After the owner of the hourglass symbol died, the last of the three Celestials, who had been in seclusion for years, appeared. He was the strongest among them and the one who didn’t like interacting with others, especially the newly ascended Celestials.
In his hands, he held three very familiar pairs of rings—the same ones Kyle had discovered inside the large coffin where Azazeal found the Crimson Ice Crown.
The rings had been crafted by him after multiple days of effort—despite knowing nothing of forging—intended for himself and his friends, made after learning that one of them had actually found a partner.
But what greeted him when he finally returned were the lifeless bodies of his friends. The rings fell from his grasp.
Kyle could almost hear something break deep within that silent man, even though the ancient story playing in the sky offered no sound—only blurry, fleeting visions—as he gathered the remains of his friends.
Strangely, the last of the first three Celestials remained extremely calm.
He left and buried his friends’ remains quietly, his gaze devoid of anger or pain.
He still hadn’t lost all reason.
Those who had killed his friends had long since hidden, consolidating their strength after consuming the ethereal powers they had stolen. But he did not pursue them.
Instead, he created the Layer of Ancients and waited—waited silently for those who had killed his friends to come to him.
He knew they would come.
To steal his power as well.
Days turned into months.
Months stretched into hundreds of years.
But he didn’t move an inch during all that time. Amidst the endless passage of years, a sinister aura began to consume the light around his radiant figure. Then they finally came—not in groups of tens or hundreds, but in thousands, all seeking to kill him.
A single man, wearing a crown, cut them down effortlessly. He started a massacre, killing every Celestial. But in his killing, his hands were stained with too much blood. Ultimately, nature completely abandoned him, and darkness consumed him fully.
As he ripped out the Celestial Symbols of his fallen friends from the bodies of those who had stolen them and killed the last of the intruders, he also lost his life—not due to anyone else, but because he simply lost control of his own unstable, violent power.
At the moment of his death, he finally spoke again as his soul disintegrated.
’Pity... I could not erase every Celestial alongside me. So, no such rank exists.’
He vanished, but left behind a powerful obsession—a desire to end the world of Celestials completely. The Layer of the Three Ancients reformed itself after his demise, silently awaiting someone who would inherit that sinister obsession.
The only living being still left within the ancient realm was the two-headed giant.
It had originally been an ordinary Divine Creature with little intelligence, but long ago, the owner of the hourglass symbol came across it being bullied by powerful beasts and, feeling pity, decided to save it. As a result, the giant grew very powerful.
However, although the giant had become powerful, the price of this vast power was that it could never sleep again. The giant always secretly trailed the three powerful beings, but when they tried to get close, it would show disdain and leave. Though not as powerful as they were, it stayed by their side for a time, observing them from afar.
Yet, because it was unable to sleep, it constantly roamed here and there, only returning after several years each time.
The giant didn’t show attachment to the three powerful Celestials. It had remained silent when it learned that two of the three had perished. Even as the last of the three created the Layer of Ancients, waited, and then unleashed a sea of blood, the giant had merely watched everything quietly.
Only when nothing else remained did it show a flicker of grief, whimpering softly.
The giant was the one who had gathered the three Celestial Symbols left behind in the vast realm and placed them in various locations within the Layer of the Ancients.
It was also the one who had gathered the memories of the departed and created the ancient visions Kyle was seeing, so others could learn what had truly happened—how and why the very first Celestials vanished.
Then it sealed itself within the Layer of Ancients, taking on the role of a guard.
Kyle watched as the visions in the sky dissolved into sparks and disappeared.
He understood why the Giant hadn’t interfered—it was because, along with sleep, it also lacked—or perhaps didn’t understand—certain human emotions.
Only when the three people it cared for perished did it finally feel a hint of grief.
If it had truly not cared for the powerful Celestials it once watched, it would never have trapped itself alongside their powers, knowing it would have to stay alone in the ancient realm for an unknown span of time until an outsider found the place. Instead, it would have simply absorbed those powers to ascend, rather than guarding them for countless years like a devoted guardian.
So, he felt guilty for laughing at the giant when it couldn’t reach him, unaware that the giant had willingly trapped itself there.
If it had wanted to, it could have broken those restrictions and captured him. But even when Kyle was laughing at it, it didn’t break the barrier it had trapped itself in.
Kyle raised one of his hands, as though trying to grasp the dying sparks scattered across the distant sky. The corners of his lips flattened, and what he said next made the natural energy around him shudder.
"Honestly..."
He paused, letting his words drag.
"Why did the last of the three Celestials wait for so long? It’s foolish. If something took away the few things you cared about, you should go forth and just destroy it all."
His words echoed softly, and nature felt relieved that this man had not embraced the dark side. Otherwise, Kyle would have caused far more destruction than the two currently fighting to tear each other apart.
Kyle hummed, his gaze drifting into the distance. The fact that the last of the three first Celestials hadn’t shattered his existence, as everyone in the Celestial Realm had claimed, lingered in his mind. Yet he was unable to dwell on it for long.
His eyes locked onto two lightning-fast streaks of light—one obsidian with a touch of red, the other gold mixed with dark and a powerful shade of green—blurring across the far distance in a deadly, furious clash.
Narrowing his glowing eyes, he shifted his gaze in another direction, where his senses detected the presence of Cassian and Ares.
"I suppose I will let them fight first. As for who will win... it’s quite obvious. He seems to be toying with the seven-headed snake."