"...I'll disappear for a while"
Just one sentence. That was all it took to freeze the world. No one could quite understand what Taufik ant. No... no one wanted to understand it.
"B-But, Dear," Jenn was the first to react. "You said... You said you'd never lea-"
She stopped mid-sentence.
Not because soone interrupted her.
No. She stopped because of what she saw behind Taufik.
The sky had cracked.
Two fractures, mirror images, yet utterly different.
One bled silver light: the Heaven Gate.
The other, crimson fire: the Hell Gate.
Gaia looked up, breath catching in her throat.
She had once seen the Heaven Gate open and feared it.
But now, with the Hell Gate also cracking wide, her gaze fell to Taufik.
The world may see Heaven as "good" and Hell as "evil, " but Taufik stood outside their dichotomy.
Heaven despised him for defying Fate.
Hell loathed him for sabotaging their plans.
To both realms, he was an anomaly.
An enemy.
The others might not understand what these gates truly ant, but instinct scread that nothing good would follow.
"Husband." Rani rose to her feet, her voice shaking with resolve. "You promised, no more burdens alone. And now you want to break that again? Do you think we're that weak?!"
"Yes, Master," said Tina, her voice firm. "We may not be at your level, but together... we can solve anything"
"What Sis Tina said is right, Fik," Anugerah added, nodding. "There's no need to carry this alone"
"If our strength isn't enough," Kaela stepped forward, "then we call our allies. Isn't that why you built the Portal?"
"Fik..."
"My son..."
"Master..."
"My Lord..."
"Lil bro..."
"Father..."
One by one, his family spoke.
They didn't want him to go.
They knew he wouldn't die, but this ti, this ti... if they let him go, it might be years before they saw him again.
Taufik said nothing.
He lowered his head, his hair hiding his eyes, fists clenched so tight his knuckles turned white.
[... Master, there are ten seconds remaining]
"…*Sigh* …"
He exhaled slowly, then lifted his head.
His eyes burned with an unyielding resolve.
"Aksa." He turned to his eldest son. "You're the head of the family now"
His mana wings unfolded, brilliant and vast.
"...Take care of everyone in my place"
"Fath-" Aksa tried to step forward.
"...Don't wait for "
"Daddy!" his daughter, Alice, ran to him, gripping his hand. "Can you not lea-"
Taufik looked into her eyes. "Alice... my lovely daughter. Take care of your youngest siblings"
He turned his gaze to the others. They were so young, yet their eyes… Their eyes understood.
That understanding shattered sothing inside him.
"…Grow strong… my world"
He turned, lifting his wings.
"I'll see you all… later"
And then, without looking back, Taufik soared upward, away from his family, away from his everything... toward the rift in the sky, toward what waited beyond.
Toward war.
--------
Above the sky, Taufik soared, the wind cutting around him like whispers he refused to hear.
He didn't look back. He didn't want to know how his family reacted. Knowing would break his resolve.
"…System, if I close the Hell Gate, the Heaven Gate will also close, right?"
[The probability is not small, Master]
"…That's enou-"
He didn't finish.
Two beings hovered in his path.
"Lembu. Basukhi." Taufik narrowed his eyes. "Are you two trying to stop ?"
"No," Basukhi replied calmly. "We want to follow you"
"You can't." Taufik's voice was firm. "You need to protect the others. Keep watch on those gods, make sure they don't go astray again. You can't follow "
"Fik," Lembuswana said, the resolve in his voice as unshakable as the mountains he once guarded. "You told us, once we fulfilled your request, we were free to choose. This is what we choose"
"After all," Basukhi added, eyes burning with old hatred, "we still owe those demons. What they did to us... We haven't forgotten"
"Nāgāntaka is enough to protect the others," Lembuswana assured. "Let us fight"
Taufik let out a long breath. A sigh heavy with mories.
"…Do as you like"
And with that, he turned and sped forward, his mana wings carving the sky. Lembuswana and Basukhi followed silently behind.
[Master, the Heaven and Hell Gates are about to fully open. You must hurry]
"I know"
Taufik's eyes narrowed. His speed increased. The fabric of the world itself rippled around him because what he was about to face wasn't just the descent of demons or the judgnt of heaven.
It was everything.
--------
As Taufik arrived at the place where the Heaven and Hell gates opened, the rift was already halfway torn.
"LEMBU! DON'T LET THE HEAVEN GATE OPEN!!" he roared.
Without hesitation, Lembuswana surged forward. His massive body slamd into the gate, halting its advance with brute force.
anwhile, Taufik flew straight toward the Hell Gate. A handful of demons had already slipped through, but they were re pawns. With a single, fluid motion of his katana, Taufik cut them down like weeds. No hesitation. No rcy.
