Lightning cracked across the Divine Skies.
Inside the celestial halls of the Void Temple, where time moved differently, the goddess Shunyata, embodiment of the void, stirred from her meditation. Her pale eyes—voids in themselves—blinked open as ripples tore through the fabric of reality.
"Ash… has remembered," she whispered to the empty dark.
A black lotus bloomed beneath her feet.
Elsewhere, on the mortal plane, in the fortress-city of Prithvilok, the priestess Yamika, who had first welcomed the heroes, collapsed to her knees. Her vision blurred with divine interference. She could see flashes—Ash standing at the edge of galaxies, a colossal beast kneeling to him in chains, the world being stitched together by divine fingers, and finally… Ash giving the command to erase mankind.
She wept.
Back with the heroes, Akarshan stood frozen, his hand still over his head, breath ragged. Shiv steadied him.
"What did you see?"
"I… I don't know," Akarshan replied, trembling. "It was like I was inside Ash's head. There were stars, a war, beings made of light and fire and shadow—he… he fought them all. He was betrayed. He was alone for thousands of years."
Anuj, who had been quiet till now, looked up. "So maybe he isn't just angry. Maybe he's in pain."
Suddenly, the very air shimmered.
A golden portal bloomed open. Out stepped a serene, regal woman—the Goddess of Knowledge, Vidyarani.
All the students instinctively stepped back. She looked at them not with hostility, but sorrow.
"I came alone," she said gently. "There are factions forming even among the gods now. Some want to resist your friend. Others… wish to worship him."
"Why are you here?" Shivam asked.
Vidyarani turned her gaze toward Akarshan. "Because he is awakening. And the world must be ready. You, his friends, are his tether to this timeline. If you don't guide him… he will lose himself again."
Akarshan took a step forward. "Again? What do you mean?"
She closed her eyes. "This is not the first time he returned. This is the seventh reincarnation of the Supreme Being. In the past, each time, he woke too soon or too late—and in each life, the world either burned or fractured."
Monish gasped. "Then… we're on a loop?"
"No," Vidyarani said firmly. "This is the last one. His soul is reaching its limit. If he falls now… there will be no return."
Suddenly, the ground beneath them rumbled. A red glow filled the skies outside. The students rushed to the balcony—
They saw it.
A giant golden eye had opened in the sky. An ancient force had awakened.
And Ash's voice echoed across the heavens like thunder:
"All gods. All demons. All mortals. The test begins. Show me… whether this world deserves salvation or annihilation."
The age of judgment had begun.
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