The ground then rumbled immensely after his proclamation as Lord Kael Wrath continued to ravage the Solmiran defense and territory, burning the Sanctum, settlements and woodlands to infernal ash with his controlled firestorms.
His aura then manifested as deep indigo and silver flame, tinged with flickers of crimson and amethyst—colors that shift and coil like living magic. Golden arcs—echoes of the former Sovereigns—radiate outward in elegant pulses. It is layered, like flowing, burning silk and shimmering mist. When he channels magic, it coils tighter around his body like a serpent of energy; when he is calm, it billows like a royal cloak in slow motion, edged in radiant light. His eyes glow faintly—not blinding, but enough to cast subtle reflections in polished surfaces. The glow intensifies as he accesses deeper reserves of arcane power.
His aura exerts tremendous pressure, dulling magical senses, and fraying concentration. Many claim to see illusions or hear whispers—echoes of the Empire's past victims or battles—just by facing him. Simply being near him causes the air to feel heavier, more charged—as though reality itself holds its breath. They felt a gnawing tension, as if unseen chains tighten around their will. The Three Numbered Hosts from the Apostolic Execution felt this pressure, as they temporarily bore witness to his aura's effects.
"...E-Eidessa!..." A masculine voice yelled out in agony, seemingly the leader.
Eidessa used her sentient codex and used Invocation Pages to cast several protective glyphs that protected her allies against Valen's destructive aura and its unexplainable force.
Eidessa Vale is one of the most enigmatic figures within the Host of Apostolic Execution, known as the Host of Wisdom. While her mysterious younger sister lives in Draevarr away from Solmira, Eidessa serves directly under the High Pontifex, enforcing the laws of insight, clarity, and divine truth. Though the sisters have grown apart, they share a legacy steeped in the Apostle of Wisdom's bloodline, a lineage known for producing minds of unparalleled precision. Where her sister is etched in shadows and secrets, Eidessa is the eye of absolute understanding — an arbiter of knowledge, memory, and divine logic. The High Pontifex decreed her as the Solmiran Warden-Scholar of Divine Intellect.
She is all and poised, with a serene demeanor that can shift into terrifying intensity when facing heretics or deceivers. She bears silver-white hair in a long braid adorned with charms shaped like eyes and quills, symbolic of clarity and discernment. Her violet eyes shine faintly with arcane script when she invokes her relic, a clear sign of the Apostle's blood in her veins. Wears long, flowing robes reinforced with latticework runes, allowing her to move freely in combat while surrounded by magical scrolls and wards. A mirror-like circlet rests on her brow — an artifact that reflects hidden truths rather than appearances.
Her codex was the Relic of Wisdom – The Living Tome. The Living Tome is a sentient, morphic relic of the Apostle of Wisdom, passed down only to those capable of understanding the convergence of divine knowledge and mortal will.
An overbearing masculine laugh was then heard, as the spearhead of the formation recuperated and rose up his massive two-pronged spear.
"Now that… really did something! That is the first time I've ever fallen to the discharge of a warrior mage's aura!"
"...You insects seem to have managed to survive that mere discharge."
"We have to slay such a powerful man... How terrifying!" He chuckled.
The man who laughed was towering and broad-shouldered, a walking bastion of muscle and fury. Bronze-toned skin, scarred from countless battles; arms etched with ceremonial brands of valor and martyrdom. Wears a crimson warplate, heavily ornamented with seven-pointed stars and stylized lions, the symbol of triumphant virtue. His helm bears a fixed, expressionless face of carved steel with a singular vertical slit of light that glows during combat. Golden war banners hang from his pauldrons, inscribed with oaths fulfilled and enemies vanquished in the name of Solmira.
Caer Varn is seen as the indomitable embodiment of righteous strength and militant resolve, the spearhead of the Host of Apostolic Execution. A former battlefield champion turned divine enforcer, Caer serves not only as a symbol of valor, but also as a weapon of last resort — deployed in open rebellion or sacrilegious defiance against the Pontifex's will. The High Pontifex decreed him as the Solmiran Executioner-Knight of Unbroken Oaths.
The leader in the back of the formation, the closest to the vault, seemed to be the strongest and the wielder of the Chain of Heaven, currently suppressing Seliora and leaving her unconscious.
"...Cassiar Althoros…"
Androgynous and majestic, Cassiar's face is elegant and timeless, bearing no facial hair, and possessing a regal, bone-pale beauty that is neither wholly masculine nor feminine. His long white hair flows to the middle of his back in smooth, immaculate strands, often tied with silver cords bearing scriptural charms. His sharp, discerning grey eyes are likened to cold steel—capable of dispassionately reading heresy, truth, and lies. He wears ornate platinum armor gilded with patterns of interlocking chains and crowns, representing authority and inescapable judgment. Across his chest plate is an engraved verse of Dominion's scripture: "To challenge the Will is to chain thy soul."
