The warriors descended.
They landed in a ring around the crater. Black suits. Dark armor. Weapons gleaming under the red moon. The old man with the rod stood at the center, his small eyes fixed on the Heavenly Lord.
"Asuki," he said, voice calm, "take care of the boy."
A girl dropped from the sky. Her hair was short and dark. Her eyes were sharp. She wore the same black suit as the others, but her sleeves were rolled up, revealing arms covered in thin glowing lines. She landed beside Veda's broken body and knelt.
Her hand touched his chest. Her eyes went wide.
"Sir... his soul energy is overflowing. It's leaking out. His body is breaking apart piece by piece."
The old man did not turn. "Then seal it."
He snapped his fingers. Two soldiers ran forward. They carried a small chrome device, no bigger than a phone. Wires hung from its sides. They pressed it against Veda's sternum.
The device activated with a low hum.
Veda's back arched. His scream tore through the air. Raw. Animal. The white light leaking from his cracks began to flow into the device, sucked away like water into a drain.
The girl grabbed his shoulders. "Don't move! Stay still!"
The two soldiers held his arms. His body thrashed. His teeth clenched. Blood and light mixed on his lips.
Then a barrier formed around him. Pale blue. Translucent. The cracks in his skin began to close. Bones knitted. Flesh wove itself back together.
He was healing.
But his eyes stayed white.
The Heavenly Lord watched.
He stood at the edge of the crater, arms crossed, head tilted. His yellow eyes followed every movement. The device. The barrier. The girl's worried face.
He laughed.
"Ahhhh. You think a toy can save him? You think that little box can stop what the Cosmic Law has started?"
He moved.
Not ran. Blurred. His body became a streak of red and black, flying toward Veda's barrier, his fist aimed at the girl's head.
The old man's rod met his fist.
The impact cracked the air. A shockwave blasted outward. Soldiers stumbled. Dust rose in a wall.
The Heavenly Lord grinned. His fist pressed against the rod. The old man's arms shook, but he did not move.
"You are in my way, old stick."
"I know."
The old man spun. His body twisted like a dancer. The rod swung in a wide arc and slammed into the side of the Heavenly Lord's head.
The head exploded.
Not metaphorically. Literally. Skull shattered. Brain sprayed. Blood and bone flew in a red cloud. The body dropped to the ground, limp, twitching.
Silence.
Someone whispered, "Is it... over?"
A soldier lowered his sword. Another laughed, breathless with relief.
"We did it. He's dead."
"He had no head. Nothing can survive that."
The old man lowered his rod. His chest heaved. Sweat dripped from his chin.
But he did not smile.
His eyes stayed on the body.
The body twitched again.
Then it moved.
Headless. Blood pumping from the neck. The Heavenly Lord's corpse stood up. Its hands reached out. Its legs walked forward.
A soldier screamed. "IT'S STILL MOVING!"
The body lunged. A fist slammed into a warrior's chest. The man's ribcave caved inward. His body flew backward, bounced off a broken wall, and lay still.
Another punch. Another body fell. A kick shattered a woman's spine. The headless monster moved through the crowd like a thresher through wheat.
"ATTACK! ALL OF YOU!"
They charged.
Swords swung. Guns fired. Energy blasts lit the darkness. The Heavenly Lord's body dodged, weaved, punched. Every hit was death. Every move was slaughter.
Then it stopped.
It grabbed a man by the hair. Pulled him close. Bit through his neck. Not with teeth. With the exposed bone of its severed spine. The man's head came off.
The body lifted the severed head. Placed it on its own neck.
Bone fused. Skin stretched. Veins connected.
The head opened its eyes. The Heavenly Lord's face. Same yellow eyes. Same sharp smile. Same demonic hunger.
He cracked his neck. Rolled his shoulders.
"Much better."
The old man ran. Jumped. His rod swung down with all his weight.
"DIE, YOU BASTARD!"
The Heavenly Lord punched the rod.
The shockwave shattered windows for a mile. Buildings trembled. Warriors flew backward like leaves in a storm. The old man's arms went numb. But he did not let go.
He swung again. The Heavenly Lord punched again.
Again. Again. Again.
Each impact cracked the rod further. Hairline fractures spread across the dark wood. The symbols on its surface flickered and died.
The Heavenly Lord took a deep breath. His chest expanded. His fist drew back.
Then he punched.
The rod shattered.
Wood exploded in every direction. The old man's eyes went wide. His mouth opened.
"What the..."
The Heavenly Lord's fist kept moving. It hit the old man's head.
The head burst like a watermelon. Blood. Brain. Bone. All of it sprayed across the crater. The body stood for a second, swaying, then collapsed into the dirt.
The Heavenly Lord lowered his fist. He looked at the blood on his knuckles. He licked it.
"Ahhhh. The taste is mesmerizing."
He smiled.
Then he turned to the rest of them.
What followed was not a battle.
It was a harvest.
The Heavenly Lord moved through the warriors like a god through ants. He tore arms from sockets. He ripped heads from shoulders. He kicked chests open and watched hearts beat their last. He bit through throats and drank. He laughed the whole time.
A man tried to call for backup. His radio crackled. "We need... we need everyone! Area 16! He's…"
The Heavenly Lord grabbed his head. Squeezed. The skull collapsed like a paper cup.
The air force arrived. Jets screamed overhead. Missiles dropped.
The Heavenly Lord looked up. Opened his mouth. A beam of red energy shot from his throat, met the missiles in the sky, and detonated them all. The explosion painted the clouds red and orange.
Pieces of burning metal rained down like a funeral offering.
