The battlefield had gone silent.
Only the sound of the wind remained — dry, cold, and heavy with the scent of ash. The sky above was torn open, streaked with gold and crimson light, as if the heavens themselves had bled.
Lio stood alone amidst the ruins, the weight of his sword dragging against the shattered ground. His armor was cracked, his hands trembling. Every breath burned.
And yet… he was still standing.
> "Is this… what power means?" he muttered, his voice hoarse.
"To destroy everything just to prove you exist?"
A radiant figure descended slowly through the broken sky — serene, untouched by the chaos around him. The divine light from his form illuminated the battlefield, mocking the shadows Lio stood in.
> "You misunderstand, child of dust," the god said softly.
"Power doesn't destroy. It reveals. You simply weren't ready to see the truth."
Lio lifted his head, his gaze sharp despite the exhaustion. "Truth? You call this truth? You burned a world for it."
The god smiled faintly, pity in his eyes. "And yet… you're still here. Perhaps that's why I'm curious about you."
Something inside Lio cracked — not his bones, but something deeper.
He no longer felt pain, nor fear. Just the quiet rhythm of his heart — defiant, refusing to stop.
His sword began to glow faintly again, not with light… but with memory.
> "I don't need your truth," Lio whispered.
"I'll make my own."
He charged.
The collision between mortal will and divine power shattered the silence. Lightning and light twisted together, ripping the sky apart once more. The ground beneath them fractured into floating shards, reality itself trembling from their clash.
Each strike echoed like thunder, each movement painting scars across the heavens.
The god blocked effortlessly at first — until one swing grazed his cheek. A single drop of golden blood fell.
Both paused.
For the first time, the god looked surprised.
> "You—" he began, but the rest was swallowed by a sudden rumble beneath their feet.
The sky flickered.
A pulse — dark, ancient — spread across the horizon.
Every living thing froze.
Lio felt it too. A whisper, faint but impossible to ignore, crawled through his mind.
> "You've opened the door, little one."
The god turned sharply, his calm expression breaking into alarm. "No. That seal— it wasn't meant to—"
A tear appeared in the air — a thin black line that widened like a wound. From it seeped a shadow so deep it made even divine light falter.
And within that darkness… something smiled.
Lio gripped his sword tighter, his heartbeat thundering in his chest. Whatever had awakened — it wasn't a god.
It was older. Hungrier. Watching.
The world had survived divinity…
but what came next was beyond even gods.