Chapter 79: The gods
Beetle struck first.
Its armored body slammed into the crippled steelplated creature from the side with a force that sent a shockwave of dust rippling outward. The impact twisted the beast off balance, its remaining legs scraping uselessly against stone as it toppled.
The steelplated beetle rolled hard, turning once, then twice, before landing on its back with a heavy thud. Its legs kicked into the air in frantic, mechanical bursts, scraping nothing but open sky, unable to find purchase on the ground it had just dominated moments before.
Shiny moved immediately.
There was no hesitation in his posture, no adjustment or reassessment, just a direct line forward as if the outcome had already been decided. His boots cut through the dust still hanging in the air, and in the same motion he brought his sword down into a clean forward thrust.
The blade slipped into the exposed underside where armor plates failed to meet, where the structure of the creature finally gave way.
Metal resisted for a fraction of a second.
Then it passed.
The beetle’s body jerked once, a violent twitch that ran through its entire frame, before all motion drained out of it at once. The kicking legs slowed, then froze, suspended midair like a thought cut short.
Stillness followed.
The second steelplated beetle reacted with a sharp, distorted screech that tore through the wasteland air. The sound carried an edge of agitation rather than instinct, as if it recognized loss and responded with something closer to anger than survival.
It charged.
The ground beneath it fractured slightly under the weight of its momentum. Dust surged upward in a thick wave as it closed distance, each step heavier than the last.
Beetle shifted first.
It waited until the final possible moment, then darted sideways with sudden acceleration, its smaller frame slipping out of the beetle’s direct path just as impact was about to occur. The movement left a trailing arc in the dust, a brief absence where it had been.
The charging creature overshot.
It did not slow.
It collided directly with Shiny.
The impact rang out sharply, a hollow metallic crash that echoed across the wasteland. Shiny was forced back a half step, but he did not break stance. He absorbed the collision, adjusted, and immediately brought his sword into position.
The beetle pressed forward, trying to overpower him with raw force.
Shiny remained calm.
His breathing did not change.
His posture did not waver.
Then his blade moved.
A single, precise motion.
The sword flashed low, angled upward, and slid into the narrow structural gap beneath the creature’s head where armor plating separated just enough to expose weakness.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then the beast faltered.
Its forward momentum collapsed into uneven steps. One leg dragged, then another. The rhythm of its movement broke apart as if something fundamental had been disrupted inside its structure.
It staggered once.
Then again.
A third step never came.
The steelplated beetle collapsed forward into the dust, its weight hitting the ground with finality that stirred a last, fading cloud of debris.
Silence returned to the wasteland as if it had been waiting for permission.
Shiny pulled his sword free in a slow motion that felt almost deliberate, the blade leaving the creature without resistance. He exhaled once and rested the weapon against his shoulder.
His gaze shifted toward Beetle.
A brief nod followed.
Beetle responded instantly with a sharp, satisfied shriek that carried unmistakable pride.
Above them, faint translucent markings flickered into view.
[Steelplated Beetle slain]
[Steelplated Beetle slain]
Yuto let out a low breath, watching the last traces of movement fade from the battlefield.
"Good job."
Shiny brightened immediately, posture lifting slightly as if the acknowledgment had weight far beyond simple words.
"Thank you, Master."
Beetle shrieked again, louder this time, clearly demanding equal recognition, shifting its stance in place as though presenting itself more fully.
Yuto stepped forward and gave a brief pat against its armored side. The surface was cool and hard beneath his hand, vibrating faintly with residual energy.
"You too."
Beetle paused for half a second, then gave a short, satisfied sound before settling.
The summons faded into motion beside them, falling in naturally as the group resumed their westward journey.
The wasteland stretched on without end.
Time lost definition beneath the open sky, where light filtered through a thin haze rather than a sun they could track. The ground alternated between cracked stone and shallow dips of hardened sand, each step producing the same dry crunch that eventually stopped registering as sound.
Yuto kept the map in mind more than in hand now, its path already etched into his memory through repetition. Still, there were moments where he glanced toward the horizon, checking for changes that never seemed to come.
Tami walked slightly ahead, energy returning in small bursts as the tension of the fight faded. Maya remained measured, steady, her eyes occasionally scanning the terrain with quiet caution.
Hours passed in uneven silence.
Then the landscape shifted.
At first it was subtle, a difference in distance rather than form. The horizon ahead thickened, darkened, as if the sky itself had been pressed downward. The wasteland that had been empty for so long began to feel oriented toward something.
A vertical shape emerged.
Thin at first, like a scratch drawn against the sky.
Then it widened.
Then it lengthened.
Until it no longer resembled anything distant.
It became presence.
The Tower of Darkness rose from the land as though it had been carved upward from the world itself. Its surface was black stone layered in impossible symmetry, each section fitting together without visible seam or fracture. It did not reflect light. It absorbed it, as if the surrounding brightness weakened simply by being near it.
