[Eos Academy – Dueling Grounds]
The courtyard lay in ruins. Cracked tiles, smoldering air, and flickering remnants of divine energy stained the night.
Lohan stood over Justine, the anti-divine blade hovering inches from her throat. One final strike… and it would all be over.
But his hand trembled.
Not from weakness.
From memory.
From regret.
---
[Flashback – 52 Years Ago, Celestial Tower, Floor 70]
"You're going to burn yourself out, Master," Justine said, her voice light and warm. She sat beside Hajun—her hair short, her face bright. "You never rest."
"I don't have the luxury of rest," Hajun replied, scribbling complex runes in his notebook.
She leaned closer.
> "Then I'll make time for you."
He had looked up then—caught off guard.
> "I'm your sword, your shield… your only loyal one. Don't forget that."
---
[Present]
Lohan closed his eyes.
> "You were the only one who never lied to me. Until the end."
Justine, bleeding and weakened, forced a broken smile.
> "I still believed in you. Even after I struck the final blow."
> "Then why did you do it?"
> "Because I feared what they feared... that if you kept climbing, you'd become a godkiller. That you'd burn heaven down."
Silence stretched between them.
> "You're not wrong," Lohan said coldly. "I am going to burn heaven down."
She closed her eyes.
> "Then do it. Finish me."
The blade trembled in his hand… then shattered.
Justine's eyes snapped open.
> "You're sparing me?"
> "No," Lohan said, turning away. "I'm making you watch."
> "Watch?"
> "You'll live with what you did. And you'll see what I become. What you could've stood beside."
He vanished into the shadows.
---
[Moments Later – Nearby Rooftop]
Winter waited, eyes unreadable.
> "You let her live."
> "She was already dead the moment she betrayed me."
> "You still love her," Winter whispered.
Lohan didn't answer.
> "But you chose vengeance."
His voice was quiet but sharp.
> "No. I chose clarity."
---
[Heavenscape – Divine Council Chamber]
The gods watched in silence.
One slammed their hand against the divine mirror.
> "He should've killed her!"
Another god—shrouded in mist—spoke:
> "No. That mercy will cost him more than he knows."