The crimson sky above the abandoned town of xxxxxxxxxxx groaned as if the fabric of reality were a dry parchment being torn by a jagged blade. From the pulsating, blood-colored space crack, the vanguard of the Abyss began its descent.
First came the giant ware-wolf packs, creatures of fur and malice standing eight feet tall, their claws scraping against the rusted remains of cars. Then, the ground shook as ogres and orcs—behemoths of green flesh and iron—marched out, their guttural roars echoing off the hollow shells of apartment buildings. Finally, the air grew cold and stagnant as death dragons spiraled out of the rift, their skeletal wings trailing a miasma of decay that turned the sparse weeds into blackened ash.
Harish stood in the center of the main road, a lone figure in tattered clothes. He looked at the descending nightmare with a look of mild annoyance, like a man seeing a swarm of mosquitoes at a picnic.
"I just wanted to get home for dinner," he muttered. "But if I let you lot through, there won't be a home left to go to."
He reached out and picked up a fallen wooden branch from a withered neem tree. It was barely three feet long, crooked and dry. To any observer, it was kindling. To Harish, it was more than enough. He took a deep breath, mentally dialing back his power. Even 0.0001% felt like an ocean trying to fit into a thimble, but it would have to do.
He closed his eyes. The air around him didn't just vibrate; it submitted.
The Waltz of the Demon Sovereign
The pack of ware-wolfs reached him first, a blur of grey fur and snapping jaws. Harish didn't move his arms. He simply took a step.
🌑 Heavenly Demon Sovereign Steps: Variation 1 — Demon Emperor's Shadow Crossing
To the monsters, Harish didn't run; he ceased to be. He vanished into the shadow of a rusted bus and re-emerged behind the alpha wolf. Before the creature could even register the shift in scent, Harish delivered a casual tap with the wooden branch. The branch didn't break. Instead, the kinetic force, condensed by demonic intent, sent the wolf hurtling through three brick walls until it exploded into a mist of red marrow.
Three ogres, seeing their scout obliterated, lunged simultaneously. Their massive iron clubs descended like falling pillars.
🌑 Heavenly Demon Sovereign Steps: Variation 2 — Sovereign Void Step
Harish stepped forward, but his body became a ghost. The clubs passed through his chest as if he were made of smoke. The ogres stumbled, their own momentum carrying them into each other. Harish didn't wait. He began to move in a pattern that defied the laws of physics.
🌑 Heavenly Demon Sovereign Steps: Variation 3 — Heaven-Treading Demon Waltz
He began to walk up the air. Each footfall generated a ripple of crimson energy that acted as a platform. From the perspective of the orcs below, he was dancing in the sky. But this dance was lethal. Every step released a pressure wave that crushed the skulls of the lesser monsters beneath him.
The death dragons, sensing a threat to their dominance, dived from the clouds. They opened their maws to unleash streams of necrotic fire.
🌑 Heavenly Demon Sovereign Steps: Variation 5 — Ninefold Demon Mirage Steps
The dragons fired, but they hit nothing but afterimages. Nine versions of Harish appeared in the sky, each whistling that same Bollywood tune, each holding a wooden stick. The dragons grew frantic, snapping at shadows while the real Harish landed softly in the center of the orc battalion.
Perspectives from the Eye in the Sky
High above, the world's most advanced surveillance systems were screaming. The live stream was being fed directly to the war rooms of the Ten Guardians.
1. Netra (The Oracle AI):
Inside her digital sanctum, Netra's processing cores were glowing white-hot. "Logic error encountered. Subject is using a wooden branch (Species: Azadirachta indica). Tensile strength: 40 MPa. Calculated impact force: 900,000 Newtons. The branch should have turned to dust upon contact with the first monster. Conclusion: Subject is reinforcing the molecular structure of the wood with a non-standard energy field. I am witnessing a violation of the second law of thermodynamics."
2. Namgun Hua Jin (The Sword God):
On his airship, the Sword God stood so still he looked like a statue. His eyes were glued to the screen showing Harish's footwork. "That movement... it's not speed. It's authority. He isn't moving through space; he is telling space to move him. And that stick... he holds it with the grip of a man who has forgotten what a real sword feels like because everything in his hand becomes the ultimate blade. I... I feel like a child holding a toy."
3. Sofia (The Magic Empress):
In her floating mage tower, Sofia gripped her staff until her knuckles turned white. "The mana in that area isn't being used—it's being consumed. He isn't casting spells. The demonic aura he's radiating is so pure it's overriding the natural laws of the Earth. Look at the way the death dragons are flinching. They aren't afraid of his power; they are afraid of his existence."
4. Andrews (The Fire King):
Watching from his volcano-fortress, Andrews pounded his fist on the table. "Who is this guy?! He's using a tree branch to slaughter an Abyss-level rift! I've spent millions of gold on enchanted artifacts, and this man is wearing a t-shirt and using a twig! If he moves toward my territory, I want every scout we have on high alert. Do not engage. I repeat, do not engage!"
