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Chapter 28: The Arbiter of the Skies and the God of Shadow
Time had nearly come to a standstill at the borders of the Shadow Dimension. The misty vapors of darkness drifted slowly over a newly-born continent, while the sky groaned under the weight of what was to come. Stars dimmed, and even the infinite void seemed to hold its breath—for the judgment of the gods was about to descend upon the lord of shadows.
And then it came.
It was as if the heart of the universe stopped beating. The heavens split in two, and from within that rupture, a beam of light struck the Shadow Dimension like a celestial hammer. Emerging from that light was a being without eyes, yet seeing all; without speech, yet screaming every truth.
The Arbiter of the Gods—Valthuraz.
Born from the combined will of the four great gods, Valthuraz carried within him the eyeless wisdom of Rhaem’thar, the trembling hunger of Otharys, the scorching fires of Kael’Zorr, and the decayed mercy of Seraphineh. His form was a blend of perfection and ruin; a single endless eye spun on his chest—neither observing nor averting—and his arms were bound to the heavens by chains of infinity. Each step cracked the world, each breath shook the plane.
V rose from his throne of shadows, his eyes locked onto the entity. There was judgment in his gaze—not anger, but mockery. He had declared himself lord of the darkness, but now, for the first time, he felt how thin that darkness truly was.
Valthuraz spoke. His voice echoed across multiple tongues and planes.
“Valmorr. Born of shadow, you nurtured the darkness. But we have watched you. Every step, every sacrifice, every whispered invocation—we heard them. Now you will be weighed. And you will be found wanting.”
The shadows trembled. A silence bloomed in V’s eyes. Then, one of the voices within him growled.
“You dare pass judgment upon me? You, the chained hound of the gods, a relic drowned in blind knowledge?”
V took a step forward. The sky fractured.
“The shadow is mine. The darkness chose me. You forgot. I will remind you.”
And at that moment, the battle began.
⸻
V cried out like a command from the depths of the void. The heavens split, lightning rained down. Griffon soared through the air, wings tearing the atmosphere, storm hidden in his feathers. Then came Shadow, slipping through the folds of reality like a whisper. Silence was her name; death was her breath. The ground cracked next, a crushing wave flattening all—Nightmare descended from the skies, every step toppling mountains, every roar chilling stars.
And finally came Nihreth. His wings of darkness cloaked the sky, his presence warping the rhythm of time. With his arrival, shadows danced, and a dirge echoed across the starless void.
Valthuraz responded with a single gesture—light beamed from the infinite eye upon his chest. This was no ordinary light, but a divine force that unraveled existence, that dissolved essence. When it struck Griffon, the sky tore—but the creature bent the light with storms and thunder. Shadow slipped past columns of light like living chains, unseen. Nightmare took the blow with his body and threw a punch at the heavens. Air vanished. Sound died.
Nihreth watched the struggle between light and darkness, then whispered an incantation. His words were older than language itself. And in that instant, dark flowers began to bloom upon Valthuraz’s body. But he, forged of the four gods’ will, cast the spell aside as if it were a command.
V’s eyes gleamed. He raised his left hand. Space fractured.
“Spatial Distortion!”
Valthuraz appeared in ten places at once—but none were real. To find the truth, V wove shadow like a net, surrounding his foe with a trap of darkness. In that moment, the shadows became chains—Chains of the Gloom—and crashed upon the arbiter’s form.
Yet Valthuraz’s power did not stem from light alone, but from the gods’ decree. He cried to the sky and conjured a spear infused with Kael’Zorr’s flames. With one hurl, it pierced Nightmare’s chest. The beast roared; the heavens dimmed.
Shadow lunged from behind, but the eye on Valthuraz’s back saw her before she could strike. Chains of light seized her mid-step and nailed her to the ground. Griffon dove with a furious bolt, shattering the chains—but at the cost of a wing.
And V… V folded space and appeared at Valthuraz’s side in an instant. He struck. This punch carried not only force, but the fury of his summons, the echo of Oblivion. Valthuraz’s body reeled, but did not fall. With shadowed wings, he hovered, the infinite eye glowing once more.
“You are not yet a god, Valmorr. You are still mortal.”
“No,” said V. Not with a single voice, but many. Each broken. Each cracked.
“I… am nothing now.”
And darkness fell.
⸻
V fused shadow and space—for the first time, he birthed a black hole. A singularity, so dense that not even an atom could escape its grasp. Valthuraz was unprepared. His chains, his eyes, even his divine will faltered in the face of such compression. He let out a sightless scream. The entire dimension quaked.
Nihreth tended Griffon’s wounds. Shadow scanned the silence. Nightmare’s colossal body lay still, yet lived. V saw only one thing now: the fall.
Valthuraz crashed to the earth with a single blow. The dimension collapsed. Mountains shook, the sky darkened. V approached. He placed his left hand on the rupture in Valthuraz’s chest.
“The will of the gods? It will now flow in my blood.”
And V began to draw the energy in.
⸻
A crack split the sky. The judgment of the gods was shattered. The Shadow Dimension swelled once more with the rise of its master.
V trembled with power. His body glowed not with light—but with darkness. Time submitted. Space warped. The shadows bowed.
He had reached the pinnacle of the fifth tier. But he was no god—not yet. He was still incomplete.
And the voice within him whispered once more:
“There is more… there must be more…”
As Valthuraz’s corpse dissolved into shadow, the heavens once again fell silent.
But the gods were not done speaking. They were preparing a new judgment.
And Valmorr had won only a battle.
He had not ended the war.
He had begun the wars.
