One day... I do not know if decades passed, centuries, or merely a single day stretched into eternity, my master finally came. I saw him standing at the edge of the cave, a figure of calm radiance in contrast to the writhing shadows around me. Even in this place, bathed in the residue of death and the echo of my demonic nature, his presence was like a sudden sunrise cutting through a storm. His eyes widened as he took in my twisted form, my half-human, half-demonic body, scarred by years of torment, and my mind, shattered and burned by agony.
He tried to speak to me. My demonic hunger flared uncontrollably and I lunged at him, claws extended, teeth bared, a snarl tearing itself from my throat. But he came faster, his staff rose, and the moment it touched my mind, a heat ran down my spine, a sharp but cleansing pain that burned away my demonic veil. My human consciousness returned with a shuddering gasp. I collapsed onto the cave floor, trembling, sobbing, but whole in mind.
He knelt beside me, calm but visibly angered. He did not need to ask as he already knew. In the depths of meditation, he had seen my entire ordeal: the illusions, the betrayals, the oblations, the torture, and the horrors that had twisted me. Anger erupted from his body, a pure, blinding, and holy light poured outward, . He cursed the heavens with such intensity that the air itself trembled.
He shouted into the void of the cosmos, voice rolling like thunder. "You, who call yourselves gods! You, who tower in pride and ignorance! Your powers shall crumble, your divinity shall fracture! Mortal shall be your flesh, reborn countless times, struggling to regain the godhood you squandered!"
Lightning tore across the sky in violent arcs. Countless bolts, more than could ever be counted, struck every corner of the heavens. The oceans roared in response. Clouds swirled like blood over black silk. Earthquakes split the mountains, shaking the heavens themselves. And then, radiation erupted, as if a thousand suns had been born in a single heartbeat. The aura of the heavens shifted, a mixture of holy light and deep crimson fury, radiating power that made the cave itself quake.
From that light emerged them: gods, demigods, heavenly soldiers, nagas, rakshasas, raktabijas, gandarvas, kinnars, transformed beasts, yakshas, so many that counting was meaningless. Their eyes glowed with unnatural colors, some red like fresh blood, some molten gold, others shadowed as if infinite voids were behind them. Wings tore the air, tails cracked like whips, and roars shook the pillars of the cosmos. Sky and earth merged into a majestic battlefield, a realm where divinity itself was fragile.
Master walked calmly toward them. Not a flicker of fear in his eyes, though the cacophony of war cries and divine roars threatened to unmake the cave around us. One of the celestial beings, its voice like a thousand bells shattered at once, cried out:
"Why have you cursed us, Great Venerable? We have already witnessed her transgressions, her greed, her folly! She strayed from the path of Buddha, yes, but her fall is hers alone. Why punish us for her error?"
Master's laugh was soft at first, then like grinding stone. "Her fault?" he said, voice resonating across the void. "Her fault? You dare speak of fault, you, Arishadvarga of fractured bark and leaking commerce of body, you who vomit pretence of righteousness from your own corpses? You have lost the path, forgotten your own teaching, lost half of your godhood to her by your neglect, and now you lecture me on fault? You speak of right and wrong as if it is your dominion? I will speak to him, the Heaven-Seat, the Bearer of the Mandate. Your words mean nothing."
The celestial being shifted, unease rippling in its aura. "But… great venerable, if you continue this curse, it will befall and war will erupt for us. Mortals and gods alike will bleed. Is there no mercy? Can you not… undo this?"
He shook his head, voice like a drum of wrath. "Buddha is everywhere. She took all blame that was never hers. She bore the burden of your pride, your laziness, your arrogance. You watched and did nothing. And now, because of your blindness, you dare plead for mercy? Do you not see? Your divinity was borrowed, stolen from her endurance. Why should I soften my judgment?"
