The other Angels immediately moved to intervene, with Fogo standing in front of an enraged Yana and Thibet standing in front of Kōritsu while trying to heal his wing.


    [Yana… I need you to calm down.] Fogo, the Summit of Creation, pleaded, but wrath that burnt in Yana’s eyes was not lulled.


    [That… thing laid its dirty claws on his place of rest, Fogo.] Yana whimpered with an anger that made even Fogo, the Angel of Strength, wince.


    [We know, Yana, but it''s Kōritsu’s world. Let him deal with it.] Nozh said while Thibet checked up on a shaken Kōritsu.


    [Are you alright?] She asked, and he nodded.


    Thibet then turned to Yana, but before she could speak, he glared at Kōritsu once again.


    [The only way you can convince me that you understand what I am feeling is if you remove every single one of those filthy things from existence!]


    The other Angels all pleaded that Yana reconsider but in this moment, all the two Angels could see was each other.


    Kōritsu swallowed.


    He had watched his world grow from a barren rock to one filled with mighty, resilient life.


    Yes, Gules’s arrogance and the Taunter’s insidious machinations had led them to commit the worst of all sins, in interfering with Kiln’s slumber but Kōritsu blamed himself for allowing it to get that far.


    He could have stopped Gules at any point, but even the Dragons were a part of Kiln.


    Was it not part of Kiln’s will then for them to get that far?


    [I… I am willing to take responsibility—] Kōritsu stopped as his own heart was flooded by Yana’s anger and disappointment.


    [Kiln didn’t do anything to deserve that. He doesn’t deserve having… insects defiling what may be the place he sleeps until everything ends.]


    Waves of sorrow and grief tore through the universe and it was here that Fogo acted, he reached out to grab Yana but the Angel of Faith slipped though his fingers as if he wasn’t even there.


    [We have all seen it, that special place, and we decided not to touch it. To wait and allow Kiln to return to us. Your hesitance is telling… you didn’t care as much to begin with.]


    No being in the cosmos could hold back the painful tears that fell from their eyes as Yana looked upon it all with contempt.


    [You know that isn’t true! Now calm down, or I’ll—]


    [Or you’ll what?] Yana interrupted Fogo who, at this point, was manifesting more of himself in the cramped sixth dimension.


    [Will you allow this too?] Yana whimpered as something strange appeared in his eyes.


    It was a flicker of something terrible.


    A blackness that ate away at his light.


    [No, Yana. No. But… we must take a step back and deal with this reasonably.] Fogo spoke softly.


    Yana’s face twisted as he thought back to the moment when Gules took what was never meant to be his.


    It was horrible.


    Unthinkable!


    Blasphemous!


    But…


    Yana didn’t want what he was about to do be the result of some zealotry he felt or the faith that he himself had built.


    No.


    What he was about to do was selfish, childish and self-destructive.


    He had avoided getting held by Fogo because of how close he was to Kiln. Even though he was still so far, Yana was very close to being one with the cosmos itself, allowing him to bend its laws to an extent.


    And so, not because of his faith but for his sleeping friend, he would kill the Dragons.


    He nodded to himself and descended to the third dimension, where he tried manifesting, but Fogo immediately tackled him to the other end of the universe, where their combined presence annihilated entire superclusters of galaxies and stars.


    Fogo’s light may have been several millions of folds brighter than Yana’s, but the Angel of Faith was the closest to the very beating heart of the cosmos.


    [Yana! Please… calm down! He didn’t even hurt him!] Fogo begged as he burnt so brilliantly that he illuminated all of existence, but Yana stood unfazed. This was because, to him, light, energy and the quantum fluctuations of reality were all beautiful parts of Kiln.


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    Parts which he could redirect with ease.


    So, no matter how much power Fogo commanded, Yana would always be able to redirect it.


    [You still fail to understand… but how could you?]


    Fogo’s eyes widened to their limits as Yana moved his wings to swat at the world of Melanite, where a terrified Gules stood.


    [Vidente! Send them all down!] Fogo screamed before manifesting in front of the home of Dragons to defend it.


    His wing clashed with Yana’s and, to mitigate the damage, Nozh took all of the resulting cataclysmic forces and dispersed them into higher dimensions.


    Meanwhile, Vidente slipped the Halos of the Heavenly Armaments onto their heads.


    The divine host awoke and were immediately ordered to fall to Yana, who was preparing to attack again.


    The Angels and their host all descended onto Yana, who, seeing that he was cornered, turned to the army that Vidente had created.


    He looked into their now-awakened artificial eyes and saw endless amounts of pain and… hatred.


    Hatred for their creators.


    They were gross amalgamations of flesh and hollowed divinity, after all.


    Yana tapped into their hatred and forced it to echo within them, making them belch forth a putrid black substance.


    The very same that had begun to fall from Yana’s eyes.


    Malice.


    [o, ye who are born twisted, turn your swords to the ones who sent you here, and I will annihilate you afterward as reward.] Yana’s words boomed across existence, and the heavenly host immediately stopped as their forms rapidly darkened, filling with malice, a substance which ate away at creation.


    Their anguished screams and pain stabbed at the hearts of the Angels, but Fogo ignored his pain and moved to cut off one of Yana’s wings with his sword, Cora??o de Sirius, only to be stopped by a weeping Thibet.


