The air still quivered from Aarav's strike. The aftershock rippled through the arena, shaking the stone beneath their feet.
The Golden Tyrant tilted his head, touching his chest where Aarav had struck.
For the first time, his golden eyes reflected something close to surprise.
Aarav exhaled, flexing his fingers. His knuckles throbbed, his bones screamed—but he had landed a hit.
And not just any hit.
He had forced the Golden Tyrant to move.
A smile crept onto Aarav's face. "Not so unshakable now, huh?"
The Golden Tyrant chuckled. "Fascinating."
And then—he vanished.
Aarav barely had time to react before a golden blur filled his vision.
BOOM.
Aarav's world twisted. His ribs exploded in agony as he was sent flying—again.
His body crashed into the arena wall, stone shattering like glass.
Pain flared through his chest, his breath stolen from his lungs.
Damn it. He's too fast.
Dust swirled as Aarav forced himself up, spitting blood onto the cracked ground. His vision flickered, but his grin remained.
"That all you got?"
The Golden Tyrant's laughter rumbled like distant thunder.
"You remind me of someone."
Aarav wiped his mouth. "Someone who kicked your ass?"
A pause. Then—a smirk.
"Someone who died standing."
The words sent a chill down Aarav's spine.
And then—the world changed.
The air vibrated with something ancient.
Something primordial.
A presence.
Aarav's instincts screamed.
The Golden Tyrant raised a single hand.
Golden light erupted from his body, coiling into the sky like a storm.
Above them, the heavens cracked open.
Golden chains.
Thousands of them.
But these were different from before.
They weren't meant to bind.
They were meant to destroy.
Aarav gritted his teeth. No running. No retreat.
If he fell here, he wouldn't get back up.
The mark on his skin burned.
The voice from before whispered again.
"Rebel."
Aarav clenched his fists.
The sky burned gold. The chains descended.
And Aarav charged straight into them.
The golden chains fell like judgment, their radiance swallowing the sky.
A prison. A grave. A decree.
Aarav ran straight into them.
His body burned. Every step felt like walking through fire, like chains weren't just descending from above—but rising from within him, trying to shackle his soul.
The voice whispered.
"You must break to be free."
Aarav's fists clenched. Not today. Not ever.
The first chain shot toward him—faster than a lightning strike.
He twisted, barely avoiding it—but the second followed instantly.
No time to dodge.
BOOM.
The impact nearly shattered his shoulder. Aarav gritted his teeth, rolling with the force before slamming his foot into the ground to steady himself.
A test.
The Golden Tyrant stood untouched, watching from afar. Waiting.
Aarav grinned. "Just gonna stand there? Let me show you what I can do."
He moved.
The next chain came—he didn't dodge. He grabbed it.
Heat burned his skin, but he held on.
The arena trembled. The chain resisted.
Aarav yanked.
The chain cracked.
The Golden Tyrant's eyes narrowed. "Impossible."
Aarav exhaled, his body aching, his grip tightening. Then he pulled again.
This time, the crack spread.
The sky shook.
And the first golden chain—the chain of the heavens—shattered.
The Golden Tyrant's voice was calm, but there was something deeper beneath it now.
"You are making a mistake."
Aarav wiped the blood from his lip. "I make a lot of those."
The next chain shot toward him.
But this time—he met it head-on.
The second chain shot toward Aarav, a golden serpent coiling through the air with blinding speed.
But this time, he didn't dodge.
This time, he met it head-on.
BOOM!
His fist clashed against the divine metal—and held.
The force rippled outward, sending cracks through the ground beneath him. For the first time, a golden chain had been stopped mid-air.
The arena went silent.
The Golden Tyrant's eyes flickered.
"No one stops my chains."
Aarav grinned through gritted teeth. "Then I guess I'm no one."
The chain twisted violently, trying to break free from his grasp. The pressure threatened to crush his bones.
But Aarav refused to let go.
Not again. Not now.
The mark on his arm flared.
And suddenly—the chain stopped struggling.
It shook.
Then, as if something inside it had broken—the second chain shattered.
A deafening shockwave rang through the battlefield.
The Golden Tyrant's lips parted slightly—the closest thing to true surprise.
The other chains quivered in the air.
Aarav exhaled, his body screaming in pain. But he lifted his fists again, stepping forward.
He wasn't done.
He couldn't be.
The Golden Tyrant lowered his hand.
The remaining chains stilled.
His golden eyes gleamed. "I see now."
Aarav tensed. "See what?"
The Golden Tyrant's grin was slow. Cold. Amused.
"You are the rebellion itself."
Aarav's heart pounded.
Something about those words—about the way he said them—felt wrong.
Like the Golden Tyrant wasn't shocked.
Like he had been waiting.
Aarav barely had time to react before his own shadow moved.
Something was behind him.
Something older than chains.
Something that had been watching.
The voice from before whispered again.
"Now the real war begins."
Aarav's breath caught in his throat.
The shadow behind him shifted—not like a flicker from the torches, not like something cast by light.
It moved on its own.
And then—it rose.
A dark figure loomed behind him, its form stretching and warping like a liquid swallowing the air. The temperature dropped, his breath turning to mist.
Aarav turned, every nerve screaming. What the hell is—
The figure lunged.
SLASH.
Aarav barely twisted in time. A clawed hand carved through the air where his throat had been. The force of the missed strike sent cracks through the ground.
Aarav stumbled back, heart hammering. That speed—
The Golden Tyrant laughed. "Ah. There you are."
The shadow stilled. And for the first time, Aarav saw its face.
Or—the absence of one.
It was human-shaped, but its head was a void, a swirling abyss with no features—except for a single, burning eye in the center of its face.
It stared at him.
And Aarav felt something inside him break.
"You are unchained," the voice rumbled, deep and ancient. "But even the unchained have an end."
The moment those words left its mouth, the world around them dimmed.
The arena. The sky. The chains in the air. Everything faded.
As if the universe itself was being swallowed whole.
The Golden Tyrant folded his arms. "You kept watching from the abyss, but never interfered. Why now?"
The shadow's burning eye locked onto Aarav.
"Because he is not meant to exist."
The words hit harder than any punch.
Aarav's pulse pounded in his ears.
What the hell did that mean?
The Golden Tyrant's smirk widened. "Interesting. You acknowledge him, yet you seek to erase him?"
The shadow didn't answer.
It simply moved.
Fast.
Faster than anything Aarav had ever seen.
The next moment—a blade of pure void pierced through Aarav's chest.
Cold.
His vision blurred. His body locked.
A whisper echoed through his skull.
"You should not be."
Then the darkness swallowed him.
---