The chamber trembled in the aftermath of an inexplicable force.
Ray lay sprawled on the cold marble, her halberd just out of reach, breath coming in ragged gasps. Her body still burned with phantom pain, the lingering aftershock of whatever the God of Strength had done to Nick. She didn’t see exactly what happened—one moment, Nick was standing, defiant, cool, every bit the hero she knew he was. And the next, he was crumpling like a puppet with its strings cut.
And now, he was gone.
Not dead, but gone. Blood still flowed through his veins, and she could still feel that his heart was beating, but his soul was missing.
Her vision swam as she forced herself to sit up. Somewhere to her side, Lexi was crouched low, her chains wrapped tightly around her fists, coiled like living weapons. Her tail bristled, ears pinned flat against her skull. She looked ready to run.
‘Run?’
The thought alone was ridiculous.
Across from them, the god stood at the base of the ruined throne, its form barely visible through the shifting darkness coiling around it. Its shape was wrong—fluid, blurred at the edges, like something that wasn’t meant to exist in one shape for too long.
Its eyes—two gleaming pinpricks of light in the abyss of its face—studied them with quiet, unshaken amusement.
“How long will you last?” the figure mused, taking a step forward. Its voice wasn’t loud, but it resonated throughout the entire chamber.
Ray grinned. “Longer than you’d expect, I’m sure.”
She moved before she could think, grabbing her halberd and launching herself at him. Her body still screamed from the previous attack, the vibrant sensation being all the proof that she needed.
She felt, therefore she lived.
She was here.
She was Ray.
Her hand tightened around her halberd as she brought it around in a savage, sweeping arc, aimed directly at the god’s throat.
The figure didn’t dodge.
The blade sank in—but there was no flesh, no resistance, only darkness swallowing steel. Then the halberd stopped, locked in place, held mid-air by an unseen force.
Ray barely had time to react before the entire weapon ruptured in her hands. The haft shattered into splinters, fragments of steel scattering across the chamber floor. The force of the reak sent her skidding back—but she caught herself, rolling to her feet.
Lexi darted in from the side, her chains snapping outward like whips. They wrapped around his arm, tightening instantly. She yanked.
The figure moved with it.
Not resisting. Not caught. Just going with the motion, flowing like liquid. Then, with a simple twitch of his fingers, the chains reversed direction, twisting back around Lexi’s own arms, pulling her forward instead.
She gasped as she was wrenched off balance, following forward with no free arms to stop herself from face-planting into the cold marble floor.
Ray was already moving again. She surged forward, fist coiled back, body tensed to drive all her force into a single punch—
And he backhanded her across the room.
The impact obliterated half her torso on contact. Her ribs shattered instantly, pieces of her spine snapping like twigs as she was sent hurtling through the air. A distant part of her registered the sensation of her organs being liquified, a vague awareness that half of her body simply wasn’t there anymore.
There was pain—a lot of it—but it was more of an observation than a problem. The nerve signals fired, and her body shrieked that she should be dead, but she didn’t have time to worry about little things like that. She filed the information away. It was a curiosity, nothing more.
She barely registered the sound of marble crackling as she hit the far wall.
Lexi let out a small, strangled sound, her pupils shrinking into slits.
Ray, however, just sighed.
“Aw, shit,” she muttered.
She knew what came next.
The sensation of bone reforming itself, sliding back into place with a wet, sickening grind, was almost nostalgic by now. Muscle wove together, the fibrous strands threading themselves back into a while, kitting like a weaver piecing together a tapestry.
The pain was meaningless.
Her body didn’t heal so much as reset. It never learned from its suffering, never built scar tissue or pain tolerance. It simply started over, again and again, as if her destruction had never happened.
Death simply wasn’t possible.
The god tilted its head. “Curious.”
She felt its will move past her, and even before she turned, she knew where it was going.
Not toward her.
Toward Lexi.
Ray clenched her jaw so hard that her teeth cracked.
“Not happening!” she screamed.
She exploded forward, throwing herself into its path.
The figure raised a single hand.
Darkness surged outward, tearing through her like a blade of pure force.
She felt herself come apart.
She felt herself end.
It was almost surreal, the way it happened—not the violent rupture of being physically torn apart, but a clean separation as if every joint had simply decided to let go.
A strange weightlessness filled her as she lost her sense of form as if her body had stopped being a singular entity and instead became a series of disconnected pieces, floating in the space between one moment and the next.
Her vision spun. She could see herself from multiple angles at once—a limb over there, a half-healed torso still mid-air, a severed hand twitching against the cold marble.
Fascinating…
Her body somehow knew what to do.
Her severed fingers twitched, a silent reflex. Her scattered remains pulsed, the underlying force that governed her existence kitting everything back together with eerie precision.
With a wet, sucking sound, the muscle and sinew dragged itself back into place, tendons reattaching, bones snapping back together like puzzle pieces, her skin sealing itself with practiced ease.
She let out a sharp breath as her severed arm gave a last, shuddering twitch, then crawled toward her body before locking itself back in place.
Ray flexed her fingers experimentally, then let out a low breath.
