Kael noticed immediately. “Why are they backing up?”

One of the knights answered under his breath before he could stop himself.

“Because if those two clash seriously, this district disappears.”

The captain snapped his head toward him. “Silence.”

Lilith planted her feet firmly against the fractured street. “Last warning.”

Celeste adjusted Elysia against her shoulder with one arm while casually spinning Yamui once with the other.

“You mortals really enjoy threatening things stronger than you.”

Kael pointed toward her aggressively. “To be fair, YOU stole the baby first.”

“I caught the baby,” Celeste corrected.

“You kept the baby!”

“Yes.”

“That’s stealing!”

Seraphina grabbed Kael’s sleeve. “This is not the time to debate definitions!”

Celeste laughed again.

Bright.

Carefree.

Completely detached from the destruction surrounding them.

“I like him,” she admitted.

Kael blinked. “I’m surviving purely off charisma.”

Lilith’s grip tightened around Dahu. “Focus.”

The captain slowly stepped backward, raising a hand toward the other Knights. “All units, maintain distance from my lord.”

One knight hesitated. “Captain… should we intervene?”

“No.”

“But—”

“That is Yamui.”

Silence.

Even among the Celestial Knights, the name carried weight.

Kael caught it immediately. “…Should I know what that means?”

Seraphina stared at Celeste’s blade. “No…”

Her voice dropped quieter.

“…but I feel like you’ll find out soon.”

Lilith moved first.

The street exploded beneath her feet as she launched forward.

Dahu screamed through the air.

Celeste met the strike effortlessly.

CLANG—

The impact split the street apart.

A shockwave blasted outward violently enough to throw nearby knights off balance and shatter windows across the district.

Kael stumbled backward. “WHAT THE HELL?!”

Seraphina braced herself against the pressure wave. “That was just one hit?!”

Lilith pushed harder, teeth clenched. “Give. Her. Back.”

Celeste blocked the strike one-handed while still holding Elysia securely.

“You’re very aggressive for someone losing.”

Lilith’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not losing yet.”

She twisted Dahu sharply.

Celeste’s smile widened slightly.

“Oh, clever.”

Lilith redirected the locked blades downward suddenly before kicking upward toward Celeste’s ribs.

Celeste shifted mid-motion smoothly enough to avoid it by inches.

Still holding Elysia.

Still smiling.

Kael stared in disbelief. “She’s fighting one-handed…”

“And winning,” Seraphina finished quietly.

Lilith attacked again.

Then again.

Dahu carved glowing arcs through the air, each swing carrying enough force to crater stone on near misses alone.

Celeste blocked every strike with terrifying precision.

Not wasted movement.

Not effort.

Observation.

She was reading Lilith.

Studying her.

Learning her rhythm in real time.

CLANG—

Another impact.

The shockwave tore apart a nearby market stall completely.

Wood splintered through the air.

A civilian screamed from farther down the street.

The captain immediately barked orders.

“Evacuate the surrounding district! Move the civilians now!”

Knights scattered into motion instantly.

Finally.

They sounded human.

“Get those people back!”
“Seal the east road!”
“Move!”
“MOVE!”

Kael glanced at them while ducking debris. “Nice of them to start helping now!”

Lilith drove Dahu downward again.

Celeste caught it.

The force split the ground beneath both of them.

Elysia laughed.

Lilith blinked once mid-strike.

“…What?”

Elysia reached toward the clashing swords excitedly.

“Mata! Mata!”

The entire battlefield paused briefly.

Kael stared. “Did the baby just cheer?”

Celeste looked genuinely delighted.

“Yes, little one!” she said proudly. “That’s the spirit! Fighting is fun!”

Seraphina slowly looked toward Lilith. “Why is she encouraging violence like a proud mother?”

Lilith shouted back while swinging again, “I DON’T KNOW!”

Celeste blocked another strike.

“Mata! Mata!”

Lilith froze slightly.

“That language…”

Seraphina looked confused. “What language?”

Lilith’s expression darkened.

