Ascension of the Dark Seraph-Chapter 303: No More Sun

Caldaros made a big mistake.

He was too arrogant and spoke without thinking.

One sentence exposed his weakness, and without him knowing, doom was already waiting for him.

Lucivar planned this moment from the second he realized Ciri was Caldaros' source of power.

Being the Blessed Oracle, the chosen one, his arrogance knows no bounds, but he knew his limitations.

Countless Loki's avatars had fought against Sunna's avatars, and all of them ended up losing, no matter what their approach was. Some probably had tried to create a wedge between Sunna's avatar and their source, as Lucivar did right now, but none of them succeeded.

This—what Lucivar decided to do—It wasn't a new approach.

So, he has to add more, utilize something only he has.

And that was how he ended up with the idea of showing the cold truth of the world to Ciri.

He was once a good person, and when he learned the truth about the world, he changed.

Ciri could also change if the undeniable truth was shown right in front of her eyes.

All Lucivar needed to do was to plant the idea in her mind, and have Caldaros—the person she trusted the most prove to her that it was real. Seeing how wicked Caldaros becomes, though he was a favored one of the Sun Goddess, showed Ciri that the truth Lucivar was trying to tell her was real.

Only the wicked attract and possess power.

Good and evil gods do not exist—only gods of light and gods of darkness.

Karma wouldn't allow good entities to be strong.

Caldaros stood there frozen as if her words had turned his blood into ice.

At first, he blinked rapidly, lips parting to speak, but no sound leaving his mouth.

"Aunt Ciri… you, you didn't mean that…"

He rasped, his mind denying what Ciri said, insisting that she hadn't meant any of it, that the tremble in her voice was only the pain talking, not the truth. But even then—there was no change in Ciri's face, still thick with disappointment and disgust.

Caldaros' brows knitted tightly as if trying to hold the world from falling apart.

Hesitantly, he took a step forward, hand lifting as if he was reaching for Ciri, but stopped mid-track as he saw Ciri moving away. Now, she was scared of him, and her eyes didn't even look at him anymore, as if she couldn't bear the sight of him.

Realizing that the damage was already done, his chest rose with a sharp breath.

Then, his eyes caught a glowing ring on Ciri's finger.

It was emanating a sinister hue, one that unmistakably belonged to Lucivar and Loki.

'He hid Ciri with that right…' Caldaros thought in realization.

Despite Ciri being so near, he couldn't sense her, which normally should be impossible.

But that ring that he recognized as the Gleipnir's Echo was the reason.

Just then, Caldaros' eyes widened in horror when he heard a demonic, astral chuckle of a woman.

And it was getting louder.

Normally, the previous avatars' memories were locked for the current avatar to avoid imploding from the sheer amount of information, but Sunna helped him digest some memories. All for the sake of his inevitable battle with Lucivar.

And from those memories, he recalled one moment where Loki's avatar almost won.

In that memory, there was also this eerie laughter.

A laughter that he knew exactly where it came from.

"The Fool…"

Caldaros muttered.

Just saying the name alone carried an invisible weight of pressure.

All Sunna's avatars won, but every single time the Fool appeared, deep trauma was left behind.

His eyes bore witness to an entity that only he and Lucivar could see forming right behind Ciri. She is eerily tall, wears a horrifying smiling mask, and is wearing the black—and emerald outfit of a medieval jester, which adds to her terrifying appearance.

It was at that moment did he realized that Lucivar was stronger than he anticipated.

"If he had access to the Fool, then he has access to the Labyrinth of the Arcane Menagerie,' He realized, swallowing hard as the weight of the revelation settled in. "That means… He's already reached Second Divine Elevation. Everything I've done—snapping at Ciri, the odd anger issues, the bloodlust—it wasn't me. It was him. He's been pulling the strings from the very beginning… like I'm nothing more than his puppet.'

Blinking at the realization, Caldaros watched as the Fool ridiculed him.

Her elongated fingers glided over Ciri's face, each touch laced with malice—while her mocking laughter pierced the air, aimed squarely at Caldaros. Fury immediately curled through his veins, and for a moment, it showed.

His eyes flashed, his hands curling into fists, so tight the skin around his knuckles blanched.

"Open your eyes, Aunt Ciri!"

"This is not right! He's manipulating you! Can't you see it that he's toying with us?! US?!!"

He roared, pointing at her with unbridled rage.

Gritting his teeth, Caldaros pivoted sharply, thrusting a finger toward Lucivar's direction, though both of his eyes remained locked on Ciri, "I don't know what lies he fed you, but he's using you—that's all that is! Everything I did… It was to keep you safe!"

His voice trembled with fury and desperation.

One that completely shed his mask of goodness and showed his true self.

"So, what if I wanted him to suffer? He deserves a painful death! He's Loki's avatar—an avatar of an Evil God! The very embodiment of everything vile!" He spat, eyes wide with madness. His breath came faster now, ragged, like it hurt to breathe. "Can't you see it? We, those who have power, must make sure to eradicate all evil people!"

