The rift widened.
From its jagged mouth stepped something that didn't belong to this world—or any other. Its skin was like cracked stone dipped in glacial blood. Antlers branched from its skull, each tip whispering with runes in languages long forgotten. Its mouth had no lips, only frozen flesh stitched shut with threads of shadow.
It didn't walk. It glided across the bones, the world darkening around it.
"I… I've read about this," Naira whispered.
"But only in banned texts."
"It's not a god," Hrafn muttered. "It's what's left when a god fails to die properly."
The thing opened its palm.
A blizzard of silence swept across the mountain, devouring sound itself.
---
Astha didn't wait.
He stepped forward, summoning Ashvaanta, and the ground beneath his feet exploded upward—not from magic, but sheer kinetic force. He launched at the creature like a war-torn meteor, swinging the great flaming blade in a brutal arc.
FWOOOOM!
The impact shattered the valley floor, carving a half-kilometer trench through the earth.
But when the smoke cleared…
The creature still stood.
Unbroken.
"Tch. That wasn't a dodge," Astha growled.
"It absorbed it."
Behind him, the antlers glowed.
A storm of glacial chains shot out—aimed at Naira and Luv.
---
Luv stepped between them, raising both arms.
"Don't touch her."
The Thunder Pulse Core in his chest ignited.
"Indra Armor: Circuit Flare!"
Silver arcs wrapped around his form, turning into rotating shields of charged energy. The chains struck—melted—burned—vanished.
"You'll need more than frostbite to get through me," Luv growled.
He dashed forward, spearing through the battlefield in blurred bursts, striking at the creature from seven angles at once. Thunder cracked with every movement—his speed now approaching light, his reactions sharpened by rage and memory.
---
The beast tried to counter, but—
Astha grabbed its antler mid-swing and ripped it off.
Not elegant. Not magical.
Just brutal, violent strength.
He jammed the jagged horn into the creature's throat and kicked it across the mountain with such force that trees on distant hills collapsed from the wind pressure.
"I don't need divinity," Astha spat.
"I have hate."
Smritidhaara uncoiled from his back, and with a snap, the chain sickle wrapped around the beast's leg, pulling it back like a chained monster.
"And memories."
The creature screeched as Ashvaanta descended, carving a trail of burning sky through the clouds.
KRRAAAKHH!!
---
As the corpse began to freeze and collapse, turning into a crystal of frost and silence, Astha stood still—sword humming in his hand.
He didn't breathe hard.
But his hands trembled.
Luv approached, bruised and bloodied.
"You okay?"
"It remembered my people," Astha whispered.
"The god it used to be… was one of the ones who ordered their erasure."
Luv didn't speak.
Instead, he placed a hand on Astha's shoulder.
Naira moved in, quietly cleaning the blood from his wrist with a damp cloth.
"You're not alone, flameborn," she said gently.
"You're not just vengeance."
Astha didn't reply.
But for the first time, he looked at her… and didn't turn away.
---
Hrafn, standing on the ridge, finally lowered his spear.
"The All-Father has seen enough."
"And?" Luv asked.
"He no longer asks what you are," Hrafn said.
"He now wonders if you can be stopped at all."
The raven-son turned and vanished into wind.