Satya mind did not fill with comfort—but with fire.
"Strength isn't never falling, Satya. Strength is rising… even when the world says you can't."
Satya's breath caught.
The memory surged back—not just any training day, but the training day.
It was when Vayunanda had found him after his first real loss, when Satya had broken down just like this—bloody, bruised, and begging to quit. Back then, Vayunanda hadn't offered a hand.
Instead, he had stood over him, eyes fierce, voice like thunder:"You want to be strong? Then stand up. Again. And again. And again. Until your soul forgets how to fall."
The memory struck like lightning in the darkness.
And then came another voice—softer, but no less powerful.
[Oorja: Satya. Your flame is not forged in victory. It's born in your refusal to surrender.]
Satya's trembling slowed.
He clenched his fists, fingers digging into the cracked ground. Every scar on his body, every failure, every tear—they surged through him like fuel.
He screamed—not in fear, but fury. The dust around him erupted into flame.
Krantivaal glowed.
The blade pulsed—not with flame, but with something ancient. Something divine.
And then—a sigil burst across his chest. Not drawn. Branded.
Garuda Flame – Unsealed (Phase 1: Phoenix's Echo)
A surge of power exploded from his core, melting the ground beneath him. The Gatekeepers froze.
The twin guardians stepped back, their molten forms suddenly flickering.They felt it too.
"That mark—""No. It can't be…"
Satya stood, no longer trembling. His eyes now glowed with dual gold and crimson. Wings of semi-transparent flame flickered from his back. The arena warped from the sheer pressure of his aura.
"I'm not here to prove I'm strong," he said, voice calm but thunderous."I'm here… to remind you what hope looks like."
With a single step, he vanished.
He reappeared behind the first Gatekeeper mid-sentence, Krantivaal cleaving down in a molten arc. The guardian's armor cracked—first blood.
The second lunged—but Satya spun mid-air, wings flaring, launching himself upward. He twisted like a comet, spiraling in flame, then slammed downward with a shout:
"Rudra Spiral!"
The explosion flattened the terrain. One Gatekeeper crashed into the molten river, howling. The other tried to grab Satya mid-flight—but he pivoted, flipping over its hand, using its momentum, slamming Krantivaal into its wrist—severing molten muscle.
The first Gatekeeper roared back in—this time, blades drawn.
Satya grinned, blood trailing from his lips."Good," he whispered. "Now come at me like you mean it."
And then the real battle began.
Satya coughed, a small smile curling on his lips."Guess I've got one more miracle left."
The Gatekeepers roared, charging together now—one from the front, the other from behind.
Satya jumped high, channeling everything into a final move. Krantivaal spun in his hand, the glyphs glowing red-hot.
"Krantivaal Form: Raag of the Red Sky!"
A crescent of pure flame burst from his blade, striking both Gatekeepers mid-charge. The explosion tore the chamber's floor apart. Fire burst upward in a vortex, swallowing everything.
Silence fell.
Then, the flames parted—revealing Satya on one knee, his blade cracked but still intact.
The Gatekeepers had fallen—one severed in half, the other crumbling into molten debris.
[Gatekeeper: Defeated – 5-Star Rank ×2][Experience Gained: +XXXXX][Hell Gate – Stage 1 Cleared]
Satya exhaled, the heat finally catching up to him. His entire body screamed in pain, but he smiled through the blood.
"I did it," he whispered, falling to his knees, exhausted.
Suddenly, the world vanished.
Replaced by white.
Not snow-white. Not cloud-white.
But death-white.
An eternal silence draped over the battlefield like a frozen veil. The ground was crystallized with moonlight frost, the sky a canvas of dying stars.
Vayunanda walked forward—barefoot, shirtless, draped only in a crimson dhoti that swayed with the bitter wind. His long silver hair danced like a storm-born flame, eyes glowing with a calm fire that burned deep.
