The sky didn't just bleed.
It cracked.
A thin red line tore open the heavens like a wound being forced apart by claws on the other side. The air became heavier—thicker—like something massive was pushing into their world from beyond the divide.
Kaito swallowed hard. "That's not normal… right?"
Kasai answered him with the obvious: "No. And if it is, I'm retiring."
Reina didn't speak. Her crimson eyes widened—not in fear, but in instinct. The Oni within her recognized the scent first.
Ayo felt it too.
Not with sight.
Not with sound.
But with that strange resonance that had awakened inside him.
The realization shivered down his spine:
Something ancient had crossed over.
And it was coming for him.
The Breach Opens
The crack spread violently, ripping downward in jagged streaks. A roar surged out—not like a lion's, not like thunder, not like any earthly beast.
It was layered.
Dozens of voices stacked atop each other—crying, laughing, shrieking, chanting, all in different languages. Yoruba prayers. Ancient Greek war cries. Egyptian funerary whispers. Sanskrit hymns mangled into madness.
Reina grabbed Ayo's arm.
"Ayo. Behind me. Now."
The Nephilim, who had been silent until now, lifted his gaze to the bleeding sky.
He did not flinch.
He did not prepare to fight.
He simply murmured:
"A Trial Beast. A very old one."
Kasai blinked at him. "Trial… what?"
The Nephilim turned, his silver eyes pulsing.
"A creature birthed from divine conflict. Made from pieces of gods who died in ancient wars.
This one… is from the War of the Broken Pantheons."
Ayo felt cold.
Even the name sounded wrong.
The Creature Emerges
The crack widened until black tendrils whipped out of it like snarling serpents. Then something pushed through—huge, horned, and breathing smoke.
The beast fell from the sky like a meteor.
BOOOOOM.
The ground exploded on impact, sending dust and shattered stone flying. Ayo shielded his face as the shockwave blasted across the plateau.
When the dust settled—
The creature was there.
Standing tall.
Breathing heavily.
Watching them with a dozen glowing eyes.
BEAST DESCRIPTION — SKY-BLEED JUGGERNAUT
Name: Akatashu, the Sky-Bleed Juggernaut
Origin: Formed during the war between Yoruba, Greek, and Egyptian gods.
Purpose: Hunt individuals awakened with multi-pantheon resonance.
Appearance:
It looked like a minotaur that had been sculpted from nightmare and myth:
Height: 12 feet tall.
Skin: A cracked obsidian hide with rivers of molten gold pulsing underneath.
Head: Four curved horns spiraling backward, each carved with ancient inscriptions—Odinic runes, Yoruba marks, and Greek sigils mashed into one chaotic scripture.
Eyes: Not two. Not four.
Twelve.
Each eye a different color representing a different pantheon—blue flame, gold sun, amethyst night, red wrath, storm-gray, jade, silver, pitch black…
Mouth: Too wide. Too sharp. With teeth shaped like broken blades.
Arms: Long and massive, ending in claws that dripped a misty dark blue vapor—souls, stripped and weaponized.
Back: Four ghostly wings made of smoke, feathers, and lightning—never fully forming, constantly tearing and repairing themselves.
Chest: The center of its body contained a swirling sphere of symbols—the seal of the Trial Beast.
Aura: Heavy. Crushing.
Breathing near it felt like inhaling a storm and drowning at the same time.
Kaito stepped back involuntarily. "Nah. Nahhhhh. You can't expect us to fight THAT."
Kasai's flames sputtered.
Reina's skin went pale.
Ayo felt his knees weaken.
The beast turned its twelve eyes toward them—
And every single eye locked onto Ayo.
The Hunt Begins
The Juggernaut took a single step forward.
BOOM.
The ground split beneath its hooves.
BOOM.
Another step.
Another crack.
Reina moved instinctively, claws extending, muscles coiling with Oni force. "Don't come any closer!"
The Juggernaut inhaled.
But it didn't breathe in air.
It drank their fear—and its molten veins pulsed brighter.
Kasai cursed. "It feeds on emotion?!"
The Nephilim finally spoke.
"Correct. Trial Beasts grow stronger from mortal fear.
Its primary target is Ayo.
But it will kill the rest of you if you interfere."
Kaito shot him a glare. "And you're just going to WATCH?!"
The Nephilim simply said:
"This is not my trial."
Reina snarled.
"Kaito. Kasai. Formation Wolf-Fang."
Kasai blinked. "That's a real plan or you just making names up—?"
Reina didn't respond.
Her eyes had gone full Oni crimson.
She lunged.
The First Clash
Reina moved first—fast enough to blur. She slashed upward, claws tearing across the Juggernaut's arm. Sparks flew. Obsidian skin cracked slightly.
The beast barely reacted.
Kasai launched a wave of flame from behind her—brighter and hotter than usual, tinged with gold fire from his buried Phoenix lineage.
The flames struck the Juggernaut's chest.
The molten veins inside its body dimmed for a second.
Kaito followed next—throwing a series of time-slice sigils, glowing blue and cutting through the air like knives that rewrote direction.
The sigils struck.
They bent the beast's movement for half a second—slowing its massive arms by a tiny margin.
It wasn't much.
But it was enough for Reina to leap back before she was crushed.
The ground shook as the Juggernaut's blow crashed down where she had stood.
A crater formed instantly.
Kaito yelled, "Ayo! Stay behind—!"
But Ayo couldn't stay back.
Not anymore.
His resonance pulsed again—stronger than before. The mark on his shoulder blade glowed so brightly it burned through his shirt.
The Juggernaut turned—all twelve eyes sharpening, narrowing, focusing.
"You…
Bearer of Many."
Its voice was not one voice.
It was the combined whispers of dead gods, crying through a single throat.
Ayo felt his heartbeat stutter.
The Juggernaut pounded its chest and roared—a roar so powerful it shredded the clouds above them.
Then—
It charged.
Ayo Awakens Again
Time slowed.
Sound drowned.
The world dimmed around the edges.
Ayo saw the Juggernaut moving toward him, each step shaking the plateau. It was going to trample him. Tear him. Eat him. End him.
But something inside him snapped.
Not fear.
Not panic.
Something deeper.
Something older.
The mark on his shoulder exploded with light—gold, midnight blue, and crimson merging together into a chaotic flare. A wind spiraled around him, infused with ancient languages he shouldn't have been able to understand.
Kasai shouted.
Reina turned in shock.
Kaito's eyes widened.
And the Nephilim—
for the first time—
looked surprised.
Ayo stepped forward.
Instinct guided him.
His blood remembered something he had never learned.
A thin barrier of shimmering symbols formed around him—pulsing in different divine styles: Yoruba sigils twisting into Greek glyphs, Egyptian symbols merging with Hindu mantras.
The Juggernaut swung—
And the barrier stopped the blow.
Not perfectly.
Not cleanly.
But enough to keep Ayo alive.
The beast reeled back, its twelve eyes twitching.
"Impossible."
It growled.
"A Convergence Shield…"
Ayo's breathing was ragged.
His legs trembled.
He didn't know how he had done that.
But he didn't have time to think.
Because the beast changed.
The molten gold in its veins flared.
Its horns glowed.
Its wings reformed, sharper, longer, more stable.
It was adapting.
Kaito yelled, voice cracking:
"BRO—IT JUST LEVELED UP!"
Reina moved beside Ayo, claws ready.
Kasai lit up in blazing phoenix fire.
The Nephilim finally lifted his hand.
Not to help.
But to signal.
"Your first true battle begins now."
The Juggernaut roared—
And the next clash began.