The Nameless Heir

He flew toward the academy fast, still carrying the look of disappointment on his face. He had thought that stupid girl would heal him more, but she had barely managed to restore twenty percent of his maximum power. He understood what he was, a god carrying far more strength than any human, but still, he had expected at least forty, maybe fifty.

By the time she was done, she had passed out, her body collapsing from the effort. At least she had managed to fix his shattered arm. He lifted her carefully, setting her against him in a safe hold before tearing through the sky once more.

His shadow coat dragged and swayed in the wind, snapping behind him as he ripped through the air like a javelin.

While he flew, chaos unfolded beneath him. Houses were leveled to the ground, smoke twisting upward in heavy columns. His eyes swept the battlefield, and something wasn't right.

Mages and monsters clashed in the streets. And the students—only the students—were defending the city.

Where are the soldiers from the other kingdoms?

His gaze cut lower. Hulking shapes tore through the ruins. A cyclops, but its skin rippled like scales, its second eye crudely stitched across its chest, glowing red. Packs of goblin-things scrambled through the rubble, their bodies warped—fangs jutting out of human-like jaws, limbs too long, claws dragging sparks across stone. Behind them slithered something worse: a serpent with feathered wings sprouting from its back, snapping through the air with a hiss that rattled the streets.

They weren't just monsters. They looked cobbled together, parts stolen from Olympus and twisted into something else entirely. They all looked like they were in pain.

And the worst part was that the only ones standing against them were students.

He hovered above the chaos, eyes scanning the burning streets. For a moment he wondered why. Why were only students fighting while kingdoms stayed silent?

Then it hit him.

This was the only place under attack. The other nations were untouched, safe, watching. That's why no one interfered.

The helm of darkness slid across his face, shadows steaming off his body in thick waves. The air itself bent around him, his fury bleeding into the world. Every shade in reach twisted violently, desperate to mirror the anger of their master.

He flew higher, past the clouds, past the thin air, until the world itself fell away. Space swallowed him. Dark. Empty. Silent.

He floated there, and from below the shadows rose—like smoke ripped from the earth, streaming upward to him. His soldiers vanished, even the ones still bound in chains, their essence bleeding into the tide.

The current of darkness dipped through his body, flooding him until he could barely breathe. His lips parted, a whisper breaking into the void.

"Absolute Void."

The words detonated inside him. The darkness burst outward, swallowing everything it touched.

Light died.

The moon vanished. The sun snuffed out. The stars, the constellations carved into heaven's skin, devoured. All gone.

"You crazy bastard," Typhon laughed, a rumble that cracked with madness. "You're going to freeze the world."

Kael's lips curled, though it wasn't a smile. His voice came out flat, dripping with contempt.

"Liz will be fine. The rest? Let them die cold."

Typhon's laughter boomed, filling the void around them. His glee was twisted, mocking.

"Ha! My influence is getting to you. I knew it would."

Kael's eyes cut to him, sharp and unamused.

"Don't flatter yourself."

Then silence.

No weight. Just the endless dark stretching without limit. It pressed against him, cold and infinite, as if the universe itself was waiting to be swallowed by him.

His chest rose once, sharp, before falling still. He opened his mouth and drew it all in.

The void poured through him, heavy and endless. Shadows crawled up his arms and across his skin, writhing like living chains, his veins bulging and straining as the silence itself filled his lungs. His throat locked, body shuddering under the weight of what he consumed.

The stars above flickered. For a moment, it felt like even the constellations trembled. Light bled back into the void, and he could feel it—dense, suffocating, coiling into the darkness inside him until it became something sharper, heavier.

Below, a flicker of light broke through. Small, but blinding in its defiance. A sun.

He knew who it was.

Kael dove, his shadowed coat snapping in the air with each slap against the wind. He dropped into the battlefield like a falling star, the impact striking with the force of a meteor.

