Chapter 21: The 13th's sacrifice

John 15:13

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

The air quaked.

Aries staggered back, watching as Jordan’s Spiritual Essence surged beyond comprehension. It flared into a colossal corona, blazing brighter than any flame Aries had ever commanded. Her body dissolved into light, leaving only the silhouette of a feminine figure wreathed in the roaring brilliance of the sun itself.

“Sol…” Aries whispered, his voice trembling with a mixture of awe and fury.

Her radiance spilled across the ruins, painting the broken city in gold. Richard’s battered body twitched as the warmth reached him. His ribs snapped back into place, blood retreated into healed vessels, and his Spiritual Essence surged back to life, stronger than before.

Richard staggered to his feet, clutching his chest, only to gasp as his eyes locked on her.

“Jordan…” he whispered, awe-struck. “You… you’ve … changed.”

Jordan’s head turned toward him, though her features were hidden in the light. She didn’t speak—but her presence answered. She was both terrifying and beautiful, untouchable yet achingly familiar.

Aries roared, shaking off his momentary fear. Blue fire surged around him, and he thrust his hands forward.

“Blue Flame: Dragon Bomb Barrage!”

A torrent of spectral dragons erupted, their maws snapping as they hurtled through the air. The ground buckled beneath the onslaught, the sky torn open by their fury.

But the instant they neared her, they burned away into ash, consumed by the unyielding radiance of the sun.

 She vanished—her form bending the light itself.

Aries blinked, instincts screaming, but too late.

She reappeared in front of him, her leg arcing high before driving into his abdomen with the force of a solar flare.

CRACK.

The god of war’s body shot backward, tearing through the air like a meteor. He crashed into the N2 interchange, the entire structure collapsing in a thunderous quake. Dust and fire spiralled into the stitched sky.

Richard shielded his eyes from the blast, lowering his arm only when silence returned. He stared across the ruined skyline, golden light shimmering at his side. His lips trembled with both terror and awe.

Jordan, still wreathed in light, stood motionless.

 Yet deep within her, she could feel it—the power, the weight, pressing into her soul.

Sol. She was no longer just Jordan. She was something eternal.

Aries rose from the rubble, dust cascading from his frame. His chest heaved, but his grin was wide—feral. In his burned arm, a tiny blue flame flickered to life.

 He dragged it across his blackened flesh, letting it spread like a living current. In seconds, the scorched skin regenerated, muscle weaving back, bone knitting into place. The god of war flexed his fingers, satisfied.

“You really are Sol…” Aries growled. His voice rumbled like thunder, but there was admiration in his eyes.

Richard stood his ground, but his fists trembled. His silver aura flared in response, ready, but his body still ached. He glanced at Jordan—her golden radiance blinding, her form steady as the sun itself.

Then she moved.

Jordan pressed forward, her strikes like streaks of light carving through the air. Every blow hammered against Aries with precision, forcing him onto the defensive.

 For the first time in centuries, Aries—the War God—was no longer the predator, but the hunted.

Each impact cracked the earth, shockwaves rippling out. Aries blocked, dodged, countered—but her radiance overwhelmed his rhythm. His grin widened, teeth bared in exhilaration.

“Magnificent!” Aries shouted, laughter bubbling beneath the strain. “I had forgotten the taste of fear!”

But slowly, inexorably, he began to adjust. His counters grew sharper. His speed matched hers. His excitement burned into ferocity.

 Richard, watching from a distance, clenched his fists.
He’s adapting… if this keeps going…

Aries thrust his palm forward, blue fire surging into a sphere. It condensed, twisted, split, until a hundred blazing orbs floated around him like a constellation of destruction.

“Blue Devil!”

The swarm roared as one, hurtling toward Jordan with predatory hunger. The ground blackened in their wake, the air thick with the stench of burning reality itself.

Jordan braced herself—

Instinct screamed- Richard stepped in front of her.

Richard’s silver aura erupted, wrapping him in a translucent shield. As the hundred blazing orbs of the Blue Devil converged, he stepped in front of Jordan, spreading his arms wide.

 

The first sphere struck—its flames collapsing into streams of energy that bled into his aura. One after another, the infernal orbs slammed into him, only to be swallowed whole. His veins lit silver-blue, his body trembling as he was reaching his limit.

 

Pain clawed at every nerve. His teeth clenched, blood welled at the corner of his mouth—but he didn’t falter. With each impact, his aura swelled brighter, until the air around him shimmered with raw, stolen power.

Pain tore through him, but his eyes stayed on her.

“Jordan… you’ve always been stronger than anyone I’ve ever known.”

 It wasn’t just instinct. He wasn’t protecting her because he had to—he was standing with her, because she mattered.

When it cleared, Richard was still standing, barely. His body shook violently, silver light flickering, but he forced a smile through bloodstained lips.

“Richard!”

“I’ve… had worse.”

 

Jordan caught him before he collapsed, her radiance washing over his wounds, mending what it could. Her golden eyes burned as she looked back at Aries.

