The Layer of Ancients trembled violently, more than half of it was already reduced to rubble by the time the ancient story playing across the sky faded. The destruction only intensified with each passing second—and this was while Azazeal and Nathaniel were relying solely on their physical strength.
Far away, shrouded in dark mist, Cassian, who was walking aimlessly, stumbled and lost his footing due to the debris from the destruction raining down around him, nearly dragging him into the collapsing land below, which split apart under the pressure of the battle between Azazeal and Nathaniel. But before he could be buried under the rubble, an extremely cold hand grasped his wrist.
Cassian slowly lifted his dazed crimson eyes as he felt the prickling chill from the hand gripping his wrist, only to see a layer of ice creeping outward from the point of contact, spreading to cover his body. His gaze lifted further but froze as he met the familiar green eyes staring at him coldly.
There was no Celestial aura around the owner of those eyes—no overwhelming power or presence—as if the owner had carefully hidden his power so as not to harm his already muddled mind further.
The small core holding Ares’ soul slipped from Cassian’s hand as a flicker of reason returned to him. In that instant, he opened his mouth subconsciously, as if to explain why he looked so pathetic to the majestic figure staring at him, but no sound left his lips. In the end, tears slipped from his eyes as he mouthed words without any sound.
’Please, kill me...’
’It’s okay if it’s you...’
Cassian couldn’t believe that a Celestial could look so ethereal, so otherworldly.
Even Azazeal’s tall figure—whom he had seen emerge from the void of darkness—now seemed quite pale in comparison.
In that moment, his mind told him:
This was a true Celestial—one surrounded by nature, granted power by it to govern its laws, a being selected to rule and guard the world around them. Every movement, every gaze, radiated the quiet authority and power of a being who was a living embodiment of the natural balance that governed all things.
Kyle stared at him intently before shifting his gaze to the small core that had fallen from his grip. His voice was emotionless, yet it carried a trace of anger—an anger he wouldn’t have felt if he hadn’t considered the crimson-eyed man before him a friend.
"I looked away for just a moment..."
He let out a cold sneer as he eyed him.
"...and this is what you have become."
His grip on Cassian’s wrist tightened. The crisp sound of bones—barely mended after consuming a vast amount of darkness—snapping once again echoed in the air.
"Revenge. Revenge. If you were willing to walk this far down that path, knowing very well there’s no retreat, then why stop here? Why give up now? I don’t condemn that you crave revenge—hell, I would have done the same if I had endured what you did. But tell me this... why do you and that bastard want to destroy yourselves along the way? If you want to die so badly, just self-destruct!"
Kyle spat the words out so quickly that he had to pause, drawing in a sharp breath as the weight of his own frustration caught up to him. A cold laugh tore from his throat.
"Why do you want me to kill you?"
His voice rose, sharp and raw.
"If you’re so desperate to die, then do it yourself. Self-destruct! Because if I decide to kill someone, it will be by my own will—not because someone is begging for it!"
The anger burning in Kyle’s cold eyes was fierce, unmistakable, and unrestrained, as though it might spill over at any second.
Cassian stared at his face in a quiet daze.
A chilling yet comforting power entered his mind. It began repairing his consciousness.
But no matter how formidable that power was, it could never heal his will to survive.
That was something he had to recover on his own—something he had lost amid the endless sea of hopelessness and despair.
Cassian wanted to apologize, to say sorry for his earlier words when he felt the anger aimed at him—a anger so sharp it revealed he still mattered to someone, even after he had betrayed everyone. Why? Just because he had asked to be friends with this man? A friendship he had sought only because he thought Kyle was strong and he could use him? But the word got stuck in his throat.
No matter how hard he tried, such a simple word felt like a mountain pressing down on him—heavy and impossible in that moment.
Kyle calmed down after venting for a while and waved his hand. The small core holding Ares’ soul floated toward him, settling in his palm. He glanced at it, and upon seeing the multiple cracks on its surface, he could tell the soul inside the core was already heavily damaged. Half of it had been consumed by darkness and was decaying. He closed his fingers around the small core and glanced at Cassian with a sharp look. The anger in his eyes faded, replaced by a distant stare.
Cassian felt a sudden chill at that distant stare, and he understood why when the ice spreading from his wrist accelerated. In an instant, it covered his entire body—even his widening, puzzled crimson eyes. Then, his body shattered into countless snowflakes.
Kyle stared at the snowflakes. The next second, he reached out and grasped the soul tainted by darkness drifting among them. A frown crossed his face when he realized the soul was already enslaved by Azazeal’s energy, bound by the darkness consuming it. With a sneer, he formed an ice cocoon and sealed the soul within it.
"This is for harming the people you never should have, even when you felt like giving up everything. Consider it punishment. The next time you regain consciousness, if you still seek revenge, then just come for me."
He paused for a moment, then added.
"Idiot."
Kyle formed another cocoon and carefully extracted Ares’ soul from the core, sealing it within so his soul could recover. Though the ice couldn’t remove the darkness since it was too late, it would at least restore their injured souls and damaged consciousness.
Cassian was already a Dark Celestial. As for Ares—he hoped the man wouldn’t react too strongly once he found he had become a Dark Celestial. Sighing, Kyle tore open the space before him and threw both cocoons into the Library of Golden Guardians Clan—the location he deemed safest for the time being. Well, Kyle knew it was going to take the two a long time to heal and wake up.
Fortunately, now that he was a Celestial who owned the Crown of a true Ruler, the restrictions within the Layer of Ancients meant nothing to him. With a single blink, he vanished after sensing the presence of Zami’s soul in the opposite direction.