The world above the clouds.

The realm mortals could never reach, no matter how fervently they prayed.

Heaven.

An endless expanse of silver rivers, floating continents, and eternal light stretched beyond the skies. Celestial winds drifted through golden palaces that had never known decay. Countless stars revolved around a throne forged from the laws of creation itself, radiating authority over all living things.

And upon that throne sat the ruler of the world.

Hyades.

For ages untold, she had remained there alone.

Silent. Unchallenged. Absolute.

Her emerald eyes gazed down upon the mortal world with detached indifference as civilisations rose and crumbled beneath her feet.

Kingdoms worshipped her. Races feared her. Entire species vanished at her whim.

Yet through it all, Hyades never changed.

She ruled Heaven with flawless precision, clutching tightly onto the Mandate of Heaven—the source of supreme authority over the dimension.

She never loosened her grip.

Not once.

Loneliness?

She had long transcended such mortal emotions.

Companionship?

Meaningless. Beneath her, billions of lives flickered like sparks in a storm.

Brief. Fragile. Insignificant.

As long as she possessed the Mandate of Heaven, nothing else mattered. So she sat upon her lofty throne while eternity passed in silence.

However... Even the heavens themselves could not remain stagnant forever.

The Mandate of Heaven was not merely power. It was the living foundation of the dimension itself. And like all living things, it possessed instinct.

Desire... Will.

It wished to evolve.

It wished to ascend into a higher existence—to expand the boundaries of the world and usher in a new age where divinity would flourish beyond the limitations Hyades imposed upon it.

But Hyades refused to change.

She hoarded the Mandate for herself, suppressing the world’s evolution for countless eras.

And thus... The Mandate of Heaven birthed something new.

The Will of Heaven.

An invisible consciousness woven into fate itself.

Unlike Hyades, the Will of Heaven did not seek conservative domination.

It sought progression.

It began searching throughout the mortal realm for individuals capable of overthrowing the stagnant Goddess and guiding the world into its next era.

It found three.

Amon Solaris. Yue Elune. Leon Bright.

Three souls destined for greatness.

Had Hyades not interfered, Amon would have ascended into the future Moon God. Leon would have become the radiant Sun God. Yue would have inherited the authority of the Record Keeper, the observer of all timelines and truths.

Together, they would have formed the foundation of a new divine pantheon.

But destiny alone was not enough.

Hyades was too powerful.

So the Will of Heaven began calculating... manipulating.

Guiding countless threads of causality to create a future where the impossible could occur.

It’s first chosen champion... was Leon.

The Will of Heaven granted him the mantle of Hero.

A beacon of hope beloved by humanity. Leon rose exactly as fate intended. He inspired nations, united people, and shone brighter than anyone else in the age of calamity.

But Leon possessed one fatal flaw.

He trusted too easily. Too kind. Too human.

Hyades saw through him immediately.

She manipulated the people around him. Twisted loyalties. Poisoned truths. Slowly isolated him while he remained blind to the true enemy lurking above the heavens. By the time Leon realised the world had betrayed him... it was already too late.

The Hero died a tragic death, never learning that the benevolent Goddess humanity worshipped was the true mastermind behind their suffering.

And so... The Will of Heaven failed.

But it did not stop.

Its second attempt centred around Amon.

This time, the Will recorded Leon’s doomed story within [Bright], preserving the memories of failure.

Then it cast Amon into another dimension entirely—far beyond Hyades’s influence—allowing him to grow in a world untouched by the Goddess’s reach.

There, Amon became Number 23. A weapon. A survivor. A broken existence forged through endless suffering.

When he eventually discovered [Bright], he inherited Leon’s will and chose to become a Hero himself. Yet Amon walked the opposite extreme.

Where Leon trusted others too much... Amon trusted no one at all.

He carried every burden alone.

Fought every battle alone.

Bled alone.

And eventually, the weight of the entire world crushed him.

Humanity fell. His comrades died. Hope vanished. And in the end... Amon perished in complete despair.

The second attempt failed.

At that point, the Will of Heaven finally understood the truth.

Neither Leon nor Amon could save the world alone. One was too selfless. The other was too isolated. It needed both Heroes together. And only one person in existence could make that happen.

Yue Elune.

The variable beyond prediction.

