Chapter 106 – When the Shadow Fell

The world went quiet.

The light of the Pantheon’s judgment burned away the sky, leaving nothing but white scars across the heavens. The marshland—once trembling under Kael’s defiance—now lay in silence, still and hollow.

Where Kael had stood, there was nothing. No shadow. No breath. Only a scorched mark on the earth, as if reality itself had been scrubbed clean.

Aria fell to her knees, fingers clawing the ground. Her barrier collapsed with a shatter of glass-like light.
“No… Kael…!”

Her staff trembled in her grasp, sparks dying out one by one. For the first time, her magic felt small. Helpless.

The gods stood in a circle, their weapons lowered, their radiance settling. The fire-crowned deity spoke first, his voice calm, final:
“The flaw has been corrected. The fracture is no more.”

The others murmured in agreement. Some with relief, some with disdain.

The war goddess sneered down at Aria.
“You fought beside a shadow born of lies. Now you will watch the world heal without him.”

Aria’s heart pounded, rage cutting through her grief.
“He wasn’t a lie. He was more real than any of you!”

The gods ignored her. Their forms shimmered, fading back into the firmament. Each name they carried reasserted itself in the sky, bright and terrible. The Pantheon was whole again.

But the world was not.

In distant lands, whispers spread like wildfire. The man who defied the gods—gone. Some wept. Some cheered. Kingdoms bent their knees in renewed worship, terrified of divine wrath.

And yet… in the silence where Kael had fallen, the ground was not empty.

A faint ripple spread, like ink dropped in clear water. A whisper lingered where shadow should have vanished.

It was not Kael’s voice.
It was every erased god’s voice, layered and endless.

The abyss had opened. And something inside had taken notice.