“…Old Tongue.”

Even the captain reacted to that.

The nearby Knights exchanged uneasy glances beneath their helmets.

Celeste didn’t seem to notice.

Or care.

She spun Yamui once before effortlessly redirecting another heavy strike from Dahu.

“Again! Mata! Mata!” she said excitedly.

Lilith growled. “You’re insane.”

“Correct.”

Kael pointed immediately. “At least she’s honest!”

Lilith lunged forward again, this time forcing Dahu against Yamui hard enough to lock the blades together.

The pressure between them distorted the air.

For the first time—

Celeste actually stopped moving.

Lilith stared directly into her eyes.

“That sword…”

Celeste tilted her head slightly.

“What about it?”

Lilith’s voice lowered carefully.

“That’s Yamui.”

A pause.

The smile faded slightly from Celeste’s face.

Seraphina noticed instantly. “…Lilith…”

Lilith kept going.

“That blade belonged to Lucielle Morven.”

Something changed.

Tiny.

But catastrophic.

Celeste hesitated.

Only for a fraction of a second.

But for someone like her—

That was enormous.

Kael noticed it too. “Oh no…”

Lilith slowly stepped back half a pace, keeping Dahu raised.

“Demon,” she said carefully, “I have something to say.”

Celeste looked annoyed now.

“…Can it wait? I’m enjoying myself.”

“No.”

Lilith steadied her breathing.

The street around them felt strangely quiet again.

Even the Knights stopped moving.

Even the wind seemed hesitant.

Lilith tightened her grip around Dahu.

Then spoke.

“For without sacrifice—”

Celeste froze instantly.

Lilith continued.

“—growth ceases to exist.”

Silence.

Absolute silence.

Celeste blinked once.

Then again.

“…what?”

Her grip loosened slightly.

Yamui dipped.

The smile vanished completely.

“...growth…”

The word sounded wrong coming out of her mouth.

Like something ancient trying to speak through broken glass.

Kael felt his stomach drop immediately. “Lilith…”

Seraphina whispered, “What did you just do…?”

Celeste staggered backward suddenly.

Her free hand slammed against her head.

“No…”

Pain hit her visibly this time.

Violently.

Yamui slipped from her grasp—

CLANG—

The blade hit the street hard enough to crack it.

Celeste stumbled again.

“No… no no no…”

Her breathing became uneven.

Unstable.

Fragments of aura began erupting around her in jagged bursts.

Nearby buildings started shaking.

The Knights immediately backed away in visible panic.

“My lord—”
“She’s hurting!”
“Captain what do we do?!”

The captain looked terrified for the first time.

“…Fall back.”

Celeste grabbed her head harder.

“GET OUT—!”

A pulse exploded outward.

Reality warped.

For a split second the street became something else entirely—different architecture, different sky, different time.

Then it snapped back.

Seraphina nearly fell over. “WHAT WAS THAT?!”

Kael looked horrified. “That was NOT illusion magic!”

Celeste dropped to one knee.

Wings twitching violently.

“I’m not going to remember…” she whispered desperately. “I promise… I promise…”

Her voice cracked.

“Please stop…”

And suddenly—

She didn’t sound powerful anymore.

She sounded scared.

Celeste froze.

The ruined district of Caelrith trembled around her.

Not metaphorically.

Physically.

Reality itself had begun reacting to her unstable state, the very laws governing the kingdom bending unevenly beneath the pressure leaking from her body. The marble roads beneath the cathedral district cracked in spreading fractures while nearby structures shifted between moments in time—walls appearing whole one instant before snapping back into ruin the next.

The Grand Cathedral of Aethra loomed behind them like a dying monument.

Its once-beautiful stained glass windows now hung shattered across the streets of the holy capital. Massive statues depicting the history of life—civilizations rising beneath Aethra’s blessing, forests growing from barren land, kings kneeling before divinity—had begun crumbling apart from the pressure radiating off Celeste alone.

And through all of it—

She still held Elysia carefully.