5. Jeevakh (The Divine Hand):
In the grand hospital of New Delhi, the world's greatest healer watched with a mixture of awe and terror. "He isn't just killing them. Look at the wounds. The energy left behind by that wooden stick is preventing the Abyss monsters from regenerating. He is severing their life force at the causal level. This isn't martial arts... this is a funeral for the Abyss."
The Symphony of Destruction
Harish stood amidst a mountain of monster corpses, the wooden branch still remarkably intact in his hand. The ground was slick with black ichor. The orc commanders, massive creatures clad in abyssal iron, surrounded him in a desperate formation.
"You guys really don't know when to quit, do you?" Harish sighed. He adjusted his grip on the stick. "Fine. Let's finish this quickly. I think I can smell my sister's cooking from here... wait, no, that's just burnt ogre. Disappointing."
He lowered his center of gravity. The wooden branch began to glow with an oppressive, light-swallowing blackness.
⚔️ Heavenly Demon Sword Art: Variation 1 — Heaven-Sundering Demon Cleave
He swung the stick in a simple downward arc. A vertical line of absolute darkness tore through the air. The three orc commanders in front of him were split perfectly in half, their enchanted armor offering as much resistance as wet tissue paper. The ground beneath them opened in a ravine that stretched for half a mile, cutting through the abandoned town and swallowing the remaining foot soldiers.
The death dragons, realizing the "prey" was actually the predator who had conquered their realm in the past, tried to flee back into the space crack.
⚔️ Heavenly Demon Sword Art: Variation 2 — Blood Moon Thousand-Edge Dance
"Running so soon?" Harish whispered.
He spun the wooden branch in a circular motion. Thousands of crescent-shaped blades of dark energy erupted from the wood, flying upward like a flock of predatory birds. Each blade found its mark, shredding the leathery wings of the dragons and bringing them crashing down to the earth.
The sky was filled with the sounds of shrieking monsters and the rhythmic thwack of wood hitting flesh.
⚔️ Heavenly Demon Sword Art: Variation 4 — Abyss-Devouring Black Arc
As the remaining horde surged forward in a final, mindless wave, Harish performed a wide, horizontal sweep. A black arc of energy expanded outward, devouring the light and sound in the vicinity. Every monster it touched simply ceased to exist—no blood, no screams, just an empty space where life once was.
Finally, only the massive crimson space crack remained, pulsing like an open wound. The "boss" of the rift, a Great Demon Knight of the Abyss, began to emerge, its armored hand gripping the edges of the portal.
Harish looked at the branch. It was starting to crack under the pressure of his intent.
"One last move for the stick," he said.
⚔️ Heavenly Demon Sword Art: Variation 7 — Demonic Domain Severance
He plunged the wooden branch into the cracked asphalt at his feet.
A circular wave of annihilating demonic qi exploded outward in a 360-degree radius. The shockwave hit the space crack, not with physical force, but with a conceptual rejection. The "Domain" of the Abyss was being forcibly evicted from the Earth. The Great Demon Knight's arm was severed as the portal collapsed under the sheer weight of Harish's presence.
The crimson light flickered, then imploded into a tiny dot before vanishing entirely.
The dust settled. The silence that followed was absolute. Harish stood alone in the ruins of the street, holding a now-broken wooden twig. He looked at the shattered remains of the branch and tossed it aside.
"Rest in peace, little stick. You did well," he murmured.
He checked his tattered clothes. "Man, I look like a hobo. I really hope there's a clothing store left in this city that takes old currency... or maybe I can just 'borrow' something."
He looked up toward the satellites he knew were watching him. He didn't wave. He didn't boast. He simply turned around, adjusted the collar of his ruined shirt, and walked into the space where the portal had been just seconds ago.
Inside the war rooms across the world, the screens went to static. The "shadow" had entered the space crack just before it vanished, or perhaps he had simply walked through the folds of space. Either way, the message was clear to the Ten Guardians.
A new power had arrived. One that used the world's most terrifying martial arts to clear a path home for dinner.
Harish's Internal Reflection
As he walked, Harish felt the familiar ripple of the Shadow Walk again. It was closer now.
'Someone is definitely tailing me. Is it one of the Guardians? Or one of my old disciples who found a back door?' He wondered. He felt a brief flash of his serious Sovereign side—a cold, calculating urge to turn back and erase the follower from existence.
But then, he thought of his mother's face. He thought of the way she'd look at him, her eyes watering, before she immediately started complaining that he'd gotten too thin.
He let out a short, bark-like laugh. 'Let them follow. As long as they don't touch my family, I don't care if the whole world watches. I've spent three hundred years being a god. For the next fifty, I just want to be Harish.'
He continued his walk, the ruined skyscrapers of India's new frontier casting long shadows over a man who had just used a piece of a tree to defeat an army of the damned.