Eva stood watching the lifeless body of "Kress" being carried away, her eyes flashing with sparks, gleaming with a mixture of deep sorrow and blind rage. She muttered audibly: "What happened to you, Kress…"
She turned sharply toward "Argus," who stood coldly in the center of the arena, and said in a menacing tone: "Come on… it's your turn, you brat. Don't think I see you as an equal; my true revenge is not against you, but against that deceitful friend of yours. He used a dirty trick to push Kress into killing himself, and he will pay a heavy price!"
Argus laughed with biting sarcasm and slowly raised his wind sword, pointing it at her, saying: "Be careful… I might reunite you with your late friend faster than you imagine."
The stands ignited with cheers, and the commentator shouted in a voice that nearly tore his throat: "Oh my God! What a threat! The words are fiery even before the swords clash! Will we witness another massacre or a new surprise?! The countdown begins now… three… two… one… Go!!!"
Argus braced for the attack, and Eva prepared to unleash her energy… but suddenly… time stopped.
Everyone froze in their places.
Argus's hand holding the sword trembled, and he felt a strange coldness creeping into his marrow. He shouted in a voice he tried to keep steady: "What the hell is happening here?!"
As for Eva, her face went pale, cold sweat poured down her forehead, and her pupils dilated in terror as she stared into the void. In a choked voice, she whispered, realizing the catastrophe: "This… this is not Prince Gilgamesh's energy… It is something else… Who is this?!"
At that moment, the unknown entity appeared standing above the Royal Palace, its eyes sparking. It said in a cold voice: "If my calculations are correct… with these houses and this area, there are perhaps one hundred and twenty to two hundred thousand people here… Excellent. Not much will remain after this."
Then it let out a long sigh, the sound like two stones rubbing together in a grave, and muttered with boredom: "But I feel a deadly boredom… Is there any strong being here? I forgot to ask that idiot which kingdom this is… Well, let's see if they can entertain me."
It raised two fingers toward the Royal Palace, then threw them downward, saying one word that served as a death sentence: "Fall!"
There was no explosion, but an overwhelming atmospheric pressure. In a fraction of a second, the palace roof shattered like an eggshell, and its ancient walls collapsed, turning into a waterfall of rocky debris that crushed the earth beneath it. The screams of the guards standing at the gates vanished under tons of stone and marble, and the palace courtyard sank into a thick cloud of dust.
The entity laughed a malicious laugh as it saw the initial destruction, and said mockingly: "I will be generous to everyone."
It leaped high into the air, and waved its hand again: "Fall!"
Gravity responded to its command; rubble scattered from the sky like a giant rocky meteor that covered an area wider than the capital. Residential buildings collapsed onto the heads of their inhabitants, and the crowded markets turned into mass graves. A symphony of horror rose; women's screams, the crying of children who had lost their parents in the blink of an eye, and the roar of falling buildings, causing Uruk to sink into a massive chaos the likes of which it had not seen since its founding.
Erold stood amidst the rising clouds of dust, panting, having hidden Gilgamesh's body under a rocky cover, then stood tall to face the catastrophe. He raised his gaze to find that entity standing above a remaining column of the palace, steady as a statue of darkness, watching the city like a king watching a fire he had ignited with his own hand.
With deadly slowness, those red eyes lowered to settle on Erold, the only survivor who dared to stand upright. The entity's lips parted in a cold smile that sent shivers through the air, and it said in a voice that rang clearly despite the distance: "Ooh… finally, someone has appeared who might entertain me."
Erold blinked for one second, and that second was enough for the entity to vanish from atop the column. It was not a teleportation, but an erasure of distance. Erold felt the coldness of death brush his neck directly from behind, and heavy breath whispering near his ear: "I feel strange vibrations from you.. a scent that does not belong to the clay of humans alone.. a rare mixture between humans and Jinn.. what exactly are you?"
He narrowed his eyes, staring at him with sharp curiosity, before continuing: "What is your name?"
