The steps of a god
Chapter 16
Eidolon's legs were shaking violently, threatening to give out beneath him, but somehow he remained standing. Every breath he took felt like knives stabbing into his lungs, sharp and scorching.
The old man's gaze bore into him like molten iron. Fury radiated from him, thick and heavy, saturating the air with bloodlust so intense Eidolon could taste it. Even the slightest movement could be his last.
The wordless threat echoed in his ears, vibrating in his chest. Sweat poured down his face, stinging his eyes, soaking his hair and clothes. Every fiber of his being screamed to run, to kneel, to hide-but Eidolon stayed upright.
For a moment, the old man's eyes drifted away. Eidolon exhaled in relief.
But it was foolish.
The old man lifted one gnarled foot, and slowly-deliberately-took a single step forward. Nothing. The coliseum remained still. No one moved. Even the children dared not breathe.
He took a second step. Still nothing.
The spectators held their collective breath.
All kneeling, silent, drenched in sweat and fear-except Eidolon.
The old man raised his foot for a third step.
This time...
time itself seemed to slow.
Eidolon's legs pressed against the ground as if invisible weights pinned them in place. The air thickened; the temperature seemed to spike and drop simultaneously. It was as if God Himself was walking in that coliseum.
Gravity multiplied twentyfold. The floor pressed against every knee, every back, every chest. The kneeling figures screamed in pain. Bones groaned. Some broke. Others were flattened like splattered butter across the ground, leaving only unrecognizable shapes.
Yet... Eidolon remained standing.
Not because of strength.
Not because of will.
But because he could not move.
The air vibrated with the old man's power, a silent, merciless force that crushed everything beneath it. Eidolon's heart pounded. His vision blurred. Sweat streamed like rivers down his face and body.
Every instinct screamed for him to collapse, to flee, to surrender.
But he could not.
Not yet.
Because the man who was more monster than human... was coming closer.
And Eidolon knew, deep down, that the moment the next step landed... nothing in his world would ever be the same again.
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