Smoke: The Limitless Hunt
Episode 5 – The World-Eater's Shadow
The city still trembled from the death of the Executioner.
Ash from his body drifted through the sky like golden snow, coating the broken towers in a glow that should have felt holy—but instead reeked of blasphemy. The immortals cowered in alleys, staring at the heavens as if waiting for them to split again. Some fell to their knees and prayed. Others cursed the gods and fled.
But all of them whispered the same name.
Smoke.
I stood atop the Broker's ruined palace, cloak dragging across the cracked bones of angels he once chained. My hellhounds circled me, seven heads snarling in the ash-stained wind. The Executioner's scream still echoed in my mind, a god's death cry that shook eternity.
And then, silence.
The silence of fear.
⸻
The Bounty
The gods did not send another Executioner. Not yet. Instead, they unleashed something far simpler—and perhaps deadlier.
A bounty.
Across galaxies, the mission carved itself into every immortal's mind, etched in glowing divine script:
Mission: Kill Smoke. Reward: +1 Level (Permanent).
The reward was laughable. A single level. But for the first time in eternity, immortals felt what it meant to risk their lives. And for Hunters, that risk was intoxicating.
The streets boiled with killers eager for my head. Vampires sharpened their fangs. Warlocks whispered curses into blades. Werewolves howled under false moons. They came not for the level, but for the glory of killing the one who could kill them back.
They came for me.
The First Wave
They struck that night.
Dozens of Hunters descended on the palace ruins. Their powers filled the sky with fire, lightning, blood magic, and spectral weapons. They screamed my name like a war chant.
"SMOKE!"
My cloak unraveled into blades. Spikes erupted from my body in storms of black steel. My hellhounds lunged, tearing immortals into ash before they hit the ground.
Blood sprayed, bodies crumbled, souls screamed as I devoured them into nothingness.
[Level Up: 11]
[Level Up: 12]
[Level Up: 13]
The Hunters fell like rain. My teleportation sharpened, slipping between attacks like shadows dancing in mirrors. None touched me. Their fury only grew, their desperation clawing at sanity.
But they could not catch me. They never would.
By dawn, the streets were rivers of ash.
The Whisper of the Stars
When the last Hunter burned away, I felt it—something beyond the city. A hunger too vast, too ancient. Not divine. Not demonic. Something older.
The gods whispered.
"The World-Eaters stir."
"They have felt your killing. They have tasted your evolution."
"And now they want you."
I tilted my head, mask hissing smoke. The name alone radiated power. World-Eaters. Creatures that consumed planets as mortals ate flesh. Titans who had fought without fear because they could never die. Until now.
They knew I existed. And they wanted me.
The Invitation
It came not as a mission, but as a summons. A voice so massive it shook every molecule of my black steel body.
"SMOKE. COME."
I looked to the horizon. The stars bled red. Galaxies pulsed like open wounds. And in the distance, a shadow loomed—something so large it swallowed constellations, blocking entire worlds with its shape.
A World-Eater.
It did not come to kill me yet. It came to test me.
⸻
The Temple of Bones
Before I could leave, another mission burned into me:
Mission: Enter the Temple of Bones. Survive the Trial. Reward: +1 Level.
The Temple stood at the edge of the city, hidden in ruins that even immortals avoided. A cathedral built from skeletons of forgotten gods, its halls dripping with black ichor. The Trial was said to be eternal, a place where Hunters fought illusions of themselves forever.
I walked inside without hesitation. My hellhounds followed, their chains rattling like war drums.
Inside, the walls pulsed with bone and shadow. Torches burned without fire, casting smoke instead of light. At the center, an altar of skulls waited.
The Trial began.
Trial of the Mirror
From the smoke rose a figure. My figure.
Another me. Cloak of liquid steel. Half mask. Spikes coiled across his back. Hellhounds snarling at his side.
But this one smiled.
"I am you," he whispered. "But better. Faster. Stronger. Everything you will never be."
He lunged.
The mirror fought like me—teleporting, striking with spikes, unleashing hellhounds in droves. Every move I made, he mirrored. Every strike I threw, he countered.
But he wasn't me.
He was predictable. He didn't have the hunger. He didn't have the chaos of my evolution. He fought as though he had limits.
I fought as if I had none.
I dissolved into smoke mid-attack, reforming inside his body. My spikes erupted outward, shredding him from within. His hellhounds screamed, devoured by mine.
He looked into my mask as he crumbled into ash.
"I am nothing…" he whispered.
"Yes."
[Level Up: 14]
Evolution
My body convulsed, black steel smoke rippling into new forms. My spikes now dripped molten shadow. My cloak stretched into wings of smoke-steel, able to glide across the skies. My hellhounds grew horns, their chains now lashing like whips of fire.
The gods whispered again.
"The Trial ends. The path widens. The Hunt grows."
And then, silence.
⸻
The World-Eater's Shadow
I stepped outside the Temple. The city still burned. But my eyes were on the stars.
The shadow in the distance had grown larger, stretching across half the sky. A World-Eater. Its hunger reached even here, gnawing at reality. Entire galaxies trembled at its approach.
Immortals fell to their knees, not in worship, but in terror. Hunters abandoned missions. Vampires wept blood. Even angels turned their wings away.
Because the World-Eater was coming.
And for the first time in existence… it could die.
⸻
Closing Scene
I stood at the edge of the city, cloak flowing, wings of smoke unfurling. My hellhounds roared into the night.
The gods thought they had unleashed me. They were wrong.
I was not their weapon.
I was the one who would end everything. Worlds. Galaxies. Even gods.
And as the shadow of the World-Eater devoured the sky, I whispered to the stars:
"Come. Hunt me. Try."
Because my hunt was not ending.
It was limitless.