Every muscle in Erold's body tensed, and his hand slid extremely slowly toward his waist to grip the hilt of "Thorn" with force, ready to draw it in any fraction of a second. He did not turn around; instead, he fixed his gaze forward and answered in a firm voice, in which he resisted the trembling of his soul: "My name is Erold."
The entity chuckled lightly, a laugh like the sound of dry bones breaking, then circled around Erold to stand face-to-face with him, and said in a tone filled with royal arrogance: "Erold… alright, Erold. They call me Ashura. Be proud of yourself, boy, for you are one of the few who have had the honor of me speaking to them."
He leaned forward slightly, showing his respect mockingly, his smile widening and sparks igniting in his eyes: "As for now… let the entertainment begin."
In one moment, the earth shook beneath Erold's feet. Ashura pressed down with just one step, and the stone floor around him exploded into flying shards. Before Erold realized what was happening, the opponent was directly in front of him, his glowing eyes reflecting a terrifying indifference.
Erold lunged with all his desperation and swung his sword "Thorn" in a strike that could have split mountains. But the shock was when Ashura extended his bare hand, and with a graceful move as if he were catching a flying feather, he stopped the legendary blade in mid-air. Ashura laughed a laugh that shook Erold's marrow, and said with biting sarcasm: "Hah.. a beautiful sword, and interesting craftsmanship.. but your hand is trembling, boy. Is the air cold?"
Erold did not wait for a response, so Ashura raised two fingers toward the high heavens. At that moment, the clouds split open to reveal a massive ring of fire, a circle of red flame that surrounded the Kingdom, and spears of sacred flame began to plummet from the sky like rain, piercing buildings and turning what remained of Uruk into ash. Ashura smiled with demonic malice as he whispered: "This way, you will feel warm."
Erold was seeing before him the embodiment of death, his hand gripping "Thorn" until his knuckles turned white, while light and darkness danced on the sword's blade in a strange harmony he had not noticed before. At that moment, Ashura's eyes narrowed as he examined the sword precisely, then burst into a crazy laugh that echoed through the flames, and shouted, asking in a tone in which curiosity mingled with danger: "Are you the one who possesses the Power of Balance?"
"Ashura" suddenly let go of the sword's blade, and retreated a step back with provocative coldness, as if granting his prey one last chance to breathe, and said in a tone overwhelmed by arrogance: "Do not disappoint me.. show me what you can do."
Erold did not wait; he took off like a hurricane, passing the blade of "Thorn" in a series of lightning strikes that mixed the scorching glow of light and the pitch darkness of the night. The air trembled with every clash, and the sparks flying from the friction of the sword against Ashura's aura sliced through the darkness of the burning city.
However, Ashura swayed amidst this barrage of strikes like a dancer teasing a storm; parrying every attack with one hand, and the smile never left his face: "I like this… continue, don't let me get bored quickly."
While Erold was at the peak of his rush, Ashura raised his finger toward a towering tower lying behind them, as if it were just a whim, then whispered: "Fall."
In an instant, the tower exploded from its foundations and turned into mountains of stone and rubble that poured down like inevitable death upon hundreds of innocents in the burning arena below. Heart-rending screams rose, while Ashura burst into a mocking laugh, watching the city's death as if he were watching an entertaining theatrical performance.
"You bastard!" The scream erupted from the depths of Erold, mingled with the bitterness of helplessness and the boiling of anger. He no longer saw before him but the provocative features of Ashura, so he raised the "Thorn" sword with both hands, and brought it down in a colossal vertical strike, a strike that carried the weight of his sorrow for the city, as if it were a blade that would split the earth and those upon it in two.
But "Ashura" was not there; he vanished with his grey body before the blade could touch him by even an inch, to suddenly appear above Erold's shoulder, balanced on one foot with impossible lightness, as if he were standing on a tree branch, not on a warrior's shoulder. He whispered with a coldness that sent shivers to the marrow: "Come on, boy.. you can do better than this…"
Ashura did not give him a chance to turn around; he jumped into the air with a graceful spiral movement, then his body twisted like a whip to direct a direct kick toward Erold's chest. The kick was a devastating thunderbolt; Erold felt his bones begging for mercy, and his body launched like a rebounding projectile, to penetrate what remained of the great Royal Palace walls, one after another, until he disappeared into the depths of the rubble, and the place was covered by a thick cloud of dust and ash.
