"Divine Arsenal: Cepheid."

  In the instant those words left her mouth, the air around her began to vibrate, shimmering like a mirage against the backdrop of the now-crimson plateau. A soft glow radiated from her body, growing in intensity as she tapped into the wellspring of power within her divine storage.

  Then, with a rush of sound, the transformation began.

  A column of light erupted from the ground, engulfing her in a brilliant blaze. It wasn't blinding, not to her—it was pure, raw, and alive. Inside the light, Ebonheim felt weightless, floating as if suspended in the heart of a star. The air hummed with the resonance of ancient mechanisms, gears churning and crystal cores sparking to life.

  She could sense them, the fragments of the Aetherframe, shifting in the ether, ready to reassemble.

  The first piece materialized, a sliver of glowing metal that danced in the light before locking into place against her chest. The impact was gentle, almost reverent, as the smooth plate molded itself perfectly to her form. More pieces followed—sleek, iridescent armor plating that snapped into place over her shoulders, down her arms, encasing her limbs in a second skin of living metal. Each piece fit with precise harmony, like it had been forged for her and her alone, melding to the contours of her body.

  The wings came next. Four of them, each one unfurling from the light like petals of a celestial flower. They hovered behind her, turbines humming to life, their translucent panels shimmering with internal light. They flexed and stretched, testing their newfound freedom, casting the plateau below in shifting patterns of iridescent hues that fractured the crimson glow of the guardian's protrusions.

  A surge of strength flowed through her limbs, her muscles taut with the sudden increase in power. The gauntlets forming around her hands hummed with energy, tracing lines of silver-blue light down her arms as they locked into place. She flexed her fingers, and the suit responded instantly, every movement amplified, every breath charging the system with more power.

  She opened her eyes as the final components of the armor clicked into place. Six metallic plates floated around her waist like a segmented skirt, orbiting her like protective satellites. Above her head, two rotating discs of energy materialized, emitting a low, resonant hum that surrounded her in a faint shield, a hexagonal barrier of protective force.

  Her Ebon Bow materialized in her hands, and she could feel the frame adapting to it as well, reshaping it into something more than what it was. It expanded and elongated, the bowstring now a shimmering line of pure energy, the grip fitted with enhancements she hadn't noticed before.

  Ebonheim flexed her wings, feeling the power surge through them. They lifted her slightly off the ground, not with force, but with effortless grace. She tested a slow glide, the wings responding intuitively to her thoughts.

  As the transformation completed, the light around her dimmed, and she descended back to the fractured plateau, her boots touching the ground with a soft, metallic thud.

  [Calibrations complete. Mode transition successful.]

  [Name] ?????? ????????×??????? (G?fugr Vopnabúr:Cepheid)

  [Type] Legendary Artifact (★★★★★)

  [You have gained the ability ‘Wings of Aether'] You have access to four aetherwings, granting you a maximum flight speed of 2500 km/h. Maximum Altitude: 25,000 meters.

  [Skills and Abilities] Sonic Flight, Blink Step 4/4, Airburst 2/2, Aetherclad 1/1, Force Barrier (300 Health; 20 Damage Reduction) 2/2, Aether Strike 3/3, Aspect of the Metallum 1/1 (Defensive Stance: +20% Physical & Arcane Resistance), Aspect of the Fulminator 1/1 (Offensive Stance: +10% Hit Chance & Critical Chance). Additional abilities may become available based on environment and combat conditions.

  [Passive Bonuses] +200 Health; +20 Strength; +45 Agility; +13 Perception

  [Active Weapon] Ebon Bow-Blade: +20% Base Damage, +200% Range; Multi-Shot: shoots 6 arrows per draw; Piercing Arrow: fires a single arrow that deals double base damage and ignores 50% of target's Damage Resistance/Reduction; Snipe Shot: fires an arrow with triple the base damage, +400% Range, and +150% Accuracy, ignoring 75% of target's Damage Resistance/Reduction; Homing Shot: augments existing shots with tracking capability (effect lasts 20 seconds).

  [Cost] Maintaining this mode costs 200 Quintessence per hour. The maximum duration is three hours.

  The guardian shifted its stance as the aura emanating from her rippled across the plateau. She sensed its confusion—as if reality itself hesitated to adjust to her transformation. This time, there was no lag or misalignment. Her movements and the realm's fabric were in sync, like they shared a common rhythm.

  With a sound like thunder splitting the sky, the guardian lunged forward in a blur of movement that would have been too quick to follow before. But Ebonheim didn't need to rely on her eyes. She knew its position in relation to her own.

