[Academy – Hidden Study Hall Beneath the Library]
The room was sealed with eight layers of magic.
Lohan sat before the hovering sigil—an eye pierced by a blade, spinning slowly in the air.
> [System Notification: Forbidden Sigil Identified – Heavenbreaker: Incomplete]
[Warning: Further analysis may attract divine surveillance.]
[Proceed?]
[Yes] — Lohan
The sigil pulsed with a blood-red light.
"I created this… fifty years ago. To destroy the gods."
His hands hovered over it.
"But now, I need it… to remind them who they failed to kill."
---
[Winter – Recovery Wing]
Winter's wounds were gone, but the frost hadn't left her bones.
The fight with Justine left a scar—not on her skin, but in her soul.
> "She tried to kill me… but she hesitated. Why?"
And why had Lohan looked at her like… he knew more than he should?
She stared at her hand, where residual divine chains had burned her skin.
The mark wasn't fading.
Instead, it was glowing brighter.
---
[Justine – Divine Temple Punishment Hall]
Kneeling in the circle of gods, Justine breathed heavily as divine flames lashed her.
"Failure," one god spat.
"She awakened the Sigil. You were supposed to stop that."
"You knew the caster," another whispered. "You let him live."
She didn't argue.
She couldn't.
But in her heart… doubt had taken root.
> "He didn't kill me. Why?"
Her chains loosened.
But her faith? It was no longer absolute.
---
[Kael – Training Grounds]
Lohan stood opposite Kael, watching him swing a blazing sword in clumsy arcs.
"Again," Lohan ordered.
Kael groaned. "Do I look like a swordsman?"
"You look like someone who wants to live. So again."
Kael swung.
Lohan nodded. "You're learning. Slowly."
Then the system whispered:
> [Bond Level Increased – Student: Kael]
[Potential Class Evolution Triggered: Fire-Touched Vanguard]
[Side Quest Unlocked – Train a Divine-Bound Mortal]
Lohan smirked.
It was working.
---
[Final Scene – Tower Summit, God Council Chamber]
The gods were silent.
On a crystalline table, the Heavenbreaker Sigil rotated in projection.
The oldest among them whispered:
> "He lives."
Another spoke:
> "We burned him to ash. How?"
"He used the mortal cycle… hid his soul."
Then a third god stood.
"The sigil must not be completed. If it is—our thrones fall."
They all looked toward Justine's chained figure.
> "You knew him. You will kill him."
Justine's head remained bowed.
But her eyes… glinted with rebellion.
---