The third day of battle dawned and Arvarius watched from his tower as the city held on by the slightest of margins. Pathetic he thought of them all as he turned to his machine. He stood there convinced that he will bring light to an age of darkness.

He looked further on as Kane and Minerva set the sky on fire with their apocalyptic fight. Great tendrils of energy wrestled with lightning in an epic battle to the death. The fight echoed throughout the air as the two pounded into each other relentlessly in the skies above Nova City.

Unmoved by the unruly goddess' blight Arvarius turned his to back to it. Instead faced an angered Illuminura in chains. She growled in rage as she wrestled with her bonds. Then she stared at Arvarius' eye.

"Why betray me and assault my tower? Why do you wish such ills upon me, Child? Am I not the same man you once played with on the plains of the Eternal Garden?" He asked her.

"That was another age. A sweeter one... However, as the sun rises in the east we enter a new era! With its, light, I have seen the folly in our actions!"

"What do you know of folly youngster? We brought peace, we brought hope and now we bring salvation... Yes, we enter a new era"

Illuminura grunted as she looked away. In that moment she truly had no answer for him. In the past, she believed those very words in her heart as she tore Martian shipping apart with but a thought.

Then the memory of Godfrey's slit throat shone in her mind. Filled with renewed spirit she met his gaze and took a breath.

"We're only human." She remarked.

Arvarius flinched at her blatancy. The foolishness of this girl suspended before him. Had any other said it it would have amused him. Those words coming from her, however, became the greatest offence. He thrust his hand against the glass.

"Look out there! That! That is humanity! Scurrying about in the dirt, the suffering and the failure. I will liberate them from their suffering. I will make equals of them all... They would be fools to refuse." Declared Arvarius

"That is the folly of our actions. You assume the nature of things. You assume you know each and every single thing but you can't. No one can! Please, Uncle, don't do this." Illuminura begged.

Arvarius' typically ambitious look softened at the sight of Illuminura's despairing face. Reached out and placed his palm on her face. Then he sighed as he withdrew his hand.

"I don't know what foul influences have allowed such emotion to burn within you child but I do know humans. I have seen them rise and fall for millennia. They will be grateful!" He claimed

"They will not be themselves!"

Arvarius looked upon his niece to perplexity and confusion. He like many others of his kind could see the emotion within others. The usual calm of a celestial had all but disappeared from his niece's soul. In its place, a dangerous whirlwind of emotion burned brightly from her very soul.

Swallowing his disgust he did well in hiding his unsettled soul. Instead, he grounded himself in his convictions. He then walked over to his device. As he approached it a hologram appeared before him.

It presented a single button as the firing mechanism. He stood there as Illuminura was turned around to watch. He raised his hand to press it but then he hesitated. The image of Illuminura's soul propagated doubt throughout his mind.

Then he reminded himself of what set him on this path. He forced himself to push the button. Illuminura sighed in defeat as she gave up hope for her uncle. He faced her once again as he walked to her side.

"The desire for safety goes against every great and noble enterprise... I believe it was one of their own who said those wise words. Someday, child, you'll see the new light I have wrought." He promised.

With that, he prepared himself for the work that is to be done. The machine rumbled and whined to life as energies permeated throughout its body. Soon the roof opened and the machine rose into the air.

At its side was Arvarius who floated in the thin air. All around him flying monster of all sorts swarmed to strike him only to be slaughtered by a celestial knight. He raised his hands as the machine started to glow.

"Now my children. I bring salvation!" He proclaimed.

The machine unleashed a mighty pulse that flowed far and wide in the evening world. Its warmth radiated off of his skin. It was then with his work to be complete that he felt peace at last.

The pulse washed over the land far below and through the souls of those unprotected. As one by one the militia all collapsed wailing and screaming in pain while the monsters of earth mutated out of control.

Those mutants born on this planet fell to their knees, wailing and flailing in pain. Their insides tore themselves apart as they mutated out of control. One by one they became grotesque messes of vile mutilated flesh.

The unprotected militia grew in size, strength and power as each glowed with a familiar golden light. To the horror of all humans, they all sprouted wings of energy and radiated with the bristling energies of the celestials.

Twas not long before the pulse washed over Kane and Minerva. Both screamed and cried out as the pulse's body changing properties consumed them. They felt their very minds shake and shatter.

In desperate Kane roared as he shot into the distance. Trying to find solace in solitude while he recovered from the effects of Arvarius' device. The pain of feeling his very soul being twisted and change was unimaginable torment.

The same torture was magnified a million times over for Minerva. Her torn clothes burned away in a flash as her flesh became hotter than the sun. With both hands, she covered her eyes as she ground to a silent halt and froze where she floated.

