--
Chapter 4
> "Even when the gods roar, there are still older things… watching."
—Unknown Sage of the Silent Peak
---
Far beyond the ruined lands, where gods had once battled and fell trembling before a single word… silence had not returned. Instead, whispers stirred across realms, cracks in the sky, and the trembling heart of divinity itself.
In the Higher Realms:
The God of Crimson Flame, charred and bruised from the incident in the mortal realm, knelt before an obsidian throne surrounded by floating, black cubes the Council of the Veiled Eternity.
> "You dare tell us… one man silenced the war of gods?"
A slow nod. The God of Flame's voice trembled.
> "He did not fight. He only spoke. The sky cracked. My fire recoiled."
The cubes began to hum. Then one voice, from the darkest among them, growled.
> "It seems… He walks again."
---
Meanwhile, in the Mortal Realm...
Villages whispered of the day the heavens shattered. Cults were forming. Some saw the Black-Haired Stranger as a savior. Others believed he was the end of all realms.
But the man himself?
He sat calmly atop a small peak, meditating in silence, while black aura slowly devoured the stars above him. It looked like a gentle mist yet anything that came too close aged, withered, and vanished.
A girl named Risa, a wandering healer with a strange spiritual connection, approached him. Unlike others, she didn't kneel or tremble.
> "You're not a god," she said plainly. "But… you're something worse, aren't you?"
The man opened his eyes. The earth below her trembled not from anger, but from the sheer density of restrained aura.
> "What I am… is sleeping," he answered. "And the universe isn't ready to wake me up."
---
Deep Space Unknown Realm:
There, ancient beings once exiled from the universe stirred.
A being made of chains and stardust opened its eye.
Another, born from collapsed timelines, screamed as a ripple passed.
And a lone Throneless God cracked his knuckles, smiling:
> "He's returned. We might finally taste a real war."
---
Back to the MC…
He stood, sensing everything.
> "So… they're coming now. Good."
The black mist expanded ever so slightly. Trees wilted. Mountains bent.
But his expression remained blank, as he whispered to himself:
> "Time to do something again."
Then he disappeared vanishing into a tear in space as if the world couldn't bear holding him much longer.