Young Veda appeared beside Veda's barrier.
He floated. Silent. His grey eyes watched the slaughter.
"Human beings are strange creatures," he said. His voice was low. Philosophical. Like a river carving stone over centuries.
"When they decide to follow something, they follow it to the end. Even when they know they will die. Even when they have no chance of winning. They keep moving forward."
He looked at Veda. At the white eyes. The healing body. The cracking device.
"They become no different than machines. No fear. No hesitation. No second thoughts. Only one goal. Kill or be killed."
He smiled. A soft smile. Almost sad.
"Their emotions should make them fragile. But sometimes, those same emotions turn them into something harder than steel. Something that does not stop. Does not break. Does not beg."
He paused.
"That is what you were in your old life, child. A machine. Wrapped in grief. Powered by vengeance. And now..."
He gestured at the slaughter. At the blood. At the red moon.
"You are watching others become the same."
Veda watched.
From inside the barrier. Lying on the ground. His body was healing, but his mind was somewhere else.
He saw the warriors fall. One by one. Arms torn. Chests caved. Heads crushed.
He saw the old man's body lying in a pool of blood. Headless. Still.
And he remembered.
A different battlefield. Different bodies. Different blood.
Kashmir. The caves. Seventy-three terrorists in one night. His knife. His hands. The wet sound of steel opening throats.
His army friends. The ones who laughed with him. The ones who died next to him.
His mother's face. Smiling. Stirring dal.
His father's face. Reading the newspaper. Pushing food onto his plate.
Gita's face. The green salwar kameez. The way she looked at him like he was the whole world.
His daughter. Shakti. Never born. Never lived. Never died.
All of them. Gone.
All of them. Because of him.
Or because of the thing watching from the red moon.
Veda sat up.
The girl grabbed his arm. "No! You cannot move! Your body is not fully healed! The energy is still…"
He stood.
The barrier flickered. Cracked. His body was still broken in places. Cuts still weeping. Bones still mending. But he stood.
He looked up at the red sky. At the moon that was not a moon. At the smoke and the fire and the blood rain.
"Maybe peace was never made for me," he said.
His body flickered. White light pulsed from his chest. The ground beneath him cracked. Lightning sparked from his fingertips.
The device on his chest beeped once. Twice. Then shattered into pieces.
The girl screamed. "GET BACK!"
Veda's eyes glowed. His mouth opened. Light poured out, shooting into the sky like a beacon.
The Heavenly Lord felt it. He turned. His yellow eyes met Veda's white ones.
For a moment, neither moved.
Then Veda vanished.
He appeared in front of the Heavenly Lord's face. Fist already moving.
The punch connected.
The Heavenly Lord flew backward. Through a building. Through two more. His body carved a trench in the earth.
Veda ran. His feet shattered the ground. He screamed. Not a word. Just sound. Pure. Raw. Hungry.
He caught up to the Heavenly Lord mid-air. Kicked him down. The body slammed into the earth, cracking the continent.
Veda landed on top of him. Punched. Punched. Punched.
Each fist was a thunderclap. Each blow cracked the Heavenly Lord's face. Blood sprayed. Teeth flew.
"YOU TOOK EVERYTHING!"
Punch.
"MY MOTHER!"
Punch.
"MY FATHER!"
Punch.
"MY WIFE!"
Punch.
"MY CHILD!"
Punch.
"MY LIFE!"
Veda grabbed the Heavenly Lord's right arm. Pulled. The limb tore from the socket with a wet, screaming rip. The Heavenly Lord screamed. Blood geysered.
He grabbed the left arm. Pulled. Another scream. Another geyser.
He grabbed the right leg. Pulled. The bone cracked. The flesh gave. The Heavenly Lord howled.
The left leg. Pulled.
The Heavenly Lord was a torso now. A head. A trunk. Blood pooling beneath him. His screams were raw, guttural, filling the red sky.
Veda placed his palm on the creature's chest. His fingers dug in. Through skin. Through muscle. Through ribs.
He tore the chest open.
The heart beat inside. Black. Pulsing. Wrong.
Veda reached in. His fingers wrapped around the heart. He squeezed.
The heart burst. Black blood sprayed across Veda's face. Hot. Thick. Wrong.
Veda let out a long breath. A sigh. Deep. Heavy. Like a man who had just run a marathon and finally stopped.
The Heavenly Lord's head lay in the dirt. His eyes were wide. His mouth was open. Blood bubbled from his lips.
Veda watched the dead body. His teeth were red. His eyes still glowed. His fist drew back, ready to punch the head into nothing.
The Heavenly Lord's eyes snapped open wider.
He moved. Fast. He rolled sideways. His newly grown arm caught Veda's next punch.
"You cannot even let me act dead for a moment?"
He smiled through the blood.
"How cruel."
He LAUGHED.
"You think I would let you kill me that easily?"
Veda's eyes widened.
The Heavenly Lord's body regenerated. Arms grew back in a flash. Legs reformed. His chest closed. He kicked Veda in the jaw.
Veda's teeth shattered. His head snapped back. He flew into the air.
The Heavenly Lord stood. Rolled his neck. Smiled.
He jumped. Caught Veda in the air. Punched him in the stomach. Veda's body folded. He hit the ground, bounced, hit again.
They stood facing each other. Both bleeding. Both broken. Both screaming.
The ground shook. Their energies rose. Collided. The air between them cracked and split.
Veda's body was breaking apart again. Faster this time. Light leaking from everywhere.
The Heavenly Lord's chains were growing thicker. Golden. Heavy. Binding his limbs.
Neither stopped.
Neither could.