The streets were empty by the time Luv returned home. The night air clung to him, heavy and damp, as if the city itself knew what weighed on his heart.
He slipped inside quietly, brushing off his shoes, hiding the storm in his chest behind a calm mask.
His mother met him in the hallway. "Where were you? You didn't even answer your phone."
"At a friend's place," he said without hesitation. "Lost track of time."
His father glanced up from the living room, gave a short nod, and returned to his news program. The interrogation ended as quickly as it began.
After a few more idle words, Luv excused himself, shut the door to his room, and turned off the light.
In the darkness, he sat cross-legged on the floor, closed his eyes, and exhaled slowly. His consciousness peeled away from his body like a shadow breaking free. The world of flesh faded, replaced by the ethereal tether of soul projection.
One by one, he slipped through realms — mortal, divine, infernal — searching for an answer, for any forbidden art or celestial relic that could change the fate of a fragile human life. He turned palaces of gold upside down, shattered hidden archives, and pried secrets from spirits who thought themselves untouchable.
But there was nothing.
Even after hours — maybe days, time felt strange out here — he found no cure, no miracle, nothing that could rewrite Komal's destiny.
Defeated, he returned to his body. His stomach ached with hunger, but he ignored it, lying on his bed without even changing clothes.
A knock came at the door. His mother's voice, soft but worried. "What happened? You look pale."
"Nothing," he replied, forcing the word past the lump in his throat. "I'm going to sleep."
But when he closed his eyes, the realms didn't come.
Instead, visions of his past flooded in — the moment gods and demons had joined forces, the forbidden formation they had used to seal him, the glowing threads of divine and infernal power woven into a prison for EL.
And now, as he traced those threads in memory, he saw something else — the same resonance between that formation and the illness in Komal's body.
The truth slammed into him.
This isn't coincidence.
The gods and demons didn't just see him as dangerous. They wanted him — his power, his authority over blessings and curses. And the forbidden formation they had once used… could also, in theory, undo what was killing her.
He opened his eyes.
Why don't I make a deal with them?
It was dangerous. The kind of dangerous that could strip him of far more than his strength. But if it saved Komal…
He thought through every possible outcome — betrayal, manipulation, traps. He knew they didn't realize he was EL. To them, he was just a "special mortal." That ignorance was his only advantage.
Komal's safety came first. Always. No matter what it cost him.
By the time the night bled into dawn, his mind was set.
Tomorrow, I'll meet the gods. Then the demons.
But deep down, he knew — meeting both might cost him more than he could afford to lose.
Luv lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling, the weight of his decision pressing down heavier than any curse he had ever endured.
Komal's face lingered in his mind, her fragile breathing, the echo of her pain.
He had already chosen — tomorrow, he would face the gods.
The next morning, Luv woke before sunrise.
He moved quietly, packing a small bag with a few essentials, careful not to make a sound.
At breakfast, he forced a faint smile.
"I'll be staying at my friend's house for a few days," he told his parents casually.
They nodded without suspicion, but Luv knew he wasn't just lying to them — he would have to lie to his own friend as well. No one could know where he was truly going. Because the place he was headed… was dangerous beyond imagination.
When the house fell silent, Luv slipped away into the forest beyond the village.
This was no ordinary forest — its twisted roots and ancient trees guarded the path to a place mortals could never reach.
Somewhere deep within lay a secret altar of the gods, the only doorway to Heaven.
Luv knew every detail of its existence. In the past, he had been the Heaven itself — not just a ruler of the skies, but the very will that governed them. He understood the laws of the universe like no one else, and he knew exactly how to make this altar open its path.
He walked deeper, his steps soundless, the air growing heavier as the trees closed in.
Ten kilometers in, the forest finally gave way to a clearing bathed in pale light.
There it stood — a towering statue of a god, solemn and unmoving, surrounded by smaller statues bowing in eternal reverence.
The ground around it thrummed with an ancient power, older than the oldest star.
Luv stood before it, his gaze calm yet sharp.
Luv glanced at the statues, then at the altar's base where offerings had once been placed. He knew the usual process: bow three times, recite the prayer of ascension, offer sacrifice, and wait for divine approval.
He smirked.
"I don't give a damn about this shit," he muttered under his breath.
Without a bow, without a word of prayer, without a single drop of sacrifice, Luv raised his hand and poured his blessings into the altar — pure, untainted heavenly power.
The ancient stone trembled, cracks glowing with blinding light. The air split with a deep hum, and then a white beam erupted upward, so bright that no mortal eye could bear to see it.
The Heaven Door stood open.
Luv stepped into the beam without hesitation. The light swallowed him whole, and in a few steps, the world changed.
Before him stretched a vast stairway, each step carved from white jade and laced with golden veins. At its peak, a realm floated in glory — a majestic and radiant palace of gold and white, surrounded by divine light that pulsed like a living heartbeat.
Around it, countless divine beasts circled: a phoenix trailing fire like dawn's first breath, a dragon coiled in clouds, a white tiger whose roar could shatter mountains, and an immense divine turtle carrying whole islands on its shell.
Luv's eyes scanned the scene, unshaken.
He had seen Heaven more times than mortals could count.
Today, the gods would know he had come.