Like nothing else mattered.

Kael stared upward as another distortion split across the sky above Caelrith.

The heavens themselves looked wounded now, thin cracks of violet light spreading through the clouds like fractures in glass.

“…Why does it feel like the world’s tearing apart around her?”

Seraphina’s breathing remained uneven beside him.

“Maybe it is.”

The answer came quietly.

Honestly.

No one laughed after she said it.

Another pulse erupted from Celeste.

BOOOOM—

The cobblestone beneath her feet collapsed inward several inches as the district shook violently. Nearby homes warped unnaturally before snapping back into place, windows exploding outward from the pressure.

Several Celestial Knights stumbled backward immediately.

“That isn’t mana!”
“Shes destabilizing reality!”

The captain’s armored gauntlet rose sharply.

“Fallback perimeter TWO! No one approaches my lord!”

“But captain—”

“THAT IS AN ORDER!”

Even his voice sounded strained now.

Because the Celestial Knights of Caelrith were trained to confront demons, rogue kingdoms, magical catastrophes—even lesser gods if necessary.

But this?

This was something else entirely.

They weren’t standing before an enemy anymore.

They were standing near a collapsing force of existence itself.

Celeste suddenly dropped to one knee.

Her wings twitched violently behind her.

Yamui trembled in her grasp hard enough to crack the stone beneath the blade’s tip.

“No… stop…”

Her voice layered over itself strangely.

Like multiple versions of her were speaking simultaneously.

Seraphina’s eye widened.

“Something’s happening to her mind…”

Lilith’s expression hardened immediately.

“Get Elysia.”

Kael snapped toward her.

“NOW?!”

“Yes NOW!”

“She looks like she’s about to kill everyone in this district!”

“And if we wait longer she WILL!”

Lilith moved first.

Seraphina hesitated only briefly before following after her.

Kael cursed under his breath and ran behind them.

The moment they stepped within reach—

Elysia cried.

Everything stopped.

Dust froze in midair.

The pressure radiating from Celeste halted instantly.

Lilith’s body locked mid-step.

Kael’s breathing stopped completely.

Seraphina strained against the invisible force surrounding the child.

“…I can’t move…”

The aura surrounding Elysia didn’t feel violent.

It felt absolute.

Like reality itself refused to allow anyone closer to her.

Even the knights farther back felt it.

Several instinctively lowered their weapons.

One knight whispered shakily beneath his helm,

“…What is that child?”

Celeste slowly lifted her head.

And looked down at Elysia.

The child reached upward immediately.

Tiny fingers brushing gently against Celeste’s cheek.

The distortions surrounding the district weakened slightly.

Just for a moment.

Celeste’s expression softened.

“…Why do you feel so important…?”

Elysia giggled softly.

“Mata.”

The sound hit something buried deep inside Celeste’s mind.

And the seal cracked harder.

Observe.

Forget.

Observe.

FORGET.

Celeste screamed.

“AHHHHH—!”

Aura detonated outward catastrophically.

BOOOOOOOOM—

The district exploded apart beneath her.

The ground shattered into massive fractures as violet light erupted across the sky. Entire sections of reality distorted violently around her body, nearby buildings vanishing momentarily into endless black voids before snapping back into existence.

Her eyes opened fully—

Galaxies spinning violently within them.

Unstable.

Triggered.

“…Re…fraction”

Kael’s face went pale instantly.

“…That sounds horrifying.”

Celeste grabbed her head violently.

“No… no no no GET OUT!”

Yamui rose suddenly.

Not by decision.

By instinct.

By pain.

Lilith’s eyes widened immediately.

“GET DOWN!”

Celeste swung.

And reality split with the blade.

The slash tore sideways through the district, carving open layers of fractured space behind it. The attack screamed across Caelrith like existence itself had been wounded.

Seraphina ducked.

Barely.

The edge of the dimensional slash clipped across her eye and upper cheek.

Blood sprayed violently across the shattered street.

“SERAPHINA!!”