There was a knock at the door and Echo stood up to find Rose standing there. She handed him the Mimic Cube, “I don’t need this yet. Put it back.” Echo nodded and put the object into the pocket dimension. He sat down next to Fumi, and Rose gently shut the door before sitting across from the two.

Fumi tapped her katana’s sheath on the floor, “You betrayed us. Tricked us.”

“I assume Echo told you everything.”

“I want to hear it from you.”

Rose cleared her throat gently before beginning. She started from the very beginning. From the moment she met the two, she knew she could manipulate them and use them to get revenge on Tiberius. And, even better, they would also draw the ire of Lux, whom Rose wanted dead as well. She wanted to use them as her tools, but over their travels during the past year, she found camaraderie and kinship with them. “I deeply regret what I did. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.”

Fumi nodded and stood up, “Traitors should die.” She gripped the hilt of her weapon. “I have every right to kill you for your treachery.” She let her hand go loose and put it on Echo’s shoulder, “But I won’t.” She sat down on Echo’s lap and pushed back into him, wrapping his arms around her. “Echo is tolerating you. I’m more forgiving because I know you just wanted him to be stronger – just like I wanted him to harden his heart.”

Rose sighed gently, “Well, that is good to hear.” She leaned forward, “What is our plan?”

“Well,” Echo began, “We could always just go to The Sun and fight her there. I have every Affinity at my disposal now, so actually getting there would be trivial.”

Fumi smirked, “It would be nice to kill her in her homeland. Bring her down where she is most powerful.”

Rose frowned, “That seems very reckless.”

The door opened and all three looked as the imposing figure of Vythin walked in, shutting the door behind him. “It is reckless.” He gestured to Echo and Rose’s badges, “I can hear anything said near those.” He took a seat at the table, pouring himself a cup of coffee from the carafe.

“What do you suggest?” Fumi asked.

“It’s either kill Lux on The Sun or draw her to the Conflux of Creation. But that also opens yourself to the other Artificial gods getting involved.” He took a sip of the brew and grimaced, “I forgot how bitter this is.”

Echo chuckled and poured himself a cup, handing it to Fumi as she asked for a sip. She instead downed the whole cup in one go. “It sounds like we need to fight her on The Sun then.”

Vythin nodded and set the cup down. “It is what I would recommend. I cannot go against her directly, but as soon as she falls, I will take hold of her Afterlife and miracles she was sustaining.” He smirked, “That’s where you three come in.” He leaned forward, “I have a contact on The Sun. Someone who can hide your presence until you get to Lux herself. Bypass her armies.”

“Who?” Rose asked.

---

Azurianth was panicking. The New god that contacted him had proposed a ludicrous idea. Bring the monster that Lux was hoping to destroy to The Sun itself.

It’s a bold plan, I’ll give him that.

He knew that he had the capacity to hide the arrival of a few new people on The Sun as souls. But it had to be kept secret. Lux could access the Domain of knowledge, and as such, she could figure out anything that was not closely guarded. Azurianth sighed and poured himself a cup of the Sunwine, taking a long, deep drag from it. He stared at the picture of Chrystalis, his beloved, trapped somewhere on Heimfold by that undead mage.

I can get her back for you.

That was the message from the New god that had pushed him over the edge. Azurianth would do anything to get his soul mate back. Even if it meant helping assassinate his goddess. The deity he gave his everything to. Who could send him away to Last Light Temple and further away from a chance at getting back to his beloved.

He cleared his throat and called for a servant, instructing them to give him an hour of silence to concentrate. After they left, he made haste to the most guarded place in the whole of the Administratum. Deep under the building, within The Sun’s surface, was a chamber that Lux once used to bring her lover, Alamayn the Tactician, to and from Heimfold. The summoning circle would only work if the divine power of radiant light was on both this side of the array and the companion one. And the one on Heimfold had been missing ever since Alamayn died and Lux hid it.

But someone found it. Azurianth knelt next to the array and used some of Lux’s Heat to activate the summoning circle. Light flared as four figures appeared in beams of white light.

---

The Undying and Vythin appeared on The Sun. Before them was a male archangel who appeared similar to the one they fought on The Forbidden Coast, but instead of being covered in armor and surrounded by glimmering light-blue motes, this one was covered in shimmering orange motes and had long, flowing, black hair.

“You made it!” the archangel expressed shock as he stood up. “I’m Azurianth. Which one of you was talking to me?”

Vythin stepped forward, “That would be me. These three will deal with Lux.” He turned to The Undying, “We must make haste. I can use my power to hide us while we are here, but if we linger for too long, Lux will notice something amiss.”

Azurianth’s eyes widened as he took in the rest of the group. “You!” He stomped over to White Rose, only stopping as Echo interposed himself between them. “You took my Cryssy!”

Rose blinked several times, “I’m sorry, your Cryssy? She’s my sister!”