A low rumble vibrated the cave, vibrating through bones, through stone, through air. Outside, the sea swelled unnaturally, dark waves curling as if alive. Lightning arced from cloud to cloud, igniting the mountainsides. The air smelled of ash and ozone and divine wrath. Each celestial being braced against the aura emanating from my master, their forms flickering as though they themselves feared the sheer weight of his judgment.
One of them, a towering figure cloaked in gold and shadow, spoke, voice trembling like a cord about to snap: "We… we beg you, reconsider. The realms will not withstand this. You are our protector, our guide… do not destroy us for her… for her folly alone!"
Master's eyes, bright as molten rubies, swept over the expanse of celestial beings. "You were her protectors? Her guides? Then why were you absent when she needed you? Why did you watch while she bled, while she carried the sins you created through neglect? Her folly is yours in equal measure. You have no right to stand before me with your plea. Bow, and acknowledge the weight of your own failure."
The cave shook with his words. Shadows twisted across the walls like serpents, drawn to the power of his condemnation. From the light pouring around him, threads of energy extended outward, snagging at the wings of kinnars, the tails of rakshasas, the arms of heavenly lords. Some screamed, some trembled, some froze, and some laughed madly in defiance.
Suddenly, from one side of the tumultuous battlefield, a laughter pierced the chaos, soft, deliberate, yet full of malice. She appeared beside him, moving with a grace that was almost seductive, each step like liquid shadow. Her gaze lingered on him, slow, burning, and full of a perverse hunger. She let her fingers trail lightly over his shoulder, a touch that seemed to leave fire where it passed.
He flinched but did not retreat. Instead, he spoke, voice low, calm but carrying a weight that could crack mountains: "Mother… why so much hatred toward her? She did not wrong you. Why this burning gaze? Do I now have to open my own eyes, reveal my power?"
She smiled, a smile both alluring and terrible, and leaned closer, letting the shadow of her presence envelop him. "Then… see me," she whispered, and the air itself seemed to bend around her. "Your enlightenment is complete… but it is still not enough to conquer my power. And as for her… her fall from his heart, her path strayed. Why bother with one who asks yet receives nothing? She sought power from them, yet greed blinded her, did it not?"
Master's eyes narrowed, the calm in him now edged with righteous fire. "Greed? You speak of her greed, yet all she sought was to free the souls trapped in mortal chains, to grant them passage beyond suffering. And you, your hunger knows no bound. You swallowed power, bending gods and goddesses to shield your eyes, to hide from my gaze, to corrupt the world for your own pleasure!"
Her lips twitched, betraying amusement or, perhaps anger but she said nothing in reply, only a subtle shiver of contempt. "What we did," she finally whispered, "we did nothing. She refused the teaching, abandoned her path, her companion left her… and she came to me for power. Why not to your disciple?"
At that moment, I surged forward, my demonic form rising, dark and pulsing with twisted energy, but my voice remained human, strained yet defiant. "Master! She lies! I was captured by that bastard, her illusions, her deceit, they bound me, twisted me. They even sought you, to take your immortal body! And she, she forced this upon me!"
Inside me, the demon's voice erupted, sharp and venomous, cutting through my words: "Silence, wretch! I asked for power, I took the sacrifices, my will is absolute. Leave… this is my body!"
Master did not flinch. He studied the shifting form of the goddess beside him and me, calm in the storm of illusions and darkness. "See… even now, her form is demoness, but her humanity clings to her. For your own ambition, you sent her devotee to attack me. But he was unprepared, untrained, and yet I did not destroy him. I do not kill without reason. My disciples sent him, but their power was tempered, controlled, and now you see what true judgment is."
She recoiled slightly, eyes narrowing as the wind around us howled with anger and tension. "Benefactor," Master continued, voice resonant like a bell struck with iron, "she was turned into demon by your curse, but I will remove it. Tell me, show me the path from which she can be freed, and I will reclaim my word, my oath."
The assembly of celestial beings paused. Murmurs rippled through the crowd like insects crawling across ice. One of the gods, its body fractured and glowing with a hundred hues of pain, whispered, "Then… we…" But before he could finish, a violent eruption shook the sea below. His half-formed body blasted apart in a storm of red and black, crashing into the waves, spray flying like blood across the void.
