The Gods came like a vengeful tide, Ira could feel their hostility before they even arrived. But, in spite of that, he remained inside the crater with his beast-like head pointed toward the sky, eating away at his surroundings.

It took only a few moments for them to appear, various Gods with unique appearances. Some had horrific faces and others looked Angelic while a few looked like beggars. All of them, despite their differences, had come together in order to stop Ira.

“Seal the space!” A two-faced God shouted.

A dozen Gods split off from the approaching formation and circle around the area. They channeled their divinity and four different mirrors rose up from the ground and enclosed the city-sized crater like a dome.

“Use all the Divine Curses!”

Another group of Gods moved firing different curses toward Ira. The afflictions clung to his body, but it was hard to tell if they did anything.

“First attack! Go!”

Thousands of projectiles came raining down onto Ira. It was a beautiful display of colorful energy that couldn’t be replicated in the Mortal Realm but the intention was to kill rather than amaze.

Ira was hit with massive impacts but remained on his feet while pieces of his flame-covered body broke off before quickly regenerating.

“Again!”

Twice as many attacks rained down with increase power, Ira was nearly blown backward and even found it hard to concentrate on his task.

“Again!”

The Gods were relentless, seizing the opportunity to attack the stationary enemy in front of him.

Some attacks were absorbed in his unending vacuum, but most hit him and began slowly wearing him down. If it was the Mortal Realm, the attacks of the Gods would be enough to level an entire continent and he was forced to resist that fearsome amount of power.

“Again!”

They weren’t deterred by the lack of visible damage as they noticed the black flames covering Ira’s body were slowly dying out meaning there was a limit to his endurance and that assumption was correct. If Ira hadn’t strengthened his flames to their current level, he wouldn’t last more than a few minutes under the battering of the Gods.

“Again-”

“Enough!” Ira’s garbled shouted echoed throughout enclosed space.

“That’s more than enough!” He laughed madly as his four arms reached toward the sky.

His words fell on the ears of a hundred Gods who chose to ignore him, they were about to continue their assault when they heard a crack, like ice giving way under a tremendous weight.

“Look!” A God pointed to the sky, clearing up the confusion of the sound.

The mirror dome had a giant breach that was quickly spreading. Since the outside world was essentially closed off, they couldn’t see what was causing it. A strange silence occurred among the Gods as they watched the event take place. It wasn’t wrong to say that some wished to run since they could a massive threat looming just beyond the surface of the mirror.

Then, as the tension rose to its peak, the top of the dome exploded open and a horrific sight was revealed. A pitch black sun was falling from the sky and as it moved closer, Ira’s laughs seemed to get louder.

“I’ve had enough of all of you!”

No one could say anything in response because they all began to flee. Unfortunately, most of the mirrored space remained and it needed to be undone or destroyed. The only exit was through the small opening above but that meant going near the black sun that was still in its descent.

“Use the arrow! Use the damn arrow!” A Goddess shouted frantically.

“I understand! Just wait!” A God wearing a wolf pelt drew the iridescent crystal arrow and pulled his bowstring.

“If we die, you’ll die with us, Avarus.” The God calmed himself down.

Ira wasn’t even focused on the relatively weak God so the declaration went unnoticed. He had no idea that Xandes planned to make an arrow as it wasn’t revealed until the Gods were assembled to stop him. If he ate even a single one of them, he would immediately know what their plans were.

The presence of the arrow went undetected when compared to dark mass of the miniature black sun that was moments away from crashing down. It was likely that the impending explosion would rip away a portion of the Divine Realm in one go.

The origin arrow was pulled back and the Archery God narrowed his eyes. “Die!”

As soon as he released the arrow, a portion of his arm was blown clean off and a blindingly radiant light spread over the area. The flash of light finally grabbed Ira’s attention but it was too late as the arrow already struck him directly in the center of his chest.

“Ah,” Ira let out a low exclamation as the crystal arrow tore through his body and stopped but not before pushing him thousands of feet away from his original position. His beast transformation instantly came undone and the black sun floating above his head came to a halt.

“What the fuck did you...do to...me?” Ira muttered as he reached for the glowing arrow stuck in the middle of his chest.

The retreat of the Gods came to a halt as they were even shocked by the development. Just a few moments ago Ira seemed unstoppable, but a single arrow erased that impression.

The pure origin energy burned Ira’s palms as he gripped the arrow shaft, attempting to get it out of his body.

“He’s weak! We can capture him!”

“We could kill him right now!”

“Serves that dog right!”

The Gods regained their confident demeanor and moved to surround Ira once more. The black sun floating above them even began shrinking which further increased their assurance of victory.

“Kill me?!” Ira growled like a feral beast, his eyes were filled with indescribable anger, even as the origin energy in his body continued running rampant.

“This is your end, Avarus!”

Several Gods fired off their attacks, aiming to cripple Ira’s ability to resist, targeting his limbs first.

Ira was sent flying back while his appendages were blasted away. The black sun that spelled the end of everything was now half of its original size and continually shrinking.

“Damn it!” Ira gnashed his teeth, and forced his arm to regenerate. He reached toward the sky and closed his palm in one quick motion and before any Gods could react, the fiery black sphere above them exploded.

The sudden detonation of the Void Fire was truly something to behold. Even though it had been greatly weakened, it was still a force that couldn’t be properly described. The darkness filled inside shifted reality and broke space with the sound of a storm. Gods were snatched into spatial rifts or were burned by black fire. From the outside, it seemed like a tornado of black fog descended on the area causing complete annihilation of more than half of the Gods.

However, Ira couldn’t maintain it and it faded after a few seconds of being summoned.

When it was all done, the origin arrow in Ira’s chest had crumbled into dust but a wound that failed to heal was left in its place.

“I swear...I'll kill all of you.” Ira climbed to his feet with a miserable appearance, his disheveled hair fell over his face, which may have been for the best as his expression was distorted in rage. His clothes were in tatters and he was still missing an arm and two legs. Black mist poured out of his missing limbs before they reformed.

A good number of Gods who had positioned them outside the radius of Ira’s attack, managed to survive but they were in a state of shock. After witnessing Ira’s ability which gave him enough time to run.

He was severely weakened from the origin arrow and exhausted from overusing his ability. It was the perfect time for the Gods to capture or kill and an opportunity that wasn’t likely to come again.

Ira felt his connection with the Void was strained so he leaped away with nothing but his own strength.

“The Avarus…” A God muttered as he watched Ira cover a great distance with each jump.

“He’s...He’s weakened!” A Goddess shouted frantically as she woke up from her daze.

“Someone has to inform Xandes. The rest of us need to keep track of him, if we let him get away it will all be for nothing.”

Just like that, several Gods split off to spread the news of Ira’s current state while the rest quickly pursued him, seeking to finally end everything.