Fate To Fake: Loved by the Fallen; Fated to Kill the Divine-Chapter 68: End of First War: Part-2

The broken stairs floated silently in the pitch-black space, twisting and drifting with a gentle, almost eerie grace. They swirled slowly from one place to another, forming brief, unstable paths that connected fractured steps to other crumbled fragments.

Beneath them, an endless abyss stretched, illuminated only by faint flickers of bluish energy rising upward like ghostly wisps, dancing in the void.

Thud!

Thud!

Thud!

Leo, Valra, and Pride jumped from one floating stair to another, their movements careful, focused, and deliberate. Each step they landed on swayed slightly, but despite the risk, the stairs held firm—even when they were forced to leap.

As long as they landed properly, they wouldn’t fall. Still, they moved cautiously, knowing the consequences of a single mistake in this weightless descent could mean vanishing forever into the silent black nothingness below.

Leo glanced back briefly. A small, tired smile tugged at his lips as he saw Valra and Pride following close behind. Despite their earlier hesitation and doubts, they had come with him.

And it wasn’t that Leo disagreed with their concerns—he understood them, deeply. But the relic... it was finally within reach.

After enduring so much, losing so much, how could he just walk away now? Turning back now would be an insult to everything they had worked so far. The thought alone filled him with bitter frustration and a simmering annoyance.

As they continued their descent, deeper and deeper into the void, the once-faint flickers of blue energy below grew brighter, more concentrated.

And then, at last—

Thud!

Leo landed solidly on a square-shaped stone platform. His black shoes met the old, weathered stone that felt cold and dry beneath him. The surface was rough, sprinkled with grains of dust, and undisturbed for centuries.

The platform, nearly the size of a tennis court, hung suspended in mid-air, with no visible supports—just endless void on all four sides. Nothing but silence and emptiness surrounded them. If one of them slipped off now... There would be no return.

Leo’s eyes moved toward the centre of the platform—and there it was.

The Relic.

Roughly the size of a human palm, it hovered gently above the stone floor. It was a deep obsidian black, shaped like a blooming flower with sharp, elegant petals carved from dark stone.

Glowing blue runes traced along the edges of each petal, gently pulsating with life. At the very centre, a delicate blue flame flickered steadily.

The flame hissed softly, its tendrils curling upward like a living serpent. It danced with eerie grace, giving off a cold, mysterious light.

It was both beautiful and terrifying.

The Relic floated just high enough to be reached by hand, almost calling out to them. [Imgincmt]

Thud!

Thud!

Pride and Valra landed beside Leo. Their eyes, like his, locked immediately onto the thing in front of them.

"The Arcanum Eidolon... We’ve finally found it, Leo," Pride said.

Leo swallowed hard, his throat dry. That single object was worth a billion, perhaps more, but who cares?

He turned slightly toward Valra, eyes sharp. "Should we fight for it?"

Their alliance, after all, had always been a temporary one—something born out of necessity.

Valra raised an eyebrow, a quiet smirk twitching at the corner of her lips. She looked at Leo with her usual deadpan glare, then shifted her gaze to Pride, who was already gripping her wooden sword.

Valra sighed. "Are we really doing this now? Right here?"

Leo shrugged with a lopsided grin. "Even if you’re my girlfriend... this is something both of us need. You understand that, right?"

Valra stared at him a few seconds longer before shaking her head with a dramatic huff. "Whatever. I’m not fighting two idiots at once. Especially when one of them is annoyingly persistent," she said, crossing her arms with a small pout.

Leo let out a soft chuckle.

Thud!

Another echo rang out, louder this time. The trio’s heads snapped toward the source.

Ophis.

She had arrived.

The little girl stood a few steps away from them, her small twintail hair swaying in the still air. Her eyes immediately locked onto the relic, the strange flame reflecting in her pupils. She tilted her head slightly, expression unreadable, before finally noticing the three standing in front of her.

"Well... looks like I’ve got some heavy competition now,"

Ophis muttered, her tone low and serious.

"OI, Brat. It’s three versus one. You really think you can take us all on?"

Ophis’s lips twitched sharply, her brows furrowing. "Little boy, don’t you dare call me ’Brat’ again!" she shouted. In a flash, she slammed her foot into the ground—and in a blink, she vanished, appearing just inches away from the relic, her hand stretching out toward it.

Just as her fingers were about to brush the edge—

BOOM!

Pride appeared in front of her with lightning speed, slamming the flat side of her wooden sword into Ophis’s chest and sending her flying backwards with immense force.

