After the brief but critical reunion, Alex didn’t waste any time.
The moment he and Kaelios were alone inside the [Garden of Destiny], he revealed the truth, he had become a god.
Not just that, but he also demonstrated one of the terrifying powers he had obtained through that ascension, the [Void Blasters].
Kaelios, the [God of Destiny], blinked once, his sharp eyes narrowing as a flicker of disbelief crossed his otherwise calm expression.
For a moment, he didn’t say anything, standing in silence as the implications settled over him like a weight.
Gods were not born lightly.
For millennia, there hadn’t been a single new one. Until now.
“So… another god after all this time,” Kaelios muttered.
His voice carried no resentment or pride, just a quiet acknowledgment of the fact.
If this had happened centuries earlier, there might have been ceremonies or debate, maybe even resistance.L.
But now, time wasn’t a luxury they had anymore.
Rather than dwell on what couldn’t be changed, Kaelios moved forward.
They had work to do.
For the next hour, the two gods stood beneath the endless golden sky of the [Garden of Destiny], deep in discussion.
They covered everything, skills, powers, theoretical matchups, vulnerabilities, cooldowns, counters.
Every skill in their arsenals was laid out and broken down piece by piece, even those that were normally kept secret.
There was no point in holding back information when the fate of their entire world would soon be hanging in the balance.
The [Chosen Games] loomed ever closer.
Even though all the gods had agreed to its terms long ago, none of them remembered the original pact.
The memories had been removed, sealed away by forces far older and more absolute than them.
The [Creators], those five nameless, shapeless beings at the top of all existence, were the only ones who remembered the original agreement.
They would be the ones to reveal the full rules and initiate the final phase once the event began.
Alex had met one of them.
But that knowledge, he hadn’t shared it with Kaelios.
Not yet.
Something in his gut told him that speaking about the [Creators] openly, even to another god, was a bad idea.
So he held that detail back, choosing instead to focus on what they could control.
[Time before the Chosen Games: 2 Hours, 58 Minutes…]
“Alright,” Kaelios finally stood, brushing invisible dust from his robe as their long conversation came to a close, “We’ve talked. Now it’s time to see how this actually works.”
Alex nodded and stepped back.
“Void Blasters.”
The moment the words left his mouth, the space behind him warped, and with a faint hum, three massive blasters materialized mid-air.
Their gaping mouths remained shut for now, but a deep energy flickered in their empty eye sockets, glowing faintly with untamed void power.
They hovered in place, silent but imposing, as though waiting for orders.
“Attack,” Alex commanded, his voice calm and steady.
The blasters stirred at once, drifting forward slightly and spreading out to triangulate Kaelios, who simply stood still with his arms behind his back.
“This isn’t about fighting to win,” Alex clarified, “I need to see how fast they can kill someone like you.”
“I figured,” Kaelios replied, already sensing the raw, alien force leaking off them, “I won’t dodge… at least for now. Let’s see what they can really do.”
The three [Void Blasters] slowly opened their jaws.
From within, pale energy began to swirl.
Their cores pulsed, faintly at first, then stronger with each passing second.
The pressure in the air thickened, like a storm about to snap.
“It takes thirty seconds for the first beam,” Alex explained, “A minute for the second, and about ninety seconds for the third.”
“But if they get hit while charging, the core resets, and I have to wait five minutes before I can summon them again.”
“Hmm.”
Kaelios lifted his hand and summoned several of his [Light Dummies], humanoid constructs made of brilliant golden energy.
They obeyed instantly as he ordered them forward.
The dummies moved as one, blades of condensed light forming in their hands as they slashed at the charging [Void Blasters].
Bam! Bam! Bam!
The skeletal cannons didn’t flinch.
Physically, they remained unharmed, their resilience was immense.
But the moment the attacks landed, the glow in their mouths faded, their jaws snapping shut.
The hum of energy stopped cold.
[You have to wait 5:00 minutes before the “Void Blasters” are able to charge again.]
Kaelios arched an eyebrow.
“So, even minor interference will reset them?”
Alex nodded grimly.
“Exactly. They’re not easy to defend. If anything gets close, I lose them.”
It was a serious flaw.
One that needed accounting for in any battle plan.
After five minutes, Alex summoned the blasters again and gave the order to charge.
As the seconds ticked by, Kaelios frowned slightly.
“…Odd,” he said, “Normally, I could reset a skill’s cooldown instantly within my domain, especially with time or destiny-based interference.
But with these… I can’t touch them at all.”
Alex didn’t answer, but he already had a theory.
The skill hadn’t originated from this world.
It wasn’t just divine, it was from the [Creators], torn from their domain.
That made it beyond even Kaelios’s power.
But he kept that detail to himself.
Once thirty seconds passed, the first [Void Blaster] fired.
BAM!
A beam of raw blue energy exploded forward, slamming into Kaelios’s chest and vaporizing his body in an instant.
He didn’t even have time to blink.
The blast continued for a full ten seconds, slicing across the landscape like a scythe of annihilation.
Even when it was over, the air felt scorched and heavy.
Alex mentally noted the timing: 10 seconds.
That meant area control was another factor to use in a real battle.
Kaelios reformed moments later, dusting himself off.
“I’ll dodge the next one.”
“Good idea,” Alex replied.
As the second cannon reached the one-minute mark, its core pulsed purple.
The blaster opened its jaw fully, and without hesitation, fired again.
BOOM!
The energy ripped through the Garden of Destiny.
Trees, flowers, and even solid stone paths were reduced to dust as the beam carved through the domain.
Kaelios unfurled his four radiant wings and launched himself skyward, streaking across the sky to avoid the path of destruction.
“WHAT the hell is this?!” he yelled mid-flight, the beam twisting to follow him unnaturally, like it had a mind of its own, which it probably did.
The pressure was overwhelming.
He weaved and spun through the air, but less than five seconds in, the beam adjusted again.
It barely grazed him. A sliver of contact. Yet that was enough.
Kaelios’s body exploded into particles of light before he could even register the hit.
[Reviving…]
He reappeared on the ground, breathing heavily.
“That… was not normal death.”
Alex glanced at him.
“You alright?”
Kaelios shook his head, visibly rattled.
“It felt different. Like the beam didn’t just kill my body, it erased my presence. And the way it follows you…”
He didn’t finish the sentence.
Alex remained quiet, but a faint, grim smile tugged at his lips.
This was the true power of the [Void Blasters].
Just like before, the second beam lasted exactly ten seconds before fading away, leaving behind a deep trench of scorched earth and silence.
All that remained now was the third blaster: the final phase.
The one charged for ninety full seconds, and unlike the others, this one made the air itself distort around it.
Alex and Kaelios stood in silence as its core began to glow, darker and deeper than before, an almost black light, if such a thing could exist.
Even the sky above the [Garden of Destiny] seemed to dim.