"Eradicate all evil people..." Ciri repeated. "It's never made more sense than it does at this moment."

Upon hearing this, Caldaros was at a loss for words.

It was clear that Ciri was talking about him.

He was the one who needed to be eradicated first, not Lucivar.

Realizing how far—it has gone, the fire in his face broke, collapsed under the weight of something more fragile. His eyes widened, moist and desperate. He clasped his hands together, the fight inside him crumbling with each passing second.

And the Fool's laughter... It kept tugging on his willpower, taking a strain on his mental clarity.

"Please, Aunt Ciri. We can talk about this, but let's get rid of him first…"

"I promise, I'll do anything to make it up for what I did. But right now, don't abandon me…"

Ciri listened to him attentively, but she didn't answer.

She remained silent, watching him with hurt behind her eyes.

Seeing this, Caldaros tried to steady himself, but his knees nearly gave—and he pressed a palm to his chest as if trying to hold in the pain. His lips moved in silence, mouthing words that would not come out.

Not because he couldn't, but because he knew no words could fix this situation.

Caldaros' eyes searched hers for a flicker of warmth, a hint of the old Ciri, of forgiveness.

But there was none.

Inhaling deeply, Ciri took one last look at Caldaros and turned around, heading back inside the park.

She left for good.

Caldaros could feel the mass of clouds forming, blotting out the sun that had once shone only for him.

Now, his sun was gone, and he was shrouded in darkness.

Despite the finality that Ciri showed, Caldaros tried to run after her, but the Fool blocked his way.

"Get out of my way!!" fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓

Caldaros tried punching her with his bare hands, but she suddenly transformed into a box.

An emerald present box.

Before he could react, the box sprang open, releasing a burst of emerald smoke that swallowed the air.

Almost instantly, the entire area was shrouded in emerald smoke.

Caldaros coughed hard several times, feeling the smoke latching onto his skin, and even seeping into his body, stripping his ether. He waved his hand, trying to push away the smoke and breathe proper air, but it was futile.

Exhaustedly, he lifted his gaze and looked ahead with a grim face.

A pair of glowing eyes could be seen ahead, which soon showed to be Lucivar.

He was now already on his feet, and even some of his wounds were healing.

"It took you a while, but I assume you've finally realized you should've listened to Aurel," He rasped as the sky above split open even wider, with Crossers beginning to try to push through the dimensional fabric. "What you did to me backfired. Completely. You wanted to humble me, to make yourself feel more powerful, but all it did was prove what I already knew: I'm superior. Far superior."

"It was never me who needed to stay in my lane. It was you," He added condescendingly.

Lucivar was now standing straight.

Beside him, Gandr was already laughing, tears rolling down his face from amusement.

As always, he didn't read Lucivar's mind, purposefully leaving himself out of the main plan.

So that he could be surprised.

Unlike under normal circumstances, this time, Gandr did this because he was worried that even Lucivar wouldn't be able to score against Sunna's avatar. But he was pleasantly surprised. Lucivar not only scored, but he dominated.

"Raarggh!!"

Caldaros unleashed his battle cry and charged at Lucivar.

He hurled his fist with everything he had, aiming to take Lucivar's head clean off.

Bam!

Lucivar caught the fist with ease, as if the punch was thrown by a toddler, not an avatar.

A smirk crossed his face as he tilted his head menacingly.

"Ciri already abandoned you—you have no access to Sunna's power again," Lucivar said, shaking his head, pitying Caldaros, who was high and mighty before. "And without her power, you only have your Vampiric powers, which were now corrupted by the White Blood. Even if you somehow could use it, the smoke will weaken you."

Hearing this, Caldaros swallowed hard as his heart pounded inside his chest.

He couldn't believe that it ended up like this.

"Accept it, Caldaros, you're going to die today…" Lucivar whispered death into his ears.

Seeing this, Aurel's voice rang inside Caldaros' mind.

'Use it right now!'

Snapping out of his daze, Caldaros leaped back with a flap of his wings, landing a few meters away.

Boom!

Out of nowhere, his aura surged once more.

A sun mark appeared on his forehead, and it gave him a temporary, but substantial, boost in power.

Lucivar could feel his aura rising higher than he was even at the start of the battle.

"Even though you managed to put up a fight, I am still going to win—this fight!" Caldaros roared, his entire body turning into sunlight. "Regardless of what you do, my Goddess is still the perfect counter to your God! Her sunlight will vaporize you!!"

Maniacally, Caldaros fired a beam of sunlight from the sun mark and also from his wings.

Three beams merged into one big beam that decimated everything in its path.

But as it reached Lucivar, something shocking happened.

Bam!

Lucivar slapped the beam away as if it were nothing, deflecting it to the side as it shattered a building.

Amid the shock, a ridiculing smirk crossed his face.

"Unfortunately for you, I'm a lot more than that."

"What…?"