The Moon City of Zanderst was a peaceful place. Due to the accord keeping all Spirit King factions from warring with each other, it was considered the most peaceful compared to those on planetside. A city of gold, silver, and a dozen other illustrious colors, its brilliance shone brightly in the dark void of space. A beacon of hope and protection.

Now, the entire city was on quiet alert. The common populace was unaware of what was going on, but those with influence–the extremely powerful–knew what was coming.

Deep inside a colossal castle made of stellar metal, Solaris eyes snapped open, part of his consciousness snapping back into his main body as his avatar was beheaded.

His mind briefly flashed back to that moment, and he immediately withdrew, an unconscious shiver running down his body. He frowned, a strange, distant, and forgotten feeling touching him.

He didn't know what had happened to cause that and he didn't want to experience it ever again. He was thankful tha—

BOOM! CRACK!

Solaris' spirit screamed as his castle defenses were breached, the outer wall collapsing into a million motes of light.

He instantly disappeared from his Throne-room, appearing just outside the waiting hall to see his attacker crush down his gate with a single twist of his fist.

Solaris body froze as he stared into those deep, grey, emotionless eyes; like a doorway into a desolate world.

He unconsciously shivered, that same feeling sweeping through his Astral form. It was at that moment he knew what that feeling was: fear.

Since becoming a Spirit King, he hadn't had a cause to fear anything. He might have felt wariness, mostly towards the older Spirit Kings, but he had never felt fear, until now.

He frowned in confusion, he could accept feeling fear when he was down on the planet, but that was there, where he was using his avatar. This was a different place and a different body, he didn't understand why he was having the same feeling, no less from a Spirit lord.

"I don't know what power you are making use of, but the circumstances now are vastly different from before."

In response, Damien's head cocked a little to the side in an eerie way that sent shivers down Solaris' spine, like he was speaking with someone whom Solaris couldn't see.

Castle Solaria was a powerful territory built with three layers of defenses, each more powerful than the last. It would take another Spirit King at least an hour to break through the second layer barrier and triple that to breach the third layer.

He watched in fear and confusion as Damien's hand slashed, a grey silvery light flashed, and then his entire defenses were completely shredded.

Crystalized energy dripped down like slags of melted metal as his Castle's defenses came down, with Damien slowly crossing through it without a second thought about his handwork.

Unconsciously, Solaris stepped back as Damien approached. He gritted his teeth in embarrassment, that was an unseemly behavior from a Spirit King. He then firmed his mind, summoning his Spirit King Warhammer. The one he had used down at the planet was a watered-down version compared to this one, vastly.

Up above, auras bloomed as space was dotted by the arrival of multiple figures. He was expecting them to intervene, but for some reason, they all stopped just outside his domain, never crossing in. Even the Inferno cult.

That action alone finally sank in the fear that had been building all this while.

He looked back at the approaching Damien, who had not once turned his attention toward the distant audience.

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Finally, he spoke. And when his voice came out, Solaris shivered uncontrollably, stepping back. These weren't the voice of a human, that was the voice of death.

"You know, I hated you before, and I hardly hate anyone. Dislike? Yes, but hate? It hardly comes to me. That was the reason I didn't take any revenge against the Kingdoms that tried their hands at me when I was weaker."

As he spoke, a grey robe draped over his body, with silver grey armor covering his upper body. A long grey battle spear appeared on his right hand, blazing with destructive powers.

"But you... You have gone far and beyond in stoking something within me, something beyond hatred–I don't know what it is, but we shall see where it takes me."

All the while he spoke, his expression never changed, nor the inflection in his voice. A dry whisper of a dead wind.

"Draw your weapon."

CRACK!!

Solaris took multiple steps back as Damien came in with a flurry of blows. A blow from a Spirit lord shouldn't have been able to budge him an inch, but lately, he had been continuously surprised by the actions of this Spirit lord, so he was only a bit surprised when Damien's blows landed with the crushing might of multiple mountains.

He swung his hammer, overclocking his speed as he tried to land a bit on his opponent. The young man stepped to the side, casually dodging the strike.

Solaris' eyes opened wide for a moment before he was slammed back like a human slapped by a dragon. He slammed back into his castle walls, pulverizing a portion of the large fortress.

Solaris looked up just in time to receive a fist coated with grey silvery energy to the face. And for the first time in a while, Solaris felt true pain.

He felt his being been broken down.

Both spiritual and physical.

Hastily, as he fled from another hit, he pulled out an alchemical potion from his storage and quickly downed it.

He quickly brought up his hammer to block, noting with a pained expression how difficult it took for the potion to completely heal the injury. That didn't bode well.

His hands snapped back as his arm guards were crushed, plunking to the ground in broken bits.

Dodging to the side, he moved to dodge, avoiding a deeper blade strike to the arm but taking a small cut instead. He gritted his teeth as pain erupted on his entire arm. He moved further back, swinging his arm as he waited for his natural healing to take place.

"The pain you feel is far from what I felt when you almost killed my brother."

Another slash and Solaris hissed as another cut was opened on his wrist.

"Let me tell you a secret that nobody knows, not even Keilan. Are you listening? Good. I am a monster. You might not be able to tell, but I've always been a monster. To appear good 'n' all, I locked that part of myself away," Solaris dodged another hit, this time managing to avoid getting cut. "And do you know who the key is? You don't? Keilan, that's who.

"Keilan is a free spirit. Like the wind, his greatest dream is to be free–to not be constrained. He doesn't follow me, I follow him. Because I need him. I need the passive shield from inhumanity that he provides me with."

"There is this thing that every monster has in common. In order to control them–limit them–you give them an anchor, someone to keep them in line–to make them want to stay in line. Self limitation."

Solaris avoided a stab to the shoulder, taking a punch to the stomach as an extra. Choking out as his metaphorical lungs were squeezed of air, he was slammed deeper into his fortress.

"You took away mine. My anchor. The person who constantly made me want to be normal–To stay Good. And you almost took him from me. That is a sin that can never be forgiven. So as punishment, here's what I'm going to do to you."

In a precise, methodical strike, Damien cut Solaris' hammer in twain, leaving the head to fall to the ground, leaving Solaris to watch in shock.

"I will make you feel pain. Like you've never before. You will feel the equivalent of what I felt, and it still wouldn't be enough. Because my brother is dying, and I don't know if he'll live long enough to be treated by a healer. Someone has to pay for that, in blood and in pain. It might as well be you."

And then a Grey silvery curtain of flame consumed him....

.... And Solaris knew true, unimaginable pain.

"ARGGGHH!!!!"

From the audience that had been watching as Solaris was slowly, and methodically dismantled, a lot of them shook in shock as Solaris' scream reached them. A small sense of fear creeping in.

When the story of this event was going to be narrated later on, Some would even swear that they felt a glimmer of the pain that swept through Solaris. A glimmer.

Solaris screamed till his metaphorical lungs burst and he lost his voice. It then turned ironic when his silent scream turned out to be the scariest.

Pure, unfiltered, and unimaginable pain engulfed the entirety of what made Solaris, giving it true Destruction.

All around, auras bloomed, these ones far higher than those from the Spirit Kings that he'd observed. And they were crossing into Solaris' domain.

Damien's face turned grim and determined. He would fight if he had to. Nobody would ever put him in chains ever again.

[No. No. No. Do not do that. I think it's about time we made our exit,] Gray warned.

He'd just turned, drawing the full might of his strength, and from Gray's Armored form, when his vision turned black.