Cassiar Althoros is both feared and revered throughout Solmira, serving through three successive Synods in his service, yet has not aged in decades. Many suspect he has transcended mortal limits through the Relic of Dominion or by the Apostle's direct blessing. To most, he is not simply a man—he is the embodiment of Solmira's Will, the Chain that binds the Faithful to Order. The High Pontifex decreed him as the Solmiran Sovereign Executor.
"So you are the Foretold Threat the High Pontifex and the Apostolic Synod has spoken of…" Cassiar spoke, voice laden with holy gravitas.
"You will be sacrificed as the fulcrum of reckoning. You, alongside your heretical subordinate, will be judged, not by our mortal hand, but by the breath of God and his Apostles."
"I've seen what your God's judgment costs. Burned cities. Collateral faith. You call it order, I call it rot gilded in hymns."
The three took insult to that proclamation, as Caer immediately charged and burst forward with his spear. It was the Relic of Valor — The Heartpiercer.
The Heartpiercer was a massive two-pronged spear, crafted from celestial alloy said to have been cooled in the blood of the Apostle of Valor. It resonates with the will of those who fight for others—not themselves—and glows brighter in the presence of cowardice or betrayal. Caer then realized that it was not the latter, but the former, as the relic resonated with the will of Valen, as he was briefly bewildered.
"Oath Resonance!"
Oath Resonance is an innate ability of the Heartpiercer, where strength increases relative to the conviction of Caer's cause. If his enemy is unjust, the Heartpiercer becomes capable of breaking through even the most divine or infernal wards. While Caer had conviction and increased his strength tenfold, the Heartpiercer did not deem Valen as unjustly.
Valen unsheathed his Dark Aetherion, as it began to emit its Arcane Trail and briefly swung it once. With the blade's Arcane Trail, every swing of the blade leaves behind a residual trail of arcane energy, which can disrupt enemy spellcasting, leave arcane marks that explode, entangle, or petrify moments after contact and create mirror-slice effects, allowing Valen to strike the same point in space across short spans of time.
He chose to cast arcane marks from beneath Caer's route. The arcane marks exploded and attempted to petrify him, as Caer immediately leapt backward as if he knew the marks would be there.
Valen looked at Eidessa, using the Living Tome's Preemptive Thought. With the Tome's insight, she can analyze enemy tactics, predict movement, or even interpret magical patterns mid-cast and communicate those thoughts with her allies telepathically.
"...Now I see why Seliora fell so quickly… it's her ability that is truly the strongest amongst them… and it seems as Cassiar cannot fully attack as long as he concentrates his chain on restraining and suppressing Seliora…"
Eidessa immediately casted her Invocation Pages, as she sent after Valen offensive elemental sigils to strike him down and magical seals in the effort of restraining him.
Valen used his blade's Aetherial Channeling, a form of spellcasting that fuses arcane energy with conscious will, drawn through his soul and weapon rather than traditional incantations. This magic is alive, reactive, and sovereign-bound—drawing upon the Aether, the transcendent essence that binds the world, the Sovereigns, and fate itself.
He used Aegis of the Oathbound, where he summoned a floating ward shaped like overlapping shields of light, protecting Valen from projectiles, spells, and physical strikes. Each hit charges it—after absorbing enough, it bursts in a radiant counterblast. Caer and Eidessa immediately dodged after the ward sent out its counterblast of light.
Cassiar then used his Relic of Dominion, the Chain of Heaven, as magical constructs in the form of spears and manacles hurtled toward him, the manacles attempting to again, restrain him as the spears struck through him. It was the one ability he could utilize while his relic focused most of its strength upon suppressing Seliora and her Velmourn.
Valen realized the Chain of Heaven and Aegis of the Oathbound were both light attributes and were of the same strength. The spears and manacles would pass right through his ward. He then used his sword's passive skill, Adaptive Resonance, where the blade resonates with the magical environment. Against magical foes or enchanted barriers, it absorbs ambient arcane energy to empower Valen's next spell, temporarily disrupts enemy wards or enchantments and can tune itself to specific magical frequencies, allowing it to bypass or neutralize wards and barriers.
He used this ability to cut right through and absorb the light-based spears and manacles, however Eidessa expected the defensive response and utilized the opportunity, using Cassiar's attack as a distraction.
Caer leapt in as Valen struck his blade against the constructs, appearing before him in one of his expected blindspots, as Eidessa casted more of her offensive Invocation spells at his front to seemingly distract him twice.
Valen then let out a chuckle. "Riftstep."
Riftstep allows Valen to phase partially out of physical space, disappearing in a flicker of distorted light and reappearing within a limited radius, leaving behind a phantom afterimage that distracts enemies or mimics an attack. While the Living Tome itself could predict Valen's cast of the spell and transmit the information to Eidessa in microseconds, Riftstep was too swift for any to physically react to it.
"A staring match between the two of us will get us nowhere."
"I believe it is time for you to perish."
Eidessa registered his voice through the Living Tome, but couldn't physically react to his actions in time.
