Sacred Song

Life force flowed through their touching skin, pouring into Aelir’s frail body.

Without hesitation, Selina pulled out her identity token and pressed it into Aelir’s trembling hand.

“Hestia, help me!” she cried, clutching the girl tightly in the heart of the storm.

Silver flames of samsara roared behind her, casting Hestia’s majestic silhouette.

The goddess raised her lamp, pointing a finger skyward. Radiant divine light pierced the sandstorm’s veil, shattering the spatial seal.

The token in Aelir’s hand melted under the flames, and a silver glow enveloped her, whisking her away from the Secret Realm in an instant.

At the same time, Leia arrived, her lightning-wreathed katana slicing through the storm’s encirclement.

She stepped to Selina’s side, her gaze fixed on the storm’s core, where Seth’s crimson eyes burned brighter.

The realm’s ecosystem and lifeforms were under devastating assault, the frenzied sand eroding everything in sight.

Seth’s art of destruction showed no sign of stopping.

“He aims to break this barrier. Even without consuming the students, sacrificing all life here might suffice,” Leia said, her mission unfinished, unwilling to leave.

The situation was beyond her alone.

Since Hestia had kept them here, there had to be a way forward. “He won’t break through,” Selina declared, rising from the ground, her voice icy with suppressed fury.

Aelir’s near-death had stoked her anger, and she needed a bargaining chip—one to trade with Melianne.

“If we reach the storm’s core, I can stop Seth. But my divine power needs your help,” Hestia said, her golden eyes tinged with sorrow as she gazed at the rampant god.

Selina drew her twin daggers, her resolve clear.

Leia bowed to Hestia. “Before the great Goddess of the Hearth, if my strength can serve, wield me as your blade. No words are needed.”

Her reverence was flawless.

Hestia nodded. “Nerepose’s domain includes stagnation.

As her apostle, you wield this power.

Use it to slow Seth’s actions.”

In the storm, millions of sand streams swirled around Seth’s form, ravaging the realm.

Hills were buried, rivers filled, even frozen lands smothered by the relentless sandstorm.

Every second, countless lives succumbed to the sand’s erosion.

Trapped in this isolated spatial island, escape was impossible.

“Chaos, you sealed me once, but not forever!” Seth roared.

“Your space is paper before my storm! Your people, your believers, your faith—they’ll become my scraps! I’ll forge a world of sand, and you gods will be my slaves!”

His cursed Song of Sand grew more twisted, turning all it touched into desolate desert.

Under divine erosion, no mortal could escape. Even sturdy magical beasts crumbled into dried bones, and dragons, struggling in the air, fell to be buried.

Hestia and Chaos watched gravely, knowing this was but a fraction of Seth’s power.

Yet, amidst despair, resistance emerged.

Leia stepped forward, her thumb flicking her katana, revealing a glint of white steel.

She gazed at the blade with a hint of sorrow, pressing her finger to its edge.

Blood flowed, staining the steel red.

Blood anoints the blade, body forges silence.

A boundless gray-white domain spread from her, painting the space.

Everything within slowed, as if mired in adhesive. The sandstorm’s spread and the song’s chant were curbed, Nerepose’s divine stagnation halting Seth’s advance.

Sensing the shift, Seth hesitated, but before he could react, a scarlet-tinged silver flame disrupted his control.

In the glowing light, Selina walked, sacred and pure.

Eyes closed, hands clasped over her heart, she resembled a devout saint, the epitome of kindness.

Her song, gentle yet soul-stirring, carried ancient words lost to history, now freed. With each step, her disguise unraveled—black hair turned silver, elven ears emerged, emerald eyes gleamed.

Guided by Hestia, she sang the lost holy hymn as the goddess’s last believer.

The song spread, its soothing power flowing through the space, like a mother comforting a wounded child.

Grief and despair found solace, tears welling in its wake. Seth lowered his head, staring at the blurred figure in the storm. “The holy hymn? Someone still sings it whole?” His voice trembled with disbelief and despair.

The hymn marked his defeat.

Hestia’s majesty descended, her radiant light piercing the storm’s clouds.

As Selina’s ethereal song rose, the sandstorm collapsed. Dark clouds turned to rain, drenching the sand, reviving the dying land with life.

Seth felt his soul unravel, his sand no longer his, sprouting green buds.

He reached for a fragile sprout, but a dull thud stopped him. A lightning-charged blade pierced his soul’s core.

Behind him, Leia gripped the hilt, her violet eyes emotionless.

“Sand God Seth, your sins won’t vanish with your fall. Your remaining divine essence will nurture a new order,” she declared.

Seth’s crimson eyes dimmed, his divine soul shattering into countless grains, falling to the earth in silence.