The brittle stone shattered, the sound echoing in Kai-Se's ears with a finality he couldn't withstand. For a while, nothing happened. The gods stilled, faces frozen in confusion. Then, their smiles widened in amusement.

Just before Nishi could throw another snide threat, powerful winds ripped into the courtyard in a massive howl. The temperature dropped. It's like when winter rolled around in Xuijae. All around them, the commotion stopped to stare at the growing expanse of wind, swirling and swirling into a huge vortex a few paces from Kai-Se and Nao-Zai. His sleeves flapped against his arms in all the possible directions as he shielded his face with his arms and ducked to avoid the flying debris.

Light streaked across the sky and fractured into a thousand webs, almost like glass shattering. Then, the cracks howled in an unheavenly song as pieces of the sky fell towards the earth, tearing a huge, swirling void.

The gods had their necks craned to the sky. Nishi whipped towards Kai-Se, fists clenched and face beet red. "What have you done?" he screamed but his voice was lost in the howls of the winds spinning faster and faster. The god stepped forward, but before he could lunge at Kai-Se, his feet lifted off the ground, first a few inches, and as if a force was gripping him by the waist, he began whizzing closer and closer to the sky.

"What is this?" Nishi squirmed against the force leashing him. The other gods called his name and asked for help but even their leader couldn't do anything. Shaoryeong reaped what was due to it. It's only a matter of time.

A strangled hiss rang from Nishi. Kai-Se already has to look up to the god's form hovering a few feet from the ground. The god continued edging away from the courtyard. "A mere mortal like you couldn't possibly control the gates!" Nishi shrieked. His spectacles slipped from his face and shattered upon impact with a flimsy sound against the cobblestones. "You will die a painful death trying to play with forces you do not understand, Najizaki Kai-Se!"

Kai-Se grinned. Damn his death and forces he knew nothing about. He had to get Nao-Zai out of here and back to the Yomaura clan. He had to avenge An-Ri. He had to save Xuijae from Dansarun's wrath. If it boils down to his death, then so be it.

He raised his hands and poured the last of his magic towards the gate. Light flashed from his fingertips and sped for the void. He willed it to get the gods out of here faster and it followed. The gods screamed and writhed against Shaoryeong's hold. Their fading shrieks were enough to pacify Kai-Se's anger for the years to come.

Then, like a child rearing for a breath after crying the whole night, the winds stilled. The gods disappeared into the gate, their absence bringing about an unprecedented silence. Then, the vortex spun anew. It whirled and buckled.

A heavy weight pressed against Kai-Se, throwing him out of balance. His limbs refused to obey him, instead staying where they are as if they've got no energy left. A shadow sped over him and he had to duck before a chunk off the legs of one of the sky bridges hit him at the back of the head on its way to the vortex.

With a painful explosion, the rock hit the vortex and shattered upon impact. Kai-Se gritted his teeth. He had to close the gates immediately before it eats the rest of the mortal realm. But...how? He had no magic left. Nothing.

A piece of information bled into Kai-Se's mind, telling him of some innate magic each mortal had. It's the reason why some were able to connect spirits to humans in a guardianship pact. It's how they were able to feel Shaoryeong and how they were able to tell a different kind of force existed in their world.

The korza. The energy from life itself.

With a raw scream, Kai-Se sank deep into his soul and drew it out. Heat danced in his veins, threatening to tear his soul to shreds. His vision sharpened and blurred in quick succession. Smoke started curling from his skin. He dug his teeth against his lip. Just close the gate. Trap the gods there. Never open it again.

Shrieking voices erupted in Kai-Se's mind, fighting for dominance among his thoughts. He cursed. Close the gate, he ordered. He didn't know if he had already screamed it out loud. His muscles strained. More of his energy bled out of his fingertips. What was supposed to be the limit here?

Well, whatever. Take it all.

Are you sure about this? A voice asked in Kai-Se's head. Was he turning delusional now? Are you willing to pay the price demanded of you?

"Yes, and a thousand times more, if need be," Kai-Se said through his teeth. Something warm and thick dripped from his nose and stained his lips. The taste of rust mixed with his saliva. Heavenly Spirits, he needed to finish this.

Then allow me to help you, the voice answered. It didn't sound like his own thoughts. It was more masculine and...deeper. This is going to hurt.

Before Kai-Se could make sense of anything, a new kind of heat surged through his veins, urging him to gasp out in pain as it began to scald his skin, even down to the fiber of his being. And it kept coming. It never stopped. His knees knocked together and his legs gave out. Someone screamed his name. The concern and worry laced with it drove tears to Kai-Se's eyes or maybe it was just from the unrelenting pain tearing through his muscles.

Direct my magic to the gate. The voice instructed. Bend it and use it to destroy.

With a grunt, Kai-Se aimed the heat curling around him towards the swirling winds. Then, he extended his arms, his vision slowly blackening and his consciousness ebbing away. "Seal!" Kai-Se screamed, half-blind. A strong hand wrapped around his arm as his upper body swayed and slumped forward. The sky crackled and shook. The clouds shifted and flickered. The voices intensified in his head before fading with a quiet hiss, taking with them the blistering but magical heat.

Then, the cold set in. Shivers sped down Kai-Se's limbs, forcing him to hunker against himself and attempt to get some of the warmth in futility. Someone turned him over and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. He opened his eyes which he didn't even know he had closed. Beyond the walls of the gods' Imperial City, the sun began to climb up for its next cycle. Except from the quiet hiss of the clearing dust and the sunlight touching the morning fog, silence reigned in the courtyard.

Kai-Se turned his head towards Nao-Zai who had crawled next to him on the ground. The wound on the soldier's side seemed to have stopped bleeding, a faint trace of a belt tied against a spare piece of cloth peeking from the folds of his leather armor. He's alive. They're alive.

And what's more...they're free.

A loud cheer erupted from behind the walls. Kai-Se knitted his eyebrows as he craned his neck the best way he could without his head spinning. Was there another army waiting just beyond?

True enough, a bigger and more heavily-armored horde sped through the gates and flooded the courtyard. If Kai-Se had to guess, these were the original citizens of the Shencai Empire, all fighting for their freedom and eventually getting it. The gods have tried to suppress them long enough and now, they couldn't take it anymore.

As the cheers rose to its climax, Kai-Se pushed away from Nao-Zai and picked himself up despite the protests in his limbs. He flashed a smile at the soldier. A large bruise was already blossoming in Nao-Zai's cheeks but even with a dozen cuts on his face and arms, Kai-Se could bet the soldier still could pick up women on the way back to Xuijae.

Kai-Se, himself, felt a little worse for wear as well. That stunt he pulled on the gates between the mortal realm and the spirit realm took something inside him. Not to mention that mysterious voice and the rare kind of magic that flowed through him. But that's a worry for another time.

Right now, all that mattered was that Kai-Se had helped people be happy, even in his own, small way. He watched the soldiers wave their weapons in the air, screaming at the top of their lungs. Some covered their comrades' bodies with white sheets and started carrying them away. Others gathered in groups, staring with mouths hanging open at the sky which they watched pick their oppressors from the ground like they're dolls.

Kai-Se raised his head to the sky as well and dared to laugh at the heavens. At long last, Shencai was free. And with it, Kai-Se and Nao-Zai were too.