THE SKY TEARS OPEN...
Elias barely had time to recover.
Barely had time to breathe.
Because the moment he woke up, the air shifted.
A chill slithered through the chamber, creeping into his bones like icy fingers. The once-faint torchlight dimmed, shadows stretching unnaturally across the walls. It wasn't just the cold—it was something deeper.
Something wrong.
Then—the ground trembled.
Seraphina stiffened, her fingers tightening around her twin daggers. "Did you feel that?"
Varian exhaled sharply, his gaze flicking toward the chamber's entrance. His instincts screamed danger.
"They've found us," he muttered.
Elias's breath hitched.
He didn't need to ask who.
The gods were here.
And this time—they weren't waiting.
A PRESENCE BEYOND MORTALS...
The torches flickered wildly, then—snuffed out.
Darkness swallowed the chamber, thick and suffocating, wrapping around Elias like a living thing. Then came the pressure—a force so immense it pressed against his chest, making it hard to breathe.
A heartbeat later—
BOOM.
A thunderous crack split the heavens.
Elias staggered as the ceiling of the chamber shattered. Stone and dust rained down, but he barely noticed.
Because above them—
The sky was no longer a sky.
It was a void.
Endless. Infinite.
And from it—they stepped through.
THEY SPEAK HIS NAME...
Three figures descended, their forms shifting between light and shadow.
But this wasn't mere light.
It was creation itself.
Their bodies weren't bound by mortal flesh. They twisted, flickering between reality and something Elias's mind couldn't fully comprehend. One second, they were humanoid—robed in celestial fire. The next, their bodies unraveled into something vast and unfathomable, stretching across existence itself.
They had no faces.
No true forms.
Only silver eyes.
The first god spoke, their voice layered, echoing across dimensions.
"Elias."
Elias felt the weight of that name. It wasn't just spoken.
It was judged.
The second god's voice slithered through the air, softer, almost amused.
"Did you really think we would not come?"
Elias swallowed. He had hoped. But he had never believed.
The third god, the tallest, stepped forward.
"You broke the throne."
The words weren't loud. But the sky rumbled in response.
"You rejected our gift."
The gods didn't blink. Didn't breathe.
And then—the first attack came.
THE FIRST ATTACK...
Elias barely had time to react.
The tallest god lifted a single hand.
The air—shattered.
A pulse of force slammed into him, a weight heavier than mountains. Not fire. Not ice. It was something deeper.
Reality itself buckled.
Elias's body flew backward. Stone crumbled as he crashed through the ruins, his back slamming into a pillar. Pain exploded through his limbs. He barely had time to throw up a barrier—but even that burned.
Seraphina's scream tore through the chaos.
"Elias!"
Varian moved instantly. Golden sigils flared into existence, his hands forming intricate patterns in the air. Magic crackled around him, raw and desperate.
But the gods—
They didn't even acknowledge him.
Their focus was only on Elias.
Because he was the threat.
Because he had broken the cycle
And they would not allow it.
A POWER BEYOND HIS OWN...
Elias pushed himself up, gasping. His body still ached from his near-death, but he had no choice.
The gods weren't waiting.
They weren't toying with him.
They were here to end him.
He lifted his hands, summoning his magic—but the moment he did, the first god flicked their wrist.
Elias froze.
His magic—vanished.
It was ripped from his grasp, torn away like a thread in a storm. His breath hitched.
They weren't just stronger.
They controlled the source of magic itself.
And they had just made one thing very clear.
Elias was nothing to them.
SERAPHINA REFUSES TO WATCH...
Seraphina's body moved before her mind could process it.
She lunged, daggers blazing with fire, straight for the nearest god.
She didn't care if they were divine.
She didn't care if this was impossible.
She wasn't going to stand by and watch Elias die.
But just before her blade could touch them—
The second god turned their gaze toward her
And in an instant—Seraphina vanished.
Elias's heart stopped.
"SERAPHINA!"
But there was nothing. No trace of her.
The gods did not react
Elias spun toward them, rage filling his veins.
"WHERE DID YOU SEND HER?!"
The second god merely tilted their head.
"Somewhere you will never find her."
And that—
That was the moment Elias lost control.
THE KING'S WRATH...
The air exploded.
Power surged through Elias's veins, burning hotter, sharper, darker.
The throne's magic—his magic—was no longer bound by limits.
And the gods had just given him a reason to use it.
He roared.
The sky cracked as he lunged forward. Faster than thought. Faster than the gods had anticipated.
The tallest god lifted a hand.
But Elias was already behind them.
His fingers brushed their form—
And for the first time—a god staggered.
The second god's silver eyes narrowed.
"Interesting."
The third god finally spoke, voice darker than before.
"Perhaps we underestimated you after all."
Elias gritted his teeth.
"Give her back."
The gods did not answer.
And Elias saw red.
THE WAR BEGINS...
Varian barely had time to process it.
Seraphina was gone.
Elias's power had changed.
And now—the gods were fighting him seriously.
The sky ripped open further, bolts of divine lightning raining down. The ground cracked beneath their feet, pulsing with unstable energy.
Elias dodged—barely. His body flickered, shifting between reality and something else.
He wasn't just using magic anymore.
He was becoming part of it.
Varian clenched his fists, watching Elias's form distort, his power bleeding into the very air around him.
This was exactly what he had feared.
If Elias kept fighting like this—
He wouldn't just win.
He wouldn't just lose.
He would become something else entirely.
And then—
There would be no stopping him.