An Uninvited Guest Arrives

Eleven familiar gods were in the air, their gazes fixed on Mahendra with an undeniably hostile intent.

"You, you, you and you look familiar. Is it because you all resemble the disciples I once slaughtered?"

Immediately, all the gods present were enraged by Mahendra's deliberate mention of the past—a time when his obsession with combat led him to effortlessly wipe out the minor gods who dared to challenge him. They hadn't even had a chance to fight back.

"Well, I didn't really get to know them. At least, not until I met their masters now."

The sky, still crimson, showed no sign of fading. Mahendra leapt upward, launching a direct attack on them.

"He's even crazier this time!" Morpheus opened a dream realm, pulling all of them inside.

No one on the outside could enter or even see what was happening. Not even Mahendra, who was trapped inside, would be able to leave alive.

The dream realm, which appeared to be an illusion straight out of a painting, did nothing to change the red sky. There were only pools of water, a few surrounding hills, and beautiful yet deadly plants, laced with poison.

Before his half-shattered dagger could graze Morpheus—his first target—Mahendra's arms were held back by thick plant tendrils. However, a flash of fire quickly burned the tendrils away, and in a blur of motion, a dagger managed to make a precise cut on Morpheus's neck.
Morpheus stepped back, he got down and stepped in a puddle, accompanied by three other gods, to recover from what seemed to be a fatal wound.

"He can't be underestimated. He's become much stronger," the God of Lightning said.

"He is getting stronger. I'm worried the others won't be able to handle him," the twin Gods of Time and Space said in unison.

Meanwhile, the other gods and goddesses were holding back Mahendra, using every means possible to bring him down.

The Goddess Panacea once again shot out the plant tendrils, followed by the God of a Speck of Light—Zia—who had been hiding behind thick foliage, waiting to ambush him.

With his view obscured by the tendrils, Mahendra was too late to notice Zia approaching from behind with his light spear.

"You won't escape!" Zia swung his spear, piercing Mahendra's back and even through his bones.

"Now it's my turn!" the God of Wrath shouted.

The god, whose hair was an inferno of flames, had an anger that never subsided. He unleashed a meteor-like power—hundreds of fireballs rained down from the sky, hitting Mahendra and knocking him down into the ankle-deep water.

A wave of heat enveloped his body, and the wound on his back made it difficult to move. Gasping for breath, his red eyes still glowed, and a few cursed words began to seep from his body.

Zia, realizing that Mahendra was close to controlling the curse's power, quickly pressed down on him again.

"That which neither lives, nor dies," Zia said softly, extending his hand forward.

The curse attacked Mahendra once more. The black marks that had spread had now covered his entire body, even his internal organs.

"Ugh! Zia... you!" Gritting his teeth, Mahendra glared at Zia with intense hatred.It seemed their attack wouldn't stop there.

Though the clear pools had already turned into pools of blood, the curse Zia had embedded in him long ago was now completely under the god's control. It gnawed at his very soul, making it incredibly difficult even to breathe.

"Devourer Destiny, you truly are not fit to live." An echoing voice came from beneath the water.

In his injured state, having almost lost all his senses and with the curse still eating away at him, the pools of water now transformed into an ocean. Mahendra was submerged, unable to fight back in the slightest.

"This curse came from the old world. I carelessly revealed my weakness to a friend I trusted, and now it's causing me so much torment."

He sank to an immeasurable depth of the sea. At that moment, Mahendra recalled a memory of a time when he had also almost drowned like this.

"A girl once saved me when I was about to drown from this very curse, but not anymore."

Memories of the past and present merged. Mahendra's heart, struggling to accept the harsh reality, made him weak and unable to fight against the gods right now.

The underwater plants pulled him down, further and further. With what little consciousness he had left and his eyes half-open, he saw a Sea Goddess with mesmerizing sapphire eyes. However, with her power to control the sea, she cruelly created a prison at the bottom of the ocean to not give him even the slightest chance of escape.

***

"Are you okay, God of Dreams?" Panacea asked, as she tried to heal the wound on his neck.

Although it was just a small cut, the wound wouldn't close, and blood continued to flow without stopping. On top of that, a bit of the curse's power started to gnaw at him again.

"I lost one of my arms trying to suppress him alone in the dream realm, but even this time, I couldn't escape his attack. It's shameful," Morpheus grumbled.

"What do you think we came here for? Don't force yourself. After all, Devourer Destiny is a sinner who surpasses both Azazel and the Immortal Warrior. We must not be careless, " the God of Lightning retorted.

"Right. It's better not to be rash," the Goddess of Gentleness said. With just a single word or sentence, she managed to calm the tense atmosphere.

"You're right," the Gods of Space and Time chimed in. They wouldn't give Mahendra any time either.

They manipulated space and time, using it to trap Mahendra, making it difficult for him to discern between what was real and what was fake.

The God of Lightning walked on top of the water, looking at the figure who still had a gleam in his red eyes. He then frowned, clenched both fists, and unleashed his blue lightning as an extra gift.

"How does lightning feel in the water? He must be in pain," he said with a satisfied smile.

"I really feel this isn't enough. I want to kill him!" the God of Wrath said seriously.

"You mustn't!" Panacea firmly forbade it. 

"If he's killed, the moment he returns without our knowledge, we'll face the same fate as our disciples did before," she added.

The Dream Realm created by Morpheus then slowly disappeared. The battle was over faster than expected.

Meanwhile, a flying Nephilim in the distance saw Mahendra lying wounded, his state unclear as to whether he was still alive.Slowly, he flew down, closed his wings, and walked silently, feeling the cave wall.

"Hey, don't go there!"

Suddenly, a large hand grabbed him and dragged him into the cave—it was the Immortal Warrior.

"Hey! That kid is dying! Why aren't you—"

"Nephilim, this is Devourer Destiny's plan. Even though it looks like he was defeated miserably, he allowed himself to be captured," the Immortal Warrior explained.

"For what purpose?"

"Do you know about the curse on his body?" Wandering King interjected, making Nephilim remember the black marks on Mahendra's body.

"That curse is related to the God of a Speck of Light. The kid wants to control his curse in the Upper Realm while he looks for an opening to attack them later," Wandering King revealed.

Suddenly, everyone's eyes turned to Wandering King in shock.

"I never heard about this from the kid. How do you know?" Nephilim asked, a question that was on the minds of the other two as well.