The night was no longer silent.
The forest, once a dark ocean of shadows and wind, had become a battlefield of pure chaos. Trees groaned and splintered beneath the stampede of countless beasts. Their roars merged into a single earth-shaking tremor that spread far beyond the horizon. The moon hid behind rolling clouds as if afraid to bear witness to the massacre about to unfold.
On Dawon's golden mane, Om stood upright despite the violent shaking. His palm rested firmly on Dev's shoulder for balance, his breath calm but heavy, his eyes like molten stars. Behind them surged a tide of fifty… no, hundreds of thousands of beasts. A sea of claws, fangs, wings, and horns, driven by some unseen madness.
"Om… what do we do?" Dev's voice cracked.
His knuckles were white from gripping Dawon's fur, his body trembling not from the run but from the sheer pressure of the beasts behind.
Om did not answer immediately. He had already asked Zero for the tally.
[Remaining Target: 1216 beasts required.]
The cold emotionless voice echoed in his mind.
A faint smirk appeared on Om's lips. Perfect timing.
This was no longer just survival. It was opportunity.
He inhaled deeply, and then, loud enough to cut through the roar of the stampede, he commanded:
"Dev, hold Dawon tightly. Whatever happens next—protect me. I won't be able to move afterward."
Dev's heart skipped. Something in Om's tone—calm, absolute—made him obey without question. His arms wrapped tighter around Dawon's broad frame. "Understood."
As though sensing the weight of the moment, Dawon suddenly let out a roar that split the forest. Golden Sanskrit characters exploded across his body, forming flaming tattoos that pulsed with primal majesty. His mane blazed like fire as if declaring allegiance to Om's command.
Om spread his arms wide, tilting his head toward the night sky. His voice, steady and sharp, thundered:
"Ulka Patta!"
Meteor Rain.
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At first, there was only silence.
Then, high above, the heavens themselves seemed to peel apart.
Tiny sparks appeared—pinpricks of light scattered across the endless black. At first glance, they looked like falling stars, harmless and beautiful. But as they drew closer, the truth became terrifying. Each spark swelled into a burning stone, each stone into a meteor, wrapped in flame and shrieking with cosmic fury.
The sky rained fire.
Dozens… hundreds… then thousands of blazing rocks tore downward. They illuminated the forest like day, painting every beast's shadow long and jagged across the ground.
Dev gasped. His jaw fell open, his lungs refused to breathe. This… this wasn't the power of someone with a broken inheritance. This was godlike. He stared at Om in disbelief.
"What are you?"
The stampede of beasts had no time to react.
The first wave of meteors slammed into the front lines of the horde. Explosions rocked the earth, uprooting trees, splitting stone, and vaporizing everything caught in their path. Screams of agony filled the air—cries of dying beasts, guttural and pitiful, as tens of thousands were crushed or incinerated in a single instant.
Another wave followed, and then another.
Meteor after meteor struck like a war drum of the gods. The earth quaked, the air itself seemed to ignite.
Dawon kept running, his paws hammering the earth like thunder. But even he glanced skyward in awe. His golden eyes reflected the fiery rain, and deep inside, his instincts trembled.
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Far beyond the forest, alarms erupted in the control hub of the Chinese Authority.
On the holographic screens, satellites captured the sight in terrifying clarity: a forbidden zone lit up like an apocalyptic battlefield, meteors crashing in endless succession.
"Commander! Energy signatures are spiking!" one officer shouted.
Another screamed, "This level… it's comparable to a Monolith resonance event!"
Inside the steel-walled chamber, a tall man stood at the center. His frame was like sculpted iron, his jaw sharp, his presence overwhelming. A high-ranking Authority—General Wu Zhen. His eyes, dark as coal, narrowed as he watched the meteors rain down.
"Impossible," he muttered. "There shouldn't be anything in that sector capable of this…"
An aide stammered, "Sir, what do we do?"
Wu Zhen slammed his fist onto the command table. "Immediately extract all inheritors from the forest! This is no ordinary event—it's an emergency!"
Klaxons blared louder, red lights flashing across the facility. Soldiers scrambled, operators screamed orders into comms, and rescue squads deployed toward the forbidden land.