She moved forward, voice like silk sharpened to steel. "Give me your body, now," she hissed.
Suddenly, I felt clarity return. My human mind surged, overriding the demon within. "No!" I shouted, voice cracking like glass. "Master, do not fall for her trap!"
He exhaled slowly, unshaken, even as the sky above split with lightning. "Then… about my soul?"
"I will devour it," she whispered, voice both intimate and horrifying, the cave echoing with her menace.
Master's gaze did not waver. "Then… devour it."
A blinding light erupted from his body. His soul detached from his flesh, radiating a power so vast it warped reality itself. The cave trembled violently, walls cracking, pillars groaning, shadows fleeing from the intensity. The essence of a living Buddha spread outward, white and luminous, pure enough to bleach the darkness from existence. She shrieked, voice cracking like porcelain.
"Stop it! Stop it! I will not devour it! Give me only your body!"
Master's laugh was low, tempered, deadly. "You are not worthy of holding even a tenth of my power. My body could contain far more than you imagine. I am sorry… sorry for not entertaining your delusions any longer."
The cave was filled with a silence that screamed. Dust hung thick in the air, the taste of metal and ozone on my tongue. The waves outside crashed like hammers on iron, lightning casting jagged shadows across the cliffside. Even the remnants of her power, her aura, seemed to recoil, twisting unnaturally at the edges.
She stepped back, hissing, voice dripping venom and lust, yet under it all, fear. Her gaze flicked from master to me, calculating, predatory, but unable to breach the shield of his essence. The shadows clung to her like coats of darkness, but they trembled.
Master's aura spread further, calm yet impossible to approach. "This is the judgment of true wisdom," he said, voice resonating like the final toll of a great bell. "Power without discipline is meaningless. You, who sought to devour and dominate, are beneath my notice. Let this be the lesson: the world does not bend to the hungry, the cruel, or the deceitful."
I knelt, still trembling, still half-demon, but my human mind fully returned. Around me, the cave seemed to breathe, shadows writhing, and yet a strange peace settled in the storm. Waves still crashed, lightning still split the sky, but the weight of despair that had pressed on my chest for centuries lifted, if only slightly.
She glared at us, fury and frustration radiating like heat from her skin. Her lips twitched, but no words came. Even the air seemed to hesitate around her.
Master turned to me, a faint smile touching the corners of his mouth. "We are not done," he said softly. "The curse is not fully lifted. Your path is still your own. But now you see the difference between power earned and power stolen. The world will not forgive, but perhaps… we can endure. Together."
I nodded, feeling the storm of centuries ebbing away. And in that moment, between thunder and shadow, between heaven and the abyss, I understood: even gods, even demons, even the most terrible of illusions, could not withstand the certainty of truth, nor the endurance of one who refused to yield.
At this junction, He stared at him, voice low but unwavering, cutting through the roiling air like a blade. "Dear lady," he said, "you sought her body, not for guidance, but to siphon cultivation, to consort with gods. You have done so. You could have reached godhood in mere years, and yet you persist. But hear me, if I yield my body to you now, you will claim their souls, bind their flesh, and birth new forms through them. Your scheme is clever, yes, but it is still sin. I give you one chance. Walk the path of knowledge. Forsake these heinous acts. Embrace the Buddha's way… or at least your own teaching. Refrain from further atrocities."
The heavens responded. A voice, deep and shattering as if the sky itself tore, roared beside her. "How dare a mortal speak thus! Do you believe your puny power can defy us? You worthless, ignorant fool! Do you not know the immensity of heaven? Your audacity will earn you endless torment. Speak back, and suffer the consequences across aeons!"
The master's eyes did not waver. His voice was calm, deliberate, but each word carried the weight of mountains and storms. "If you would have me fight like a monkey, then so be it."
