The Fallen wept as it spoke, but its tears were not weakness—they were arrogance. Each drop that fell shimred with corrupted light, spreading a kind of corripted decay through the ground like roots of despair.
Athena did not flinch. She stepped forward, her hand tightening around her spear. A strange power welled within her veins, ancient and violent. She was the blessed of a phoenix. After consuming its heart in hell, everything about her was a different grade. Her lips moved, her voice like steel striking against steel:
"Arcane Domain—REBIRTH’S HELL."
The world around her convulsed. Her garnts peeled away like liquid fla, igniting into a torrent of fire that exploded outward. In an instant, the battlefield was swallowed in her domain.
Ten kiloters burned, yet the Earth beneath was untouched—because it was no longer Earth. The Domain was its own reality, a replica of hell forged in her will.
The sky glowed blood-red, rivers of molten stone twisting across the ground. From every fissure, beasts clawed their way free—hellhounds with molten fangs, titanic horned demons, skeletal serpents dragging rivers of chains. A tide of infernal monstrosities surged forward, roaring as they hurled themselves at the Fallen.
From her vantage, Kanada raised her staff, golden eyes sharp. A chuckle touched her lips.
"Quick thinking," she admitted. "A Domain ensures no collateral to the Earth. Very pragmatic. Very leader-like."
Athena could not help but flash her a quick look. Kanada had suggested the competition of all three leader candidates. But Athena, ever sensitive to her everonnt could not shake off the feeling that so how, all this was within Kanada’s control.
Those that ever dabbled in the strings of fate were never normal. Even though kanada was now her own boss. She had a weird confidence. As if things were going according to plan.
It actually annoyed Athena. Regardless, she was going to give this fight her all.
Besides, her subordinates were also watching.
Her Arcane Domain was still fresh, even to her. The Primordial demon, Leviathan, hiding in hell had been the one to propel her training in secret.
And she has been itching for an opportunity to display her power.
---
High above, Perseus received the report through his comms. Flas engulfing the Fallen. The do of a new world burning against the horizon.
He smirked despite himself. "Athena... no wonder she dares to contend against Father Black. An Arcane Domain? She’s stepped into a league even these gods respect."
They might not be on the best terms, but she was still a comrade on his heart. One that had gone through a vital ti of growth with him. He really wished her well, and he hoped that she would win.
After all, for so reason, he had a forbidding feeling. Only six had shown up. But their power was so effective. Effective enough to break cosmic law and enter Earth.
He could not imagine lucifer and his entire army.
Where they truly ready for such a foe?
His gaze flicked toward the stars where Black fought. A silent recognition passed in his mind—Athena was worthy of the contest, but with so much, would it be enough?
---
Within Rebirth’s Hell, the weeping Fallen only smiled wider through its tears. Its voice rose in ecstasy, as though mocking her for even trying.
"So beautiful," it whispered, the sobs in its voice dripping with glee. "I can see it. You wish to die while struggling with all your might. How poetic. How beautiful. I love it. It is all to the praise of Lucifer. Co weep with . Let us cey our hearts out in suffering that we may receive his grace."
It raised its hands in prayer, black light wrapping its form.
"Echo Sorrow."
And at such a ti, the first wave of hell beasts struck. Lava-blooded behemoths, armored titans, spectral banshees. They crashed upon the fallen angel like a tide of apocalypse—only to falter.
Tears stread faster, no longer drops but a flood. Wherever the water touched, the impossible happened. Hell-beasts convulsed, their molten eyes dimming, and then they turned on one another.
A skeletal serpent wrapped its chains around a behemoth’s throat, sobbing as it crushed the beast’s skull. A horned brute clawed its own chest open as if to silence the grief inside. The air was filled not with roars, but with screams of mourning.
Even the stone beneath them shuddered. A jagged rock cracked open, sprouting a crude face that wept streams of ash before gnashing its own body into dust.
Athena staggered back, speechless. Even her indomitable will felt the edges of despair tugging at her soul.
But suddenly—a hand.
Kanada’s grip clamped her shoulder. With one sharp motion she shoved Athena backward, dragging her from the flood of infectious grief.
Athena blinked, shocked, then exhaled. "Thank you..."
Kanada chuckled softly, though her mouth was not real.
"Don’t mistake it for kindness. It’s simply not ti to lose soone so... useful."
The weeping Fallen never stopped smiling. Its cries only deepened, the sound crawling through the bones of the beasts and forcing them into a frenzy of despair.
Athena steadied herself, fire surging around her spear, her Domain boiling with rage. But the angel tilted its head as though pitying her.
"You dare summon Hell against us?" it asked, tears rolling down its hollow cheeks. Its chest-mouth twisted into a grotesque grin as it sobbed louder. "Do you not realize? We were the ones who abandoned Heaven. Do you think your little imitation of damnation frightens us? We bathe in sorrow. We drink despair as nectar. Your domain... is nothing but a child’s plaything to us."
The words slashed at the air like venom. Then, slowly—deliberately—the Fallen took a single step forward.
The world cracked.
The sky of Rebirth’s Hell fissured like shattering glass, a spiderweb of fractures spreading across Athena’s domain. The mountains of fla trembled, the rivers of lava sputtered as if strangled by unseen chains.
"No..." Athena whispered, eyes wide. Domains were supposed to be sovereign, untouchable—private worlds only their creator could rule. But this... this fallen angel had just broken hers with nothing but a step.
A wave of raw despair surged from the Fallen, a cosmic rejection of her reality. Hell-beasts dissolved into sobbing shadows, gnawing their own bones to dust. The fire-do trembled, dimming as if suffocating.
Kanada’s golden chains snapped into existence around them, glowing furiously as they anchored themselves to the fractured edges of the Domain, holding it together. Her voice was sharp, commanding.
"Athena! Focus! If your will falters now, this fallen angel will tear your Domain apart. Domains are extensions of wills. Hold your shit together!"
But the Fallen only chuckled through its tears, eyes like black suns leaking rivers of sorrow.
"Do you see now?" it crooned, voice both mocking and mournful. "Your Rebirth’s Hell is just another cradle. I will rock it until it breaks... and then I will bury you in your own flas."
The cracks spread wider, and the beasts of her domain began wailing like infants before being snuffed out.
Even Kanada’s stoic form flickered with unease.
Breaking an Arcane Domain, the strongest known Battle ability of those in the Arcane Realm was a blow to everyone.
However, even worse was the knowledge that the other Fallen Angels were yet to move. Just observing the battle...
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