The Stellar Deity of Splendor

Rigelia had arrived at the building where the Kappa Serpentis clan was locked up. Karla and her family had been awake all night, incapable to rest due the tremor all the clan, believed the building was going to collapse on them.

“Listen well, members of the Kappa Serpentis and Antares clans” Rigelia said firmly. His demeanor showed exhaustion, lack of sleep, and perhaps a bit of hunger. “I need your help.”

There was silence, no reaction from anyone. Karla watched with resentment and hatred toward everyone. But then she had an idea: if she could get out of there, escape, and perhaps reunite with Cristina for a rematch, then…

“What do we gain if we help you?” Karla asked. Her family was surprised that she actually said something. They tried to stop her, but she defended herself.

“Freedom, can be live here legally” Rigelia replied. “Also a clean record.”

Karla smiled, accepting that she would help, no matter what will that man will propose. There were five members of the Antares clan who also accepted immediately; they had remained locked in that place for long time.

Karla stepped out of her cell, and her silver bracelet was removed. She felt a wave of relief and sighed as she felt her magic return. Rigelia looked at the family, and on impulse, her parents also asked to leave, promising to help.
Between the Kappa and Antares clan members, there were about eight people. 

Upon stepping out onto the street, the group got surprised. The sky was partly returning to its natural color. Rigelia stated that they needed to go straight to the Dry Crater. He explain that as a group they needed to heal the magic fissure.

“How are we supposed do that?” a member of the Antares clan commented. Rigelia fell silent.

“It's a magical fissure” Rigelia explained, not sounding entirely convinced of his own words. “I'm sure a divine spirit is hiding there. We'll force it to appear.”

“We're going to fight a divine entity?” Karla's father asked with a certain terror on his face. “That sounds like a suicidal mission! No, I won't risk my life…”

Both stellar clans began talking among themselves. That was the real reason they were freed: to act as cannon fodder while the blue and white clans stayed back. Rigelia, in total silence, watched them as they spoke.

“You’re all free” Rigelia said with a certain authority. “If you stay, you are have to fight. I already told you the benefits. If you, want do it, but you all remain as criminals. Now, decide!"

None of them moved; none tried to leave. It was decided. Rigelia summoned his star, and the others did the same—it was the only way to travel quickly to the site of the fissure.

During the journey, Karla saw the disaster left by the battles: fire, destruction, chaos… She smiled because it meant a single truth: they weren't cannon fodder, they weren't a sacrifice. Rigel, the ruling blue star of Algebar, was asking two red star clans for help.

Upon arriving at the scene, Karla looked around: other clans were already waiting for instructions. With a lot of hatred, she recognized and watch her: Cristina was there. Full of resentment, fury, and anger over what had happened at school, she approached her and slapped Cristina.

“Why are you here?” she shouted. Circe, angry and trying to defend her friend, step right in the middle. “You're a Magic-less!”

“You don't need an explanation” Circe asked angrily.

Karla didn't let herself be intimidated. At the same time, she felt her mother's hand and saw her shake her head in silent reproach. She didn't say anything, holding back her anger and the urge to begin the fight.

Rigelia watched: there were a few witches there, a small group of people that includes clans from Rigel, Helios, Antares, Alnilam and Kappa Serpentis. Other clans like Hadar, Polaris weren't there.

Rigelia finally began to speak, saying that it was necessary to combine magic and attack simultaneously. He ordered the Alnilam clan to lend their power to the Rigel clan and commented that they needed to form pairs. This caused Maya and Gael decided to continue working as a team.

“Can't we combine our magic with other clans?” Cristina asked with curiosity.

“Unfortunately, no” Circe replied. “Alnilam and Rigel can combine their magic because both belong to the Orion Constellation. We can did it because our magic belongs to the same constellation. Our magic is incompatible with other clans.”

For the first time, she felt a great affinity with people she didn't know. Thanks to the frequencies she sensed, she knew they were warm and kind—except for Karla, from whom she still felt a big hatred, at the same time she didn't quite understand why Karla detested her so much.

“Cristina!” Maya got close to her friend. Seems that Maya was in a hurry. "I have to tell you something.”

Circe and Cristina watched in silence. Gael was behind the blue witch. Maya began to speak.

“I am glad you are a witch” Maya took the hands of Cristina. they were sweating. “Now that you are one of us, and you are part of a white star, I must tell you something.”

“Maya!” Sylvia shouted. It was time to go, to fight. Circe tried to go, and begin to push Cristina. Maya stopped both of them while ignoring her mother.

“I love you Cristina!" Maya's voice trembled. “I… I fell in love with you.”

Circe was mad. Just... that? Circe began to walk and pulled Cristina with her, not giving time for her friend to process the notice. Sylvia did the same with her daughter.

