Chapter 18: Harmony from Discord

We begin our tale with The Celestial Witch, Sera, bound to a chair. Her hands and feet are restrained, though her voice remains unshackled.

Scars mar the left side of her face—remnants of a brutal encounter. An eyepatch conceals the worst of it.

She smirks.“You’re probably wondering how I ended up like this,” she says to the figure in front of her.

“I don’t usually meddle with lower dimensions,” she continues. “Doing so risks unraveling the very fabric of this plane. That’s why I send emanations—imperfect copies of myself—across the multiverse. Some are strong, others… less so, depending on the universe they inhabit.”

Her tone shifts, more grounded now.“But now, bound to this chair, I’ve lost access to that cosmic power. That’s why I summoned the Saint of Last Resorts—to retrieve the Stardust Gem of Discord, one of my backup sources of power.”

A pause.“But the time to use it isn’t now.”She leans forward. “Enough exposition. Let me show you how I ended up here.”

Flashback

Time halts.

Rocks levitate, rivers freeze in their beds. The world feels unnervingly still. They are in the base of Ouroboros, a man in dark armor and an old rival. Like Sera’s assistant Arth, he manipulates time—but with far darker intent.

Sera dangles a broken piece of a Time Cog in her hand.“Looking for this?” she taunts.

“You’re still a thorn in my side, Celestial Witch,” Ouroboros snarls.

“Basic Spell: Light Ray!” Sera shouts, firing a beam of radiant energy. He catches it effortlessly, reshaping it into a glowing blade.

“Cute,” he mocks. “But really? Attacking me in my domain?”

“Don’t flatter yourself. I’m still more than enough to deal with you—even in this form,” she retorts, summoning her own crimson-hued blade.

Their weapons clash in a brilliant burst—light versus light, equals in might and mastery.

“I left as a student…Now I return as a master,” Ouroboros says, revealing for the first time a connection to Sera’s past.

“You never learned, did you—” she begins, but his sudden strike cuts her short.

“Don’t forget what that chain-smoking drunk from South Korea taught you—never underestimate your opponent. Especially humans.”

“Oh? Did I touch a nerve?” she grins, lifting her blade again.

Ouroboros parries, sending her flying into the air.“You think flying will save you?” he taunts, discarding his weapon. “Fine. Make it rain—like you always do.”

Sera snaps her fingers.

Portals ripple open in the sky, unleashing a storm of weapons from across realities. But Ouroboros doesn’t flinch.

A hidden ability activates—one even her assistant Arth had never witnessed.Before she even knew it…She had already lost.

An invisible slash cuts into her chest, forming a burning X. She crashes to the ground, disoriented and bleeding.

“How… did you hit me?” she gasps.

Ouroboros steps forward.“Everything’s peaceful now, isn’t it?” he says calmly.

“What?”

“You’re a higher being. Can’t you hear them? The beings you once deemed insignificant—laughing, rejoicing. Nations at peace. Wars ended. Harmony.”

She listens.He’s right. The multiverse hums with serenity.

“What did you do?”

“Basic Spell #356: Harmonize. Cancels your power source—Discord.”He steps closer.“I used the Time Cogs to rewrite reality. And to cast Harmonize, one must be at absolute inner peace. No doubts. No conflict. That’s how it works.”

Sera tries to rise, but collapses, the Time Cog falling from her hand.

“What... did you do to me?” she asks again, weaker now.

“I made you consistent, Goddess of Discord. I severed your emanations across the multiverse. Bound your essence into this singular form. The one you chose to fight me with.” He grabs her by the hair, lifting her battered face.“That’s why I’ll never fall under your spell again.”

He slams her head into the earth—once, then again.

“You feel that?” he says coldly. “Pain. Spreading like wildfire.”He leans in. “So tell me, how does it feel—being on our level?”

“Go fu—” she begins, before another brutal slam silences her.

“You gods... so arrogant. Always looking down at us like ants. How’s it feel being bitten by one?”

She laughs through the blood.

“Are you going to kill me?”

Ouroboros pauses.“Kill you? That’d be mercy.”

A fireball crashes into his face—her last burst of defiance.

He grins, unscathed.“Reverse,” he mutters.

The damage reverts—onto her.

Her left side burns. The pain is unbearable. She screams.

Ouroboros raises a hand. Stone forms into a chair beneath her collapsed form.

“I can’t kill you,” he says. “Maybe I’m not allowed to. Maybe someone’s pulling strings above even me. So I’ll do the next best thing…”

She glares up at him.

“Still scared to pull the fucking trigger.”

He ignores her.“Archaic Spell: Absolute Imprisonment.”

Black ropes erupt, wrapping around her like a cursed burial cloth.

“Can I at least see your face?” she asks. “I have a theory...”

He removes his mask.

She smiles, satisfied.“I was right. Ouroboros… or should I say, —”

Her voice fades as the ropes tighten.

Ouroboros began chanting the phrases; “Chains unseen, forged by fate,Bind the soul, seal its gate.Walls unyielding, void of light,Eternal stillness, endless night.By my will, let none be free—Absolute Imprisonment, so mote it be!”

Sera, now completely bound, slumps in the chair.

“Stand up, Celestial Witch. You're strong,” he mocks.

He picks up the fallen Time Cog, summoning a vortex below her.

“Oh, that’s right. You can’t.”

He pauses.“Reach for the stars, Celestial Witch. But know this: you’re a wild card in this war. And we don’t need wild cards.”

He sends her away.

Back to the Present

Sera remains in the chair. Still bound. Still scarred. But alive.

“And that,” she says to the survivor in front of her, “is how I ended up in a zombie-infested world.”

She chuckles.“I don’t particularly value my life, yet I chose to save these survivors anyway. Even bound, even weak… I cleansed that world.”

Her tone hardens.“I may not be a threat to you, Ouroboros—or should I say, A—” she stares into the void.

“But I know someone who is. Someone more unpredictable, more cunning, more dangerous than I’ll ever be.”

A name crosses her lips like a spark.

“Kim Ji-yoo. The Saint of Last Resorts.”

She tilts her head back, eyes closed.

“Good luck”
Chapter 18: Harmony from Discord End