The land they walked on had once been sacred.
Now, it was a mountain of corpses — both divine and cursed — piled over centuries in silence.
Locals called it Daant Parvat, the Mountain of Teeth, where fallen beasts of older ages were buried beneath fossilized bone. A cursed graveyard, surrounded by broken prayer wheels, gnawed temple bells, and headless statues of forgotten gods.
And standing amidst it now—
Astha, Luv, and Naira.
A storm gathered above. But it wasn't Luv's doing.
"This is where they're coming next," Astha said, squinting at the horizon.
"A test. Again."
Luv tightened his gauntlets, veins glowing with electric rings beneath his forearm.
"They're throwing challenges like bones to see which wolf survives."
"And we'll be the last ones standing," Naira said with a tired but determined smile. "Let's remind them."
---
From the center of the grave-pit, bones began to shift.
Something enormous rose.
Its eyes opened—twin pits of void and agony. Fangs like obsidian towers emerged from its skull, and on its back, swords from fallen demigods still pierced its spine.
"Tamsaha, the God-Eater of Bone," Naira whispered.
"It consumes both divinity and memory."
"Then I'll carve through both," Astha growled.
Ashvaanta appeared in his hand without motion, its flaming hilt pulsing with instinct.
FWOOOM.
---
Tamsaha lunged, its breath a storm of rusted air and broken prayers. The ground cracked under its weight. Its claws lashed out—aimed directly at Luv.
But Astha stepped in.
He didn't dodge.
He caught the claw.
With both hands.
The earth split under his feet from the sheer force, but Astha stood like an anchor in a collapsing world.
"You're not the first beast to try me," he hissed.
With a roar, he swung the claw over his shoulder, flipping the entire mountain-sized creature across the valley in a brutal show of strength.
Luv blinked.
"You threw a god-eater."
"I'm done holding back," Astha muttered, dust and blood clinging to his knuckles.
---
Luv launched next, his silver armor radiating divine heat. He sprinted across the beast's spine, lightning trailing each step, then launched his spear into its mouth, channeling thunder into its throat.
"Indra's Spiral: Arc Wheel!"
The strike blasted through Tamsaha's neck—severing a jaw and creating a crater where its tongue had been.
---
As the creature reeled, Smritidhaara unfurled from Astha's back like a shadow with flame.
"Bind its divine core. Let it remember who it failed to become."
The sickle flew, wrapped around the beast's horned skull, and dragged it down like an execution rope.
CLANG!
The impact echoed for miles. Dust rained from heaven. Bones cracked.
Astha pulled it close, kneeling beside its dying eye.
"You devoured too many who didn't fight back."
His voice dropped.
"We're not them."
Ashvaanta ignited one last time, and with a brutal vertical slash, he cleaved through the beast's skull—clean, final, merciless.
---
Post-Battle: The Flame, The Storm, and The Song
After the silence, the trio sat in the ruins of an old shrine beside the battlefield, a soft rain falling.
Luv lay back, lightning fizzing softly from his skin.
"You know, I used to think you were all edge and vengeance," he said to Astha.
"I am."
"Nah," Luv smirked.
"You just don't know how to rest."
Naira handed them dried fruit from a surviving pack.
"You both suck at relaxing. But…" She paused, smiling.
"…you don't suck at fighting together."
For a moment, no divine aura crackled. No sky threatened to collapse.
They sat.
Three shadows beneath a broken tree, breathing in the stillness.
Astha didn't speak, but his eyes lingered on the tree's twisted roots.
"You two… are all I have left," he finally muttered.
Luv blinked.
Naira nodded slowly.
"Then don't lose us."