  As the guardian struck, her reflexes, enhanced by her battle armor, kicked in. She sidestepped gracefully, pivoting on her feet to avoid the blow. The ground shattered where she had stood just a moment ago.

  Her wings unfurled behind her, humming to life. With a powerful leap, they thrust her upwards, launching her towards the starless sky above. The ground receded rapidly as she ascended, and she reached over her shoulder to draw her Ebon bow-blade. An arrow manifested from pure energy between her fingers, pulsing with the same iridescent light as her wings.

  Below, the guardian tracked her flight, its body shifting to launch itself skyward in pursuit. It moved in a flash of distorted reality, warping space to close the distance and appear above her. Its arm reared back to strike her down, a streak of silver in the crimson-tinged air.

  Without even glancing upward, she pivoted in mid-air. Her wings flared out, the thrusters igniting in a brilliant flash of blue-white light. Ebonheim's trajectory shifted abruptly, throwing her into a high-speed parabolic arc around the guardian's looming form.

  In an instant, their positions reversed. Now floating above the guardian, she nocked her bow.

  [Enchanted Essence Bolt: Multi-Shot Augmentation]

  She fired once, but six arrows of light erupted from her bow, streaking through the air and leaving trails of luminescence behind them. The first five hit their mark—impacting the guardian's arm, leg, torso, head, and crystalline protrusions—but the sixth was intercepted by a sudden distortion in reality, disappearing into a rip in space.

  The guardian staggered under the barrage, its form flickering and glitching. But in the wake of each successful hit, the world around them rippled, almost as if it were wounded. Lines of light bled from the distortions—vivid slashes against the dark canvas of this alternate realm.

  Ebonheim didn't need to investigate; she knew her assumptions had been correct. Each fracture in the guardian's defenses was a fracture in the plane itself, threatening the cohesion of this warped reality. This guardian wasn't just an adversary—it was a linchpin in the stability of this fractured dimension.

  The guardian reeled and vanished. It reappeared farther along the plateau's edge. Its form shimmered with an inner light, seeming to mend the damage from Ebonheim's assault. But the fractures in the reality persisted—evidence that Ebonheim had to break this guardian to find the others and re-merge these planes into one. Her only choice was to continue her attack.

  Her wings flared once more. As they carried her towards the guardian, she began to pick up speed. The landscape blurred around her as she accelerated, her form streaked with light like a comet. She closed the distance between them in the blink of an eye and executed a spinning slash with her bow-blade, unleashing a sweeping arc of energy at her target.

  But the guardian flickered out of existence once again, appearing elsewhere on the plateau. Its reaction was instantaneous but different—more measured, almost cautious. Was it learning her patterns? Predicting her attacks?

  Ebonheim had no time to contemplate her adversary's strategies. Her trajectory carried her past the point where the guardian had stood moments ago. She fired another volley of Multi-Shot arrows in quick succession before banking sharply and ascending higher into the air. As her wings tilted to adjust her flight path, her thrusters flared again.

  From her elevated vantage point, she spotted the guardian far below. Its crystalline protrusions glowed brighter than ever, pulsating with an urgent rhythm. Was it gearing up for a counterattack? She readied her bow.

  Then, from the guardian's back, a storm of crystalline fragments exploded upward. They tore through the air like a hail of celestial javelins, leaving trails of crimson light in their wake. There were hundreds of them—too many to dodge, too spread out to avoid.

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  Ebonheim reacted instantly, rolling to the side and tucking in her wings. The shards screamed past her, mere inches from her armor. A few hit home, glancing blows that scraped against her protective casing. Warning alarms rang out from within her suit as damage notifications scrolled past her eyes. The fragments ricocheted away, crackling with discharged energy as they spun off into the darkness.

  Undeterred, Ebonheim unfolded her wings and flew into the mass of shards, firing Multi-Shot after Multi-Shot. Her arrows punched through the shards with ease, but the sheer volume of projectiles overwhelmed her weaponry; she couldn't neutralize them all. Many streaks of red light sped past her and collided with the plateau below, impacting with a sound like thunderclaps.

  Ebonheim took advantage of a temporary gap in the onslaught and dove towards the guardian. She angled her descent to come at the guardian from an oblique angle, her Ebon bow-blade aimed squarely at its torso.

  Her blade passed through the guardian's form harmlessly as it dissolved into a swarm of shards that scattered across the plateau. The pieces reconstituted a short distance away, reforming into the now-familiar shape of the guardian.

  A broad sweep of its arm created another spray of crystal fragments that sped towards her.

  Ebonheim zigzagged between the projectiles, her wings flexing and twisting to change direction.

