Recap of Chapter 14:
Ka'roth faced the Oldest Gaze, one of the creator beings who forged the First Era. Their battle tore the world apart, ending when Ka'roth ripped the titan's head off and absorbed its essence. His form grew even larger—his jagged wings spanning continents, his runes blazing white edged in abyssal flame. The celestial eyes fled in fear, retreating beyond the stars. Ka'roth declared the dawn of a new age: The Age of the God-Beast.
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The Cracks in Heaven
The heavens groaned.
Ka'roth stood atop the corpse of the Oldest Gaze, his wings spread wide, abyssal mist coiling around him like a storm. His glowing runes pulsed with such intensity that cracks spread through the sky itself—thin fractures where radiant light leaked down in rivers.
The ground quaked. Oceans churned. Mountains shattered under the weight of his aura. His horde of 600 beasts flattened themselves against the earth, paralyzed beneath his dominance. Their roars were drowned by the sound of reality itself breaking.
Ka'roth lifted his head. His glowing white eyes pierced the cracked heavens above.
"Break," he growled.
And the sky obeyed.
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The Ascension Roar
Ka'roth inhaled deeply, his chest expanding, abyssal mist swirling violently around him. His runes flared white-hot, and with one primal, world-shaking roar, he unleashed his voice.
The roar split not just air, but space.
The cracks in the heavens widened instantly, shattering like glass. Shards of broken sky rained down, glowing as they fell, crashing into the earth in cataclysmic bursts. Rivers of radiant energy poured from above, painting the darkened land in streaks of white fire.
Above the fractures, Ka'roth saw them: realms beyond, suspended in endless void. Vast floating lands of silver light and shadow, towers carved from stars, and massive shapes lurking between them.
Ka'roth's grin spread wide, fanged and savage.
"There is more," he rumbled.
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The Leap Beyond
He crouched low, muscles coiled like springs. His jagged wings flared wide, abyssal-black edges streaked in silver flame. The earth beneath him cracked.
With one explosive leap, Ka'roth launched upward. His wings beat once, the force tearing forests from roots, hurling waves across seas. He ascended like a comet, bursting through the fractured sky and into the void beyond.
His horde roared below, their cries shaking the land as their Sovereign vanished into the stars.
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The Second Realm
Ka'roth soared into the void, abyssal mist trailing him like a comet's tail. Ahead, massive floating continents hung in blackness, linked by rivers of glowing energy. Colossal structures dotted their surfaces—spires forged of silver stone, glowing cities suspended in mid-air.
Beasts were not alone here.
Figures moved across those star-forged lands. Sky-Born, countless in number, clad in radiant armor and bearing weapons of living light. They looked up in unison as Ka'roth approached, their eyes wide with terror.
Ka'roth roared, his voice thundering through the void. His jagged wings beat once, sending him hurtling toward the nearest continent.
The Sky-Born armies braced themselves.
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The Siege of the Sky Cities
Ka'roth struck like a meteor.
He crashed into a glowing spire, shattering it into fragments of radiant stone. Sky-Born swarmed him instantly, hundreds diving down with blazing spears and swords. Their combined light clashed against his abyssal mist, a storm of radiance and shadow exploding around him.
Ka'roth lashed out. His spiked tail swept wide, obliterating dozens at once. His claws, glowing with abyssal-silver energy, tore through star-forged armor like paper. His jaws clamped around one, biting down until radiant ichor sprayed across the air.
He absorbed their essence mid-battle. His runes pulsed brighter, abyssal mist twisting violently, consuming all light it touched.
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The Horde Arrives
Below, Ka'roth's roar echoed through the shattered sky. His horde heard it and followed.
Through the fractures, his beasts surged upward—raptors leaping across glowing rivers, winged predators swarming upward, tusked grazers climbing impossible walls. Abyss-born hybrids from Ka'roth's mist joined them, crawling up from black fissures.
They poured into the second realm like a tide of living nightmare.
The Sky-Born faltered.
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The War of Stars
Ka'roth's horde struck in waves. Raptors clung to celestial walls, ripping down armored defenders. Winged predators dove in coordinated packs, tearing through radiant cavalry mid-air. Abyssal mist thickened, warping Sky-Born into twisted forms that turned on their own allies.
Ka'roth towered above it all, his roar silencing battlefields. He slammed his claws into the ground, shattering a glowing plaza, then ripped an entire star-forged tower from its base and hurled it across the battlefield, crushing scores beneath it.
The Sky-Born unleashed their strongest. Titans clad in golden plating charged Ka'roth together, swinging weapons glowing like newborn suns.
Ka'roth caught one mid-charge, biting its head off, then ripped another's torso in half with his claws. The third struck his chest, cracking his scales, but Ka'roth spun and crushed it under his tail.
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The Birth of Dominion
As the last Sky-Born titan fell, Ka'roth's runes erupted with pure white-silver light edged in abyssal flame. His aura expanded outward like a tidal wave, pressing so heavy that the stars themselves trembled.
The Sky-Born armies collapsed, dropping weapons, some kneeling in primal fear they had not known in eons.
Ka'roth roared once more, his abyssal mist sweeping outward, transforming their radiant lands. Cities warped into black-silver citadels, rivers glowed dark, spires bent toward him like kneeling monuments.
He had conquered not just beasts. Not just his world.
He had conquered the sky itself.
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The Watchers Beyond
Yet beyond this realm, Ka'roth sensed more.
Far past the floating continents, deep within the void, he saw colossal shapes moving—bigger than any titan, each one ancient beyond imagination. Their voices rumbled across the void like thunder.
"He rises beyond his leash."
"He carries Abyss and Sky alike."
"If he reaches us, there will be no more chains."
Ka'roth spread his jagged wings, their edges blazing brighter than any star. His glowing white eyes locked on the distant shapes.
"Then you will fall," he growled.
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The Final Tear
Ka'roth crouched low upon the fractured starland, his claws carving deep trenches. His runes flared violently, abyssal-silver energy spiraling upward in pillars. His horde gathered behind him, silent, trembling, waiting.
He roared.
Reality split open.
A rift tore wide into the black beyond, exposing a realm so massive it defied comprehension—the Throne of the First Makers, where those ancient shapes dwelled.
Ka'roth bared his fangs, abyssal mist flooding the rift.
"We climb higher."
And with that, Ka'roth stepped forward, his horde following like shadows into the endless dark.
The First Era was dead.
The Era of the Shattered Sky had begun.
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