The time passed. Years turned into decades as I besieged dungeon after dungeon, killing evil after evil. Some cursed me, others hailed me as the next great evil, sent to take their place as destroyer of worlds. They all ended the same way. Ashes scattered in the wind.

All until I finally stood before the last dungeon. Millions of demons came at me, only to be wiped out with a flick of a finger, spreading fire over the horizon.

Like this I continued through the dungeon until I stood before the final evil. He laughed at me, congratulating me for coming this far. His voice scratched the air, like iron dragging over stone, disturbing for any mortal. But I merely let this voice pass myself, uninterested in any discussion about the fate of the world that he had prepared or an offer to rule together. Deciding that I had heard enough I let my flames rush over his body, incinerating him.

But opposed to any other evil before he withstood my flames, laughing at me, calling me a hot-tempered child. Thus begun our fight, myself letting loose of my flame, reaching higher and higher degrees of temperature as even the dungeon around us evaporated, a phenomenon I have never seen before, and him controlling darkness, like the nothingness of space, cold and silent.

It went on for days, without any visible winner, but I knew that I couldn’t outlast him. And he knew too.

“Haaah, why don’t we end this already. I have a world I need to destroy.”

He disappeared from where it stood, appearing thousands of miles away. I didn’t see him, but I felt the energy he amassed. Pure void, capable of annihilating everything in its way.

Is this the end? Even the power of a god isn’t enough to stop nothingness.

“You really are a troublemaker.” A dark, monotonous voice rang out. “Now I know why she asked me to look after you.”

“Fuck, I told you to stay away!” I cursed at him. He should have left to survive, left to start a family. He shouldn’t be here to die while fighting like me!

“Shut up Idiot, did you really think I would leave you alone, seeing how you still mourn about her.”

I started to laugh maniacally when he mentioned her.

“Me? Mourning about her? Decades have passed since I saw her die! I don’t even remember her face anymore!”

“Then why are you crying?”

Tears fell from my eyes, rapidly evaporating because of my own heat.

“Let me tell you something brother. She knew that she wouldn’t make it this far. But she believed in you. That you are the one who can end this nightmare. That’s why she saved you.”

It’s my fault that she died.

Something broke inside my mind that moment, letting my body burn in a sinister light.

“Hey Brother.” I called out into the burning world outside.

“Let’s do it like always. I will become your shield.”

Before my eyes, a portal opened, shining in the lights of the rainbow. I smiled when I saw him stepping outside. Seems like I’m not the only one to become a god.

He looked back at me, his bulky physic has matured, seemingly belonging to an old man, but not looking anything weaker than before. One of his eye-sockets had become empty, leaving a gaping hole.

“Not everyone can just become powerful because of his rage. I needed to lose an eyeball.”

Did he try to crack a joke? Damn, he should have become a god much more earlier.

He turned around, sensing the void spreading, coming to them. Behind him, out of the portal, came two giant ravens, flying past him into the sky.

“I see.” He held out his hand, a spear materializing in front of it, as he began to shout. “Warriors of Valhalla! Leave the halls of ever flowing mead! The time to fight has come!”

Smaller versions of the earlier portal opened before him, letting hundreds of thousands warriors step outside. He walked past them, each of them granting their powers to his spear. When he walked past the last one the void closed in, ready to swallow them all. He took one last step, getting into the right stance, before he pulled his spear back.

The spear shot forward, silently, before crashing into the void, delivering the blow of all warriors gathered behind him. Matter fought with nothingness, swirling around before disappearing completely. Still, as the void became filled with substance it lost its will, collapsing on its own.

I looked at my brother, standing at what seemed like the epicenter of the collapse of all known thing. He turned to me and started to speak.

“I’m sorry, seems like I will go first and wait with her. Do us a favor and finish it, lead the humans in a new era of peace.” A sad smile spread over his face. “And don’t lose yourself in the darkness. You were our light.”

As he finished his body started to disappear, together with all the other warriors he has summoned. All that was left was the ground, distorted, disappearing or burning and reappearing only to be distorted again. My eyes saw the aftermath left by the clash of three godly powers.

Then the last evil appeared again, starting to speak in an uninterested tone.

“Still alive? I honestly didn’t expect that. But seeing what is happening here, some god interfered, a god of the afterlife presumably.”

His ranting went on and on, but the message I got with the death of my brother, stopped me from thinking anything.

“What?” I looked at the message in horror. What did I do all this time? What about the humans outside? There should have been humans left. There must have been humans left!

I know! The system is messing with me! Fucking piece of shit!

“Hey, don’t ignore me human!”

I felt another void wave coming at me.

“I don’t have time for your shit right now!” Anger resounded in my voice, sending out a wave of flames, clashing into the void, before it began to overwhelm it and travel further to the prime evil. He hastily raised his void as a shield, trying to extinguish my fire, but I couldn’t care about him right now.

“Damn system, don’t lie to me!”

As always, the system didn’t answer my questions. It didn’t answer anyone’s question, only telling them when they got a new title or skill. Wait, that’s it. The last skill I got.

“[Primal Fire]!”

“Fuck!” This is getting nowhere. “System open – Skill window – fire magic.”

“There it is. [All-encompassing fire].”

“Hahahahahah, as if you ever fucking cared about what we end up! Continue Bastard!” I ended up losing all sight of my surroundings, concentrating only on one aspect. I finally wanted to know if everything I had done had been for nothing in the end.