The silence stretched with heavy and unnatural feeling. Only the storm remained, the wind howling through the battlefield, rain striking against armor, and distant thunder rolling across the forsaken land.
The Celestials and Demons did not move. Their eyes were locked onto Gabriel, or rather, onto the fragnt in his grasp.
It was a small fragnt. But the shimring runes on its surface pulsed again, the energy flickering like sothing alive.
Zaradorn’s fingers flexed around the hilt of his greatsword. His question had escaped in a tremor tone showing the unease clawing at him.
He exhaled sharply, steadying himself, forcing control back into his voice.
"What is that?" he asked again with firr tone this ti, though his crimson eyes remained wary.
Gabriel didn’t answer imdiately. He let the weight of the mont settle, his gaze scanning the assembled factions.
The Demon army stood tense just like their leader, their monstrous forms rigid, as if instinct warned them of sothing beyond even their understanding.
The Celestials, for all their divine pride, were no different. Athena’s grip on her spear tightened. Anubis’s jackal-like face remained unreadable but his stance had shifted and his body angled slightly as if prepared to retreat.
Finally Gabriel spoke, his voice even but laced with sothing rarely heard from an Archangel—uncertainty.
"We don’t know. Not completely," he admitted. His voice even but laced with uncertainty.
That answer did not soothe anyone. If anything, the tension thickened.
Athena stepped forward. Her gaze was piercing, sharp with demand.
"What else do you know?" she asked, her voice controlled but edged with tension.
The other Celestials did not speak, but their silent agreent weighed heavily in the air. Even Anubis, usually detached and enigmatic, watched Gabriel with newfound scrutiny.
Gabriel inhaled slowly, gathering his thoughts before he spoke. There was no point in holding back now.
"Our scouts retrieved this fragnt from inside the Black Wall," he said. His fingers curled slightly around the object, feeling its unnatural warmth even through his gauntlet. "And they were not the only ones. There were more of these that scattered, buried. Pieces of sothing much larger."
A flicker of unease crossed Athena’s face, but she did not interrupt.
Gabriel continued. "Inside the Black Wall, we found ruins. Not just broken stones and lost structures, but sothing... different." His eyes darkened with the mory from when he glimpse into that structure. "The runes on the walls were shifting, like the runes on this fragnt. They weren’t stable. It was as if the ruins were alive or beyond our understanding, constantly rewriting themselves in our vision."
A gust of wind tore through the battlefield, carrying the scent of rain and wet land.
Zaradorn narrowed his crimson eyes. "You expect us to believe that?" he asked, though his voice lacked its usual scorn.
Gabriel t his gaze without wavering. "I don’t care if you believe it," he said. "I care that you understand what we found is beyond anything we’ve seen before. Beyond our, Celestial and Demonic magic."
Athena’s knuckles whitened around her spear. The shifting ruins, the fragnts, the way the runes pulsed—it was unlike anything recorded in their history. That realization unsettled her more than she wanted to admit.
"Did you see anything else?" Anubis finally spoke.
Gabriel hesitated. He exchanged a glance with Uriel.
She exhaled, rain dripping from her gauntlets. "We already told them. Might as well told everything," she said.
That single sentence sent another ripple of tension through the battlefield.
Zaradorn’s gauntlet creaked as he tightened his grip on his sword. "What do you an?"
Gabriel’s expression darkened. He glanced down at the fragnt in his hand, watching as its runes pulsed erratically.
"We feel that there was sothing moving within the ruins," he said. "Sothing watching us."
The storm howled, but no one dared to speak.
Gabriel lifted the fragnt slightly, letting its strange glow cast eerie reflections across the gathered warriors.
The runes shimred as if reacting to the attention, pulsing in a more irregular rhythm. He exhaled before speaking.
"You don’t have to take my word for it," he said. His voice was steady, but there was sothing asured in his tone. "See for yourselves."
He extended his arm, offering the fragnt.
Uriel crossed her arms, her sharp gaze sweeping over the hesitant faces before her.
"We have three of these," she said. "If you’re so eager to know what we saw, then take them. Feel for yourselves what lingers within them."
A tense silence followed.
The Celestials and Demons, for all their might, hesitated. None of them wished to admit it aloud, but the energy radiating from the runes set their instincts on edge. It was unlike any magic they had encountered. Not divine, not infernal but sothing else.
And yet, curiosity battled with caution inside their mind. The Black Wall had remained an enigma for too long, and now, a piece of it was being offered freely.
"I will take it," Athena said at last.
Without another word, she lifted from the ground, she cutting through the wind as she closed the distance to Gabriel. He watched her carefully but did not withdraw his hand.
She landed before him, her golden armor slick with rain. Then, with only the briefest hesitation, she grasped the fragnt.
The mont her fingers made contact, a pulse rippled through the air, sending a faint vibration up her arm. It was not pain, but it was sothing. The runes flickered wildly for a heartbeat before settling again.
Athena’s grip tightened. Her expression remained unreadable, but Gabriel could see the tension in her posture.
Uriel turned slightly, glancing toward the ranks behind her. "Elsa, Kassiel," she commanded, "bring the other fragnts here."
The two scouts obeyed without question. They moved swiftly, each carrying a similar fragnt.
As they approached, Anubis and the other Celestials stepped forward, unable to suppress their curiosity any longer.
Even the hesitation they had shown monts before seed to wane in the face of what could be a revelation about the Black Wall.
anwhile, Zaradorn exhaled sharply, his crimson eyes flickering toward the scene. He said nothing, but after a mont, he turned on his heel and strode away.
His destination was back to Belial’s tent.
Whatever was unfolding here, he need to inform his master first.
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