The radiance entering the hall was no ordinary light; it was a "material" illumination, like a flood sweeping away everything in its path. Shadows retreated until they clung to the walls, and the black crystals that had inhabited the mountain for thousands of years began to crack, emitting a moan like the shattering of souls. From the heart of this golden torrent stepped "Uriel," one of the Seven Leaders of the Keepers of the Covenant, known as the "Balance of Certainty."
Uriel was massive, wearing armor of radiant white gold that no human eye could withstand. He carried no sword, but was surrounded by a ring of sharp, spinning disks that gleamed with a light that tore through the air. He spoke, his voice echoing like a thousand church bells at once:
"You... you who dared to touch the 'Nucleus of Emptiness.' You have exchanged one annihilation for another, darkness for darkness. Your existence now is an insult to the cosmic order we have come to establish. Surrender what lies upon your brow, and we shall make the shattering of your atoms a melody in the hymn of purity."
Alaric stood with a firmness he had never known before. He no longer felt the weight of the stone brand, but rather the lightness of "nothingness." The black crown upon his head absorbed the light falling upon it like an insatiable black hole. He raised his sword, "Spirit's Dusk," whose blade had transformed into a strange substance resembling the night of the poles, and spoke in a quiet voice carrying the coldness of graves:
"Your hymn is full of the cries of the oppressed, Uriel. If your system requires turning hearts into salt, then let 'Emptiness' be my answer to you. You came demanding the crown? Take it by the edge of the blade, then."
Uriel lunged with unimaginable speed, turning the hall into a vortex of gold. The spinning disks shot toward Alaric like lightning bolts of light. With a graceful motion, Alaric did not block the attack; he "vanished." His body turned into a thick, grey smoke, and the disks passed through him without a trace. He rematerialized directly behind Uriel, striking his sword into a gap between the celestial commander's armor plates.
Uriel screamed a scream whose echoes reverberated through the mountain peaks, and a glowing golden fluid poured from his wound. He was unaccustomed to pain; he was a being of "certainty," and pain is the hallmark of "human doubt." Uriel spun around in rage, raising his hand to unleash a wave of spiritual pressure that nearly crushed the bones of Kalgar and Elianor, who were watching from afar.
Kalgar shouted, "Elianor! Fall back! This clash will bring the mountain down upon our heads!"
But Elianor did not move; her eyes were fixed on Alaric. She saw how the 'Nucleus of Emptiness' on his forehead began to glow with an intense blackness, and she saw how his features began to lose their humanity in favor of an indescribable, dark majesty.
The battle intensified. Uriel summoned the "Spears of Judgment" from the cave's ceiling, while Alaric manipulated shadows as if they were extra limbs of his body. Each time the dark blade clashed with the golden armor, a sound like the tearing of the cosmic fabric erupted. Alaric fought not only with the skill of a knight, but with the "weight of remorse" carried by the crown; he poured all the memories of human pain into his strikes, causing Uriel to stagger under the burden of "emotions" he had never known.
"How?" Uriel growled, falling to one knee. "How can a mortal 'taint' defeat eternal light?"
Alaric approached him, placing the cold edge of his blade against Uriel's golden neck. The black crown began to absorb the radiance from the commander's armor, turning the gold into pale ash. Alaric said:
"Because your light has no memory... and we fight with every tear that was shed and every cry that was silenced. You possess certainty, but we possess the 'reason.' Return to your sky, and tell your brethren that the King of Ash no longer rules over ash alone... he now rules over the void you left behind."
With a powerful strike, Alaric split Uriel's breastplate, unleashing a tremendous white energy that pushed everyone backward. Uriel shattered into fragments of light before vanishing completely, leaving behind a single golden feather that began to blacken and fade into the mud.
Silence fell upon the ruined hall. Alaric stood alone in the center, his body exuding a thick, grey smoke. He turned toward Elianor and Kalgar, his blackened eyes searching for something... something to remind him of who he was.
Elianor approached cautiously, touching his hand that still gripped the sword. She felt a cold sting, but did not pull away. She whispered, "Alaric... are you still here?"
He did not answer immediately. He looked at the crown, which had begun to settle upon his brow, then looked at her and spoke in a voice carrying the echo of a thousand years:
"I am here... but the path to 'Ocasia' will not be by returning the way we came. We have killed a leader, which means total war has begun. Kalgar... prepare yourself. We will no longer hide in the mountains. We will march toward the capital, and we will make the 'Light' understand the meaning of an eclipse."
They emerged from the depths of the Whispering Mountains to find the sky had turned a deep purple, as the crown's influence began to extend, absorbing the golden radiance from the horizon, announcing the beginning of the final chapter of the earth's purification... but this time, by the "Justice of Emptiness."