Yet deep inside, Wu Zhen's gut twisted. He had seen many anomalies in his career, but this… this was not natural.
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Back in the forest, Om's body wavered.
He remained standing on Dawon's back, arms still stretched as if holding the entire sky. But his legs trembled, his chest burned, and his consciousness blurred. The cost of "Ulka Patta" was immense.
Zero's voice echoed faintly in his mind:
[Warning: Vitality dropping.]
[Cognitive strain critical.]
[Physical systems approaching collapse.]
But Om did not falter. He endured until the last meteor fell, until the earth was painted with fire and the air smelled of ash and blood.
When at last the meteors ceased, silence returned.
The once endless stampede was broken. Piles of corpses stretched across the forest like rivers of flesh. The few survivors limped away, scattered, terrified. The quota Zero demanded was not only met but surpassed many times over.
Om exhaled one last breath. His knees buckled. His vision dimmed.
He collapsed backward, unconscious.
Dev barely caught him in time. His arms wrapped around Om's limp frame, pulling him close as Dawon still raced across the forest floor.
Dev looked at the boy in his arms, the boy whose every word he had once doubted. Now, his heart pounded with fear and awe.
This… this power. This is not something ordinary. Not even among Inheritors. What exactly he is?
He clenched his teeth, determination burning in his eyes. "Don't worry, Om. I'll protect you. No matter what."
Above them, the sky was torn, glowing faintly from the scars of the meteor rain.
And far behind, the forest burned.
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The forest had fallen into an eerie silence. The ground still trembled from the impact of countless meteors, smoke curling upward from the shattered earth. Trees lay splintered, entire valleys had collapsed, and the scent of charred flesh lingered heavy in the air. Dawon's massive paws splashed through mud and ash as it continued running, Dev clutching Om's limp body against his chest.
Inside Om's mind, where usually the calm hum of Zero's presence resided, there was only static. It felt like a broken radio—buzzing, cutting in and out. Then, slowly, clarity returned.
"Initiating emergency recovery protocol," Zero's voice crackled, calm but faint, as if it too had been damaged.
"Master, you've overdrawn every ounce of vitality your body could spare.]
[Ulka Patta was not designed to be sustained at that scale. Entering the restoration sequence.]
Golden Sanskrit symbols—dim, almost exhausted of their light—floated weakly from Om's body. They swirled in sluggish patterns, sinking back into his flesh like embers being swallowed by dark water. His pulse was faint but steady, his breathing shallow.
Dev looked down at him, disbelief painted across his face. He had expected Om to collapse, yes, but not to look so utterly broken. The image of meteors blotting out the night sky refused to leave his mind. His throat tightened. This isn't someone with a broken inheritance… this is a monster cloaked as a boy.
Dawon roared, its golden aura still flickering faintly as if sharing its strength to keep Om alive. Dev felt the lion's body tense beneath him; it, too, seemed worried for its master.
Meanwhile, far above the forest, Chinese satellites had captured everything. The sky torn apart. The beasts' cries cut short in flashes of fire. The aftermath: a landscape transformed into a cratered wasteland.
Inside a heavily guarded control room, alarms blared. Screens projected live drone feeds of the forbidden land. The man in command, a towering officer with a scar across his jaw, slammed his fist onto the table.
"Contact every extraction team. I don't care how deep they are in the forest—pull the inheritors out now!" His voice thundered, shaking the room.
A subordinate stammered, "S-Sir, the blast radius… our sensors estimate casualties of nearly forty thousand beasts. And…" His eyes widened as he scrolled through reports. "The mana output recorded during that phenomenon—it matches the scale of a monolith."
A hush fell. The word "monolith" was not spoken lightly.
The officer's expression darkened. He muttered, almost to himself, "Who in the world…? Not even our strongest inheritors stationed here could manifest such devastation. If this isn't handled, the global councils will start demanding answers."
Another officer hesitated. "Should we report it as a natural anomaly, sir? Perhaps… a forbidden relic awakening?"
The commander's gaze hardened. "No. Someone did this. Find out who. If it's one of the inheritors, then they've just become either the greatest asset… or the greatest threat… this nation has ever seen."
Back in the forest, Om stirred faintly. Zero's voice, firmer now, whispered in his consciousness:
[Recovery is 12% complete….]