"Then I shall grant you death!"
In that instant, Pride's azure eyes flared crimson, and scalding steam hissed from his mouth.
Renekton, impaled between the ribs by Pride's halberd, roared in pain — his frenzy only deepening. With a snarl, he swung his crescent axe in a wide arc, cleaving the air itself as it came crashing down upon Pride's chest.
Clang!
Metal screamed against metal. A shower of sparks burst forth, cascading like a meteor storm across the darkened sands.
"No one can stand in my way!"
Renekton opened his fanged maw wide, bellowing, "I am Ascended! I am a god!"
"To my eyes," Pride's clawed hand slid down the shaft of his halberd, twisting it hard, his other hand gripping and lifting it upward, "you're nothing but a hideous reptile!"
The halberd's blade tore through the wound, widening it — but before it could drive deeper, Renekton's heavy armor caught the weapon's edge.
The Darkin halberd bent like a bow from the strain. Renekton screamed in agony as Pride channeled his strength, using his enemy's body like a lever — and with one explosive heave, hurled the demigod into the air.
Renekton's massive form carved a jagged arc across the sky before slamming into the ground with bone-crushing force.
His skull struck the sand first, the shockwave rattling his senses — his vision went white, his throat rasping out a strangled, broken hiss.
As Pride ripped his halberd free, he raised one leg. The armor on his thigh split open, revealing a blazing thruster beneath.
Boom!
Flames erupted, propelling him forward — his kick smashed into Renekton's abdomen like a cannon blast.
The demigod's eyes bulged, blood spraying from the corners as his body skidded across the sand, tumbling and crashing through debris until he slammed into Vikora's shattered city wall.
"Gods?"
Pride spat to the side. "Not even worth mentioning."
——
Vikora.
Once a thriving city, it now stood silent and empty — a graveyard of ash and glass.
Across the ruins lay the echoes of the dying, their shadows burned into the walls by ancient fire.
Clang!
A masked Vastaya tossed a charred beam into the bonfire. Sparks leapt skyward, swirling like fireflies before the feet of the Sand Scourge Gang's leader.
Razz Bloodbeard, the gang's second-in-command, stared blankly at the flames. His body was built like an ox — he could swing a curved blade for hours without rest — yet even he could never match the effortless strength of his chieftain, Susase.
The Sand Scourge were bloodthirsty raiders, mounted on massive sand lizards that tore across Shurima's trade routes. They ambushed caravans, slaughtered travelers, and hunted bandits for sport.
They were predators of the desert — masters of ambush, striking from within the veil of a sandstorm with fangs and spears that spared none.
Those who resisted were hacked apart; those who surrendered were fed to their beasts.
A terror among men, a plague upon the sands.
Razz turned from the fire toward his leader — Susase, the chief rider of the gang.
The lion-headed Vastaya sat upon a throne built from molten glass bricks, fused under impossible heat.
Towering and broad, his golden mane was braided with steel cords and talismans — each, he claimed, bound with magic.
He had been staring at the ruined city gate for some time. Razz followed his gaze, though he couldn't fathom what could be so captivating there.
Then
Thud.
A deep, resonant impact echoed from the gate, heavy as a war drum. Razz flinched. Susase's muscles tensed, his eyes narrowing into slits of molten gold.
"ROAAARRR!!"
A frenzied, tormented howl shattered the silence.
At once, Susase rose from his throne.
The raiders shouted in alarm, weapons drawn. Their sand-lizards shrieked and bucked, chains rattling wildly.
"I'll find him!"
Renekton clawed at the wall, staggering upright, his vision awash in blood-red haze. Hallucinations flickered through his mind like ghosts of madness.
"I'll find my brother! I'll find him — and kill him! Or he'll kill me!"
"There is no third path!"
Whoosh!
The Darkin halberd whistled through the air. Renekton reflexively swung his axe to block — but the force behind the strike was overwhelming.
The blade pierced straight through his chest, driving him backward through the crumbling wall.
BOOM!
The demigod crashed through stone and skidded across the sands, impaled and pinned to the ground by Pride's weapon.
Another guttural roar tore from his throat, sending shivers through the raiders by the fire.
The Sand Scourge were monsters by human standards — but still human enough to fear gods.
"T-that's…"
One of the bandits squinted toward the wreckage — and swallowed hard.
A captured traveler stammered, "The Butcher of the Sands… Renekton!"
"The once-great god-warrior!"
"The Ascended of Shurima!"
"Our god of the desert!"
"Now nailed to the earth like a beast… Who could've done this?"
The gang murmured in disbelief until Susase silenced them with a growl.
"Enough!"
He turned to Razz. "Tell them — what happens to those who cross the Sand Scourge!"
"They die," Razz growled.
"Exactly. No matter man or god — against us, there's only death!"
A savage chorus rose around the fire.
"Sand Scourge!"
"Sand Scourge!"
"Sand Scourge!"
——
Whoosh!
A streak of light tore overhead, striking the ruins beyond. The ground trembled — a blinding flash bloomed into a rising mushroom cloud.
The shockwave nearly threw them off their feet.
"So noisy," a cold voice drifted through the wind.
Something fell from the sky, landing before the fire with a wet thud.
The bandits tensed, drawing their blades. The beasts snarled and strained at their chains, smelling blood.
Razz's eyes widened.
It was one of his own men — the guard posted at the west gate.
Or half of him.
Yusam's upper body lay in the sand, chest pierced clean through. His lower half was gone. Even as blood poured from his severed torso, his eyes still blinked, his fingers scraping weakly at the sand — refusing to die.
Beyond the firelight, a shadow moved.
Golden light flickered in the darkness — the silhouette was vaguely human, but far larger, far heavier.
The storytellers of the desert once said: "No gods walk the sands — only men and monsters."
Razz now knew that was a lie.
Because a god had come.
It walked like a man — but that was where the resemblance ended.
Blue eyes burned with divine, unbearable brilliance. Its face was draconic, its golden body overlaid with crimson scales. Lightning danced along steel-forged limbs, and a bladed tail dragged furrows through the sand.
Pride stepped from the darkness, halberd in hand. He stood before the writhing Renekton, whose roars shook the night.
"Shut up, reptile."
Pride raised his foot and crushed Renekton's snout into the ground. With a single motion, he ripped his halberd free.
"I am Ascended! I am a god!" Renekton screamed.
Pride sneered. "Gods? In my eyes… they're worth less than dust."
Shkkt!
He leveled the halberd's blade at Renekton's throat, ignoring the terrified bandits around him.
"You're the same as that mangy hyena."
Renekton froze, the cold bite of the steel against his scales dragging him into clarity — a sensation of pain and threat his kind had not felt in centuries.
His body trembled. His yellow eyes clouded as memories flooded back — fragments of triumphs, deaths, wars, and ancient glories long buried by time.
"Help me!" Renekton howled. "Brother! He's too strong! I can't defeat him! I must win! Brother!!"
"…Pathetic creature."
Pride withdrew his halberd, glaring down with disdain.
"You're not even worth the time I've wasted on you."
"Be grateful," Pride said coldly, kicking Renekton hard in the chest, sending him tumbling across the sand. "Grateful that I let you keep your miserable life."
Renekton coughed, forcing himself upright, the madness in his eyes fading.
"You only had to tell me where my brother is," he rasped.
"But now… it's too late."
"Too late?" Pride leaned on his halberd, glancing at the fallen crescent axe. With a flick, he sent it spinning toward Renekton.
"Then prove it to me, Ascended failure."
Renekton caught the weapon midair. His hunched back straightened, and a fierce light burned once more in his eyes.
"You'll see soon enough."
End of chapter....
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