The Beginning after the Last

Chapter 1, Part 4: Obstacles.

After defeating the king of gods, Lord RaAvi, Lord Avictus moved on to check the aftermath—only to discover something horrifying: seemingly every god, without exception, lay dead. The great Avisurath temple at the center of all existence, also once the divine heart of existence, now stood hollow and ruined, its colossal structure carved with wounds of war and trembling on the brink of collapse.

He stood there for a moment, staring up at the wounded temple, feeling the weight of something wrong. Something unreal. Even in his exhaustion, his instincts told him this moment should not exist... and yet it did.

Despite his severely weakened state, Lord Avictus pushed forward, entering the ruined temple. And there, waiting inside as though expecting him, stood a figure he never anticipated seeing alive—glaring straight at him.

"I see you've slain Lord RaAvi. That gives me the perfect chance to kill you right here and now... and claim everything for myself."

The figure stepped forward into the fractured light. It was none other than Lord Sanya, the god of weapons and war—Lord RaAvi's right hand.

"I see," Lord Avictus replied calmly. "So you're the last god standing. I wonder how—and why—that is."

"Did you really think I'd waste myself in that ridiculous conflict?" Lord Sanya snapped. "While all of you tore each other apart, I watched from the sidelines. Waiting. Calculating. And now that my moment has arrived..." He spread his arms. "I intend to take it."

He smirked, continuing,
"It's just like what the god of knowledge and wisdom said: in a conflict between two, only the third party benefits."

"Yeah," Lord Avictus answered with a tired but sharp edge, "but I'm still here. Unless you defeat me, you get nothing."

"We'll see about that," Lord Sanya murmured, eyes narrowing with lethal intent.

With a sudden flash of light, Lord Sanya appeared directly before Lord Avictus, his massive war hammer already crashing downward. Lord Avictus caught the blow with his arms, but before he could counter, the god of war delivered a brutal spinning back kick to his chest, launching him through the air like a weightless ragdoll.

"Just because you defeated our king doesn't mean you're stronger than everyone else. And it certainly doesn't mean you're smarter." Lord Sanya taunted, chasing after him with a crooked smirk twisting his face.

Still spinning through the air, Lord Avictus steadied himself and answered with a cool, matching smirk.
"I don't disagree with that at all. You know why the king lost? Why he fell?" He lowered his stance as the ground caught him. "Because he was too prideful. He had so much he could've used—so many abilities he never even bothered to tap into."

He clenched his fists, recalling the fight.
"The attacks he hit me with weren't even half of what he had in his arsenal. And the fact he used no proper tactics... that tells you everything. He was so certain that killing a young, 'inexperienced' god like me would be effortless that he suppressed himself. He thought that was all it would take."

A sharp grin crossed Lord Avictus' face.
"In the end, his arrogance wrote his downfall." He continued.

Feeling even more assured, Lord Sanya lunged forward and swung his colossal hammer in a devastating arc. Lord Avictus teleported away, reappearing behind him—only for a shield to manifest instantly at Lord Sanya's back, blocking him and denying the strike.