"STOP HIM!!" one demon shrieked from beyond the gate. "HE'S TRYING TO SHUT IT!!"
"BASUKHI!! CLEAR A PATH!!"
With a low growl, Basukhi's throat swelled with energy. Four elental forces, fire, earth, wind, and water spiraled in his maw before erupting into a concentrated blast. It surged through the gate, vaporizing everything in its path. The first wave of demons was annihilated, but behind them, thousands more surged forward.
But Basukhi didn't relent. One breath after another, he scorched the infernal passage, holding back the tide.
"FIK!! HOW MUCH LONGER?! IT'S STARTING TO HURT A LITTLE!" Lembuswana shouted, his body cracking under divine assault. Angels flooded the Heaven Gate, attacking him relentlessly while he held them at bay.
"JUST HOLD ON!!" Taufik responded, eyes locked on the churning chaos behind the Hell Gate. He waited... watching… until-
"NOW!! BASUKHI, STOP!!"
The dragon halted his breath. For a second, just one, the path was clear.
Taufik didn't hesitate. Using his full speed, he dashed through the gate, slicing through the veil of dinsions like lightning. The mont he entered Hell, the heat gripped his lungs. The scent of sulfur. The screeches of demons. The oppressive, choking pressure of corrupted mana.
A swarm of demons filled the horizon.
Taufik raised his hand, and in an instant, a barrier ford around him, blocking the infernal storm.
He turned his eyes back and shouted, "…CO!"
Basukhi soared through the gate behind him, roaring as he passed into Hell.
Then Taufik looked at Lembuswana, still holding the Heaven Gate, still under assault.
'Co now'
The ssage wasn't spoken. It was felt, through soul and mind.
Lembuswana understood.
He shrank his body in an instant and, in doing so, loosened his grip on the Heaven Gate. It flung wide open, and angels poured through like a dam bursting.
But before they could reach him, a rift opened beside him. Shadowy hands shot out, grabbed Lembuswana's now-small form, and yanked him into the portal.
A mont later, Lembuswana landed beside Taufik, battered, breathing heavily but safe.
*BRAK!*
Demons slamd against the barrier, unleashing everything they had. But Taufik's barrier wasn't ordinary. It held.
They sward like ants on sugar, piling over one another in desperation.
A terrifying sight.
And it wasn't over. The Hell Gate was still open… and now, angels were approaching from the Heaven side.
Taufik glanced upward. His grip tightened on the katana in his hand.
"This is it," he muttered.
With this one swing, he knew.
He wouldn't see his family for a long ti.
"…SwordMagic: Light Magic - Absolute Slash!"
*SWING!*
A blinding arc of sword energy tore through the air, striking the Gate. The structure held… but sothing deeper shifted.
The gate didn't break.
He hadn't cut the gate... He had cut its connection.
The thread that bound Hell to Earth… was severed.
"…Now," Taufik said calmly, his eyes never leaving the distorted void, "close it"
The Gate remained open… but the Earth behind it had vanished.
No more light. No more ho.
Just endless darkness.
"…Alright," he breathed, lowering his blade, "it's done. There's no way ho now"
With those words, he turned his head slowly.
He didn't know what beca of the angels...
Would they return to Heaven?
Would they linger on Earth?
He had no idea.
But he knew one thing for certain:
His "world" was safe.
Taufik's gaze shifted to the demons clawing at the edge of the barrier.
Lembuswana, now returned to his massive beast form, stood towering on his right.
On his left, Basukhi, mighty and eternal, radiated silent wrath.
"…Kl'lara, co here"
*Crack!*
A crack split open behind him.
From the rift stepped Kl'lara, not in her human guise, but in her true form: The Spirit of Death.
Her dark cloak billowed, and in her hands glead a crescent-shaped scythe forged from silence itself.
"My lord," Kl'lara said, voice unwavering, "I am ready to die with you"
Taufik blinked, startled by her sincerity.
For the first ti… she sounded like a true, loyal subject.
A soft smile touched his lips.
"Don't worry," he whispered, "We'll never diex
Then, his form shifted.
The ground darkened beneath him as his Shadow Ruler form took over.
His cloak flowed like a liquid void, and his shadow twisted unnaturally, stretching across the field like a beast awakening.
"…Co forth, my Shadow Legion. Answer your lord's call"
From the blackness beneath him, they rose.
Nightmares given form. Crawling, gliding, leaping, one after another, the Legion of the Shadow Realm erged, monstrous and loyal.
This was only the second ti he'd used his authority as the Ruler of Shadows.
Even the demons paused. The barrier groaned.
Taufik exhaled slowly.
"…Now," he said, his eyes burning like twin stars, "Let's begin this. Let's begin our... Endless War"
....
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..
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