The girl is capable of guiding Amon away from despair while forcing Leon to mature beyond blind idealism. Thus, the Will of Heaven manifested itself before Yue in the form of the Mysterious Grimoire. It granted her authority over regression—the ability to return to the past and challenge fate itself.

When it gave its authority away, the Will of Heaven was gambling on the final outcome.

The one timeline where both Heroes could stand together.

And eventually... It succeeded.

Amon ascended. Leon ascended.

Moon and Sun rose simultaneously beneath the heavens.

For the first time in countless eras, new divinities emerged within the stagnant world.

Their existence began prying the Mandate of Heaven away from Hyades’s grasp. Divine energy flooded the planet as the dimension itself trembled with anticipation.

Evolution.

The world was evolving.

An embryonic pantheon had begun to form.

The age of the tyrant Goddess was ending.

And Hyades realised it.

For the first time since the dawn of Heaven, control was slipping from her fingers.

So she descended.

The supreme ruler of Heaven abandoned her eternal throne and entered the mortal world personally, intending to annihilate the wretched mortals daring to usurp her authority.

But this time... Things did not go according to her design.

She underestimated Amon. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

She underestimated Leon.

And most importantly... She underestimated humanity’s capacity to defy fate.

That mistake led to this very moment. Hyades slowly lowered her gaze. A blade of golden light protruded from her abdomen.

Ascalon.

Leon’s trembling hands gripped the divine sword while blood dripped endlessly from Hyades’s lips, staining her flawless white garments crimson. The battlefield fell deathly silent. Even the world itself seemed unable to comprehend what had just occurred.

Hyades stared blankly at the wound... her wound.

’...Injured?’

The thought itself felt absurd.

Impossible. For countless millennia, Hyades had reigned as the supreme existence. Titans challenged her. Dragons rebelled against her. Demon Sovereigns sought to invade Heaven itself. And every single one of them had fallen.

Why?

Because she was the one true Goddess.

Perfect. Invincible. Absolute.

So why... Why was she bleeding?

A violent tremor rippled through Heaven. Then...

BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

A catastrophic shockwave exploded from Hyades’s body. Leon’s pupils shrank. The sheer pressure alone shattered the earth beneath him as he was blasted backwards, crashing violently across the battlefield.

Bones cracked throughout his body while hurricane-like waves of divinity erupted into the skies. The atmosphere screamed. Space distorted. And Hyades... Changed.

Her pale legs twisted into colossal tree trunks rooted into the fractured earth. Emerald vines burst from her flesh like serpents, spreading endlessly across the battlefield. Ethereal leaves of glowing jade drifted through the skies while divine energy surged wildly into her wound, attempting to forcibly regenerate the damage Ascalon had inflicted.

The heavens darkened.

Nature itself bent around her presence.

At that moment, Hyades no longer resembled a Goddess worshipped by humanity. She resembled a primordial force of creation.

A monstrous divinity born before civilisation itself.

And finally... She stopped holding back.

"Hyades..."

Yue whispered. Her heartbeat thundered inside her chest.

Fear. Excitement. Hatred. Relief.

Countless emotions surged through her simultaneously as she stared at the being who had haunted her since her regression.

This was the enemy she had chased. The final obstacle. The source of humanity’s suffering.

And now... For the very first time... That invincible Goddess had been wounded.

Yue clenched her fists so tightly that blood dripped from her palms.

"We actually did it..."

Her voice trembled. Not with fear. But hope.

"Leon!"

Yue shouted while summoning spirits to heal Leon.

"Can you still fight?!"

"Y-Yeah..." Leon coughed up blood as he forced himself back onto his feet.

"Barely."

His entire body screamed in agony. Every instinct warned him to run. To kneel. To surrender before the overwhelming divinity pouring from Hyades.

But Leon still raised Ascalon.

Because behind him stood humanity.

And before him stood the tyrant who ruled Heaven.

Hyades slowly lifted her head. Madness flickered within her emerald eyes. Not rage alone. Confusion. Disbelief. As though her mind still refused to accept the reality before her. That lesser beings had actually managed to wound her.

Then she spread her arms wide.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

Divinity flooded the world like an endless ocean. Mountains collapsed beneath the pressure. Storms swallowed the skies. The very laws of reality trembled as Hyades unleashed the full extent of her authority, preparing to erase everything beneath Heaven itself.

And for the first time since the battle began... The true Goddess of Heaven revealed herself.

"I will end you!"