Azurianth shook his head, “She’s my soul mate. And you stole her away!”

Rose’s pale face went even more pale until she looked ghostly. “…What?”

“You heard me! Give her back!”

Echo glanced back at Rose, “Show you’re not a callous bitch.”

Rose glanced at Echo, then back at Azurianth. “You cannot release her now. Lux will know she has been set free and dodged the cycle of souls.” She reached into her hip pouch as Echo stepped out of the way. Azurianth walked forward and gently held the vial as Rose reluctantly let go.

“Thank you.” Azurianth put his partner’s soul into a pocket next to his chest. “We must go. I am expected in a little under an hour.

---

This is crazy.

Echo knew there was no other choice though. If they fought Lux on Heimfold anywhere other than the Conflux of Creation, then divine treaties would be broken, and pacts would be undone. If in the Conflux, then other Artificial gods could get involved. It had to be where Lux was strongest.

And that terrified Echo. Despite his power, despite all the strides he had gained, despite his allies…he was scared. Lux was one of the most powerful deities, and they wouldn’t have any divine intervention of their own. It would be two monsters and an undead versus a goddess.

Vythin was doing what he could, which was deflected light around their forms to render them invisible as the four flew towards an enormous castle made of glowing, solid light. Hardlight, as the Arch god explained, was just a construct of light itself. It was pliable and malleable – and a deity of light’s most versatile tool.

If she doesn’t die, then eventually she’ll come after us.

He had no choice. Either Lux died, or Echo and Fumi would be hunted their whole lives. And Echo had no qualms about killing people who wished him harm. If anything had changed in him between his past life and his current one, it was a single, undeniable trait that Fumi had been culminating in him.

He was ruthless and showed no mercy to his enemies.

---

Lux tapped the armrest of her throne. Her worshippers were almost at Crux Omega despite several setbacks. Soon, they would commit mass suicide in her name, and their souls would be directed to her Afterlife.

It’s alright. You need the power.

“But they’re my servants and worshippers.”

What does that matter? They are yours.

“Yes, but how will I grow my numbers?”

It does not matter. You are Lux. The light of The Sun itself.

“They will worship that which gives them light.”

And your scriptures will persist. Your teachings will linger on.

Lux gripped her temples, feeling her psyche splitting apart as she fought between her desire to cleanse the world of all its corruption, its monstrosities, and its sins. Purgation by holy fire as her wrath descended upon the realm of Heimfold. But another part of her, the kind, gentle goddess of justice and truth could not bear the idea of doing such a heinous act.

Do you feel that?

She felt that. Something had entered The Sun. Something that should not be able to come here.

Monsters.

Their stain upon her Afterlife was immediate and noticeable. But, she had no clue where they were. Someone was masking their location.

“Soldiers!” Lux shouted as several angels ran into the throne room, kneeling in front of her. “Assemble the armies, we are being invaded!”

They saluted and ran off, making their way to gather the heavenly hosts.

“Billions of souls at my command. Angels ready to fight for me. To die over and over as their souls are returned.”

Be merciful to the-

“No! No mercy! No grace! Nothing but pure righteousness!” Lux stood up and channeled her Heat, drawing the hardlight citadel back into her body. She performed another miracle, seeking out those who intruded upon her domain.

“There! I have you!”

In the distance, flying towards her, invisible due to the light wreathed around them that was not pierced by Lux’s power, was an enormous, golden dragon with black-lined scales. In front of it were three figures.

There is no time!

Lux raised her palm and pulled back all her Heat. Every bit of divine power she had gifted to her servants, sucking them dry. All except those who were going to commit ritual suicide – they’d join soon enough.

The Sun darkened as she drew power from her Afterlife itself, the pure, brilliant, white plains darkening to a dull gray. Her angels prayers reached deaf ears as they lay, in a state of paralysis, on her Afterlife’s surface.

“Come then!” She manifested hardlight around herself, girding herself in the most holy and divine of armor. Lastly, she manifested a flail and shield as she took to the sky.

---

Vythin halted and flapped in place as he saw Lux drain the Heat from her Afterlife and all upon it.

She is insane!

He landed and gripped the surface of the gray plains with his talons, channeling his own divine Heat into the surface to try and relight it. He was not able to fight Lux directly, but he could prevent the suffering that would happen on Heimfold if The Sun was extinguished.

Come on!

He roared. A deep, terrifying noise that acted as a clarion call of control that instilled fear in all who heard it. “You won’t destroy Kalinor’s world!” He yelled as he channeled his vast stores of Heat back into the Afterlife, igniting it once more and preventing Heimfold from falling into endless darkness – the ramifications of which he couldn’t even comprehend.

But this act would tether him here. He was betting everything on those three. If they didn’t kill Lux, then he would not be able to assert his will over her miracles and Afterlife. She would slay him. He would die.

"Kill her!" He roared, spurring The Undying onward.