Richard’s hand trembled as he gripped her wrist. His silver aura flickered violently, unstable from the energy raging inside him. He coughed, blood staining his lips, but managed a crooked grin.

 

“Take it… all of it,” he rasped. “Everything I pulled from him—his fire, his fury. Make it yours.”

 

Before she could protest, the silver light surged from his body, flowing into her like a river breaking its dam.

 Jordan’s golden radiance blazed brighter, streaked now with streaks of shimmering blue, as if the sun itself had swallowed the flame of a star.

 

Richard’s eyes softened, heavy with exhaustion, yet full of unshaken resolve.

“Now…” he whispered, his voice barely audible, “give him… a taste of his own medicine.”

 

His body went limp in her arms, unconscious at last.

Jordan rose slowly, her aura roaring with a dual brilliance—sun and blue flame entwined. Her gaze fixed on Aries- unyielding, relentless.

Aries’ Spirit Energy flared so violently that the ground split open, fissures glowing with molten fire.

The sky above bled into a haunting hue, shifting to the blue of his eternal flame.

 The weight of his power crushed everything within miles, choking the air, cracking buildings to dust.

He spread his arms wide, his voice shaking the world itself.

 His grin sharpened. “Time to get serious!”

Aries launched forward like a comet, his strikes raining down in a torrent of blue fire and fury. Jordan struggled under the relentless pressure, each blow pushing her back step by step.

The Blue Devil-orbited around her like hungry phantoms, boxing her in, closing off her escape.

She clenched her fists, her golden aura flaring brighter. With one last surge, she broke free, her radiance cutting through his technique.

Aries staggered back as Jordan appeared before him in a flash, her arm pulled back for the decisive strike—the sun itself burning in her palm. Victory was within her grasp.

But before the blow could land, agony tore through her chest.

A blade—slender, glowing with crimson fire—burst out the other side of her body. Jordan gasped, her vision blurring, and turned her head with trembling effort.

There, standing so close she hadn’t even sensed her, was a girl her age. Her eyes burned with a cold determination as she gripped the hilt of the katana forged from a living flame.

It was Anya- The Leo Zodiac.

Jordan’s golden light faltered, flickering like a dying star, before she collapsed to the ground.

Richard, already battered and drained, had tried to rise—only to fall unconscious in a pool of his own blood.

Aries approached with deliberate calm, his steps echoing like the tolling of a bell. He placed his hand gently atop Anya’s head.

“You did well,” he said, his voice low, almost approving.

But Anya’s expression hardened. “You weren’t taking it seriously. If I hadn’t stepped in, they could’ve damaged you. Maybe even killed you.”

For a moment, silence stretched. Then Aries chuckled, his grin wide and sharp.

“Then I won’t be reckless again.”

He turned his gaze to Jordan and Richard—two broken bodies lying helpless before him. Without effort, he lifted them both, one over each arm, their weight nothing to him.

“Now,” he said, his tone shifting to something colder, more determined, “we focus on the Yihizo Ye Langa … and getting to the seal.”

The sky, still painted in the hues of his blue fire, rumbled above as the battlefield grew silent—its victors now preparing for something far darker.

And as the one light shun across the battlefield, far across the desert, another storm was gathering.

Sahara Base, Mauritania

Far from the battlefield, the desert winds howled across the vast Sahara Base.

 Within its walls, the Order moved with precision—soldiers preparing rifles, crates of supplies stacked high, armoured transports idling like predators waiting to be unleashed.

The air buzzed with tension. Tomorrow, the assault on Yihizo Ye Langa would begin.

In the heart of the command wing, Arthur Wockenfuss sat in his dimly lit office. 

The clink of crystal broke the silence as Arthur poured amber liquid from a bottle older than the base itself—128 years preserved in glass. He slid the filled glass across the table.

A slender hand reached out to accept it.

 The woman sitting opposite him lifted the drink to her lips, her black dress catching the faint glow of the room’s single lamp.

 The fabric clung elegantly to her frame, outlining a presence that was equal parts allure and danger.

“Thank you,” she said smoothly, her voice carrying a quiet authority. 

She swirled the cognac in her glass, then raised her eyes to Arthur. “Once Aries arrives, you’ll inform me immediately.”

Arthur inclined his head in silent acknowledgment.

She smiled faintly, taking a slow sip before setting the glass down. The faintest glint of amusement—and something far more calculating—shone in her gaze.

She leaned back in her chair, the weight of her presence filling the room.

The lamp flickered, casting long shadows against the walls, as if even the desert night itself bent to her will.

Arthur swirled the amber liquid in his glass, studying the woman across from him.

 Her posture was effortless, her beauty sharp enough to cut, her silence commanding more than words ever could.

 

He finally broke it. “Noelle.”

 

Her lips curved faintly, a smile that carried neither warmth nor kindness.

 

The lamplight flickered, shadows crawling against the walls, bending as though the night itself deferred to her. She raised the glass he had poured, savouring the taste with unhurried grace.

Only then did Arthur add, almost reverently, “Virgo… of the Zodiacs.”