Its upper reaches disappeared into the clouds above, not piercing them so much as vanishing into them.
The air around it felt different.
Heavier.
Tami slowed first.
Then stopped completely.
A grin formed across his face, slow and disbelieving, as though the sight had not fully registered as real.
"Finally."
He let out a long breath that carried the weight of everything they had endured to reach this point.
"We’re about to go home."
The word hung there longer than expected.
Home.
Yuto looked at the tower without speaking. It was large enough that distance no longer felt meaningful. It simply existed, dominating everything around it, reshaping the horizon into something smaller than itself.
A faint smile formed on his face.
The idea of home had begun to feel abstract over time, something distant enough to lose shape. Hearing it spoken aloud again made it feel almost unfamiliar.
Maya’s eyes remained fixed on the tower.
She did not smile.
"Let’s not celebrate yet," she said quietly. "We still have to reach the top."
Tami clicked his tongue lightly.
"Always the optimist."
There was no real frustration in it, only acknowledgment.
They moved forward together.
As they approached, the scale of the entrance became clear.
There were no gates that needed opening.
No visible mechanism.
Just a wide opening carved directly into the base of the structure, leading into absolute darkness that swallowed the view beyond a few steps inside.
No guards stood watch.
No creatures lingered near the threshold.
No traps triggered their approach.
Only silence.
The absence of resistance felt intentional, more unsettling than any obstacle might have been.
Yuto stepped through first.
The moment he crossed the threshold, the sound of the outside world changed. Wind, faint as it had been, disappeared entirely. Even the wasteland behind them seemed muted, as if distance had been redefined the moment they entered.
Their footsteps echoed sharply across polished black stone.
The interior was vast.
Far larger than the exterior suggested.
The floor was smooth, almost reflective, but not in a way that showed images. It swallowed detail instead, flattening depth until it was difficult to judge distance properly. The walls rose high and clean, uninterrupted by decay or damage.
It felt preserved.
Not ancient.
Not abandoned.
Waiting.
At the far end of the chamber stood a massive stone wall covered in inscriptions carved with meticulous precision. The markings were old, but not worn. As if time had passed around them rather than through them.
Maya stepped forward first.
Her hand brushed across the surface, displacing a thin layer of dust that had settled despite the chamber’s unnatural preservation. Her eyes narrowed as she followed the lines of text.
Then she began to read.
"The Gods ruled for eternity..."
Tami moved closer, leaning in slightly. Yuto stood just behind them, eyes tracking the carved symbols as they unfolded across the wall in long, structured sequences.
As Maya continued, the story emerged in fragments.
The Gods had once governed existence itself.
Their reign stretched beyond measured time, beyond cycles that mortals could comprehend. They shaped worlds with intent, guided civilizations through unseen influence, and stood above all systems that defined reality.
Then the record shifted.
A change described without explanation.
A darkness had spread across the Land of the Gods.
No origin was given.
No cause recorded.
Only expansion.
It grew across the divine realm like something alive, consuming or corrupting everything it touched. And one by one, the Gods were said to have fallen into it.
The phrasing repeated in different ways, but the meaning remained constant.
They were not defeated in war.
They were not erased by time.
They fell.
Eventually, the age of the Gods ended.
The inscription stopped there.
No continuation.
No conclusion.
Just termination.
Silence settled over the chamber.
Tami frowned deeply.
"What does that even mean?"
He stepped back slightly, gaze flicking between the wall and the empty space beyond it.
"How can Gods fall?"
Maya’s voice followed, quieter but sharper.
"And what exactly is this darkness? The tower is called the Tower of Darkness. Is it connected somehow?"
Yuto did not respond immediately.
His attention had drifted somewhere beyond the inscription, beyond even the chamber itself. The names carved into the story were not unfamiliar.
Sadara.
And the other presence he had unknowingly been bound to.
The blessings on his soul were no longer abstract concepts. If the carvings were accurate, they were traces of beings that had once stood at the level described here.
And had still fallen.
The thought settled heavily.
If something could bring down Gods, then everything they had experienced so far was only a fraction of what existed beneath the surface of this world.
Something older.
Something larger.
Something that did not care what stood in its path.
He exhaled slowly.
No answers came with the realization.
Only distance.
After a time, they moved on.
The chamber behind them remained unchanged, the inscription silent now that it had finished speaking.
The corridors ahead stretched forward in long, uninterrupted lines.
Dim crystals embedded within the black stone walls emitted a pale, cold glow that did little to soften the darkness. Instead, it emphasized it, carving the space into layers of shadow and light that did not fully align.
The deeper they walked, the quieter the tower became.
Even Tami eventually stopped speaking.
His voice did not echo as much as it dissolved.
The silence inside the Tower of Darkness did not feel empty.
It felt complete.