    [Stop! Please!] She screamed but at this point, maddened by malice, the Divine Armaments turned on the other Angels, their weapons being particularly dangerous since they were made from Fogo’s feathers.


    Fogo shoved Thibet to the side and tried rushing towards Yana, but at this point, the rapidly blackening Angel was already within arm’s reach of Malanite.


    Gules, who watched as the Angel approached, tried sending forth a massive beam of energy, but it passed through the Angel with no effect.


    It was Nozh who used her wings to protect a world that wasn’t even her own, creating a barrier that not even Yana could pierce.


    She fearfully looked into Yana’s eyes. His sclera black and his irises a furious gold.


    [Yana…] She whimpered while gently cradling the world.


    The blackening Angel let out an enraged growl that was lined with so much hatred that Nozh’s light, the second most bright, dimmed a little.


    Fogo then appeared behind Yana to cut off his wings but his attack was blocked by one of the corrupted Divine Armaments, H''erev who was designed to be the Sword of Heaven.


    The only reason why H''erev even survived this was because he was absorbing an exponential amount of Kilnessence, growing stronger with every instance that passed.


    [Stop standing there and do something!] Fogo barked at Kōritsu, who turned to Gules.


    [Now is your chance to redeem yourself! Take your swarm to the heavens and hold back the armaments while we try and calm Yana!]


    Without hesitation, Tsar Gules let out a roar that reached every Rubian Dragon, he told them to assist the Angels and they did so, rising as streaks of fire that clashed with the now darkened host.


    The dragons were able to pierce the otherwise impenetrable skin of the armaments using their reality-defying swords, although their fiery breath did damage, too.


    Yana saw all this and so rose to the highest dimension in the smallest possible division of a second and raised his right hand.


    He then created a bolt by sacrificing some of his feathers and threw it down, only for Fogo to catch the thing, stopping it and losing an arm in the process.


    [Get out of my way!] Yana’s pained voice tore into Fogo, who roared back.


    [Not until you fucking stop!] There was nothing but pain and desperation in the voice of the strongest Angel, but Yana wouldn’t listen.


    He would have reacted the exact same way if someone had tried to hurt Kiln back when they were on Earth.


    He knew he was seeing red.


    But no price was too high to pay for His sake.


    So he created another bolt.


    Then another.


    And another.


    The twelve other Angels all manifested in the highest dimension, where they spread their wings, protecting an injured Fogo and all of creation.


    Yana’s face twisted at this.


    [You would all go this far…]


    [That’s what we should be asking you!] Nozh snapped.


    [Please, Yana. We will punish the Dragons… just not like this.] Thibet wept, but their words only served to anger Yana more.


    They were willing to sympathise with literal lizards and not Kiln.


    He gnashed his teeth, creating a loud thunder that would have killed anything that wasn’t an Angel.


    At this point, his form was made almost entirely of Malice.


    Any light that might have been remained in his golden eyes and Halo.


    He created another spear and eventually used up all of his feathers which filled his classmates and teacher with fear.


    Yana let out a terrifying roar before sending forth his spears.


    Nozh and Fogo sacrificed themselves by charging forward and catching two spears each, but this cost them their arms.


    But even as they were overcome with pain, they kept their wings spread, allowing them to be hit and torn instead of the life below.


    A now wingless Yana watched as the wings of all thirteen Angels were ripped apart to various degrees.


    He winced and wept more Malice as his pain and theirs mixed.


    He wanted to scream, but he had to finish what he started, so he fell to the third dimension to find a wounded Vidente waiting for him near Melanite.


    The world had become the backdrop of the ongoing battle between the Dragons and Heavenly Armaments.


    Tsar Gules was able to hold back the Seven Greater Armaments on his own, but they were rapidly growing stronger.


    The other Angels quickly descended to help him, but with their broken wings, they were significantly weaker.


    [Stop this madness! Don’t you realize that every bit of pain you cause is felt most deeply by Kiln himself!] A worn and teary-eyed Kōritsu wheezed but was met with a look of complete apathy from Yana.


    [If… you cared. You would have let me kill them.]


    His words sent chills into all of the Dragons, but they kept fighting regardless.


    Kōritsu turned to Thibet, who was furiously healing Nozh, who, even with one functioning arm, fought back Greater Armament Patiysh, the Hammer of Heaven.


    [Ma’am! We have to stop him together!]


    [Alright, but don’t kill him!]


    Kōritsu nodded before wrapping what was left of his wings around Yana.


    Then, at a speed that far exceeded all physical limits, Fogo grabbed one of the profaned Dragon blades and stabbed Yana in the chest.


    Since the sword was able to cut across dimensions, Yana couldn’t easily evade it without getting caught by Kōritsu’s wings, and so he tried flying up only for Vidente to grab and shatter his Halo with the help of Nozh, who stuck the divine ring with her sword.


    Unable to escape, Yana watched as his Halo broke into countless pieces.


    His form then began to fade, but before his soul faded, Vidente grabbed it and shoved it into a blank Halo.


    Yana screamed as all of his power, his perception, even his memories, all of it was crushed and forced into a form that was… human.