“It's not time for your useless feelings.” Said Sylvia. “She may be a witch. She may be part of a white star, but she had been blessed with a Threshold Deity. She doesn’t deserve your love.”

Dawn would soon come, soon it would all be over. Rigelia gave the order, and simultaneously, the joint attacks began. Most of them were combined; it was a new kind of magic. Circe guided Cristina on what to do. Her magic was similar to the one she had emanated that time during the attack she suffered in that park—pure, raw magic.

“This is the most pure magic we have” Shouted Circe. “It an unrefined magic a witch could possess, capable of forcing a divine spirit to appear.” Cristina felt fear when something began to emerge from that fissure.

It looked like the border of two tectonic plates, a fault that had remained invisible to the human eye until it began receiving magic from various clans. From there, with a cry of agony that echoed throughout Espliego, emerged the deity of the orange star, Splendor.

Feminine in appearance, the deity possessed what looked like hair made of burning lava and a sharp face. Her body was covered in a black outfit that highlighted that feminine look with what seemed to be a black corset. Behind her was what looked like fabric falling to her knees made of the same material as her hair: lava that seemed to burn and splatter, fusing with the thin, delicate feet of the divine entity.

She was enormous: her eyes, glowing with an orange color, glared with fury at the pure, clean blessed—most of them belonging to a star in its main sequence.

“You don't understand… you don't understand!” Splendor began to whisper. Her voice made the buildings tremble.

Cristina felt her body shake. She tried not to fall, but she felt something. Karla felt it too. Splendor was desperate, sad, and even lonely. Before either of them could react, the first attacks were launched at the spirit.

A cry of agony and pain was wrenched from the deity Splendor. The dying deity launched various magma spheres wherever she could. The butterflies created by the Rigel clan blocked her vision, preventing her from concentrating. In addition, Gael, along with at least two other members of the Alnilam clan, tried to deflect Splendor's attacks.

For Cristina, it was unbelievable: human attacks were affecting the deity—someone who, in theory, was much more powerful. Her magic was being used to try to neutralize a divine deity, a deity similar to the ones she had seen just hours before.

“I know what you're thinking” Circe said calmly. “You've already seen that there are different types of magic… If we use the right one, then…”

Both were already tired and stopped combining their powers. Circe grabbed one of the potions hanging from her waist. It was still glowing, denoting that her friend's magic was still blended into the liquid, her magic, which had turned into a soft yellow color, almost beige.

She took a sip of the liquid and forced Cristina to drink some too. The exhaustion vanished—at least partly. The sleepiness and hunger didn't go away. Circe dropped the empty bottle and decided to activate her power once more.

Dawn was comming. Rigelia then decided to counterattack as well. His appearance and form also changed; his height reached at least 2.50 meters, and his body and skin took on a brilliant bluish tone, similar to Rigel's rays that began to illuminate Espliego.

Circe watched the stars disappear; the Golden Gem constellation was among the last to vanish in the daylight. She invoked her father's name, and her hands were wrapped in a white light that she shared with Cristina. Her body no longer ached; she no longer felt tired. It was as if, before disappearing, Helios had given his blessing to heal them.

With the last of her power, Circe created a Solar Lance: a huge white arrow that she hurled at Splendor, causing a new cry to be hear. Splendor was suffering. Karla felt it first; her lunar, empathetic magic made her stop her attacks.

Cristina felt it too. Unlike Karla, who was a pure lunar, having Eos's blessing made her thoughts more rational: that deity had hurt her friends. Alex was injured because she had manipulated Caleb and Hilda's feelings.

Karla's mother violently grabbed her hand and, using her stellar magic, forced her daughter to use her corrosive magic and combine it with her mother's—a kind of viper venom. They launched it into the wound left by Circe's spear.

The Antares clan had the same idea. They threw their venom toward that wound, combining it with the snake venom of Karla and her mother. That was when Cristina could see what happened when two totally different types of magic combined.

The wound caused by Circe has the Helios. Kappa Serpentis's magic pierced that adhesion, causing something inside Splendor's body—a kind of short circuit that hurt her more than she would have ever admitted. Then, combined with Antares's magic— specialized in the black desert scorpion of Neige—it ultimately weakened the deity.

Rigelia attacked, attempting to launch what he called the Power of the Great Helenor Butterfly, the devastating magic that could vanish the Deity of Algebar forever, he couldn't. Splendor, with the strength she had left, decided to escape.

“You won't get rid of me!” Splendor yelled, wounded and humiliated. “Remember my words: I will find a new fissure, a bigger, more dangerous one, and you won't be able to do anything to stop me.”

Splendor disappeared. An orange and black trail left behind by the deity was visible in the sky. Rigelia turned to look at the army. The witches from will finally be able to rest.