  One clipped her shoulder plate before exploding in a flash of white-blue light. She grimaced in pain as her skin burned underneath. Then another explosion erupted behind her—the energy discharge of a damaged thruster wing. Ebonheim tumbled from the sky, trailing smoke, and crashed heavily onto the crystalline surface of the plateau below.

  She skidded to a halt near the crystal spire, sparks flying from her damaged armor plates.

  Staggering to her feet, she shook her head to clear the ringing from her ears. The guardian had regained its composure and strode towards her. It wasn't an urgent or hurried movement; it had her on the defensive, and her dwindling energy reserves weren't going unnoticed.

  "Damned guardian..." Ebonheim growled, adjusting her grip on her bow.

  Then, just beyond the battle, something else flickered into view—a ghostly echo, a blur of movement in the periphery of her vision.

  She squinted, focusing on the projection. It was Ariastra, locked in her own battle.

  At first, it was fleeting—a ripple of distortion that wavered in and out of sight. But slowly, the image stabilized. Ariastra battled her own version of the guardian, a flickering amalgam of mirrored shards and distorted space. She darted through the air on a wave of sound, the crystalline strings along her body humming and vibrating with the resonance of her song.

  Then other figures emerged as more projections materialized around her. She watched Aetheron engage his guardian on one side. On another, she spotted Syntris and his hammer smashing into his own fractured opponent. Nephri slithered through the air at the edge of the plateau, firing ethereal missiles at her own target.

  They were all there—each one battling their own version of the guardian, reflections of her reality overlapping with their own.

  "Overlapping realities," she whispered, echoing Ariastra's words. They hadn't scattered far enough to exist in isolation—instead, the planes they had entered were overlapping, creating an echo of each conflict.

  Her distraction nearly cost her.

  The guardian before her materialized in front of her. Ebonheim's reaction was delayed by a fraction of a second—just long enough for the guardian's blow to connect and send her skidding backwards. She tumbled across the ground until her back slammed against the base of the crystal spire.

  Sparks erupted from her damaged wings, and her armor cracked ominously as she struggled to her feet. The guardian pressed its advantage. Its hand lashed out again, striking at her chest.

  Ebonheim dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding the blow. As she moved, a plan clicked into place—a risky gambit fueled by desperation.

  Instead of retreating or taking flight, she dashed forward, running straight at the guardian. The plates orbiting her waist began to spin rapidly around her body, emitting a high-pitched whine as they charged up. Her thruster wings flickered to life, their turbines spinning up again even as error messages scrolled across her helmet's visor.

  Just before she collided with the guardian, she leapt upward, her wings flaring and propelling her above the guardian's outstretched arm. At the zenith of her leap, she flipped upside down and tucked her knees to her chest.

  As she fell back toward the ground, she ignited her thruster jets with everything they had left. With a blinding flash and a roar like thunder, she propelled herself downward like a comet, feet first, directly at the guardian below.

  Impact imminent. Shield at maximum output. This is gonna suck!

  The spinning plates orbiting her waist locked together into a great blade below her feet and began to rotate. They carved through the air around her in a massive buzzsaw of energy.

  [Air Burst + Aetherclad + Aether Strike]

  The guardian raised its hand to block the impact. Ebonheim met its challenge and collided with her target head-on. Her foot-mounted drill plunged deep into the guardian's outstretched palm.

  Her thrusters screamed, spewing jets of white-hot flame as she forced her way deeper into the guardian's mass. Shards and fragments erupted outward like shrapnel, exploding from the point of impact in a storm of crimson light.

  Still, she continued her descent, driving the guardian into the ground like a blazing stake. Cracks spread outward from their point of impact, fissuring the plateau's surface like a fractured pane of glass. With a final effort, she plunged her leg all the way through the guardian's body, anchoring it to the shattered earth beneath them.

  But Ebonheim didn't stop there. She ignited her remaining thrusters and flipped upside down. She kicked outward, the blades along her calves sparking to life, slashing through the guardian's arms like scythes. They sliced clean through its limbs and left them twitching on the ground. In the same motion, she unslung her bow and aimed her arrow point-blank at the guardian's shimmering form.

  Her armor whirred and clicked around her, reconfiguring itself to enhance her archery stance. Plates shifted along her back and arms, locking into place to stabilize her aim. The energy in her gauntlet focused into a burning point on the tip of her arrow.

  [Aspect of the Fulminator + Blazing Essence Bolt + Piercing Shot]

  Ebonheim fired her empowered Essence bolt. The arrow flew true and struck the guardian in what should have been its core. It ruptured and detonated in a catastrophic explosion that obliterated the guardian's torso. It unleashed a shockwave of crimson and white-blue light that knocked Ebonheim backward and sent her skidding across the ground.

