Chapter 2: The Shattered Oath

The clash of steel and the roar of divine power shook the Celestial Gates. Valen Azrael charged forward, his silver blade slicing through the darkness, each strike igniting with holy fire. But for every foe he felled, two more emerged from the abyss, their crimson eyes glowing with an unholy hunger.

Lyra fought beside him, her golden spear a beacon of light amidst the encroaching shadows. With each thrust, arcs of divine energy cut through the air, banishing the darkness back into the void. But the tide was relentless. The Fallen King's forces moved with a terrible unity, their onslaught pressing closer and closer to the sacred gates of Eldoria.

Valen's heart pounded as he clashed with a warrior clad in obsidian armor, the enemy's blade crashing against his with bone-rattling force. The knight's arms trembled from the impact, but he held his ground. With a desperate twist, he drove his sword into the foe's chest, feeling the darkness dissipate into the air like mist.

Yet even as he fought, doubt gnawed at him. These warriors—these forsaken souls—did not fight with blind rage. They moved with purpose, with conviction. Was this truly the work of evil? Or was it vengeance against an unjust fate?

A deafening explosion tore through the battlefield, sending divine warriors and fallen alike tumbling through the skies. The force of the blast threw Valen backward, his body colliding with the marble walls of the Celestial Gates. Pain flared through his ribs, but he forced himself to rise, his gaze snapping toward the source of the devastation.

At the heart of the battle, wreathed in a storm of dark energy, stood the Fallen King. His black wings spread wide, their presence a void against the golden light of Eldoria. In one hand, he held a great sword forged from the abyss itself, its edge crackling with consuming darkness. His gaze swept over the battlefield before settling on Valen.

A slow, knowing smile crossed the Fallen King's lips. He raised his sword, and with a single downward slash, sent a wave of shadow surging toward Valen.

Lyra leaped between them, her spear glowing with celestial radiance as she met the attack head-on. The collision of light and darkness sent shockwaves through the heavens, the force enough to crack the very foundations of the Celestial Gates.

"Valen!" she shouted, her voice barely audible over the roaring energies. "We must hold our ground!"

But Valen could not move. His eyes remained locked onto the Fallen King's, and in that moment, he saw something that chilled him far more than the battle around him.

He saw sorrow.

This was not the gaze of a tyrant drunk on power. It was the gaze of a man who had lost everything, who had been betrayed by those he once called kin. And for the first time, Valen wondered—

Had the heavens truly cast out a monster?

Or had they created one?

As the battle raged on, the question refused to leave him. And in that moment of hesitation, the world shifted.

For Valen Azrael, sworn knight of the Holy Order, had begun to doubt his oath.