The wind howled through the broken arches of The Empyrean, carrying with it whispers of devotion and despair. Heilay stepped cautiously across the shattered marble, past the banner-draped remains of the Hallowed Sentinels. The sacred heart of their faith was now no more than a cathedral of silence and ash.
She had seen the Abbey fall. She had seen what Adyr’s corruption did to the sisters. But this place… this was different. The air here pulsed with defiance — radiant magic laced with madness.
Judge Cleric awaited her at the altar, draped in ruined finery, staff aglow with sanctified fury. Her voice echoed in the chamber like scripture, but the light in her eyes had long since been extinguished. This was no protector. This was a zealot burning at the edge of reason.
The first clash of blades was ceremonial — a test. Heilay circled, her flail tight in her grip, dodging radiant thrusts and blinding arcs. Then came the storm: holy arrows rained from above, searing the ground in luminous fire. Circles of divine judgment flared beneath her feet.
Heilay fell once — too slow to dodge the ring of radiant blades. Her body broke upon the stone, and the world faded.
But Vestige of Iorelo pulled her back, gasping, alive.
The second time, she moved like vengeance given form. She shattered one radiant copy of the Judge’s staff, then another. Fire replaced light. Flesh replaced faith. The Judge had revealed her true form — a scorched echo of grace, wielding flames like penance.
Heilay was relentless. Strike. Evade. Strike again. Her flail roared against burning steel until, at last, the Judge fell. The silence that followed was not peace — it was absence.
Heilay stood over the beacon and watched as the illusion of purity peeled away. In the Umbral realm, she witnessed the truth: Judge Cleric pleading with a phantom of Ermengarde, begging to be wounded — to offer herself as fuel for Adyr’s blight.
The Radiant Sentinel had not fallen in battle. She had fallen in belief.
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Accompany the partisan Heilay on her journey: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQRPy70pDgKXsdb4gtFobn-vOZqhx2QGS
