The mountain groaned beneath the fading echoes of battle.
Lava cooled to stone. The battlefield stood silent.
Then came the voice. Twisted, calm, and deeply wrong.
"Balance is broken."
---
Matt turned.
From the scorched gateway, a figure emerged. A woman in robes of ash-black silk. Her face—once radiant with divine calm—was cracked like porcelain. One eye glowed with soft silver. The other, drenched in Void.
Mailane gasped. "That's... that's an Eternal."
Grey stared in disbelief. "They said the Eternals don't interfere."
Sam muttered, "Maybe this one did."
The figure stepped forward, each step melting stone.
Name:Eshindra, the Divider of Scales
Title: Former Judge of Balance
Status: Corrupted Eternal
"I once preserved equilibrium," Eshindra said. "But balance is a myth built on compliance. And you, Matt Salurga... are the anomaly."
Matt narrowed his eyes. "You knew the Paladins were planning to enslave Earth. And you said nothing."
"I am Balance," she said. "Not Justice. That was Amiya's lie."
---
Combat Initiated: Divine vs. Voidborn
Eshindra raised her hands. Black scales appeared in the air, each one pulsing with memories, losses, sins.
"These are the weights of your soul. Let's see which side breaks first."
The scales tipped.
Matt's chest burned—visions of Amiya's silence at his death, the screams of Nyuga, the faces of people he failed.
But then… he saw Mailane.
He saw Grey, and Sam, and the Orcs, and the fire kings who chose him.
He saw every soul who still believed in him.
He gritted his teeth.
"You don't judge me. You don't weigh me. I do that myself now."
He activated Ashen Celestial Mode.
His body ignited in black-gold flame. Sigils of Void and Memory flared.
He lunged.
Their clash was silent.
Too fast. Too immense.
Reality warped. Scales shattered. The Void answered with resonance.
Matt severed one of Eshindra's arms.
Light and shadow spilled out like blood.
She fell back, laughing.
"So it begins. The Council will fall. The gods will feed on themselves."
She vanished in a burst of reversed time.
---
Aftermath.
Mailane wrapped Matt's arm as he bled celestial ichor.
Sam stood guard. Grey studied the ruined scales.
"They're cracking," Grey whispered. "Even the untouchable ones."
Matt looked to the stars.
"This isn't just war anymore. It's collapse."
---
Elsewhere…
In a realm of endless constellations, five thrones dimmed.
The Celestial Council stirred.
One voice boomed:
"Matt Salurga has become a singularity. Either he is erased… or we will all be."
---
The stars trembled.
Far above the Hollow Sky, beyond the burning ruins of the physical worlds, existed the Throne Constellation—an astral realm that held the seats of the Celestial Council. Each throne floated in silence, forged from the laws of creation itself. Time bent around them. Fate bowed before them.
But now… one was empty.
The Throne of Balance.
Eshindra's fall had been felt.
---
Inside the astral chamber, five gods stood—colossal, formless, veiled in cosmic flame and infinite geometry.
They were the original architects. Older than light. Unnamed by mortal tongues.
One voice thundered:
> "The Void touches godflesh. Eshindra has broken. The Judgment Flame flickers."
Another replied, "The mortal, Matt Salurga… he ascends too quickly. His soul is unbalanced."
A third answered: "And yet, he carries order. He reshapes the rules without collapsing them. That… is dangerous."
Silence.
Then one final voice whispered—old, cracked, and powerful:
> "We must vote. The Thrones must decide his fate."
---
Back in Hollow Sky…
Matt sat on the edge of a ruined wall, hand bandaged, skin still glowing faintly from the battle. The Hollow Sky burned gently in the distance, rebuilt piece by piece by magic, will, and loyalty.
Mailane sat beside him. Grey was napping on a pile of sentient moss. Sam was cooking weird meat again.
Matt stared at the stars.
He could feel them watching.
"Something's changing," he muttered.
Mailane looked at him. "The air feels thinner."
"No," he said. "It's heavier."
---
Suddenly—
A beam of pure starlight crashed into the ground. Reality snapped.
A being descended—not a Paladin, not an Eternal. Something… higher. One of the Council's envoys.
Tall. Faceless. Robed in memory and law. A voice like all languages at once.
> "Matt Salurga. You have violated divine equilibrium. Your ascension is unapproved."
Matt stood. "You came to erase me?"
> "No. We came to test you. Five trials. Five realms. Survive, and earn recognition. Fail… and you will be unmade."
The air fractured.
Five divine orbs hovered around Matt, burning symbols into his skin. Portals opened—each leading to an ancient plane.
Void. Flame. Time. Memory. Death.
Matt clenched his jaw.
> "Then let's get started."
---
Meanwhile…
In the ashes of the Ash Tyrant's realm, Thermuz's heart fragment still burned.
A shadowed figure approached it.
Monshin.
"Keep evolving, Flameborn," he said coldly. "The more you become, the sweeter your fall will be."
He crushed the ember in his hand—and fed it to something waking beneath the stars.