Amidst the thick clouds of dust and the smell of ash that choked the breath, Erold was not the only one who felt the catastrophe. The darkness split to reveal three majestic shadows; the "Greats" had finally arrived at the execution ground. "Cobra" stepped forward with steps filled with majesty, his eyes blazing: "Who is this attacking the Kingdom?"
"Ashura" turned extremely slowly, and began to scan the surroundings coldly, as if he were looking for the culprit with them, then drew a mocking smile on his grey lips and said: "Ah.. really, who is that bastard who did that?.. Wait, I forgot it was me."
"Eva" flared with anger, and could not bear that mockery which insulted the dignity of "Uruk," so she shouted in a voice that tore the silence: "You bastard! Isn't the attack enough for you to mock?!"
Ashura's features changed in a moment; the mockery disappeared and a terrifying annoyance took its place. He said in a cold tone: "Did that woman dare to speak without my permission?"
"Eric" felt the coldness of death penetrating the atmosphere, so he shouted a warning at the top of his lungs: "Eva! Retreat! Do not dare to take a single step forward!"
But Eva's pride was faster than her caution; she stepped forward, raising her weapon and shouting: "This kingdom is too great to be attacked by a nobody like you, you—…"
And she did not finish her sentence. No one saw a move, and no one felt a transfer of energy. All that was heard was the sound of a fleeting "beat" splitting the air, and in a fraction of a second, everything stopped. Eva's head fell onto the shattered marble with a muffled impact, before her body followed it, which collapsed like a doll whose threads had been cut, while "Ashura" remained standing in his place, looking at his fingernails with boredom as if nothing had happened.
He looked at Eva's corpse with a coldness matching the frost of graves, and uttered in a quiet voice, yet it pierced the marrow: "Know your place, oh mortal.." Then he slowly turned his gaze toward "Cobra" and "Eric," whose features were being devoured by terror, and added with a malicious smile: "Come on.. it's your turn now. Give me the best of your despair.. you are now fighting the Lord of Destruction himself."
Eric's face turned pale and his limbs trembled, and his words came out stumbling: "The Lord of Destruction… here?"
Eric turned toward Cobra to find in his eyes a suicidal persistence. Cobra shouted, trying to gather what remained of their courage: "Eric! No time for amazement! We must attack him together with all our strength.. Come on!"
Cobra took off like an arrow, ready to die, but he noticed that Ashura's finger was not pointing at him, but pointing backward mockingly. Cobra turned in panic to find that Eric had turned his back and fled quickly among the rubble, leaving his friend and his pride behind him.
Ashura cackled a laugh that shook the corners of the shattered palace: "Ooh.. what a weak-hearted person! Escaping annihilation is the fastest way to it." Then he directed his finger toward the fleeing "Eric" and added coldly: "The weak do not deserve a great death, but a lowly end that befits them."
Suddenly, and without any tangible move, the earth split beneath Eric's feet and his legs were divided into two longitudinal halves with terrifying surgical sharpness. Eric fell screaming throat-tearing screams while writhing in his blood, while Ashura said cruelly: "Bleed until death.. this is the death that befits a coward."
Ashura returned his gaze to "Cobra," who was standing alone amidst the corpses and blood, and said in a tone overwhelmed by sudden seriousness: "Now.. since you are standing before me alone, and since there is no justice in this world.. I will grant you one last chance for entertainment. I will allow you three attacks against me, free strikes that I will not parry or move from. Afterward.. it will be I who attacks.. Come on, show me what you have."
Cobra swallowed his dry saliva, realizing that history was now being written with his blood; he muttered to himself bitterly: "I will never get a golden opportunity like this ever.. either I am the savior, or I am the sacrifice." He gathered every atom of energy in his being, and surrounded his body with a thick purple aura of gravity magic. He began to compress the air around him, and accelerate the pumping of blood in his veins to a degree that made his muscles swell and nearly explode, surpassing the limits of human endurance several times over.