From the clouds above, a colossal hand, radiant and suffused with celestial fury, reached toward him. Its shadow draped the land below, blotting out sunlight, shaking mountains. Yet before it could touch him, a staff appeared near master, gleaming like molten gold. It shot upward with terrifying speed, splitting clouds, slicing through sky. The colossal hand shattered into pieces, falling like shattered obsidian onto the distant peaks.
The staff vanished into the clouds, leaving only a lingering pulse of energy. The hand that had sought him no longer existed, consumed by the force of his presence. And yet, others surged forward, beings of light and shadow, emissaries of power beyond reckoning, their eyes alight with malice. They moved as if to strike him, but from his gaze erupted a white-hot radiance. It tore through the battlefield, burning their attachments, reducing their mortal anchors, their seals, talismans, and bindings, to smoke and ash.
From the edges of the realm, someone cried out, "Master! Why such anger? Control your heart! Will you become like us, blind and relentless?"
The sky itself trembled, clouds swirling in turbulent currents. A shadow moved across the heavens, a vessel of fury racing faster than sight. That goddess lunged to protect her allies, her body radiant, but the energy from the master struck her. Flames licked her form; smoke coiled around her like serpents.
She screamed, a scream that split the clouds, but her shouts were drowned by the inferno. A voice drifted through the flames, cold yet omnipotent: "What burns is already burned. What remains is ash. Flow with the nimble currents of time."
She howled, hurling attacks with all her strength, fire and shadow weaving together, but each strike dissolved into embers before it could reach him. Others tried to intervene, their powers flaring in unison, yet all were consumed, disintegrating into scorched fragments, leaving nothing but wind and smoke in their wake.
The master moved forward, each step slow and deliberate. Beneath his feet, ethereal lotuses bloomed in perfect rhythm, petals unfurling in radiant light that contrasted with the churning dark around him.
As he rose higher, approaching the same altitude as those who sought to challenge him, all attempts to strike him faltered. Each attack dissolved against a field of white-hot energy, dissipating before reaching his form. The atmosphere seemed alive, responding to his will, the wind bending, clouds twisting, and shadows recoiling.
And if one had dared to look closely, a small figure rested upon his shoulder, subtle, almost imperceptible, yet radiating a quiet authority that added weight to his presence. Then, without warning, he leapt. The motion was impossible, a shadow stretching beyond comprehension, and as he moved, his form expanded, growing until the clouds themselves seemed to retreat from his presence. Then, in a moment both instantaneous and eternal, he vanished, leaving only the echoes of power that shattered reality itself.
Around him, the battlefield stilled. Mountains quivered in the distance; the sea, roiling for centuries, stilled as though holding its breath. Smoke and ash hung heavy, twisting in unnatural shapes, shadows forming impossible geometries, like the remnants of an unseen nightmare. The sky was fractured, light and darkness colliding, leaving hues no eye should comprehend. The faint scent of burning incense and ozone filled the air, a mingling of divinity and ruin.
She fell back, wings of shadow stretching behind her, eyes blazing with fury and fear. Even her immense power seemed small in the wake of his might. The air shimmered, charged with electricity and unspoken malice, the kind that turned hearts cold with awe and terror. The very earth seemed to whisper secrets it should not, groaning under the weight of forces beyond mortal reckoning.
Master's voice carried across the void, low and resolute: "There is no need for the wrath of those who cannot see cause and effect. Let the ignorant cower, let the arrogant fall. My disciples understand inner Dharma; the rest shall witness consequence."
Even as he spoke, the remnants of the celestial host trembled. The goddess, still smouldering, hissed through clenched teeth, her power quivering with restrained fury. "You… you dare!" she spat, eyes flashing like molten metal. "You have no right!"
There, for the first time in countless cycles, I truly felt the immensity of my master's power. It was not merely strength, it was the universe itself bending, resonating with his presence. The air trembled as from his body, scripture unfurled like living clouds, rumbling and twisting, lightning dancing along their edges. Thunder cracked with each syllable he uttered, echoing across mountains and seas alike.
