> "Ash to soil.
Soil to sword.
Sword to soul.
And my soul belongs to Him alone."
The chant echoed over the silent battlefield as golden banners fluttered in the blood-soaked wind.
Men stood in reverence — warriors with painted arms and steel-bound forearms, kneeling in silence before the man at their center. Not just a man. A being. A force. His bare feet stood firm on the cracked earth, a crimson scarf trailing behind his sharp, armor-less silhouette.
A carved tattoo of ten arms radiating from a central eye pulsed on his back, glowing faintly with divine light.
But he was no priest.
And this was no prayer.
---
He stared forward, eyes narrow, at the broken battlefield.
Before him lay the Purifiers — a fanatical holy army devoted to the god of the light continent. They came to purge the blasphemer who challenged Vishnu's command.
Instead, they were dead.
Their limbs scattered.
Their chants silenced.
Their relics shattered.
And the one who did it—this warrior with a godlike aura—held only one spear.
A spear made of compressed belief. But not belief in divinity.
> "My belief is in Rudra," he whispered. "My lord. My origin."
---
He was the Third Avatar.
Not a clone.
Not a puppet.
But an independent will — born of Rudra's soul, and bound to him by essence.
A Hero to this world.
A Monster to those who claimed holiness.
---
The soldiers behind him stood nervously.
One finally dared to step forward — a young general with a golden nose-ring and jagged war paint across his cheeks.
"Avatar," he said. "They say the Lich has begun to move in the East."
The hero's gaze turned eastward.
He didn't blink.
He didn't breathe.
He listened — to the pulse of the world. To the crackle of bones shifting in cursed lands. To the sound of ancient necromancy awakening beneath the mountains.
"…Good," he said. "Then I won't have to walk far to find him."
---
> [Zix Core Update – Second Realm Sync: 2.8%]
[Avatar 3 (Hero Warrior) – Stable. Combat Dominance: 67%]
[Avatar 2 (Lich Emperor) – Consciousness Blooming]
[Avatar 5 and 6: Dormant]
---
Meanwhile — In a Kingdom Far to the East
The sun could not shine through the black clouds here.
And yet — it watched.
The Lich Emperor stood upon the highest tower of the Citadel of Chains. Below him, a hundred thousand dead awaited command. Around him, floating spectral orbs whispered ancient tongues.
His skeletal jaw clicked.
"Ah," he murmured. "You've finally awakened, little hero."
His voice was quiet, but each syllable felt like teeth sliding into wet bone.
"Same soul. Different thought. We are pieces of a fractured god…"
A grin stretched across his sharp face.
"…and our god has finally remembered he exists."
---
Back on Earth
Rudra jolted awake.
His school desk was cold beneath his cheek, and the classroom had emptied. Dusk had fallen. No teacher had noticed him.
No classmate had dared disturb him.
The Zix Core burned softly inside his chest — no pain, but pressure. Like holding a thunderstorm inside a clay pot.
> [Second Avatar — The Lich Emperor — will awaken within 12 hours.]
Rudra gripped the edge of his desk, veins glowing faintly along his forearms.
Each time he linked, his control grew deeper.
But the cost was growing too.
And the voices?
They were starting to leak through.
Not screams.
Not commands.
Whispers.
Calling him "Sovereign."
Calling him "Devourer of Worlds."
Calling him "God."
---
That night, as Rudra sat on his roof again under a moon that felt far too close, a new notification arrived.
> [New Avatar Detected — Avatar 8: The Merchant Empress]
[Locked: Awaiting Nexus Path Connection]
He stared at the message.
Her silhouette shimmered briefly on the screen — long white hair, glistening skin, enormous curves, and a seductive smirk full of dominion.
But he felt nothing yet.
She would come in time.
And when she did, commerce across universes would bow to him.
---
For now, the second world was opening.
And the Hero Warrior walked east.
To meet the Lich Emperor.
To begin the war of light and death.
And in the shadows, Rudra smiled.
Because both of them… were his.