"Attack with everything you have!" the Godslayer Human roared, his voice thunderous, crackling with fury and divine pressure.
As he spoke, a colossal well of energy burst open behind himâan ethereal vortex of raw power that warped the air around it, erasing everything it touched. Reality itself seemed to bend in protest. A devastating aura radiated from the sigil embedded in his chest, and the skies above the fortress darkened in response.
Beside him, the Anima Machinarium wasted no time. Her skeletal form shimmered as she summoned a tide of shadow, an ocean of roiling, pitch-black death. The darkness pulsed with unnatural hunger and screamed with the voices of those long forgotten. Her aura coalesced into a monstrous serpent of death and decay, swirling around her like a primordial beast waiting to strike.
The rest of the Prima Deities moved without hesitation. Fear raced through their veins, but their discipline held firm. Cain Laurifer was not an opponent they could afford to underestimate. They didnât know how he had suddenly appeared above their stronghold after a decade of silence. They didnât know what he had become. But none of that mattered now.
What mattered was destroying himâhere and now.
The very walls of the fortress groaned as dozens of divine weapons activated in unison. Massive cannons embedded in the towers flared to life, glowing with ancient inscriptions that pulsed like beating hearts. Floating platforms released lances of compressed starlight. Glyphs spun through the air, forming runic matrices that drew power from the core of the fortress itself.
Then, it all unleashed.
Blades of plasma, hammers of condensed gravity, spears of time-warped lightâall soared skyward in a radiant storm of divine judgment. The sky transformed into a kaleidoscope of deadly brilliance. Each attack was potent enough to shatter mountains, obliterate cities, or even kill a Peak Prima Deity outright. The entire heavens seemed to ripple, groan, and ignite under the force of the barrage.
Cain Laurifer watched it all unfold with quiet resolve. He didnât flinch. He didnât dodge. He didnât even alter his descent.
He simply pushed forward, eyes locked on the fortress below.
And then, the barrage reached him.
"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM!"
An explosion of incomprehensible magnitude erupted. The sky went white, then purple, then blood-red. The force of it tore through the clouds and caused ripples in the atmosphere. It was as if a star had gone supernova directly above the Endlessdeath Continent. The blast wave shook the land for hundreds of miles, toppling mountains and boiling lakes. Even the Prima Deities had to shield their eyes from the light, their divine senses overwhelmed.
And yet, amidst the blinding chaos, they smiled.
There was no wayâno wayâa being, even one like Cain, could have survived such a catastrophic onslaught. Surely not. Surely, the nightmare was over.
"Hahahahahahaha..."
The laughter shattered their hope.
It cracked like thunder across the sky, deep and resonant and terrifyingly calm. The smoke parted, and from the burning ocean of chaos descended a figureâscarred, smoldering, but alive.
Cain Laurifer.
Burn marks scorched his skin, his clothes tattered by divine fire. But the wounds were minor. Even more horrifyingâthey were already healing, the flesh reknitting in real time, muscle and skin returning to pristine form within seconds.
He wore a serene smile.
The Godslayer Human felt a chill stab into his chest. This... this made no sense. No Prima Deity, no matter how powerful, could have survived that barrage with barely a scratch.
"Unless..." he muttered under his breath, "...he is no longer a Prima Deity..."
The thought hit him like a blow to the soul.
He could not afford to finish that line of reasoningânot now. He turned and issued a new command.
"All energy to the defensive formation!"
Immediately, the power that had fueled their weapons redirected. Divine circuits throughout the stronghold rerouted their energy streams. Massive golden glyphs formed in the air, connecting in complex, multi-layered arrays. A brilliant dome of light erupted from the center of the fortress, stretching to encompass every inch of itâa divine force field that could hold back entire armies.
Cainâs expression shifted for a moment, his eyes narrowing as he took in the shield. And yet, his smile didnât waver.
The Star of Originâthe core of his Primordial Pathâbegan to glow around his forehead. His body pulsed, and then, in a heartbeat, his mass increased exponentially.
"BOOOMMMMMM!"
The shockwave of his accelerated descent cracked the air open like glass. He was a meteor now, plummeting from the sky with such velocity and weight that the clouds screamed.
And then he hit.
"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMM!"
A titanic explosion shook the heavens. The divine force field cracked like ice under a hammer. Lines spread across its surface. And then, with a deafening roar, Cain pierced through it. His body, wrapped in radiant, dark energy, crashed into the ground of the stronghold like a living missile.
A second explosion followed. The earth split. The air trembled. Dust, light, and corrupted energy burst in all directions, throwing many of the lower-level defenders off their feet.
When the smoke cleared...
He stood.
At the center of Divine Sea Heavenâs fortress.
Cain Laurifer, calm, unbothered, relaxedâeven as he was surrounded on all sides by enemies that wanted nothing more than to destroy him.
He didnât move like someone caught behind enemy lines.
He moved like a king surveying his own domain.
The Prima Deities hesitated. No one made the first move. Tension filled the air like poison.
Cain looked around slowly, his crimson eyes drifting from face to face, before finally settling on the Godslayer Human and the Anima Machinarium.
"If you wonât act," he said softly, his voice laced with amusement, "then Iâll take the first move."
The Godslayer Human clenched his fists, fury and dread mixing in his chest. He didnât want to admit itâbut he was afraid.
"Attackânow! Together! Itâs our only chance!" he roared.
He moved first, his aura erupting like a volcano. His divine laws twisted around him as he summoned colossal humanoid figuresâfaceless giants with folded arms and blindfolded eyes, each wielding swords larger than mountains. They moved as one, charging at Cain.
The Anima Machinarium followed. She raised her arms, and from the darkness behind her surged gargantuan serpents made of shadow and boneâbeasts of annihilation that lunged toward Cain with fangs bared.
The rest of the Prima Deities roared, pushing aside fear. They knew if they didnât move now, Cain would seize control of the fightâand many would die. With divine fury, they poured out their power and launched themselves into battle, the air once more erupting in a storm of divine might.