The God of Conquest appeared in a burst of shadow and light, grabbing Angeleva's wings mid-flight and hurling her toward the earth with a sonic boom so devastating, it melted the battlefield into scorched glass.
Debris exploded into the air. The shockwave flattened a mountain in the distance.
Safari shouted, "ANGELEVA!" but a moment later, a massive shadow loomed over him.
The Celestic God hovered-arms stretched wide, voice echoing like a storm through eternity.
"We are domination.
We are harmony.
You... are outdated, broken dreams.
Begone."
It moved to finish them.
In Hellsgate...
Silence.
Everyone stared through the divine viewing sphere in pure awe and horror.
Zack trembled. "They're going to die..."
Jen covered her mouth, tears already forming. "No... please no..."
Olive's voice cracked, whispering, "We can't lose them. Not now..."
Ian, for once, had dropped his camera.
Even Patrick and Grace, hardened by war and loss, couldn't find words.
God Legend stood tall in the center, his eyes reflecting sorrow. "It's not over yet," he muttered-but even he wasn't sure.
Back on the battlefield...
Crushed beneath the weight of pain, Safari coughed blood. He reached out and found Angeleva beside him. Her body shook, but she was alive. Barely.
They looked at each other.
Their hands met.
The heat of death crept around them, but they no longer feared it.
Safari whispered, "At least... we die together."
Angeleva smiled through bloodied lips. "As husband and wife... no regrets."
They closed their eyes-ready.
But then-visions flooded their minds.
Zack, with his healing hands.
Jen, offering her meals with joy.
Olive, quietly repairing weapons while hiding her pain.
Ian, capturing the truth in a lens even if it hurt.
Tyra, Clara, Darry, Blaine... all the prisoners who believed in them.
They remembered home.
They remembered each other.
They remembered love.
And then-
They realized.
If they died now...
They would never get to live their married life.
The God of Destruction would reign over the universe, becoming an even worse nightmare than Raven.
Their dreams, their struggles, their sacrifices-all would be for nothing.
Gregory and Patricia would win.
No.
Not like this.
Safari's fist clenched in the dirt.
"No..."
He stood.
Shaking, but defiant.
Angeleva gasped as Safari stood above her.
"Safari..."
"I'm not dying. Not now. Not like this."
She crawled up behind him, and without hesitation, wrapped her wings around his chest, her forehead pressed against his back.
Their souls locked.
From the celestial realm, a divine voice echoed across all space.
"Legend. It is time. Lend them your strength."
God Legend's eyes widened in realization. He raised both arms, and his body shone with ancient light.
"ALL OF YOU!" he roared. "Send your energy! NOW!"
Without hesitation-
Zack poured in his healing aura.
Jen transferred her pure hope.
Olive gave her unwavering loyalty.
Ian, still crying, offered his memories.
Patrick and Grace, hand-in-hand, offered their will to love again.
The prisoners, one by one, raised their hands-Tyra, Clara, Darry, Blaine, Fuga, Waker, Vera... each soul shining with a light born from survival and faith.
A divine portal opened between Hellsgate and the battlefield. The energy channeled into it like a raging sun.
God Legend, summoning his true divine self, added his own essence-the power of countless eons.
The energy reached Safari and Angeleva.
In the blink of an eye-
They ignited.
A golden-blue glow burst forth, tearing through the battlefield like a rebirth.
The Celestic God of Conquest snarled, shielding its eyes. "WHAT?!"
It was too late.
A pulse echoed across the sky.
Then silence.
From the storm emerged-
A new warrior.
Neither Safari.
Nor Angeleva.
But both.
A divine being with flowing sap-green and pink armor, glowing with devilish blue and streaks of holy gold. It had radiant fairy wings, two devil horns.
They floated down gracefully, the air itself healing where they passed.
Their voice was a symphony-Safari's strength and Angeleva's grace in one.
"We are the Celestic Warrior of Protection.
We are born of love, hope, and sacrifice.
We rise not to dominate,
But to defend the innocent,
To avenge the fallen,
And to end the age of conquest."
The surroundings pulsed beneath them, reacting to their presence.
The battlefield had a new champion.
The heavens cracked.
The skies split into swirling storms of light and darkness as the Celestic God of Protection and the Celestic God of Conquest hovered in the center of a new cosmic battlefield-no longer bound by the planet, but suspended in the skies between dimensions.
Wings spread wide-devil and fairy entwined behind the God of Protection, fallen and chaotic behind the God of Conquest. Both possessed horns of divine origin-a symbol of their ascended fusion. The air around them trembled as their sheer existence warped gravity and time itself.
God of Conquest held a monstrous, double-edged Axe of Conquest-crafted from hunger to dominate. It pulsed with purple-orange hatred, made to dominate, destroy, and rule.
God of Protection raised a shimmering Sword of Protection, glowing with sacred sap-green and pink energy-formed from love, loyalty, and justice, with edges forged to defend the innocent.
_ _ _
They charged.
God of Conquest roared, splitting the void:
"Wrathquake Blitz!"
It spun it's Axe of Conquest mid-flight, releasing massive shockwaves of purple-orange energy that rippled through space like tidal waves. The very stars behind him began to distort.
God of Protection countered with:
"Guardian Nova Slash!"
They vanished into radiant streaks, dashing through the energy, then unleashing dozens of sword arcs of light and shadow, forming a protective dome that countered the wrathfire wave by wave.
The result: a cosmic implosion.
The blast shredded the air and collapsed clouds across planets miles away. A few meteors changed course from the fallout.
The battle intensified.
God of Conquest released:
"Devastation Spiral!" - A spinning cyclone of purple-orange lightning sent from the heavens, empowered by the rage and ambition of Gregory and Patricia's darkest desires.
"Absolute Erasure Cleave!" - A brutal vertical swing of the Axe of Conquest that tore through three layers of the atmosphere, aimed to cleave the planet in half.
God of Protection answered with:
"Hell Barrier Heavenfall!" - A hellish holy barrier shattered like divine glass, each shard transforming into homing comets that countered the spiral of devastation.
"Shadow-flare Ascension!" - A rising slash that summoned an aurora of soul energy, pushing back the dark cleave with a wave of all the memories and love from the ones they fight to protect.
The explosion that followed shook Hellsgate itself. Ian was thrown back. Zack collapsed. Jen and Olive shielded their eyes. Patrick and Grace held each other as if the very fabric of reality was breaking.
They were nearly evenly matched.
Every blow of the Axe of Conquest cracked dimensions. Every strike of the Sword of Protection restored hope to the cosmos.
They flew, clashed, teleported, dodged, and clashed again-creating constellations of collisions, blinding flares of energy, rifts into alternate realms flashing in and out.
Time warped.
Space boiled.
Old divine seals broke across forgotten worlds.
It was a legendary war of ideologies:
One side sought to conquer everything.
The other vowed to protect everything.
Their voices echoed through eternity:
God of Conquest: "All things belong to us. Obedience or annihilation."
God of Protection: "You will not write the fate of the innocent. Not while we exist."
And still...
Neither fell.