The Fall
Location: Safe Zone – Outer Forest Line
Time: July 27th, 6:00 PM – 6:30 PM
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6:00 PM – Standing Alone
POV: Armin
Armin couldn't feel his glaives anymore. One was cracked, the other chipped, its edge burned dull. His body felt like it was carrying the weight of the entire Safe Zone. His chest rose and fell in ragged, uneven pulls.
He stood alone now. Beyond the defensive line. Beyond the safety. Just him, the broken battlefield, and the Herald.
The towering glyph-marked entity stared him down from a dozen meters away. Runes moved like insects across its stone-smooth body, glowing dim and cold. Above its head, the sky had split open. An eye — massive, vertical, and shut — floated there, pulsing.
Behind Armin, through the haze, he heard Kael yelling his name. Heard Elle calling for him. Dain's rifle shots echoing like thunder.
But none of it mattered.
He stepped forward. Blood leaked from his stomach wound, trailing behind him like red thread.
"One more step," he whispered.
The Herald raised its arm. A ring of sigils shimmered into the air.
And then Armin ran.
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6:04 PM – Deathstroke
POV: Kael
Kael saw it. Every frame. Every second.
Armin, sprinting. One broken glaive raised like a banner. Roaring.
The Herald's hand came down.
A beam — wide, white, silent — sliced the air.
Armin didn't slow.
And then his head left his shoulders.
It didn't just fall. It flew, rolling mid-air in a slow, tragic arc — and landed just feet in front of Kael.
Armin's face was still.
His expression frozen in a sad, final smile, eyes wide open, drained of color. Lifeless. Empty.
Kael didn't blink. Couldn't.
Armin's body ran three more steps before collapsing.
The cracked glaive clattered beside him.
A gust of wind carried his blood like mist.
Something inside Kael shattered.
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6:06 PM – Activation
POV: Kael
Kael stood still. The world around him muted. He didn't hear the screams. Didn't hear the mimic. Didn't feel the blood dripping from his hand, where he'd clenched the dagger so tight it sliced through his palm.
Then came the glyph.
His crossed-out eye ignited in blinding green light.
> [SYSTEM NOTICE: DIVINE ECHO ACTIVATED]
All ability cooldowns removed. All duration limits suspended.
Kael's body erupted in green flame-like aura. His pupils dilated. His mimic recoiled.
"That's not... supposed to happen," it whispered.
Kael moved.
Instantly.
Ghost Veil, Routine Surge, Injury Heal — all active at once.
He blurred out of view.
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6:08 PM – The Berserker Rises
Kael appeared beside the Herald with both daggers drawn. The Obsidian Dagger cut upward in a wide arc — slicing through the Herald's shoulder. The Dagger of Humility stabbed forward, glowing molten, and fused mid-air into the Shortsword of Submission.
Kael screamed.
Not words. Not rage. Just pure sound.
He was everywhere at once. His movement traced with emerald echoes. Every time the Herald struck back, Kael was already behind it.
The mimic watched from the edge of the battlefield, trembling.
"He's... using everything. All at once."
The glyph on Kael's back pulsed, casting shadows across the entire field.
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6:12 PM – All Awakened Rise
POV: Elle / Dain / Other Fighters
All over the battlefield, Awakened gasped as their abilities reignited.
A wind-caster's cyclone, once fading, now roared anew. A pyromancer's flame, dim moments ago, burst into a wall of fire. Suppressed fighters looked at their glowing arms, reactivated glyphs.
> [Divine Echo Field Detected — Temporary Limit Removal Engaged]
Elle's Spear Bound flared with triple-element energy: wind, fire, and lightning.
Dain felt Kinetic Flow surge through his veins, lifting his rifle like a divine instrument.
"It's Kael," Elle breathed. "He's the reason."
Monsters faltered.
Humans advanced.
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6:20 PM – No Control
POV: Kael
Kael's arms were bleeding. His legs torn. But he didn't stop.
He dodged impossible angles. Struck with ruthless precision.
His mimic stepped beside him, eyes wide.
"You're not using Divine Echo. It's using you."
Kael turned to it. Smiled.
His teeth were red.
He whispered, "Good."
And launched himself at the Herald again.
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6:30 PM – Cliffhanger: The Eye Opens
The Herald fell to one knee, glyphs flickering. Its hand stretched upward.
The eye in the sky twitched.
Opened.
All light vanished.
Kael turned upward.
His mimic screamed, "Don't look at it!"
Too late.
Kael stared directly into the vertical pupil.
And smiled wider.
> TO BE CONTINUED
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