Kyle’s figure first appeared on the chaotic battlefield, at the very center of the floating territories belonging to countless powerful clans in the Realm, where Valance and her followers were unleashing devastation.
His arrival was like a frigid gale cutting through the darkness that shrouded the space where countless clans and Rulers battled desperately against the undead.
No one sensed his presence.
Not even the powerful Rulers present.
All that could be perceived was a chilling breeze passing unobstructed through the chaos, slicing through every undead—no matter how strong—as if it were nothing.
In the next blink, a shimmering, tall figure finally revealed itself, floating right before Valance, who should have been protected by countless layers of Celestial undead.
Kyle’s aura was completely concealed, so no one in the surroundings fell into a daze upon seeing him. Many Clan Leaders and Rulers fighting the undead recognized him—and their shock was profound. After all, not long ago, they had witnessed his death with their own eyes, watching the silver-haired ice Celestial, who had become famous in recent years, fall while fighting Valance.
Although they had grieved his death, they were also relieved when Valance failed to find his soul, thinking perhaps it had been completely destroyed in the fight. After all, if Kyle’s soul had been captured by her, the undead created from it would surely have killed many of them in mere seconds. But how could he, who had died before their eyes, possibly come back from the dead?
Everyone who recognized the familiar silver-haired Celestial was in disbelief.
Then, they saw Kyle move.
His movements were very slow—so slow that even the weakest Celestials fighting around could have easily evaded him. Yet what happened next before them nearly made the onlookers’ eyes bulge in shock.
The very air seemed to ripple with Kyle’s movement. Valance—the Ruler whom no one had even been able to approach in the past two days, shielded by many undead—was immobile as his hand closed around her neck with effortless, chilling precision.
The jaws of the onlookers dropped as he easily snapped her neck and dragged out her soul as if it were nothing. The Rulers who had followed Valance, along with the countless undead surrounding her, stayed frozen—unable to move—trembling quietly as she was killed right before their eyes.
In that moment, utter silence descended over the scene, all eyes fixed on a single figure. The oppressive darkness in the air seemed to vanish, replaced by a flurry of glimmering blue snowflakes that swirled and danced in all directions, freezing every undead in their path. It was as if the entire battlefield had bowed to a single person.
Kyle released the lifeless body from his grip. Almost instantly, it fell into the vast expanse of space below, his voice a low murmur:
"That’s for destroying my fake body."
He didn’t waste time on the other Rulers.
After all, with Valance gone, he knew the powerful Clan Leaders and elderly Rulers—who had emerged from seclusion to battle the undead—could handle them. Without a second thought, he disappeared toward the Layer of Ancients, fully aware that Azazeal had already awakened. And he had a very, very bad premonition that Nathaniel had also reached the End. Who would end whom now was something even nature couldn’t predict, let alone the darkness.
The onlookers didn’t see when Kyle joined the battlefield. Nor did they see him leave.
The only proof that he had ever been there—and that it hadn’t all been a shared illusion—was the lingering trail of tiny snowflakes.
And like that, a battle that had seemed destined to plunge the entire Celestial Realm into ruins ended in just seconds.
***
Kyle was greeted by a loud tremor that rippled violently outward the moment he finally arrived in the Layer of Ancients. But his eyes were first drawn to the sky, which ignited at that same moment, flooding the dark clouds with cascading visions that unfolded to tell a forgotten, ancient tale.
He could see the large clouds of smoke lifting in the distance, drifting through the mist as his senses expanded, reaching out to encompass the entirety of the Layer of Three Ancients. Yet, despite the chaos far away, his gaze remained fixed on the sky.
Azazeal and Nathaniel both were erasing everything in their battle, yet he stayed still. Just like him, the story continued to unfold, untouched by the surrounding destruction.
The ancient unfolding story began with three ethereal individuals—two males and one female—their laughter echoing faintly across time, seated together in an ornate pavilion suspended above the clouds.
Around the trio floated countless glowing lanterns of every shape and hue, casting a soft, ethereal glow that danced like fireflies, illuminating the scene with a quiet serenity.
The trio world was very small, and they could only watch those weaker from afar. Yet, they looked happy in that small world.
They were the ones who discovered the Celestial Realm—the ones who found the End and gained authority equal to that of Nature itself, able to govern all existence.
They were not greedy, so they shared the path to becoming a Celestial with those in the lower realms. It was also a way to draw more people into the Celestial Realm they had discovered, to have more companions and friends in their vast but lonely world.
But unlike the three, the newly ascended Celestials who saw their powerful radiance were consumed by greed. How could such people be satisfied with merely becoming Celestials when there were three powerful beings who existed so far above them?
They were all very envious—jealous that Nature favored the three more, while they themselves had to toil endlessly just to make the slightest progress in power.
Driven by their greed, these Celestials conspired to steal the power of the three.
If they could not ascend by following the proper path, they would reach the End by stealing the essence of the three Rulers, beings closer to Nature than themselves.
The first to fall among the first Celestials, was the woman. She had trusted a fellow Celestial, marrying him in good faith—but on the very day she entered his abode, her Celestial Symbol was violently ripped from her body by her own husband. It was a lily, delicate and ethereal. She had just smiled at the man she loved as her soul was torn apart by the other Celestials around her.
Following her, the second to fall was the Celestial who bore the hourglass symbol.
Sensing his dear friend’s soul shatter, he immediately tried to reverse time to save her. But tampering with time for someone who had completely vanished was against nature. It instead left him gravely wounded, and at that moment he was swiftly struck down by those lying in ambush, who had anticipated that he would immediately try to reverse time when one of them died.
When his essence was being mercilessly ripped from his body, he had gathered his power in his hands and could have struck down everyone around him—but he didn’t.
Instead, he endured, his gaze calm. Kyle followed the movements of his lips and understood the words he murmured.
’We swore to Nature never to harm those weaker than ourselves... Even if all of you are ungrateful evil wretches, we are not.’