‘That one stung a bit…’
The figure finally came to a stop in front of Lexi. It didn’t speak. Didn’t strike.
It just looked at her.
Lexi’s breath hitched. Her chains rattled.
Then—her body convulsed.
Not from any visible attack. Not from any sensation of pain.
Ray’s eyes widened. “Lexi!”
The beastkin’s pupils shrank further. Her tail lashed violently, her body shaking. Her hands gripped at her throat, gasping, choking on nothing.
Something deep inside her was reacting violently to the god’s presence.
The figure tilted its head slightly. “A cursed child, is it?” The voice hummed, considering. “One of hers?”
Lexi dropped to her knees, a strangled noise escaping her throat. Her nails dug into her arms, claws trembling against her skin.
“No,” she rasped, shaking her head, barely conscious. “No, I—I’m not—.”
The god impassively watched her suffering.
“Stop!” Ray roared, launching herself at the god again—
And this time, it didn’t even move.
The shadows around it twisted, curling outward. Ray felt a force slam into her like a wall, halting her charge mid-step.
It finally looked at her again. “You are quite durable.”
It closed its fist.
Ray exploded.
For a moment, she was nothing but blood and mist, her entire body ripped apart atom by atom. The pain was indescribable, beyond agony, beyond anything she had ever experienced before.
She came back a second later.
She reformed in an instant, collapsing onto her hands and knees, gasping.
“That one actually hurt, you bastard…” she growled.
Ray tried to stand up. Her legs wobbled.
‘This is bad…’ she thought, staring at Lexi. The beastkin couldn’t even fight back. She couldn’t even move.
The so-called God of Strength loomed over them, utterly unshaken, completely unaffected by their resistance.
Lexi tried to speak, but her throat closed up again. She clutched at her chest, her chains wrapping tighter around her wrists as if trying to pin her down.
The god reached down.
‘This isn’t even a fight. He’s going to kill her…’
Ray couldn’t let that happen, but she didn’t know what to do. She thought she’d felt helpless before, but this time she was completely powerless.
“Nick…” she whispered.
***
“Let’s talk about killing a god.”
Nick pushed himself up with a grunt. His body didn’t hurt anymore. No fire in his veins, no ache in his muscles. The phantom weight of the so-called God of Strength’s presence was gone.
His patience, however, was not improving.
“Shut up.”
Her smirk didn’t falter. “Ah, there it is. That classic Nick charm.” She stretched her arms over her head, fingers laced together. “For a moment, I thought you might’ve finally lost that lovely streak of defiance.”
Nick rolled his shoulders as he took a moment to examine his current situation. This was Evelyn’s world. Her mental space, the realm she had carved for herself.
And if he was here…
He frowned. “Why am I not dead?”
Her expression flickered—just for a second.
Then she shrugged. “Simple. He didn’t kill you.”
Nick narrowed his eyes. “He could’ve.”
Evelyn hummed in agreement. “Yes, he could have. But he didn’t.”
That answer was worse.
Nick clenched his jaw, dragging a hand through his hair. “Where’s Ray? Lexi?”
She rolled her eyes. “Still fighting, I imagine. Or running. Or dying.” She waved a hand dismissively. “Time doesn’t flow the same way here as out there, so who knows?”
He glared at her.
Evelyn sighed dramatically. “Oh, don’t look at me like that. They’re alive, for now.”
“For now?”
“I don’t control what happens out there, Nick. I just have the luxury of watching.” She leaned forward, resting her chin against her palm. “And you? You have the luxury of learning.”
He sighed, forcing himself to calm down. Losing his temper wouldn’t help against her.
“What the hell is that thing?”
Evelyn’s smirk curled at the edges.
“Oh, Nick…” She tsked, shaking her head. “Judging by your reaction, I thought you’d already figured it out?”
Nick stilled.
“An Overseer?”
She didn’t respond, but she didn’t have to. It was obvious enough from the circumstances.
Overseer.
A god of humanity.
He barely breathed. “…Dallin.”
The word was venom on his tongue.
Evelyn’s expression didn’t change. “Is that so?”
Nick scoffed. “Jantzen called it ‘Master’. He’s a priest of Dallin, the God of Strength. It felt like a god. What else could it be?”
Evelyn said nothing.
That silence… was worse than an answer.
Nick lowered his voice. “You know something.”
“I know a lot of things, Nick.” She looked up at him, unblinking. “The question is… do you want to know them?”
Something in her tone made the air feel colder.
Nick crossed his arms. “Spit it out.”
She smiled—slow, predatory. “Then let me teach you what your so-called gods refuse to.”
She stood, brushing nonexistent dust from her gown. The air around her shifted. The Twilight Garden dimmed, the frozen sky darkening, silver leaves rustling with no wind.
“You’ve been fighting the wrong battle, Nick.”
He frowned. “The hell does that mean?”
She stepped toward him, and for the first time, he felt something heavy press against his chest. Not magic. Not force.
‘…Conviction?’
“Your rage, your grief, your defiance—” She gestured vaguely toward the sky. “They’ve all been pointed at the wrong enemy.”
Nick narrowed his eyes. “Oh yeah?”
