In the darkness of the vast cosmos, a figure drenched in blood emerged from a tear in space. Wounds split across his body, but his eyes burned red like flame.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
I will kill you all, you heartless beings. Even if I must break my soul and tear my body apart—I will kill you all!
The scream echoed across every corner of the divine realm. Silence followed, broken only by mocking laughter from a towering being.
{Hahaha… what can a mortal do to us? Do you think you can even scratch—}
Puhak!
The being froze, staring at the spear lodged deep in its chest. Mana and life-force drained in an instant. Its scream turned hollow, and it shriveled into nothing but a husk.
Fear—a long-forgotten sensation—gripped the countless gods who witnessed the scene.
Thousands surged forward, tearing through space. Some blazed like suns, others froze time itself. Their immense power pressed down like mountains. Yet the bloodied, broken human laughed.
Hehehe… hahahahah… ahahahahah!
Here you come. How I've long dreamed of this day—your flesh in my mouth, your blood on my tongue. All of you… dead!
The human's aura flared red, forming armor of flame. His spear hissed, birthing a lightning blade that cracked the very fabric of space. With each stride, he warped across the battlefield, faster than light. His blade roared like a dragon, and divine beings turned to ash in its path.
Then space itself trembled. Four eyes opened in the void, brighter than stars. Every divine being bent its knee before the entity.
{A human unleashing such power… impossible.}
{Lord.}{Lord.}{Lord.}
A towering presence began tearing through reality, its form greater than a star. Even half-emerged, its four arms dwarfed entire planets.
{HARBINGER.}
A black hole formed in its palm, collapsing toward the human.
The blood-soaked man only grinned. His lightning blade stretched without end, space and time folding upon themselves. Crimson flames roared from his back, a lotus of blood blooming beneath his feet.
Reality warped as black hole and lightning clashed. Time reversed, then leapt forward. Space melted. In the blinding storm, every divine being turned to dust.
The lord's body cracked. Fear entered its voice.
{That form—impossible. How can you possess that form?}
Do you like my surprise? the human laughed.
You wouldn't have shown yourself if you knew I carried the blood of—
The words were swallowed as the clash reached its peak. Light consumed everything.
Vritra jolted upright in the dark, his breath ragged, sweat running down his face. His heart hammered against his ribs as though trying to escape. Shadows pressed in on the small cottage walls, twisting, watching.
"What… what was that…?" he whispered, though he couldn't recall what he had seen. Only fragments lingered: fire, blood, eyes glowing red in the void. Too much. Too vast for his mind to hold.
"Vritra?" a voice mumbled from behind. His younger brother, Kirin, sat up, rubbing his eyes. "What happened? You look pale."
"I…" Vritra pressed a trembling hand to his forehead. "I don't know. A nightmare? Maybe…"
"Nightmare bad enough to wake the whole house?" Kirin frowned, studying him.
"I can't sleep again," Vritra muttered. "I'll go outside."
Kirin yawned, still heavy with sleep. "Fine. Don't wander too far."
Vritra slipped to the door, hand unsteady on the wooden frame, and stepped into the cold night. Moonlight stretched over the terraced fields, silvering the tall grasses and rugged stones. The hills rose and fell in the distance, shadows creeping into every fold. The air smelled of damp earth. The calm should have soothed him, but unease gnawed at his gut.
He walked the narrow path along the edge of the fields, each step meant to steady his racing mind. Then he stopped.
Someone—something—stood in the tall grasses.
Tall. Still. Wrong.
A silhouette of a man, eyes burning crimson, a spear clutched in his hand.
Vritra's lips moved without thought. "Spear demon…"
The words chilled him. He didn't know why he said them, or how he even knew them.
The figure did not move. It only stared. The weight of its gaze crushed his chest. Vritra shook his head, stumbling back—
Then agony split his skull.
"Ahhhhhhh!"
He dropped to his knees, clutching his head. The pain was molten, searing, as if his very thoughts were being torn apart. His mouth opened in a scream, but no sound escaped. The night held its breath.
Through blurred tears, he saw the figure again—now right before him. Its lips moved, shaping sounds he could not understand, words that were not human.
Vritra wanted to run. To cry. To beg.
The figure raised one hand, a single finger pointing toward his forehead. Slowly, unerringly, it pressed closer—
And the world went blank.