With supernatural speed, Cobra lunged, leaving behind a vacuum, and directed his sword in a precise stab aimed at Ashura's neck veins. The blade was charged with gravity pressure sufficient to crush a rock, but when it touched Ashura's skin, it left only a faint scratch that could barely be seen. Ashura chuckled a cold laugh that shook the stillness of the destruction: "Beautiful.. a new scratch I add to my trivial collection."
"Two strikes left.. try not to waste them in the air."
Cobra did not hesitate for a second; he raised his hands toward the sky, and with the power of gravity magic, he uprooted a huge marble rock from the palace ruins weighing tons, then brought it down with all his might upon Ashura's head. Thick dust prevailed, and the earth shook under the impact of the collision. Cobra breathed with difficulty, blood flowing from his ears from the excess pressure, and said in a confident tone: "Like that.. I have finally crushed your pride!"
But the smoke cleared to reveal a scene that makes the marrow shiver; the great rock was cracking and crumbling above Ashura's head as if it were a piece of fragile pottery, for his deep voice to rise from beneath the rubble with deadly coldness: "For heaven's sake… do you think this will kill me? Do you underestimate me?"
Terror froze in Cobra's eyes, and he felt the shadows of death wrapping around him. But, with the heart of a warrior who never knew how to bend, he gripped the hilt of his sword with both hands, fixed his feet in the shattered earth and said with a firmness that shook the rubble: "Either I die a man's death… or I drag you to death with me."
Ashura's laughter fell across the shattered kingdom, a laugh that was not mockery this time, but ecstasy at finding an opponent possessing a flame that refused to extinguish: "Hahaha… this is the soul I want!"
At that moment, Cobra made his final decision; he decided to burn his life in a single flash. He doubled the blood flow in his veins to twenty times, so his body flushed with a dark purple color, and the arteries began to protrude under his skin like trapped snakes nearly exploding. His vision blurred, and the world clouded in his eyes, but his heart was beating the drums of war for the last time. He gripped his sword with both hands, and launched in a suicidal leap, turning his body and soul into a single blade of absolute gravity, targeting the Lord of Destruction.
He lunged toward the void.. toward death.. toward Ashura. But, at the moment the sword was supposed to split the opponent's chest, absolute silence prevailed. Movement faded, and time stopped, for Ashura's voice to whisper with funeral coldness directly in his ear: "You have missed… boy."
Cobra froze in his place, and his sword fell from his hand to hit the ground with a sad impact. His strength failed him, and his body, which could no longer bear the pressure of life, collapsed; he fell to his knees, and blood exploded from his eyes, nose, and mouth like a crimson waterfall irrigating the land of Uruk for the last time. The light vanished from his eyes, and consciousness began to slip away from him as sand slips between the fingers.
Ashura leaned over him, his features appearing drowned in a strange calm, free of arrogance for the first time. He looked at the collapsing warrior's body, and said in a voice carrying respect that no king had ever received before: "But I.. despite everything.. appreciate this courage. You fought as the greats fight. Tell me before silence swallows you.. what is your name?"
With fragmented breaths, and in a voice barely audible amidst the death rattle, the warrior whispered his final word: "Co.. bra.."
Ashura shook his head slowly, and a final smile formed on his lips, sincere and cold at the same time, and he said as he placed his hand on Cobra's shoulder: "Be proud of yourself.. you died by my hand, Cobra. You gave the best that a human possesses.. so die now in peace."
Features of deep peace, which he had not known in his noisy life, formed on Cobra's face; his facial features seemed relaxed as if death was not an enemy but a companion he had waited for a long time. He whispered his final words which were carried by the wind laden with the smell of ash: "I lived a beautiful life.. and I know that my father will be proud of me when I meet him, for I stood steadfast before the Lord of Destruction himself.."
