The skies burned crimson.
Thunder cracked not from the heavens, but from the clashing of blades and roars of dying titans. Rayyan and Nael stood side by side, surrounded by fire, blood, and the shattered bones of war-beasts.
Above them, Zaqratuun emerged in its true form—towering, coiled with flesh and metal, wings blackened and torn, eyes full of endless hunger. Its roar shook the world.
The beast was no longer just a general of Sammael's army.
It had become a gatekeeper to annihilation.
---
A Battle Beyond Men
Barak and his ghost-army stood firm, slicing through legions of ashspawn. Arrows rained, magic cracked, and still the creature pushed forward.
Rayyan's breaths were short, blade heavy with blood. His Divine Eye flickered—but even it could no longer read the beast's movement. Nael struggled to contain the fire inside him—it begged to be unleashed without control.
They were losing.
Zaqratuun swiped, and Barak was sent crashing through a stone cliff, his spectral form flickering violently.
Rayyan fell to his knees. Blood streamed from his mouth.
Nael screamed and threw himself at the creature. Fire engulfed the battlefield—but Zaqratuun absorbed it.
Then... it stabbed Nael through the stomach.
---
The Eye Breaks
Rayyan watched as his brother was impaled—held up like a banner of defeat. The battlefield froze. Even the screams stopped.
And then…
The Eye of Reflection began to crack.
A glow deeper than stars leaked through the fractures on Rayyan's bandaged eye. The bandages burst into flame—not fire, but light-mirrored memory.
The Eye had reached its limit.
And it shattered open.
---
Orion's Wrath Unleashed
Rayyan rose—not walking, but floating.
His voice echoed with ten thousand echoes, layered and harmonic.
> "This eye does not show truth.
It shows what must be.
And I will rewrite this ending."
Time bent.
Reality blurred.
The Eye of Reflection unleashed its final power: "Orion's Echo." In that moment, Rayyan moved between choices, across all potential outcomes. He chose the one where they lived—and made it real.
He moved faster than sight.
His blade shattered Zaqratuun's horn, then another, then its spine—he struck from the past and the future at the same time. The creature roared, not in pain—in confusion.
Rayyan appeared above its heart.
And plunged the blade through it.
---
The Beast Falls
Nael's fire reignited—not in rage, but clarity. He blasted free from the beast's hold and joined the final strike.
Together, the brothers—one wielding fire, the other memory—burned Zaqratuun out of existence.
Its body collapsed into glowing ash, forming a canyon of silence.
Rayyan fell to the ground, eyes dimmed, exhausted. The Eye of Reflection closed again, but this time with gold light.
Nael stood beside him, gripping his shoulder.
"You rewrote fate," Nael said.
"No," Rayyan replied. "I only reflected what should have been."
---
The Arc Ends
The army of ash disintegrated. Sammael's shadow retreated across the sands—wounded, but not gone.
Rayyan and Nael looked across the battlefield. Victory was theirs—but not without cost.
Barak limped forward, ghostly arm missing.
"We won," he said.
"No," Rayyan whispered. "We survived."
And high above, hidden behind veils of sky—
an angel watched.
Not interfering.
Just recording.
---
End of Arc Two: The Black Rain