Arthur's eyes swept across the ruins, where the air still shimmered with the aftereffects of his devastating attack. The ground was a wasteland, scorched and fissured, the once-proud landscape reduced to rubble. The scent of lingering smoke and embers filled his nostrils. His expression was devoid of emotion, his demeanor as cold and unfeeling as the void he had just released.
He landed with calculated grace, his golden wings folding against his back as his armored boots met the fractured earth. The fiery remnants of battle crackled softly.
Arthur took a measured breath, savoring the finality of the moment. His gaze remained fixed on the void where the magical seal once stood—a colossal stone that had kept the Void Lords imprisoned. Now, it was destroyed. His gaze swept across the battlefield, noting the absence of Damien and his companions. They were gone as well, consumed by the inferno of his making. The only beings left were himself.
A dark, almost serene smile curled at the corners of his lips. "It is finished," he murmured, the words slipping from his lips with a sense of grim satisfaction.
In response to his declaration, the rift in the sky yawned wider, its edges glitching and distorting the very atmosphere. The sky turned a relentless, all-consuming black, an eternal twilight that devoured the sun and stars. The world below was cloaked in a suffocating darkness.
From this abyssal rift, four shadowy figures descended, their descent marked by streaks of eerie purple light. They plummeted from the sky like dark comets. They landed before Arthur with an almost preternatural grace, their forms solidifying into humanoid shapes as they touched the ground. Black, feathery wings unfurled from their backs.
The leader of these beings, Arthur assumed, a woman with cascading black hair and clad in dark armor, stepped forward. Her wings fluttered with an ethereal grace as she regarded him with a look of confusion and awe.
"So you are the one who freed us?" she inquired.
Arthur's expression remained an unyielding mask of cold resolve. "That's of no importance," he replied, his tone carrying an air of finality. "What matters is that you're free now."
The woman's eyes narrowed. "Why did you do it? Wh-who are you?" she asked.
Arthur's eyes were steel-hard, his resolve unshaken.
"I am the hero that will free us all from this virtual prison."