Ophis flipped through the air, then rolled, skidding across the platform. Her fingers clawed at the stone as she dug in her nails to slow herself. She stopped just at the edge—only a few inches from falling into the infinite darkness below.

She hissed through clenched teeth and looked up, locking eyes with Pride, who stood calmly, her expression as indifferent and cold as ever.

"Last time, I let you off because of my master," Pride said. "But now... make another move, and I’ll slice your throat without hesitation."

Ophis growled lowly, anger burning in her eyes. But she stayed still.

Meanwhile, Leo and Valra continued walking casually toward the relic.

Leo’s eyes were fixed on the Relic. His mind wandered through the chaos they had endured to get here.

The battles.... The losses. And now, standing before it, the blue flames almost hypnotised him. There was something divine in them. Something that whispered directly to his soul.

’Faster, give it to me~’

A familiar voice echoed... inside his mind... the one who sat on his lap and kissed him, that woman’s voice echoed like a snake in his mind.

However, just as they got closer to the relic—when Leo’s fingers were about to graze its surface—

Thud!

A sudden, thunderous noise echoed across the stone platform, as if some ancient mechanism had been triggered the very moment someone came too close to the relic.

Trrr!

The platform trembled with a low grinding sound. Then, without warning, it began to tilt—shifting abruptly toward the side where Ophis stood.

"W-What the..."

Leo and Valra gasped, their footing growing unstable beneath them as the angle of the floor shifted. They stumbled instinctively, arms flailing, but the balance had already broken. Leo lost control and fell sideways, sliding toward the edge with increasing speed.

As soon as he rolled toward one end, the platform suddenly tilted back—reacting like a balance scale.

"LEO!!"

Pride shouted, eyes wide in panic. She wanted to rush forward—but the moment she shifted her foot ahead, the platform dipped even further under her, making it impossible to stabilise herself.

Valra’s eyes narrowed, her instincts kicked in, she could not let her lover die before doing anything!!

She quickly stepped back—once, twice—countering the weight Leo had applied. The platform groaned but slowed its tilt.

Leo’s body, after rolling dangerously close to the edge, finally came to a stop. He lay there, panting heavily, his face drenched in cold sweat. His heart was pounding wildly in his chest as he glanced downward...

Below him... There was only darkness.

He stared into it—an endless, consuming void that seemed to breathe with a terrifying stillness. One wrong move and he would have fallen, lost forever in that abyss. The platform had no rails, no second chances.

Leo gulped hard, his throat dry as he turned his gaze upward to Valra. He didn’t say anything—but the gratitude in his eyes said it all.

And in that tense silence, realisation hit them—each of them, almost at once.

The relic was protected.

It wasn’t just about reaching it. The platform responded to their movement—tipping, adjusting. To reach the relic safely... they would need perfect balance.

Four people. Four edges. The only way to retrieve the relic without tilting the platform to collapse was by coordinating with precision. One misstep, and everything would fall—literally.

But that wasn’t the only problem.

"Hehe... looks like we’re stuck here forever~"

Ophis said with a sly smirk, her tone dangerously amused. She stared at Leo with narrowed eyes and tapped her foot gently against the edge.

The platform responded instantly—shifting slightly.

"E-Easy there!"

Leo snapped, spreading his legs to keep balance, his arms out, trying not to fall again.

Now, Leo stood directly opposite Ophis. Valra, across from Pride.

Four edges of the square platform.

If even one of them moved carelessly...

The entire platform could collapse—sending them all into the void.

Death.

Leo swallowed again, his entire body tense as he glanced at Ophis. She was grinning at him now, calm in the chaos.

’T-This is why Envy warned us?’

Leo thought bitterly.

"So... what should we do now?" Ophis asked, tilting her head slightly with a small, almost mocking smile.

Leo gritted his teeth. "Easy, girl. If you do anything irrational—we’re all going to die. Do you understand that? All of us. Dead!"

But Ophis only shrugged. "Oh, I understand," she said sweetly. "But the thing is... if I return without the relic, my father will kill me anyway. So if I’m going to die regardless, I really don’t mind dragging the rest of you down with me."

As she spoke, she took a step forward.

The platform creaked sharply.

Everyone flinched, immediately adjusting their limbs, barely keeping themselves balanced as the surface shifted again.

Leo’s face was pale, sweat dripping down his temples as he locked eyes with Ophis.

She smirked darkly. "You should’ve killed me back there, human... Tsk, tsk. Looking down on your enemy and pitying them... is the last thing you do in this messed-up war," she hissed, her voice sharp and venomous.

Updat𝓮d fr𝙤m fre𝒆webnov(e)l.com