And with the last beat of his heart, he closed his eyes and his body rested forever, leaving behind him a legacy of pride over the ruins of Uruk.
Amidst this funeral silence that hung over the arena, the sound of debris breaking under the rubble erupted. "Erold" emerged from between the rubble as if he were a resurrection from Hell; his body was covered with dust, and blood was flowing from his wounds, but his hand was gripping the "Thorn" sword with strength unprecedented. The sword no longer glowed with pure light, but its radiance mixed with the color of the spilled blood, to form a terrifying crimson glow that shone amidst the darkness.
Erold stood upright, defying gravity, and raised his bloodied blade toward the sky, and shouted in a booming voice that shook what remained of the palace pillars: "Ashura!"
Ashura laughed a short, dry laugh, and began to crack his finger joints with a coldness that sent shivers through the atmosphere, his red eyes gleaming with renewed curiosity: "Heh.. really? You still have breaths to scream, Erold?"
Erold advanced, his sword Thorn gleaming between his hands, and his eyes blazing: "Haven't you had enough of the destruction you caused? I will not allow you to do more."
Ashura's smile widened, and his red eyes glowed like two burning embers in the belly of a dark night, and he said in a tone in which pleasure mingled with threat: "Ah… beautiful, very beautiful. But don't you think that playing has ended now, and the time for destruction has come!"
Ashura moved suddenly, and with a speed the eye no longer perceived; he turned into a fleeting shadow splitting the sound barrier. This time, he was not satisfied with defense or fleeting punches, but began to attack with deadly seriousness. His bare fists collided with the blade of "Thorn" in a painful screech that created deep echoes in the walls of the shattered palace, and the earth beneath their feet began to crack and collapse, as if it could not bear the burden of this collision. Every time Ashura's fist landed, the surrounding buildings shook and their stones fell, as if an earthquake had been imprisoned in the body of one man.
Erold was dancing on the edge of death; parrying bitterly and dodging in despair, trying to read Ashura's style, but the opponent was constantly changing his move, dodging, laughing, then attacking with seriousness again, striking with confidence and mastery, as if he were testing Erold's limits.
Amidst the vortex of dust and the ruins of the collapsed buildings, the shadows split to reveal two new comers. Argus and Luce climbed to the peaks of the rubble, watching the slaughtering arena with solid eyes and majestic presence, having drawn their weapons to face fate.
Ashura laughed again, his voice echoing throughout the arena of the destroyed Kingdom: "Ah… it seems the game has become more exciting. Do you wish to participate in the entertainment?"
Erold did not turn his gaze away from Ashura, but raised his sword "Thorn" steadily despite the trembling of his muscles, and shouted in a voice overwhelmed by concern for his companions: "Argus! Luce! Do not stand here.. take Jasmin and get out immediately."
Luce's reply came calm as the flowing of a river, as he fixed his foot above a shattered rock: "We have already done this, don't worry."
Ashura stared at him, and his laughter filled the atmosphere: "Alright, let's see if the three are capable of stopping me… come on, let's start the round!"
Argus rose from the ground, his eyes glowing with power, and began to use gravity magic. The stones and rubble around him flew into the air, moving as if they were under his absolute will, heading with tremendous speed toward Ashura: "Let's see the extent of your ability to face this!"
At the same time, Luce took off, and raised his hands toward the sky, transforming into palms of ignited fire, burning with unimaginable energy: "Here is the fight you want!"
Ashura laughed indifferently to parry Luce's attacks, then kicked him so Luce dodged it and moved away. Ashura parried Argus's attacks, to say: "Oh… gravity magic! Wait, did you throw some rocks at me? You know how to use gravity?"
Ashura raised his hand into the air, and his eyes sparkled with sparks, then raised all the scattered debris in the Kingdom above Argus and Luce. Ashura looked at Argus: "So what do you think of this, gravity boy?" Argus was shocked in a hesitant voice: "This… is not natural power! How can he do this? And he just used fire! Gravity and fire do not meet in the path of the elements!" Argus steadied himself to attack with a blade of wind, toward Ashura, who parried it with his bare palm, so the air scattered around him. He smiled lightly and said: "Amazing… you are truly smart. You increased the pressure to make it sharper and faster."