The world shook. Stone buckled, the ground split open in a violent tremor. He didn't drive the force deep; he pressed all of it into his shadows.

The moment his feet hit earth, the darkness surged outward. From the cracks, jagged spikes of shadow tore free, lancing through the bodies scattered across the field. Flesh ripped. Bone split with sharp cracks. Screams cut short as the victims were lifted from the ground, their bodies dangling high on black spears.

Blood poured down in heavy streaks, dripping along the blades of darkness until it gathered at his feet, feeding into the throne-like shape his shadows formed around him.

All eyes locked on Kael. He lifted his head, rage streaming off him like smoke torn from a fire.

More rifts split open above the battlefield. Giants fell through, their massive bodies crashing down with earth-shaking thuds. Smaller hybrids poured out with them—twisted things, goblin-faced beasts with Cyclopean eyes, scaled skin, wings stitched to their backs. They shrieked as they leapt, swarming him in a frenzy.

Mages above unleashed their spells in waves. Fire, lightning, and ice rained down, drowning the field in light.

Kael didn't flinch. A barrier of shadows coiled tight around him. The first wave of monsters slammed against it, then the next, until a mountain of bodies piled atop one another, clawing, biting, pressing down to crush him beneath their weight.

The spells stopped. The battlefield held its breath.

Then the barrier pulsed.

Shadows erupted. Black spikes ripped through flesh and bone, spearing the creatures from within. Blood sprayed in arcs as the swarm was torn apart in silence. The corpses hung for a moment, twitching in the air, before the shadows devoured them whole.

Kael stood in the middle of the bloody battlefield. Where buildings once stood, there was nothing now but ruins—a broken, hollowed-out city drenched in ash and blood.

In front of him rose the academy, its walls scarred and scorched. Behind its gates, the last survivors huddled, pressed together beneath a barrier cast by the demi-gods.

Orion was there. Liz too, standing beside him, her body trembling but unyielding as she fought to keep the others safe. Shadows of exhaustion hung over them all, yet still they stood, refusing to fall.

"Rise," he said softly.

The ground split, and all seven Sins rose at once. They shot toward the remaining monsters, tearing them apart, ripping flesh, devouring what was left in a frenzy of shadow and hunger.

Amid the chaos, Kael kept walking. Step after step, his eyes locked only on Liz. He didn't glance at the carnage. He didn't care for the screams or the blood. The world was burning around him, yet he ignored it all.

His focus was hers alone.

From above, the long-range mages unleashed everything they had. Spells rained down, fire and lightning tearing through the sky.

Kael lifted his hand. Shadows surged upward, shooting like bullets to meet the barrage. The clash lit the air in flashes of black and gold.

But the enemy didn't falter. The ones holding shields absorbed the impact, walls of light shuddering but holding firm. The swordsmen cut through the shadows with practiced ease, each swing reflecting the strikes back into the air.

The rain of spells didn't slow. The defense was coordinated, trained to counter him.

But that wasn't it.

The shadows shifted, bullets melting into liquid midair. Droplets spread, flooding across the sky like a black rain.

Kael snapped his fingers. His voice was low, sharp.

"You're all annoying."

The droplets struck. They clung to the mages, swallowing them little by little. They tore at the darkness, clawing, burning, screaming spells to cut it away. But the shadows kept spreading. There was no end to it.

In moments, each mage was wrapped, bound in writhing black until the sky itself seemed to collapse into one mass. The bodies dragged together, merged into a single ball of spears, shadows spiking out in every direction.

Kael's fist clenched.

The sphere shrank. Their cries folded inward, crushed in silence, until there was nothing left.

The battlefield went silent.

Kael's steps dragged as he reached Liz, his body swaying before he collapsed against her shoulder. His strength was gone, his breath ragged, every limb heavy.

She caught him, holding him steady. Her hand glowed, gold light spilling across his broken body as her healing sank deep.

"A proper heal…" he muttered, eyes half-closing, letting them slip shut for a brief moment.