Behind him, a sea of monsters charged—ice beasts with spines of frozen bone, undead warriors wrapped in glacial armor, leviathan wolves with eight legs and no eyes. Thousands upon thousands surged.
Vayunanda didn't raise an army. He didn't summon help.
He simply closed his eyes.
Boom.
He stomped once.
The ice beneath shattered like glass, spiraling outward in divine pulses. A cold hush followed.
Then, he whispered:
"Trisula… prakat ho."(Reveal yourself.)
From behind his back, a glow erupted.
Three-pronged and forged in divine celestial alloy, a weapon descended from legends roared into his hand—
The Trisula of Tandava.
Forged in the fires of a forgotten star. Blessed by ancient sages. Cursed by demons. It pulsed with three energies: Destruction, Creation, and Silence.
[DDA Weapon Class: Prime Mythical][Trisula – Tandava Mode: Unsealed]
He raised it once—
—and danced.
⚔️ Vayunanda's Tandava Begins ⚔️
Like Mahadev on the day of cosmic reckoning, Vayunanda's body moved with terrifying grace. Every spin of the Trisula carved entire legions in half. Every stomp shattered mountains of ice. He moved like lightning through water, his body blazing against the frozen backdrop.
Monsters were torn into nothingness.Thousands disintegrated in seconds.
His Trisula spun faster, each arc singing hymns of annihilation. The sky itself responded—auroras bled red, thunder cracked, and ice melted under the heat of his fury.
He leapt and slammed his Trisula into the ground—
BOOOOOOM!
A shockwave ripped across the landscape, vaporizing three thousand monsters in one breath.
From above, the clouds opened… revealing a throne carved into the moon itself.
A deep, slow clap echoed.
"You dance well, warrior. But you cannot kill me."
Descending from the throne was the Gatekeeper of the Frozen Moon, a ten-foot-tall humanoid made of mirror-like ice. A glowing gem pulsed in the center of its chest—but something was off.
Vayunanda frowned.
With a blink, the Gatekeeper appeared before him—faster than thought.
They clashed.
Trisula vs Ice Blade. Fire vs Silence.
The impact cracked reality—freezing and igniting space at the same time. But every time Vayunanda landed a fatal blow, the Gatekeeper reformed.
Over and over. Regenerating. Mocking him.
"You cannot destroy me. My heart is not here. I am eternal."
Meanwhile… Satya watched from a vision Oorja showed him—bloodied, inspired, in awe.
"He's… doing tandav."
Oorja nodded. "You're witnessing a god in motion."
Back in the ice realm, Vayunanda paused.
Then closed his eyes. He placed the Trisula on his back and pressed both palms to the ground.
He began to chant.
Ancient Sanskrit. Forgotten Dev Vani. Words that shook the stars.
The ice cracked again—but this time, not physically.
Spiritual threads unraveled.
[Mystic Sight: Activated][True Form of the Realm: Revealed]
His golden eyes opened, now layered with glowing runes.
And then he saw it.
Above. Far above. In the throne itself, beating faintly like a sleeping ember—a heart made of lunar flame.
"So… you put your soul in your chair." Vayunanda smiled.
He spun the Trisula and pointed upward.
"Third Form: Sandhya Shakti."
A beam of divine energy erupted, tearing through the heavens. The throne shattered like sugar glass, and the heart screamed.
The Gatekeeper on the ground clutched his chest, confused—vulnerable for the first time.
Vayunanda moved.
"Last Form: Maha Tandava!"
He appeared mid-air, spinning in a final godly flourish.
With one full-body twist, he hurled the Trisula like a comet.
Time slowed.
The Trisula pierced through the Gatekeeper's chest—passing through—then split into three copies.
One pierced the chest. One pierced the shadow. One pierced the shattered throne.
All three hearts. One moment.
The world exploded.
The ice moon cracked. The monsters vanished. And in the silence, snow began to fall.
The Gatekeeper crumbled—finally mortal.