Chapter 83 – The Hunt Begins

The city burned with bells and torches.

From the shattered Council tower, Kael leapt into the night, shadows spiraling like wings. Aria clung to his arm, her breath ragged as they landed on a ruined rooftop. Below, the streets swarmed—soldiers, zealots, even civilians armed with pitchforks.

All shouting the same word:
“Condemned.”

Kael’s eyes glowed like embers. “They’ve rewritten me already. To them, I was never their savior… only a curse waiting to fall.”

Aria gripped his cloak. “Then we run. Survive first. Prove them wrong later.”

But even as she spoke, the first wave struck. Holy spears of light rained from the heavens, launched by the Church’s Paladins. Roofs shattered, flames roared.

Kael’s shadows rose to meet them, devouring the light mid-air. The people below screamed in terror as their “sacred judgment” vanished into black void.

From the smoke emerged a figure in silver armor—the Grand Inquisitor, eyes fanatical.
“Kael of the Abyss! You have been named the world’s doom. Surrender, or be erased entirely!”

Kael’s laugh was low, bitter. “Erased once, condemned now. What’s next? Do you want me buried under every name you invent?”

The Inquisitor’s spear ignited, brighter than the moon.
“You are no longer a man. You are a wound. And wounds must be cut away.”

Aria stepped in front of Kael, voice trembling but defiant.
“Then you’ll have to cut through me first.”

The rooftop exploded as the first strike came. Shadows and holy fire clashed, shaking the capital’s foundations.

And in that moment, Kael realized—this was only the beginning. The world would not rest. It would chase him to the ends of the earth, until the Abyss itself swallowed them all.