(Extended): The Dance of Madness — Ten Gods Fall

"You have no idea what you've invited."

— Tijan Petro, smiling wide beneath a storm-lit sky.

The Moment It Began

The ten gods descended like storms of old.

They stood in a great circle around Jalen and the fallen army—spirits made flesh and fury. Each shimmered with divine aura, their power crackling in the air, warping stone and sky.

Koruun, god of war and judgment, clad in crimson armor and wielding a blade forged from battle hymns.

M'bara, goddess of shadow and secrecy, who cloaked herself in nightmares.

Talak-Dren, the sand-wind serpent, whose hiss could erode bone.

Vesha the Burning, goddess of wrath, wreathed in endless flame.

Kauloch the Forge, whose hammer rang with thunder and earth.

Zhini of Eyes, who saw all possible futures.

Oruun the Gentle, god of mercy and peace, turned to wrath in vengeance.

The Crone of Teeth, spirit of famine and decay, with a mouth in her stomach.

Shama-Dai, the river god, crowned in coral and blood.

And Yiraka, the sky-walker, whose wings cast no shadow.

They stood as kings of realms beyond understanding.

Then Tijan Petro laughed.

The Dance Begins

He didn't charge.

He twitched. A sudden skip. A giggle. A blur of fire and ash.

The battlefield bent as he moved, warping space like paper folded by a child.

First to Fall: Zhini of Eyes

Zhini saw millions of outcomes.

In none of them did he survive.

Still, he raised his voice to warn the others.

He never finished the sentence.

Tijan whispered in his ear:

"Seeing's not the same as stopping."

He tore Zhini's eyes from every timeline at once. The god shattered into dust and blind screams.

Second and Third: Vesha the Burning and Talak-Dren

They attacked in unison—fire and sand, fury and erosion.

Tijan Petro spun once on his heel, drawing a sigil in the air with his finger.

Then he breathed in their attacks.

Fire, swallowed. Sand, devoured.

"Thank you," he said, burping flame.

"Needed a warm-up."

He screamed their names backwards, unraveling their divine essence. They collapsed into ash that didn't fall—it floated, eternally lost.

Fourth: The Crone of Teeth

She lunged from beneath the ground, screaming hunger, her mouth opening across her chest like a pit.

Tijan shoved a grinning skull inside it and clapped her shut.

"That was your last meal."

She imploded with a crunch that echoed in ten realms.

Fifth: Shama-Dai, River Lord

He summoned the great tide—a wave that could drown cities.

Tijan whispered to the river:

"Turn."

And the water obeyed him instead.

Shama-Dai drowned in his own current, pulled into an abyss of boiling blood.

Sixth: Kauloch the Forge

The strongest of them.

He brought his hammer down with all the weight of the mountains.

Tijan caught it.

With two fingers.

He kissed the metal, and it melted like butter. Kauloch's screams became iron rain.

Seventh and Eighth: M'bara and Oruun

Shadow and mercy came from opposite ends—one to kill, one to save.

Tijan spun and made a joke in a forgotten tongue.

Their domains swapped places.

M'bara turned to save. Oruun turned to kill. In confusion, they destroyed one another.

Tijan clapped once.

"Lovely choreography!"

Ninth: Yiraka the Sky-Walker

She soared, too fast for eyes. A queen of sky and silence.

Tijan pointed to the heavens.

"Mine now."

The sky turned red.

Yiraka screamed as gravity forgot her name, and she fell endlessly into nothing.

Tenth: Koruun, War Lord

The last.

He faced Tijan Petro alone, sword trembling.

"You are an abomination," Koruun spat.

Tijan smiled wider.

"I am the cost."

Their clash shook the world. For ten seconds, time slowed. Koruun's strikes were perfect. Measured. Glorious.

And then Tijan stopped playing.

He reached into the god's chest, past rib and spirit, and took his voice.

Koruun collapsed, silent forevermore. His body remained, kneeling. A statue to failure.

When It Was Done

Jalen stared at the battlefield.

Ash.

Bone.

Silence.

Tijan stood in the center, arms wide, like a conductor finishing a masterpiece.

"That was fun," he said. "Now… we seal our deal."

And so, the pact was bound.

And the ten gods became a lesson, burned into history:

Never threaten the chosen of a man mad enough to deal with Tijan Petro.