Soon her skin turned black like obsidian while she moved into the fetal position. Soon she froze as if she was a statue of jet-black stone. Radiating silver light formed matter all around her, encasing her in an obsidian egg. As angels rose to the heavens a goddess fell to earth that day.

Within the seemingly endless bowels of her mind, she reverted back to her childlike self. She despaired as she felt her soul fracture. She had always been an unstable entity yet she cherished the short line of memories that were truly hers.

The endless death, the violence, it was all too much. Even as she fought on she could feel the very muscles of her body fall apart from overuse. The constant bombardment of minds drove her soul to its limits. She was broken.

In her berserk rage spent so much energy trying to end Kane that she paid no heed to self-preservation. In her exertions she killed herself.

For all her beauty, knowledge and might she was a flawed construct. A patchwork amalgamation of hundreds of thousands of souls she could not last. Extremes would drive her by the leash of her instinct. They were inevitably going to lead her to her doom.

She retreated from reality. Trying to escape her torment she buried herself in her memories. She imagined herself back in the Angulus village. There she would play with the children and talk with Pharos while Alice watched and relaxed in the care of those blessed beings.

She smiled as she imagined the Angulii play around her. She ignored reality in favour of escapism. With her fleeting power, she constructed a false world within which to spend her days.

"Take heart, my friend. You will not be alone in the end." A familiar voice said to her.

Gasping in amazement she opened her eyes and there stood before her the most welcomed of friends. There, Pharos stood proud and tall before her. With a smile she allowed tears to flow down her cheeks as she rushed to embrace him.

"Pharos, you were here all this time? I thought you... lost."

"Oh-ho-ho no, dear child." He answered.

"This is so sudden, so quick, this can't be the end. It just can't."

"Our soul is dying friend... There is nothing we can do."

Minerva yelped as she felt all around her disintegrate and fade away. Like the child she was she clung onto Pharos for dear life. Pharos lowered his head.

"Come now. Ride upon my back just once before the end."

Minerva became a ghostly figure as she slowly faded. She nodded as she pulled herself up onto his back. Then the great Angulus slowly walk through town as this small world became all thy had.

The cold soothing wind brushed softly upon their skin as they walked on. Occasionally small slivers light passed them by. Each one a gentle reminder of blessed times shared with others. They found solace in the simple silence they sought.

It wasn't long before they happened upon a half-built house. Pharos stopped and looked at it. He froze as he remembered old times. Minerva looked on as well. Neither said a word for they both knew it.

It was to be Pharos' new home. He had spent months working day and night to build it. Twas even the place where Minerva first contacted the Angulus. It is nothing but a worthless reminder now.

The two moved on. Eventually, they reached a clifface. It was riddled with scratch marks and crescented around a flat plateau. They both knew this place as well.

It was the nursery where countless generations grew up under the protection of the cliff. This had been a playground for them both. Now it remained as a memory. Nothing more than yet another sweet reminder of better days.

Minerva felt the cold wind numb her body as she saw her hand begin to fade completely. There was not much of her left now. What little sustaining might there was of her had burned up when the pulse hit. She held onto Pharos ever tighter now.

She didn't know if a new world awaited her or whether she'd be reborn. The poor child wanted to stay. She wanted to live another day. She wanted to play and live to see more. Every sunrise and every sunset, she wanted them all.

While Pharos wondered aimlessly through the empty village Minerva's thoughts turned to Alice. Minerva sobbed at how she may never tell the Venusian how much she loved her, how much she looked up to her and how much she meant to Minerva.

She wanted to visit Mars, Venus, Mercury and Luna. There was so much she could do. Such melancholy was sparked from the thought that she began to weep.

Soon she grew angry. She directed her anger and outrage at herself for her complacency in the past. She began to beat her own head in such self-loathing anger. Then Pharos held her hands back with his mind.

"Woah there child. Why?" Pharos asked.

"I should've been there! I should've been there!" She moaned.

"Where child? Where?"

"Had I been on Venus we all would've all been safe. There were ships we could've gone. That way the monsters would never have come! They wanted me! Not them! THEY WANTED ME!"

Pharos looked around to catch Minerva in his vision.

"Hush dear. We can not blame ourselves for the actions of others. It is how we remain accountable for our own actions and you my dear friend bear no sin."

His heart swelled with fleeting joy as Minerva allowed herself another smile. A final memento before the end as their world faded away around them. Never have either of them felt so powerless yet all options have been spent.

Consumed by sorrow she pressed her head against his back as she shed her tears.

"I don't want to go." Cried, Minerva.

"Nor do I." Responded Pharos.

"I... don't want... I d-don't want... to g-"

Pharos halted. Realising the inevitable he stood there on the ridge staring at a blessed golden sunrise. As all others disappeared he was left all alone on the ridge of a snowy mountain. He lowered his head and laid down to sleep.

'Perhaps oblivion would be preferable.' were his last words.