The moment they stepped through the parted barrier, the world changed. The air hit them first. It wasn't just fresh—it was new. Alive. Vibrant. As if every breath they took rewrote something inside them. Eiden inhaled once, and his mana surged. Not slightly. Not subtly. It rose, expanding through his veins like a tide of warm light.
Morvath stiffened, eyes widening as his aura pulsed outward in a dark ripple. Selyndra's breath caught, her golden aura shimmering like sunlight on water. Every inhale made their mana grow. Every exhale made their aura swell. Every heartbeat made their power deepen. It was as if the Land of Gods itself was feeding them strength.
The ground beneath their feet glowed faintly with each step—bright white and gold grass that shimmered like woven light. Every blade vibrated with divine energy, and that vibration traveled up their legs, through their bones, and into their cores. Their senses sharpened instantly. They could hear the wind brushing miles away. They could feel the heartbeat of the land beneath them. They could taste mana in the air like warm, sweet electricity.
The sky above them was a brilliant golden‑blue, a color that didn't exist in the mortal world. It stretched endlessly, glowing with a divine radiance that made the clouds look like drifting sheets of molten gold. Larry walked ahead of them, each step silent, each movement bending the air around him. His obsidian fur reflected the divine light, shimmering with green undertones that pulsed like a heartbeat. He didn't look back. He didn't need to.
"This place is beautiful," Eiden murmured, his eyes widening as the landscape unfolded. "I never thought I'd get to see this place in my life."
Larry continued walking, but his emerald eyes narrowed with a visible, biting annoyance. He remembered a conversation from just a few nights prior—a conversation that made the beauty of the realm feel like a mask.
The Land of Gods had been quiet under the starlit sky when Rah stood beside Larry, his single eye glowing softly with a perception that reached beyond time and destiny.
"He will arrive in the morning," Rah had said, his voice heavy. "And the gods told me something you should be aware of. Eiden knew he would make it to the Land of Gods one day. He manipulated even the gods… somehow."
Larry's fur had bristled. "How?"
"In the beginning, the gods believed he was an innocent warrior. Pure. Righteous," Rah explained, his eye pulsing with ripples of truth. "But that isn't the case. Eiden has manipulated many people, many events, many destinies to get to this point. Even the formation of the Seven Sages was not fate—it was his design."
Rah spoke of Vaelus, whose home was destroyed by attackers Eiden had mentally enslaved. He spoke of how Eiden had shaped a mentally shattered Vaelus into exactly what he needed. He spoke of a monk's prayer—a vision of a future where Eiden could have been a righteous emperor—and how Eiden had rewritten that destiny through betrayal and calculated loss.
"He purposely lost his fight with Uzak'me so his enemies would believe they were free," Rah finished quietly. "He twisted fate so thoroughly that the gods can no longer undo it. It's too late to turn back."
Presently, as they walked deeper into the glowing plains, those words continued to echo in Larry's head. Eiden could likely trick even Larry during a fight. In fact… he could trick all of you.
Larry kept walking, his paws silent against the divine grass. But inside, he was no longer calm. He was calculating. Measuring. Testing. He wanted to see it for himself.
He stopped.
The Sages halted behind him, the divine wind brushing past their cloaks. Larry turned his head slightly, emerald eyes locking onto Eiden with a weight that froze the air.
"Eiden," he said, his voice low and impossibly heavy. "Are you strong?"
The question caught Eiden off guard. He tilted his head, blinking. "Probably not as strong as you, but I guess… why?"
Larry didn't answer immediately. He saw the four blades at Eiden's waist. He felt the ancient, calculating energy hidden beneath Eiden's polite, calm exterior. The gods had warned him that Eiden was the one being who could flip the tables in a heartbeat—the one who claimed he was not strong enough to face a god, yet was the very person who could.
Larry turned fully now, facing Eiden with a gaze sharp enough to cut through fate itself. "You carry four blades? How do you wield that?"
Eiden didn't flinch. He rested a hand on one of the hilts. "I just do. I've trained with them. Adapted. Learned how to use them all."
Larry's emerald eyes narrowed further. He was measuring Eiden's truth, his confidence, and his hidden danger. Beneath the quiet tone and the gentle awe of the landscape, there was something that had rewritten the laws of destiny.
Larry's tail flicked—this time, not in irritation, but in a sudden, sharp interest. His obsidian fur rippled as the golden-blue sky shimmered overhead.
"I want to test you."