Smoke: The Limitless Hunt
Episode 6 – The First World-Eater
The sky was gone.
Where once stars shimmered, now only shadow stretched across the heavens. A shape so vast it blotted out galaxies, eclipsing suns, erasing constellations. The World-Eater.
Its body looked alive and dead all at once—flesh fused with continents, veins glowing with molten oceans, eyes the size of moons rolling in sockets carved from entire civilizations. Every breath it took dragged worlds into its maw, devouring them whole. Planets cracked like bones between its teeth, and galaxies wept.
Immortals on the ground stared in silence, their arrogance shattered. For centuries, they mocked pain, mocked death, but this thing—this titan of hunger—reminded them what it meant to fear.
And it wanted me.
⸻
The Summons
The gods whispered in my skull, their voices jagged and frantic.
"You cannot face it—"
"Run—"
"No, fight! He is the limit!"
I ignored them. Their fear was nothing to me. The only thing that mattered was the mission.
And it carved itself into me with fire.
Mission: Face the World-Eater Azh'Rael. Survive. Reward: +1 Level.
Survive. Not kill.
Even the gods doubted.
My mask hissed, black smoke pouring from the cracks. My cloak rippled into wings, hellhounds snarling at my feet. I tilted my head back to the shadow that consumed the stars.
"Let's hunt."
The Approach
The ground trembled as the World-Eater descended. Each step crushed mountains, each breath pulled oceans upward. Its roar split atmospheres, tearing sound into silence.
I teleported upward, wings of smoke unfolding, launching myself into the black sky. My hellhounds followed, chains rattling, claws digging into invisible air. We rose higher, the city shrinking beneath us, until we faced the titan.
Its eye fixed on me. An ocean of blood. A universe of hunger.
And then it spoke.
"SMOKE."
Its voice wasn't sound—it was gravity, crushing through my skull, threatening to tear my liquid-steel body apart. My cloak shredded and reformed. My spikes writhed like serpents.
"You are death," it rumbled. "I am hunger. Let us see which devours first."
⸻
Clash of Titans
Its hand came first—a hand larger than worlds. Fingers of bone and magma reached through the void, grasping for me like I was an insect.
I dissolved into smoke, teleporting past its grip, spikes erupting across the titan's skin. My hellhounds swarmed its arm, chains wrapping, claws digging, tearing chunks of molten flesh.
The World-Eater didn't flinch.
It laughed. A sound like galaxies collapsing.
"You are small."
It swung, and its body became a storm. Meteors tore from its skin. Its roar cracked planets in the distance. My wings snapped open, teleporting me through the barrage, spikes lashing outward. Each spike pierced flesh, releasing rivers of fire.
The titan's blood poured across space, burning stars as it fell.
For the first time, it groaned.
The Counter
It opened its mouth.
Entire worlds were inside. Screaming. Burning. Trapped in teeth larger than cities, chewed into fuel. Its breath became a hurricane of souls, millions of immortals howling as they were dragged with me into its maw.
I held. My cloak spread wide, becoming a storm of smoke spikes that shredded the torrent. My hellhounds howled, anchoring themselves to the void, chains digging into reality itself.
I teleported inside.
⸻
The Maw of the Eater
Inside its throat, universes burned. Oceans boiled, skies shattered. Its body was a prison of living planets, each one screaming in endless torment.
My cloak coiled tighter. My spikes dug into the flesh of its throat, splitting veins that poured molten light. My hellhounds leapt into the rivers, tearing at the core of its body.
The titan screamed, its voice shaking dimensions.
"IMPOSSIBLE."
I dug deeper. Spikes erupted endlessly, tearing through galaxies inside its gut. I devoured with him—his essence, his strength, his screams.
The Kill
I reached his heart.
It wasn't a heart of blood. It was a star, chained and burning, feeding his body. My cloak wrapped around it, smoke spikes stabbing into its core. My hellhounds clawed at its surface, chains binding it tight.
I whispered, my voice lost in the storm.
"You are hunger. But I am the end."
And I crushed it.
The star-heart shattered.
The World-Eater convulsed. Its roar tore galaxies in half. Its body writhed, tearing apart constellations. It clawed at itself, collapsing into the void.
Then silence.
Its shadow faded. Its eyes dimmed. The titan fell, breaking across the stars, its body dissolving into endless ash.
The first World-Eater had died.
⸻
The Level
The universe itself shook as the mission completed.
[Level Up: 15]
But it didn't stop.
[Level Up: 16]
[Level Up: 17]
[Level Up: 18]
The gods had only promised one level. But killing a titan fed me more.
My body screamed as it evolved. The liquid steel grew denser, plates overlapping, smoke boiling hotter. My wings stretched across the void, vast enough to cover cities. My spikes glowed with molten black fire.
And my hellhounds? They howled, no longer beasts but war engines, titanic creatures of smoke and steel, dripping with the blood of gods and titans.
I hung in the silence of space, cloak flowing, mask glowing with veins of fire.
The gods whispered again, voices breaking.
"He killed a World-Eater."
"This cannot be contained."
"He is beyond us."
They were right.
The Arc Opens
Killing the World-Eater was not an end. It was an invitation.
In the distance, shadows stirred. Other titans opened their eyes. Entire legions of World-Eaters, each one hungrier than the last. And they all turned toward me.
The arc had begun.
The World-Eater War.
⸻
Closing Scene
I hovered above the ruins of the titan, cloak dragging galaxies of ash, hellhounds circling like black suns. The stars were silent.
I raised my mask to the void.
"Come."
Because I knew they would.
And I would kill them all.