The Sword War

His journey began as a fight for survival. Simon never dreamt that it would lead to a deadly civil war that could destroy their fragile world.

Simon survived the Ascent of Angels, a competition designed for him to fail, and became the first "Dun" - a lowborn - to be remade as a Seraphim angel. Now, a year later, he is a symbol to his people: a beacon of hope proving anyone can rise above their station. To the corrupt god-king Raphael, Simon is a tool, a living trophy to prove the system is a just meritocracy.

Isolating him within the gilded cage of the ruling class, Raphael has all but made Simon forget his vow to spark a revolution from within. Yet, for some, a Dun among the Higher Angels is an unforgivable sacrilege - no matter how useful it is to maintain the social order.

Led by Layla Temperatus, sister of Raphael and mother of the heir apparent - who Simon killed to win his freedom - the splinter faction known as “The Sword” rises. Fueled by vengeance and aristocratic purity, they launch a bloody civil war to purge the Exsta of all who would dare allow a lower-class citizen to rise. They will show no mercy, willing to poison entire segregatios of the ring-shaped colony ship and vent others into the cold void of space to get what they want.

And, most of all, they want to make a public example of Simon - with his death.

Caught between the tyrannical regime he dreamed of dismantling and a rogue army bent on bloody vengeance, Simon is forced to make a choice. To defeat The Sword, he must stand with the regime he despises, risking his soul to save his people.

As the war ignites, old friends become new foes and a whispered prophecy points to a terrifying secret about the Exsta itself.

The Ascent was a game. The Sword War is a test of everything Simon is—and everything he believes.