CHAPTER 218: CHAPTER 219: NOT TODAY

The sigils cracked.

Not like glass—but like bone. A thousand years of sacred law, groaning under pressure it was never meant to bear. The symbols glowed red, then black, then red again, bleeding light into the stone beneath them as the air thickened.

The scent hit first. Sulphur. Burnt copper. The breath of something ancient and angry. It did not simply arrive—it coiled. As if the world was holding its breath... waiting for permission to break.

Above the altar, the Book of the Damned floated open, each page a scream. Each letter etched in a language that predated gods. Language that tasted like sin.

"...I’m not breaking any heresy... am I?" Aurora’s voice was quiet. Not weak. Hopeful.

But even as she said it, a rift formed in the sky. Not torn like cloth—but like skin, peeled slowly. Reverently.

And from it—it came.

The portal to the Syndicalism World of Hell opened like an eye. Blinking. Watching. Giving permission. And once given—they accepted.

A single pale hand pierced through the veil. Slender. Regal. Awful.

The Demon Empress reached through, her wrist tattooed in holy inversions, her nails tipped with theology rewritten in pain.

The earth shivered.

The sky winced.

The birds—what few remained—fled. Animals within ten miles screamed from the belly and ran without knowing why. Mothers dropped litters. Deer collapsed. Predators abandoned kills.

The mortal world cried.

It could not look upon that hand—not and still believe in heaven.

"Stop!!..."

A voice—clear, male, young and old all at once—beloud. That sound didn’t come from the sky. It came from everywhere, as if the bones of the world had a throat.

The Book of the Damned snapped shut with a thunderclap and flew. It shot upward—weightless, yet heavy with meaning.

Aurora looked.

And finally, she smiled.

"...you came..."

Her knees gave out before her pride did. She fell not like a warrior struck, but like a Friend forgiven. Relief bled from her like blood, pouring from a wound no blade had made.

Ouserous—celestial, radiant, righteous—looked up.

The book floated.

And then—so did he.

As it came to Atlas’s hand.

The book did not resist. It did not shake. It did not question.

It belonged to him now.

"...I think you’ve done enough..." Atlas said, his voice low, golden eyes aglow, the echo of wrath and restraint tight in his breath.

Ouserous looked at the mortal—and knew, knew, something was wrong.

No. Not wrong.

Impossible.

.....

His celestial instincts screamed. Gods rarely feel fear. Ouserous now remembered why.

Thunder!!!!!

The sky split—not gently, not poetically, but with a crack so loud the mountains to the east trembled. Trees fell without being touched. Air buckled.

This was not thunder by weather.

This was thunder by command.

A direct order.

...yes...yes, I’m coming mother...give me a moment...

Ouserous rose higher, his ten-foot frame glowing with silver divinity. Eyes like thundering suns. But as he tried to look down at Atlas—

He couldn’t.

Atlas floated higher.

They met eye to eye.

One was a god.

The other—something else.

The Book of the Damned pulsed with red light, cradled in Atlas’s hand like it was a Bible, a sword, a curse.

...what in the....nine heavens are you?... Ouserous asked, and for the first time in 9,000 years, his voice wavered.

"...You want to find out?" Atlas answered, no fear. No tremble. Hair long, wind-tossed like a lion before a hunt.

A silence passed.

Inside Ouserous, divinity stirred.

Screamed.

Like a child realizing the shadows had teeth.

...hmmmm....another time...first i have to take car...

THUNDER!!

...father?...

THUNDER!!!!

...forgiven? What!? ....That fucking old man...

THUNDER!!!!!!!!!!

.haaa..okay...

Ouserous scowled. Lightning cracked from his bones, golden veins glowing through his skin. His eyes flared, searing white with inherited command.

He turned.

Saw Merlin—alive.

Again.

...once again...he lived. Oh the fucking fate and luck...

His temper flared. A single spark of divine frustration leapt from him and—

Struck Aurora.

Struck the demigod Loki.

Singed Merlin.

But not Atlas.

The mortal stood—untouched.

And Ouserous noticed. His curiosity burned brighter than his pride now. What manner of being was this? Mortal and not. Radiant and cursed.

THUNDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

...we will meet again, mortal... Ouserous said, his tone uncertain.

And then—

He vanished.

Not in seconds.

In less.

He was skybound in a heartbeat, a memory in a blink, an echo in the silence.

...we will meet again...

The voice lingered.

The wind shuddered.

And finally—Atlas let out a breath.

"...thank Jesus Almighty," he whispered. "It stopped."

He didn’t say he stopped it.

But he had.

Around him—the ground was glass. The mountains—gone. The trees nearby—charred bones. Everything within a mile had suffered. Five minutes. That was all it took for a god to rewrite the landscape.

He stared at the destruction, at what could have been, at what he had stopped.

His fingers curled tighter around the book. Not in pride.

In warning. He looked at the pale hand coming out of the portal.

"...not today..." he whispered.....and like a command, the pale hand winced back.

.

.

.

The Empire.

The throne room was cold. Not just by temperature.

By presence.

Arthur sat where no one else dared.

On Elizabeth’s throne.

It had once felt wrong to even touch it.

Now?

It felt perfect.

Like a reward for patience.

"...Little sister," he murmured, leaning back against the velvet and gold, legs spread like a conqueror, fingers steepled. "I told you..."

His voice was tired. Not cracked. Not defeated.

Burdened.

His ash-white hair fell loose over his shoulders, and his eyes were circled by darkness—the kind no sleep could cure.

The news had come minutes ago. Delivered by Merlin’s messenger mage.

The border base was gone. Gone. Not lost. Not defeated. Vanished.

If he hadn’t left it early—he might’ve vanished too.

And Elizabeth?

Still no word.

"...What’s the next move?" asked the man beside him.

Only the two of them remained in the room. One warmaster. One noble. Two ghosts still breathing.

Arthur exhaled.

"...Next move? Simple. We proclaim falsehood."

He stood.

Walked slowly to the stained glass behind the throne. The sun glowed behind it—red like war. Bloodlike.

"We hold morale. We feed them lies. And while they cheer for myths, we dig through the truth. Quietly."

He turned.

The noble nodded.

Golden-haired. Young. His ash-white eyes a mirror of Arthur’s own.

"...Understood. And..."

Arthur’s head tilted. "And what?" he snapped.

"Her Majesty. What—"

"She’s dead," Arthur cut. "Dead to the Council. Dead to the Empire. Dead to me. You know what to do with the messenger mage."

"...Yes."

The noble bowed—and left.

The doors shut behind him with a finality Arthur didn’t miss.

He returned to the throne and sat again. This time slowly. Purposefully.

For a moment, he said nothing.

Then—

He laughed.

Quiet. Joyless.

"...Finally," he whispered to no one.

"To sit. To rule. To breathe without her shadow."

His fingers slid over the armrest—memorizing it.

"...Fate was with me," he said.

And fate was. That chair had never felt so soft.