then walked to her side, knelt beside her, and placed a steady hand on her shoulder.
"You went somewhere," Vera said quietly. "Farther than any of us."
Nola nodded, still catching her breath. "It wasn't me. Not just me."
She looked down at her hands.
Then up at the ceiling, where flakes of ash still floated like snow.
"Auriel," she whispered. "My brother. He was here. I don't know how. But he was here."
Felix coughed, then managed a weak smile from the floor.
"Wait, wait. Auriel. You mean THE AURIEL? He is your brother?"
Nola laughed once, sharp, short, and teary.
"Yes. And he saved us."
Vera looked down at the sword in Nola's hand. "That wasn't even Stage Three. It was even more."
"No," Nola said. "It wasn't."
Ari slumped beside Felix, half-conscious. "Whatever it was... it saved us."
The ruin, for the first time in what felt like eternity, was still.
Not just quiet.
But cleansed.
The oppressive pressure was gone. The air felt breathable again. The wards Ari had cast earlier glowed a little brighter, as if the ruin itself was relieved.
Tris glanced around, arrow still notched just in case. "So is it over?"
Nola looked at him.
At the crater.
At the air still tingling with heat.
"No," she said softly. "But that part is."
Felix coughed again, a little more strength in it now. "Then we live another day."
He looked at her with bloodshot eyes.
"And next time... maybe you teach me that trick."
Nola grinned, tears streaking her dust-covered cheeks. "Deal."
Then she stood.
Slowly.
Her blade still glowing faint gold in her hand.
And together, battered and bloodied, the squad regrouped, knowing they had survived something they were never meant to face.
But not because they were the strongest.
Not because they had planned for it.
But because, in their darkest moment, a promise held.
And light answered.
A deep groan echoed across the ruin.
Low at first, then louder, like the very air was sighing in release.
Overhead, the emerald sky cracked.
The dome, that cursed, choking barrier shimmered once, twice… then fractured like glass hit from the inside.
Lines of light raced across its surface, through the green sheen. Then, with a thunderous soundless snap, the entire barrier collapsed.
Not in shards. But in light.
It disintegrated, dissolving into streaks of gold and green that rained down like sparks, then vanished into the wind.
The pressure broke with it.
Nola felt it instantly.
The silence wasn't just emotional now, it was physical. The air felt lighter. The weight that had gripped their chests since the first moment of the trap was simply… gone.
Tris looked up through the now-clear opening in the ruin's ceiling. "We're out."
Felix, still weak, lifted his head. "That thing... was the source. The barrier, the corruption. It was all connected."
Ari nodded from where she sat slumped beside him. "And when it burned... everything else fell with it."
Vera rose slowly, scanning the horizon. Beyond the broken dome, the sky returned to its natural color, a deep gray tinged with the warmth of a coming dawn.
For the first time in hours, they could see the world beyond the ruin.
They were free.
Nola didn't smile.
She didn't cry.
She just looked at the open sky, breathing deep.
And whispered, "Thank you, Auriel."