Chapter 11 – Part 2: Hadès vs Sheng Lin

Gold doesn’t always have a price.
And sometimes, the only treasure...
Is the respect you earn with pride.

The orbit of pearled stars a golden sugar moon, suspended in galactic silence, still between two beats of the sky when the sails of the stellar ships spread above this celestial pearl, the world seemed to hold its breath the hulls of compressed sugar glided silently over the orbit the anchors landed delicately on a soft ground, dotted with sweet crystals and they all descended.
Kael, alert, eyes locked on the unknown.
Diva, already perched on a rock, shouting greetings at the cosmic echo.
Hope, fingers intertwined, hesitating to move forward.
Saphira, silent, Élya nestled against her, gaze calm yet piercing.

Then they saw it at the center of the crater shimmered a sea of treasure mountains of pure caramel crystallized moon shards coins of eternal honey and, planted upright in the heart of the crater, a comet sugar scepter, softly vibrating, as if beating to the rhythm of an ancient memory but it wasn’t the treasure that made their hearts shiver It was the shadow... curled above a dragon, not a monster not a myth a living star, coiled upon itself, its massive golden scales reflecting light in waves of anti-gravity Its wings were made of solid light, stretched like the silence of a vow And its gaze that gaze  pierced through ages and names It opened one eye, then the other Its voice was that of a storm falling slowly — a rain of ancient honor.

— “You dare set foot upon my glow?”

Hope instinctively stepped back.
Kael steadied his stance.
Diva raised her hand, clearly ready to ask for an autograph.
Saphira said nothing but something in her breath paused.

Then one step, only one and it was Hadès who stepped forward clad in his night-hued coat, bare-chested under a cape of ebony, Hadès walked like a quiet shadow not to conquer, but to face he raised his eyes to the golden titan.

— “This treasure belongs to the light?” he said.
— “Then it draws me by challenge alone.”

The dragon stretched a body long as a comet, immense, splendid, undulating around the moon with the grace of a moving universe.

— “Hadès, god of the dead why do you want my gold?”

Hadès raised a hand a black flame coiled around it, crackling like a sleeping serpent.

— “Not for the gold but to remind you that even eternal light may one day kneel.”

The sky quivered the fight began Sheng Lin rose , bursting through the air like an endless flash he spat a burning breath of light, a torrent of living gold, pure and celestial Hadès answered with a wave of icy darkness, so cold it cracked the sky the two forces clashed, high very high above the moon and the light screamed against the night Destiny created a dome of energy to shield the others Diva jumped from rock to rock, eyes shining.

— “This is the most beautiful fight I’ve ever seen!”

Saphira placed a hand on Élya’s heart.

— “He’s fighting seriously...”

Zeus, arms crossed, sighed.

— “And to think he just wanted a nap.”

The sky exploded Sheng Lin unleashed a spiral rain of stars Hadès cleaved the void in a black vortex, striking the dragon’s throat with a fist sealed in silence, then plunged his shadow trident into a glowing scale the dragon roared then... laughed a deep, ancient laugh, vibrating down to the bones of the moon.

— “This... is what I was waiting for.”
He landed slowly not defeated but... acknowledged.

— “You struck me without hatred only with honor you are no thief you are a god... worthy of this sky.”

Hadès wiped a drop of melted sugar from his shoulder.

— “Your treasure remains yours I take nothing... except your respect.”

The dragon bowed his head and in a breath of golden mist, he let the comet scepter slide toward him.

— “Then take this a shard of dawn to remind you that even shadow can shine.”

After the battle, Saphira approached the treasure without touching she simply placed a star-doll upon it, sewn from light and tenderness Hope, her eyes full of light, came next she gently climbed onto the dragon’s paw and placed a kiss Kael folded his arms smiled Diva jumped into the air.

— “Next stop: interstellar boxing!”

Zeus raised a fist.

— “Ah! My turn is coming...”

And in the silence that followed, a new star was born in the sky.

End of Chapter 11 – Part 2: Hadès versus Sheng Lin