Chapter 9: The Battle of Gods…?
1288 Words
They were called Gods, but in truth, they were players.
Once human, once bound by the same limits as any mortal. Now, they existed beyond the veil of reason, trapped in an endless war within a place only whispered about in legends, The Valley of the Broken Gods.
A thousand levels and more. Their power was beyond measure. Their mana, unending. Their conflict, eternal.
According to the oldest guild records, records the System itself tried to erase, these beings had long surpassed the mortal code of awakening. They were anomalies, players whose data no longer synced with the System, existing outside its control.
And among the rumors whispered in trembling tones by Guild Masters and Captains alike… was one unconfirmed truth.
The Billionaire himself once stood among their ranks.
The Valley was unlike any other zone. It was not a battlefield, it was a wound in the world. A place where the System continuously rewrote itself in agony, unable to contain the sheer magnitude of power being unleashed. Anything less than godlike perished instantly. Even the strongest awakened players who dared enter were burned to ash before they could take a single breath.
This endless war had no victor, no purpose, only persistence.
The Battle of the Broken Gods.
> System: Warning! HP and Mana critically low. Immediate retreat recommended.
The alert echoed through her mind like a fading heartbeat.
Violet sat slumped against what remained of a shattered tree. Her armor cracked, her breathing ragged. Dust and fragments of frozen earth floated through the air like ash. She blinked slowly, staring at the scorched soil beneath her as if she were seeing the world for the first time.
Her mind was empty. Her vision, blurred by pain and disbelief.
She could still feel it. The pressure. The raw, divine power that had struck her. The sheer will of one of those so-called Broken Gods had thrown her hundreds of thousands of feet through the air, ripping through mountains, breaking the sky itself.
“I… was nothing to them…”
The words barely left her lips.
Her hand trembled as she reached for her weapon, but even the System refused to respond. Her mana field was drained to dust.
And as the horizon rumbled again, the heavens themselves began to tear open, golden rifts splitting the clouds apart as distant silhouettes of colossal figures clashed once more.
Violet’s pupils dilated. Each blow was a sunburst. Each scream, a thunderclap.
The Battle of Gods raged, rewriting the world with every strike.
Her breath trembled. The wound in her left waist wouldn’t stop bleeding; each heartbeat spilled more warmth into the cold dirt beneath her. She tried to move, but her limbs refused. The edges of her vision began to darken.
Her consciousness flickered. Then three figure in the far distance.
Through her fading sight, three figures came running toward her through the haze of battle. At first, she thought they were gods coming to finish her off, but as the shapes grew clearer, her heart stuttered in relief.
Veil, Leif, and Frost approaching.
“Her HP’s dropping fast!” Frost shouted, glancing at his interface while sprinting. “If we don’t get her stabilized, she’s done!”
“Shin, Fren, and Steve are still out there!” Veil barked, his cloak flaring from a blast behind him. “They’re fighting gods, Frost! GODS!”
Before he could finish, the ground beneath them cracked open, and hundreds of undead clawed their way out of the soil. Their empty eyes glowed violet.
> System: Warning! The Queen of the Undead has unleashed her Zombie Captains.
Level Range: 400 and above.
“What!?” Leif snarled, blocking a spear that came flying from behind him. The impact sent him sprawling across the dirt. “It’s fast—!”
“Leif!” Veil and Frost shouted in unison. They turned instantly, weapons raised, but it was too late. The undead horde had already encircled them.
“Frost!” Veil growled, eyes glowing beneath his hood. “Do it!”
Without hesitation, Frost slammed his hand to the ground. The air turned white as a shockwave of freezing mana erupted outward. The entire battlefield fell silent for a second, then froze solid.
Every undead within range had their feet trapped in glacial ice. Every movement halted. Except Veil.
He leapt high into the air, avoiding the frost wave, and when he landed, he crushed the brittle ground beneath his boots. From within his cloak, he unfurled a glowing scroll.
“...Destructive Runes.”
The parchment burned away in his hands as hundreds of crimson runes ignited in the air, floating symbols of annihilation spiraling around the trapped undead.
And then, Explosion.
The entire field erupted in a series of devastating explosions.
A wave of flame and light engulfed the undead captains, tearing the valley apart and sending shockwaves across the battlefield.
When the smoke cleared, the air shimmered with residual mana. Only Veil, Frost, and Leif remained standing, barely.
Veil stumbled toward Violet’s body, his cloak torn, one arm limp at his side. “We got her… we got her,” he muttered, kneeling beside her.
But before Frost could speak, the ground trembled again, this time deeper, slower.
> System: Warning. Queen of the Undead Approaching Detected.
Power Reading: [Unclassified].
Veil froze. His eyes widened. The air around them felt alive.
"Who's mad dogs are off the leash!?"
The voice echoed through the mist like a curse. The Queen of the Undead herself stepped forward, her tattered black robe dragging against the ground as her wand scraped across the air, leaving trails of greenish flame. She raised it slightly, and the battlefield obeyed.
Hundreds of undead began to rise from the soil, clawing their way up through the cracks. Their hollow eyes glimmered faintly, yet none of them moved. They stood… waiting. Watching.
The Queen smiled, a crooked, knowing grin that carried both beauty and decay. But just as fast, it vanished. Her expression turned cold, her gaze piercing straight into their souls.
Each of them, Veil, Leif, Frost, saw something different in those eyes. For Veil, it was the corpses of those he failed to protect. For Leif, his reflection screaming beneath the soil. For Frost, the moment he lost his brother in the northern wastes.
"You're all not from here... are you?" she said softly, tilting her head in a jerky, unnatural motion, like a marionette learning curiosity. Her crown of bone rattled faintly as her voice dripped with eerie calm.
For a moment, the silence was suffocating. The undead still hadn’t moved, as if waiting for her permission.
Then, her eyes glowed crimson.
“Then you must be trespassers…” she whispered, her tone calm yet filled with disdain. Her gaze lingered on them, piercing through armor, flesh, and spirit alike.
Suddenly, her expression twisted, an ancient fury resurfacing. The very air around her began to tremble as she took a single step forward. The undead behind her growled in unison, their hollow eyes blazing faintly in response to her wrath.
“You children…” she said with quiet anger, her voice echoing like it came from beneath the earth itself. “You have no idea where you stand.”
Her wand pointed toward the sky, and thunder rolled through the valley. “This is the Valley of the Broken Gods, a graveyard of immortals. Here, the Battle Gods fight for eternity… locked in an endless tie.”
er crimson eyes flickered like dying embers as she smiled faintly. “In this place, death is mercy… and strength is the only curse you’ll ever earn. You will fight, and bleed, and rise again, until time itself forgets you.”
- Writer