Suddenly, nine radiant rings erupted behind him. Each spun with an otherworldly energy, forming concentric halos, within which bloomed nine enormous lotuses, their petals shimmering with colors no eye could fully comprehend. These rings stretched beyond the bounds of this realm, their light piercing the void of space itself. Even the halos of the gods dimmed in comparison.
Those heavenly bastards did not hesitate. They surged forward, teeth bared, eyes alight with greed and arrogance. But my master remained motionless, serene, as if the onslaught were a mere breeze. Then a staff, carved from the sky itself, fell from the heavens. It landed in the sea with a force so immense that the water recoiled as if in terror, waves retreating like a tidal void. Its sheer size dwarfed my master. The impact split the earth, raised mountains, and created an earthquake that rattled the very foundations of the realm.
The gods attacked again, reckless and arrogant. Some were crushed beneath the falling staff; others scattered in panic, their strikes faltering before the overwhelming aura. And then a crescent-shaped staff descended, followed by a nine-tooth rake, and a poisoned jade disc spinning through the air. Blood erupted from every strike, the sea churning into a roiling red, as each tooth and disc struck with precision only my master could orchestrate. The battlefield was transformed into a river of crimson; nearly a quarter of the soldiers fell in mere moments, and gods who thought themselves untouchable were cut down, their screams echoing across the heavens.
From the chaos, I heard her angry, defiant voice. "You dare to kill my people! You will..." Her voice was cut short by a deep, guttural laughter, not hers, but a voice that seemed to come from the top of the staff. There he sat, a meditating monkey, golden rings circling his form in perfect symmetry, radiating power that rivalled my master's. Beside him, a golden-bodied arhat glowed like molten sun; a hungry heavenly pig, tusks glinting with divine hunger, groaned as my master perched upon them with impossible balance. A mirebound immortal, a grotesque hybrid of toad and tortoise, shivered with restrained fury. Lightning erupted from a dragon, arcing through the sky like divine judgment, striking indiscriminately.
"That monkey was meant to be sealed!" she screamed, fury cracking her voice. "How… how could he became free. How my calculations gone wrong? Other than the pig, how is it even possible? How… how did you reach godhood?!"
The pig's groan reverberated like a boulder falling into a canyon, and suddenly, from the sea, two colossal Buddhas, one of water, one of earth emerged. Without hesitation, they struck her, slapping her with the force of oceans and mountains. She shrieked, staggered, and the disciples around her laughed at them.
The monkey, calm and almost amused, spoke, his voice low but resonant. "She was killable. She had not reached godhood. She had not even touched immortality. Master, permit me… let me finish her."
But my master continued chanting, undisturbed by the carnage. His voice was steady, a river flowing through the chaos. Each syllable carried not rage, but purpose: to guide the dead to the afterlife, to restore balance even amid bloodshed.
Finally, as the pig's strength pressed her between the two Buddhas' palms, she shrieked, contorted, a frail mortal crushed between divine judgment. The pressure was unrelenting, yet my master spoke with calm authority, his voice carrying across the battlefield, cutting through the cacophony of war.
"Leave these aristocratic notions behind," he said firmly, each word a hammer against her arrogance. "Godhood cannot be achieved by coercion or violence. It cannot be seized through terror or cruelty. Your path is broken, and you mistake the end for the beginning."
He paused, his gaze sweeping the chaos. "Buddha, forgive my insolence. Guide this woman onto the real path. Let her see the truth beyond illusion. Let her understand the weight of her actions and the emptiness of power gained through fear."
The air trembled at his words. The sea stilled in quiet terror. Lightning hung frozen in the sky, suspended mid-strike. Even the wind seemed to bow. She could scream, she could rage, but the combined forces of heaven, earth, and the very energy of the master's being pressed her down. Her eyes widened, glimmering with both fear and fury, yet she could not resist.
To be continued...