  She slammed into the crystal spire once more and crumpled to the ground in a heap of damaged armor and smoldering mechanisms.

  As the smoke and debris slowly cleared, she looked up to see the shattered remains of the guardian littering the plateau. Its core pulsed feebly like a dying heart, the fragments of its broken body scattered around the impact site. An eerie silence descended over the battlefield as the echoes of the blast faded away.

  The fractures in reality—the wounds inflicted by her earlier strikes—continued to bleed trails of light into the darkness. Those open wounds in the fabric of her plane shimmered and undulated but stubbornly remained.

  There was a still heaviness, a pressure pushing down on her shoulders as if the entire dimension was drawing a breath, preparing for something.

  Ebonheim kept her bow-blade raised. She wasn't foolish enough to think it was over.

  The air around her felt charged—unstable. A subtle pulling sensation began to build beneath her feet, like an undercurrent tugging at her from all directions.

  The phantom projections of her fellow gods, once mere glimpses at the edge of her vision, were now more defined, gaining more opacity. All four battles raged in parallel; each guardian pushed to their own breaking point. But none had yet to fall.

  Ebonheim caught her breath, her gaze snapping back to the defeated guardian before her. Its broken form and severed pieces twitched with strained, jerky movements. But it wasn't dead. No, it was waiting.

  She could feel the pressure building, the fractured realities inching closer together, their distorted boundaries grinding against one another like plates before an earthquake.

  Every nerve in her body screamed at her to stay vigilant, to be ready for the inevitable.

  Her grip tightened on the bow-blade. She had felt this before—the pull, the sense that time itself was starting to slip, each second unmoored from the next. Their victories would all converge at the same instant, wouldn't they?

  Aetheron's voice cut through the haze. "Prepare yourselves! The guardian will reform the instant our dimensions converge! Be ready to end this!"

  There was no hint of uncertainty in his voice; he said those words as though they were fact.

  With a frustrated groan, Ebonheim tapped into the last of her reserves, pushing herself to her feet. She leveled her bow-blade towards the largest cluster of shards on the plateau, adopting an aggressive stance with her body low and balanced, ready to spring in any direction.

  This had better be the final charge, she thought darkly. Any more surprises and I'm tapping out. Let someone else win the grand prize.

  Around her, the projections of her comrades also coalesced into sharper focus. The tugging sensation intensified—the separate realities aligning into a single point. As the dimensional veil between them evaporated, the others became more than phantoms, their battles overlapping, each striding (or slithering) away from a smoldering pile of debris they had once called their enemy.

  The fractured realities shimmered around her, flickers of different outcomes, different possibilities swirling in and out of focus. She could see herself in one of them, already victorious, standing over the shattered remains of the guardian. In another, she lay defeated, the bow-blade discarded at her side, her body limp and broken.

  She fought the urge to become disoriented. The different possibilities seemed to swirl around her, each trying to assert its own existence over the others. Her mind rebelled against the sensory assault, but she forced herself to concentrate on the reality directly in front of her—on the versions of her companions who also stood ready for the final assault.

  Then... They converged. Four dimensions collapsed into each other like a deck of cards snapped together. The world outside her fractured dimension fell into alignment, and the remaining voids disappeared. She braced herself as the last phantom copies of her comrades phased into the here and now, assuming their place in the shared reality, standing atop the damaged plateau once again.

  There, at the center of their haphazard circle, the five guardians began to converge.

  The air filled with an eerie sound, like the echo of a far-off chime resonating through the ether. The shattered pieces of each guardian hovered off the ground. Each glinting shard trembled in midair as they moved together towards a central point.

  The five crystalline cores drew toward each other—their internal lights pulsating with a fierce brilliance. Then, their crystalline hearts collided in a blinding flash of light. Ebonheim shielded her eyes with her arm.

  When the light faded, the guardians had merged into a single towering form—a gestalt of their former selves, now nearly twice as tall and broad as any individual guardian. Its body rippled with geometric patterns made of overlapping crystals that shifted and refracted the starlight. The twin gemstones that had once adorned each guardian's chest now decorated its torso. The crystalline shards along its back had regrown, glowing with a malevolent red light.

  This new entity regarded the gods with its featureless face, but Ebonheim could still feel the intensity of its focus, a searing concentration directed squarely at them. It made a gesture, almost lazily, and the armor encasing its right arm unfolded like a flower in bloom, reforming into a massive cannon that began to hum with building energy.

  "Scatter!" Aetheron bellowed. The quintet sprang into action.