The air itself trembled. The shattered remains of the Celestial Legion faded into golden dust, their divine forms unable to persist in a world where they had been defeated by a mortal. And yet The battle was far from over. Aaron exhaled, lowering his fist as the last traces of the Herald's divine blood evaporated. His golden eyes remained locked on the sky, where the rift between the mortal realm and the heavens still burned. Selene wiped blood from her lip, standing beside him, her sword still drawn. "That wasn't their full strength." Orin Varyx adjusted his gloves. "No. That was their first warning."
Aaron rolled his shoulders. "Then let's see what their second one looks like."
The Heavens Respond
Thunder cracked across the sky. The divine rift expanded, its edges pulsing with an unnatural glow.
Then Something descended Not a single being Not an army a force.
A pressure so vast, so utterly crushing, that the ground beneath Aaron's feet split apart.
Orin's normally amused expression vanished. "…No."
Selene's breath hitched. "It can't be—"
From the rift, a hand emerged.
It was larger than a mountain, its fingers wrapped in celestial chains that burned with holy flame. Each movement of the hand distorted reality, as if the world itself could not contain its existence.
Then came a voice.
Not a Herald. Not a Seraph. Not a legion.
A god.
"Enough, mortal." The sky ignited.
The Arrival of a Lesser God
A being of pure divinity stepped through the rift, its form shifting between incomprehensible shapes. At times, it had wings that stretched across the horizon. At others, it was nothing but a burning eye, its gaze consuming everything.
But when it finally settled, it took the form of a colossal armored warrior, its golden mask unreadable. Its voice rumbled like the end of all things.
"You have defied the order of the cosmos, Aaron Vale."
The god raised its hand, and the world screamed.
Mountains in the distance crumbled to dust. The sky split, revealing a glimpse of the infinite beyond. The land itself began to unmake itself, unable to withstand the presence of a being from beyond the mortal plane.
"You will kneel."
Aaron exhaled Then He grinned.
A Mortal's Answer
A normal person would have been obliterated by the sheer presence of a god.
Aaron?
He took a step forward.
The god hesitated.
Aaron cracked his knuckles. "You talk too much."
Then he vanished.
In the same instant, he reappeared above the god's head.
And punched it in the face.
The First Strike Against a God
The impact was cataclysmic.
The entire world seemed to invert, a massive shockwave ripping across the land, shattering mountains, parting the clouds in the sky.
The god staggered.
It did not fall. But it felt that.
For the first time in a thousand eternities, a mortal had struck a god.
The air howled.
The land cracked.
And Aaron landed back on the broken earth, shaking out his fist. "Huh," he muttered. "That actually hurt a little."
The god slowly turned its masked face toward him.
For the first time true anger filled its divine presence.
"You dare?"
Aaron rolled his shoulders, golden light crackling around him.
"You're damn right I do."
The war between mortal and god had begun.