Prologue: The Death of Divinity..

  Ascension is how mortals become Divine...

  The first Humans viciously fight in a world-scarring battle: an unscathed woman cloaked in black clashes ideals with her bloody and injured adversary in battle-scarred armor. Her long black hair traces and trails an agile, dextrous figure carrying the force of mountains behind every attack. Her features a twisted rendition of a beautiful angel fallen from grace, with scarlet glowing eyes and a cold, inhumane indifference for her adversary. She has no more love for him.

  The man's face is the opposite: exhausted, weary, and in pain. Yet, he perseveres through his injuries and keeps fighting this lost battle. Every savage engagement ends with him coming off worse in the exchange; a self-imposed battle of attrition. He has to hold on a little longer...

  Her sharpened nails, demonic claws, spark off the gleaming, blue-flamed longsword of her white-haired adversary. The impact of nails harder than steel clashing with unfathomable force against the keen edge of a mystic sword sends the atmosphere shaking, shockwaves across the wartorn landscape. A once beautiful garden that stretched for eternity, now a charred, corrupted landscape. Crimson flames dance and devour everything surrounding them, while vicious impact winds blast debris and fire further.

  Ascension also opens one up to Corruption...

  "EVELYN!" the white-haired man screams amidst a rapid assault of attacks: black and red lances tall enough to rival buildings, assailing him and the barren landscape. His resolve never falters even beneath the terrifying sight of Death raining upon him. He grits his teeth, spectral blue flames searing into beautiful blue wings at his back. Then, taking off with the speed of a tempest toward the falling spears, sword stressing and straining with him, he deflects and knocks every one of them from his path toward the floating woman high in the sky. The woman he failed...

  A massive serpent bursts forth from a sudden fracture in the sky behind the airborne woman, while she watches the ascending man and the destruction she's wrought behind him with indifference. The burning sky is a poetic backdrop to the chaos below. Her vindication rises while His hope burns.

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  The black-scaled snake's jaws are large enough to engulf buildings, and its descending, gaping maw blots the sky out behind it. Yet the ascending man never shows fear or falters, and raises his blade toward the accursed threat; THIS IS HIS MOMENT! There's a sudden ferocity in the man's gleaming blue eyes and a savageness to his features...

  Then, he cleaves the sky and everything between it in one flaming, sweeping slash, all of his power in one last gamble to save everything he wished he fought harder for...

  His attack unleashes a world-tearing arc of blazing blue light across the sky that effortlessly overwhelms and disintegrates the COLOSSAL SERPENT. It's such an overwhelming force of power that it even sparks a look of fear in the emotionless woman far above, behind the disintegrating snake. Her red eyes flashing with the briefest look of...

  "ADAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!!!!!"

  The demonic serpent screams before falling into silence and oblivion...

  Adam's release of all his Divinity in that final swing dissipates the raging fires ravaging the land, settles the whipping winds of chaos, and silences the turmoil of conflict. This brilliant, heavenly light purges all shades of red and sorrow, and for a brief few seconds, serene peace washes over everything. And, as the young man's energy burns out, and the brilliant blue wings on his back fizzle out, the last thing he sees is that beautiful, red-eyed, and black-haired woman floating above. His final sight is her cold, emotionless gaze. He weakly raises his hand, reaching out for her as if wishing she'd grab it...

  "I'm sorry, Eve..."

  The man gives a bloody smile before his life fades...

  "I w..." he never finishes his sentence.

  Silence...

  The floating woman calmly watches the corpse plummet. The wind returns the moment his life ceased, but at a calmer, unbothered pace. All of the chaos she created was silenced and put at ease with one final gesture of love. She idles in silence for what feels like an eternity before her body slowly fades away in blackened smoke and ichor, the curse she suffers.

  "Mankind will no longer fear the Divine..." she softly whispers, a tear streaming down her face as clarity returns to her.

  "Because I've finally found a way to kill all of them..."

  Next Chapter: Survivors...