The earth quaked violently. Accompanied by a towering mushroom cloud, the world itself seemed to meet its end.
Everything—mountains, rivers, and sky—was swallowed by blinding light and annihilated in an instant.
Before the destructive power of nuclear fire, all things appeared fragile, like paper set aflame.
This was humanity's final weapon—the source of their ultimate confidence in the face of gods and monsters.
Prayers and faith could summon deities, yes.
But if a nuclear bomb could kill that monster instead… wouldn't that be even better?
From the very beginning, the President's true plan had never been divine intervention.
Using Matt as bait to lure Andrew out of the city, trapping him in the open, and then launching a nuclear strike—
that was the real trump card prepared from the start.
Ivanka had seen through it, of course.
That was why she pitied Matt so much.
In the end, he was nothing more than a tool—a pawn on a board far larger than himself.
At that moment, inside the White House, the President stared coldly at the blooming mushroom cloud.
Without hesitation, he pressed another button.
A few seconds later—
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Three more nuclear missiles launched into the sky.
The ground shuddered beneath their power. Within moments, four consecutive explosions tore through the world.
For thousands of miles, the earth convulsed; even distant cities quaked violently under the aftershock.
Forests were erased into ash.
Mountains were devoured whole.
The crust itself twisted, and far across the ocean, waves hundreds of meters tall rose, slamming into the shores and swallowing everything.
Even in uninhabited wilderness, the detonation of four nukes at once brought apocalyptic consequences.
Entire regions were devastated; even those far away were caught in the chain reaction—
tens of thousands dead in the secondary disasters.
But the President no longer cared.
There was only one thought left in his mind:
"Die. That monster must die."
Only then could his rule—the rule of mankind—remain unmocked.
Time crawled forward. The monstrous mushroom cloud began to fade.
The land below was gone—flattened into a basin of molten glass.
Superheated winds still rolled outward, and even the ground itself glowed with liquid fire.
No living creature remained.
Not even metal survived intact.
This was humanity's ultimate weapon, one once said to be capable of slaying gods.
But that was before humanity truly understood what gods were.
Compared to divine beings, nuclear arms were nothing.
Yet against anything short of a god—against "transcendentals" like Andrew—surely it was enough.
One minute passed.
Then two.
Then three…
No sign of Andrew.
Ten more minutes. Still nothing.
At last, someone exhaled shakily.
"...We won."
The President straightened, voice breaking with relief as he declared—
"We did it!"
That single sentence was like a match dropped into oil.
Cheers erupted everywhere—people shouting, laughing, crying.
Some even tried to lift the President into the air, celebrating him as humanity's savior.
For the first time, the world's most powerful man allowed himself to drop his composure and join in the jubilation.
This moment—this victory—belonged to all of humanity.
They had faced the impossible, and won.
They had defeated the transcendent.
They didn't need gods.
Not just America—every nation with satellites could see the feed.
Every government, every city, every home erupted into celebration.
Humanity's hope spread across the world faster than sound.
The world rejoiced.
Humanity had done it.
Until—
"...What is that?"
The voice that cut through the room wasn't loud, but it was sharp—
so sharp it sliced through the cheers like a blade.
Every head turned stiffly toward the screen.
The White House fell silent.
In the center of that molten, cratered wasteland—
something was moving.
A black mist began to seep upward from the scorched earth,
billowing, spreading, devouring the very light around it.
Where it passed, molten rock cooled into darkness.
The nuclear inferno's light was swallowed whole.
Within moments, the entire blast zone had become a shrouded abyss of night.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Footsteps echoed—slow, heavy, deliberate.
And then, through the darkness, he emerged.
A figure both familiar and horrifying.
It was Andrew—humanity's nightmare, the "Destroyer" himself.
But not the Andrew they knew.
Half his body was wrapped in black energy that rippled like liquid smoke.
Half his face was still human; the other half was covered in shadow,
and from that darkness, a single crimson eye burned like an ember from hell.
Half man, half abyss.
Half human, half demon.
This version of Andrew was worse than any devil—
his very presence distorted the air.
Even through the broadcast, everyone watching could feel the suffocating pressure,
their consciousnesses screaming in instinctive terror.
Then came his voice—harsh and jagged, like metal tearing against metal.
"You almost did it."
"Almost."
He tilted his head slightly, lifting one darkened arm.
In his hand was something strange—fluid and unstable, a weapon that changed shape with every heartbeat.
Sometimes a sword.
Sometimes a gun.
Sometimes something beyond description.
Whatever it was, one thing was clear—
it was terrifying.
The reason Andrew had survived the nuclear inferno—
the reason for his transformation—was right there in his grasp.
The Dark Artifact.
Andrew had done it.
He had successfully forged the weapon born from the slaughter of millions.
The moment that realization dawned, despair washed over the world like a tide.
The man who had already been nearly invincible—
now wielded the power of a Dark God.
One by one, people fell to their knees.
Their eyes hollow, their hope extinguished.
And then—
somewhere, a voice began to pray.
"Great Lord Balder, God of Light… please, descend upon this world.
Please, save us."
That single trembling prayer spread like wildfire.
Voice after voice joined in, desperate, trembling, crying out for salvation.
"Great Lord Balder… hear us…"
Across the globe, faith surged.
And in the unseen planes beyond mortal sight—
the power of belief began to gather once more.
~~----------------------
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