Evelyn laughed. “Oh, I’m expecting you to resist.” She reached forward, placing a single hand against his chest. “And then, when you see the truth—”
The Twilight Garden shifted.
The sky fractured.
Images flooded his mind.
A battlefield. A throne. A ruined world. Cities burning, the earth itself splitting apart under a weight beyond comprehension.
He saw figures watching from above, detached, calculating, their presence warping the very laws of existence.
He saw a war.
He saw what the gods of humanity were fighting against.
He saw what Evelyn was trying to destroy.
But he didn’t comprehend.
He couldn’t.
The force of it nearly knocked him off his feet.
Evelyn’s fingers curled against his shirt, steadying him. Her voice, once mocking, was deadly serious.
“Let me make you my successor, Nick.”
He sucked in a breath.
Her crimson eyes glowed, burning with something ancient, something terrifying.
“Let me show you how to kill a god.”
***
“Nick…”
Ray’s hands trembled.
She didn’t know if it was from fear, exhaustion, or sheer helplessness—but none of it mattered.
Nick wasn’t responding. He was still on the floor, lifeless, breath shallow, fingers twitching uselessly against the cold marble. His body was here, but he wasn’t. His soul had been stolen, ripped away by a god that was toying with them.
And Lexi…
She was dying.
The beastkin writhed on the floor, chains coiled so tightly around her arms that blood welled beneath the links. Her body convulsed, each breath harder than the last, her pupils shrunk into terrified slits.
The figure loomed over her, unbothered by Ray’s presence. It didn’t even look at her.
It reached down.
Ray moved.
Not because she thought she could win. Not because she had a plan. Not because there was any chance of survival.
She moved because there was no other choice.
She exploded forward, her body reconstructing mid-motion, her limbs fully intact before she reached the so-called god. The pain didn’t matter. It never mattered. All that mattered was stopping him.
Her fist lashed out, aiming for its throat—
And stopped.
A hand caught her wrist mid-air.
A real hand. A familiar hand…
Nick.
She held back a sob.
Nick stood in front of her, arm extended, fingers locked around her wrist.
Except…
This wasn’t him.
His stance was odd. His posture was too perfect, too poised, like someone controlling a marionette. His breathing was measured. His fingers were gentle, yet unyielding. His head was tilted slightly, dark hair falling over his face.
And when he lifted his eyes.
They weren’t his.
They glowed with a deep, burning crimson.
Ray barely had time to register the shift before Nick’s grip tightened, stopping her entirely.
“That’s enough, dear.”
Ray felt her blood turn to ice.
Someone else had taken his body. Cold fury raged through her veins.
“You dare—”
Flames erupted in his hands.
Yet something about them was different. Not fire, not magic, not divine power. They were made of something else.
The air curdled as the flames licked outward, swallowing the very space around them. The marble beneath Nick’s feet cracked, then blackened, then ceased to exist entirely.
The god turned. For the first time, it acknowledged Nick.
More specifically, the entity controlling him.
“Oh? Long time no see, Monarch of Ages.”
Nick’s lips parted. “You don’t belong here.”
The god tilted its head, observing the flame with detached curiosity. “Is this… creature one of your vessels?”
Nick smiled. “No, he isn’t a vessel.”
The fire around Nick’s hand twisted, warping the space itself. The room pulsed under its weight as if reality itself couldn’t withstand the presence of these flames.
The god took a single step forward.
“Do you think this is enough?”
Nick’s body shifted forward unnaturally fast, closing the distance in an instant.
“Enough to remove you?” he murmured. “Yes.”
He thrust out a single hand.
Flames erupted outward.
The god moved to counter—but the fire devoured its presence instantly. The flames didn’t just burn its form. They rejected it. They banished it.”
Reality warped, contorted, split.
The entire chamber quaked. The god’s form twisted violently, warping between dimensions, flickering in and out of existence.
“Interesting,” the god mused. Its voice echoed, fractured as its form was slowly, inexorably pushed out of this reality. “This was a valuable encounter. I’ll see you again soon, Heir of Twilight.”
And with that, it was gone.
The flames sputtered out, vanishing as if they had never been there at all. The room stilled.
And then—Nick collapsed.
The crimson glow in his eyes snuffed out. His body slackened entirely, limbs giving way, falling like dead weight.
Ray barely caught him before he hit the ground.
“Nick…!”
His body was ice cold, his breath shallow.
For a terrifying moment, she thought he was gone again.
But then he stirred. His fingers twitched, his breathing evening out.
His voice was his own again.
“…What the fuck,” Nick rasped.
Ray giggled despite herself. “You absolute dumbass!”
Lexi, still trembling, stared at them in silence.
Nick’s eyes gradually opened, unfocused. His body was drained. He felt… different. Heavy. Like something had been carved into his very being.
Then the notifications hit.
=You have gained the title Custodian of the Eternal Sin=
=New Skill Unlocked: Sinbound Flames=
=New Trait Unlocked: Heir of Twilight=
=New Trait Unlocked: Keeper of the First Flame=
Nick blinked.
Then, he exhaled slowly.
“Well, damn…”
Project Knightfall 