"Arc Relinquishment." The Dark Aetherion unleashed a wave of disruptive magic that disarms enchantments, dispels active wards and drains aether from enemies. The closer the foe, the harsher the effect. Her protective glyphs were easily broken, as the Dark Aetherion pierced through her abdomen with ease.
Cassiar's eyes widened in disbelief, as Caer then turned around, realizing the Valen before him was an afterimage. He looked upon Eidessa and then yelled, enraged.
"EIDESSA!"
"...R… R-run…" She gasped for air and life.
Caer then steadily used his Martyr's Drive, which allows Caer to transfer damage or afflictions from allies to himself, inverting pain into battle rage.
"...Grandmother… please… protect Serida…" Tears streamed down her face as her mouth moved but no vocals were heard. Valen realized she was using the last vestiges of her magic to communicate to the Living Tome, the Relic of the Apostle of Wisdom. The relic then disappeared, seemingly teleported to a different location.
"...What a waste… I would have liked to research the relics and potentially reverse-engineer them, but they are apostolic relics… I should have expected that much…"
Valen then allowed Eidessa's dead, drained body to simply fall off his blade, as she abruptly fell to the ground. It was the first in decades that Cassiar had seen a Host of Apostolic Execution ever fall. Eidessa looked like a monstrous reflection of what she once was, as the Dark Aetherion fed on her aether, the life force that binds her soul to this world.
"YOU BASTARD!" Caer yelled filled with intense rage, as he immediately struck forward with his spear. As his strength and speed further increased with Oath Resonance and Martyr's Drive, Valen realized Caer can overpower him through physicality.
"Crown of Embers." A wreath of magical embers coils around Valen's head and shoulders, increasing his physical prowess, casting speed, and resistance to mind-altering effects. Each successful strike reignites a burning spark that can be discharged as a small flame bolt.
He met Caer with his Dark Aetherion, as both of their weapons clashed against one another in a martial battle. Being a battlefield champion, it seemed as though Caer had more experience in these types of one-on-one battles. While he wasn't overpowering Valen, Valen used the battle as a learning curve, just as he did with Veyra the Smileless. The burning sparks behind each of his strikes sent out flame bolts that struck Caer instantly.
"VALOR'S SURGE!" Through Valor's Surge, the Heartpiercer converts wounds and pain into sudden bursts of speed and power. The more pain or blood spilled, the harder he strikes. With three activated enhancements from his relic, he slowly pushed back Valen in their martial battle.
"...Now I can see why he's the Spearhead… truly the physical might of the Numbered Hosts…"
Valen then leapt backward in seconds, as he then casted his Soulflame Laceration. Striking his blade against the air, the blade-enhanced slash sends a streak of ethereal fire that burns both flesh and spirit, bypassing most forms of armor and leaving lingering pain or confusion.
In those seconds of Caer dodging the slash, as the ethereal fire was a danger to him since he could not regenerate, Valen then activated his Sorrowbind Chain. The Dark Aetherion unleashed a chain of magical energy that seeks a target's weakness—binding not their body, but their will. Victims feel the weight of regret, despair, or suppressed emotion, often hesitating or faltering.
Through the Sorrowbind Chain, his Oath Resonance was broken, as Caer lost his conviction, lowering the strength the relic gave him. Caer felt the weight of not being able to protect his comrade, Eidessa, and the fear that he felt from Valen.
During their battle, Cassiar had no way of properly interfering until he saw that Caer hesitated and faltered. He saw as he fell to his knees in terror, his dreaded expression not one he ever saw from him.
He immediately casted all of the magical constructed weapons that he could muster. Valen saw that Caer was wrapped in divine wings and then protected by light-based shields. Spears and manacles were summoned once again to strike and chain down Valen's predicted onslaught.
"Emperor's Binding." The magical constructs then dissipated, all shattering at once. Cassiar was lost for words, as he had another shocked expression written all over his face. Through the Dark Aetherion, Valen can project an aura of absolute command, where one of his abilities can bind, destroy and silence any form of magical construct, surpassing Dominion.
Valen then summoned another Soulflame Laceration, where the slash of ethereal fire burnt straight through Caer, cutting him in half. While the Heartpiercer registered the pain and propelled him out of his faltered state, it was too late. Both his flesh and spirit perished, as he was burnt to a crisp. With its wielder dead, the Heartpiercer also disappeared.
Valen then turned his attention toward Cassiar and the Mirror Sepulcher.
"...Not one, but two… two of the Numbered Hosts have fallen… this easily?... and you have yet no scratches upon your skin…"
Cassiar then repelled back the vast majority of his Chain's power, as Seliora fell to the ground within her vault, still unconscious. The Velmourn's center then pulsed faintly once again, as it was no longer suppressed, awaiting for its wielder to awaken.
"Let us see how you fare against the power of Dominion, you, the master of all that is heretical."
"Your beliefs tire me, yet it is the only thing that keeps you from standing your ground against me."
"It is that misguided belief that can be respected, but it is still delusion all the same."