The sky began to crack, and the debris of the entire Kingdom was floating and covered with a strange purple light emanating from the gravity power, while Argus stopped in amazement: "Impossible…!"
Luce says in a calm voice mingled with astonishment: "Who the hell are you? Introduce yourself!" Ashura ignored the question, then Erold said strongly: "His name… is Ashura." Luce's silence escalated for a moment, before replying in astonishment: "Impossible… what is the Lord of Destruction doing here? And how did you enter this world?!"
Ashura did not turn around, and began throwing rocks again, every rock colliding with the buildings, so they crumbled, and the Kingdom collapsed more and more. He said: "I think half the population has already died…" Then he looked at them coldly, and smiled a creepy smile: "I will save some time… let us play."
He raised his deep voice, while the energy surrounding him vibrated: "Soul Realm.... the Foundation of Destruction!"
At that moment, the concept of place collapsed; the earth split from the middle for a huge black stone throne to emerge from it, extending to the heavens as if it were a dagger stabbing the clouds. The blue sky was replaced by a flood of purple storms and red lightning that did not subside, and fierce winds blew carrying the smell of sulfur and ruin, for the debris of the buildings to mix with the energy of "Destruction" generated from the throne.
"Luce" retreated with shaky steps, his eyes wide with the horror of what he saw: "Impossible.. this exceeds the ability of humans and Jinn.. he has manifested the Soul Realm with all its laws inside our material reality!"
Arthur manifested suddenly beside Erold, his spiritual entity was trembling from the intensity of the surrounding energy, and shouted in complete astonishment: "What is this madman doing?!"
Erold turned, his features blazing with anger: "I don't know… but we must stop him before he kills more!"
Ashura narrowed his eyes as he stared at Arthur, and for the first time since his appearance, his features were touched by a trace of true confusion. He muttered in a faint voice barely heard amidst the roar of the winds: "What is this entity..? Is it a soul? No… it is not."
His questioning did not last long, for soon he turned toward Argus with a smile tinged with a deadly challenge, and said in a provoking tone: "I liked your wind blade… what do you think about seeing my version?"
Ashura raised his hands toward the top as if he were embracing the storm itself, and shouted in a voice that split the heavens: "Let them witness Destruction!"
At that moment, reality turned into a cosmic slaughterhouse; thousands of air blades and red lightning formed that launched in every direction like waves of liquid rage. They were not just winds, but "tears" in the fabric of the place; the walls of the great Kingdom that had withstood for centuries vanished before them as if they were sand, and everything that fell in their path evaporated in the blink of an eye.
Ashura opened his arms wide, as if he were welcoming the massacre he had created himself, and his laughter echoed like thunder over the torn Kingdom: "Come on… entertain me more!"
In return, Erold was dripping with sweat as he tried to parry the exploding blades and dodge between them, and every blade that passed nearly severed him in two. The air itself became an enemy, and the sky was covered by a color of destruction that made movement almost impossible.
As for Argus, he froze in his place, his eyes widening with every second, whispering: "This… this is not natural…!"
But before the blades could swallow him, Erold and Luce lunged toward him, parrying the attack with their weapons, blocking between him and death, to shout at him: "Wake up, Argus!"
Argus gasped as if his heart had stopped for a moment, then whispered in a hoarse voice as he raised his head toward Ashura: "Impossible… this is… Ashura… the first on my list… he is much stronger than I imagined…"
Ashura's voice boomed throughout the dying Uruk, a quiet laugh but it was audible above the noise of thunder and the screeching of the wind, and he looked at "Argus" with a look that combined appreciation and mockery: "Congratulations, boy.. you have finally achieved your dream of meeting me."
Then "Ashura" stood slowly above his black throne, and the aura surrounding him glowed with a sickly grey light, and continued in a deep voice that shook the corners of the "Soul Realm:" "And now, it has become the turn to achieve your soul's dream… to steal from me."