⚔️Chapter 9:
(Dark fantasy • Berserk tone • First true divine encounter after exile)
Morning did not exist in the cursed lands.
Light arrived slowly, as if afraid to touch the ground.
Kael walked through a field of broken stone and twisted roots, his steps steady, breath controlled. His body had changed in these weeks. Movements wasted no energy. Eyes scanned everything. Ears caught the smallest shift in air.
He no longer wandered.
He hunted.
A three-legged creature crawled across the rocks ahead, dragging its swollen body toward a carcass. Kael did not hesitate. He approached from downwind, silent as a shadow, and drove his bone blade through the base of its skull before it could turn.
Quick. Clean.
No struggle.
He wiped the blade on the creature's skin and moved on.
The seal on his chest pulsed once.
Not painfully.
Just… aware.
The shadow behind him stretched thin across the ground, longer than it should have been in the weak light.
Watching.
He felt it before he understood it.
The air changed.
Not like when monsters were near. Not like rot or blood or fear.
This was… clear.
Still.
As if the world had taken a breath and refused to release it.
Kael stopped walking.
Every instinct screamed.
He turned slowly.
Nothing.
Rocks. Dead trees. Silence.
But the shadow had flattened against the ground, trembling.
She is here.
Kael's jaw tightened.
He did not ask how the shadow knew.
He already did.
A soft sound came from behind him.
A single footstep.
He spun.
She stood ten paces away.
No light tore the sky.
No divine entrance split the clouds.
She had simply… appeared.
Tall. Graceful. Draped in flowing pale garments that never touched the dirt. Her hair fell like silver threads down her back. Her face was calm, curious, almost gentle.
Her eyes were not.
They were sharp, calculating.
This was not cruelty like Luneva.
This was observation.
"So this is the sealed one."
Her voice was quiet, smooth, almost kind.
Kael said nothing.
He raised his blade.
She looked at it, then back at him.
"You plan to fight?"
"Yes."
She smiled slightly.
"Good."
She moved first.
Not fast.
Not slow.
Just inevitable.
Kael attacked before she reached him. He stepped in with a downward slash aimed at her neck.
The blade passed through her.
Like mist.
Kael's eyes widened.
A hand touched his chest.
Softly.
He flew backward as if struck by a falling mountain.
His body crashed across the rocks, skin tearing, air exploding from his lungs. He rolled to a stop, coughing blood.
She was still standing where she had been.
"You cannot cut what you cannot touch," she said.
Kael forced himself up.
His arms shook.
He charged again.
This time he aimed low—legs, knees, anything physical.
She sidestepped without effort and tapped his shoulder with two fingers.
Pain detonated.
His arm went numb instantly. The blade fell from his hand.
He stumbled, barely keeping balance.
"Your body is impressive," she noted.
"For a human."
Kael swung with his other fist.
She caught it easily.
Twisted.
He dropped to one knee as his wrist screamed.
"But this is the difference," she said calmly.
"Between effort… and divinity."
She kicked him in the chest.
Kael skidded across stone, ribs flaring with agony.
The seal burned.
The shadow pushed.
One heartbeat.
Kael coughed, forcing himself to stand again.
He picked up the blade.
"I'm not done."
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
Interest.
She vanished.
Kael barely ducked in time as a force sliced the air where his head had been. The rock behind him split cleanly in two.
He turned—
She stood behind him.
A hand pressed into his back.
He felt the impact before the sound. The ground shattered beneath him as he was driven into it. Dust and stone erupted upward.
Kael lay in the crater, vision blurred.
His body was failing.
Too many hits.
Too much damage.
She landed lightly beside him.
"Why?" she asked.
"Why stand again?"
Kael spat blood.
"Because you came down here."
She tilted her head.
"And?"
"So you don't have to."
Something changed in her expression.
Not anger.
Recognition.
Kael pushed himself up.
Every muscle screamed. His bones felt loose inside his body.
He raised the blade again.
She did not move this time.
"Show me," she said.
Kael charged.
He swung not at her body—but at the ground beneath her feet. Stone exploded upward. Dust filled the air.
He stepped through the cloud blindly, trusting instinct, and slashed where he felt she would be.
The blade grazed fabric.
A tiny tear.
She stepped back, looking down at the cut cloth.
For the first time—
She looked surprised.
Kael saw it.
And smiled through blood.
Her expression hardened.
She raised her hand.
The air compressed.
Kael felt his body lift off the ground, invisible pressure crushing him from all sides. Bones groaned. Blood leaked from his nose.
"Enough," she said quietly.
The shadow roared inside him.
NOW.
Kael's vision darkened.
His lungs failed.
One heartbeat.
He let it happen.
The seal cracked with a sharp sound like glass breaking.
Black energy surged through his veins—not exploding outward, not consuming him—just aligning.
His eyes turned black with a red ring.
Time slowed.
He twisted mid-air, breaking the pressure with sheer force, landed on his feet, and moved.
Faster than before.
Sharper than before.
He appeared in front of her and drove the blade forward with everything he had.
The blade pierced her side.
Not deep.
But real.
Blood—golden and bright—dripped onto the stone.
Silence fell.
Kael staggered back immediately.
The shadow withdrew on its own.
The seal snapped back into place, cracked but holding.
He dropped to one knee, gasping.
She looked at the wound.
Touched the golden blood with her fingers.
Then looked at Kael.
Not with anger.
With understanding.
"So that is your choice," she murmured.
Kael could barely breathe.
She walked toward him slowly.
He tried to stand again.
Failed.
She stopped in front of him.
"You used it," she said.
"But you did not surrender."
Kael glared up at her.
She nodded slightly.
"Good."
She turned away.
Kael blinked.
She was… leaving.
"Why?" he raspled.
She paused.
"Because killing you now would be foolish."
She looked back over her shoulder.
"You are becoming something the gods have not seen in a long time."
A faint smile touched her lips.
"A human who refuses both submission… and corruption."
The sky above shimmered faintly.
She began to fade.
"Grow stronger, Kael."
His eyes widened.
"I didn't tell you my—"
"We know everything that moves under our sky."
She vanished.
The pressure disappeared.
The world felt empty again.
Kael collapsed onto the stone, staring upward.
His chest rose and fell slowly.
The seal throbbed.
But it did not feel like a cage anymore.
It felt like a test.
The shadow rested quietly beside him.
Not pushing.
Not whispering.
Just… there.
For the first time since his village burned—
Kael smiled.
Weakly.
Because now he knew something important.
A god had come down.
Fought him seriously.
And walked away.
Not because he was weak.
But because he was becoming dangerous.
Far above, in halls of white and gold, the goddess stood before others.
"Well?" one asked.
She held up her fingers, stained with faint golden blood.
"He cut me."
Silence spread through the divine chamber.
And for the first time—
The gods began to feel something unfamiliar.
Concern.