Mars had grown silent.
For a time, the wind whispered against jagged cliffs. Dust swirled gently around abandoned craters. The world itself seemed to pause, as if waiting for something inevitable.
Mardus walked across the plateau, boots crunching against red stone, hair drifting like silver mist. His fists glowed faintly with residual energy from his last trial, and the Galaxy System pulsed in rhythm with his heartbeat.
WARNING: COSMIC ENTITY DETECTED.
THREAT LEVEL: HIGH.
SOURCE: VOID SOVEREIGN DOMAIN.
Mardus froze.
Not out of fear—he had long surpassed it—but out of recognition.
This was no test of endurance or observation. This was a battle.
A ripple split space itself.
From beyond the horizon, a presence emerged. Not humanoid. Not completely abstract. It resembled a jagged shadow, towering and twisting in impossible geometry. Its core shimmered with void energy, pulsating as if breathing.
Mardus exhaled slowly. "Another one. Come on… show me what you've got."
The entity—the Herald of the Void Sovereigns—spoke not with words, but with raw intention. The very air trembled as if reality itself were being scoured.
You survived the first trial. You shall not survive the second.
Mardus clenched his fists. Silver light glimmered across his long hair. His presence alone began warping the surrounding plains. Small rocks lifted, dust spiraled upward, and air pressure shifted as if the planet were aware of his resolve.
SYSTEM ALERT: HOST CAPABILITIES UNCHARTED.
RECOMMEND ACCELERATED DEFENSE MODE.
He nodded. "Already there."
The battle began without warning.
The Herald lashed out with an appendage that seemed to pierce space itself. Mardus barely reacted in time, compressing the air with a flick of his fingers. The void appendage struck a pulse of resistance and shattered like glass.
Mardus landed a few meters away, dust swirling around him. "Hmm. Stronger than the last one. Predictable though."
ANALYSIS: HOST RESPONSE ADEQUATE.
ENEMY ATTACK PATTERN: HIGHLY ADAPTIVE.
Mardus smirked. "Adaptive? Then I'll adapt faster."
He extended both arms. Gravity rippled outward. A small crater beneath the Herald's feet tore open as the void structure destabilized slightly.
The Herald recoiled, reforming instantly. Its shape twisted into a blade-like extension aimed directly at Mardus's chest.
Mardus inhaled sharply and summoned energy from the void between particles. It flowed around his body like liquid metal, bending time slightly in his immediate vicinity. When the Herald struck, it collided with an invisible shield—a field of energy drawn from pure existence itself.
The impact reverberated through the plateau, sending cracks across the stone miles away. Red dust erupted into the sky like a storm.
Mardus pushed forward, energy flowing through his fists. He struck the ground, sending waves of destabilized gravity toward the Herald. Mountains trembled. Cliffs split. The very air vibrated with his power.
Yet the Herald advanced calmly, reforming instantly with each strike, adapting to every vector, every rhythm.
SYSTEM ALERT: ENEMY ADAPTATION RATE INCREASING.
SUGGEST STRATEGIC VARIATION.
Mardus smirked again. "I like a challenge."
He shifted tactics. Instead of direct strikes, he began warping space around himself, bending the battlefield into small loops. Rocks spun in unnatural orbits. Dust storms coalesced into mini-cyclones. The Herald's strikes passed through empty loops, striking only air.
But it adapted.
Mardus growled, energy flaring. "Clever. I like clever."
He leaped.
Not merely across the ground, but through space itself. Gravity reversed around him. The air compressed, then expanded, flinging him in a spiral trajectory directly at the Herald.
Time slowed.
He saw the Herald's appendage twist to intercept, yet the trajectory had been anticipated. Mardus extended a hand, and energy—raw, infinite—condensed into a sphere. He released it.
The sphere struck the Herald's core.
A shockwave ripped outward, bending reality. Dust, rock, and energy collided into incomprehensible patterns. The Herald shuddered but did not fall. Its form destabilized, then reformed instantly, more jagged, more chaotic.
Mardus landed lightly, hair floating around him. "Okay… stronger than the Null Warden. But that's fine."
SYSTEM ALERT: HOST POWER OUTPUT EXCEEDS PRIOR LIMITS.
CAUTION: PHYSICAL AND MENTAL STRAIN HIGH.
Mardus exhaled. "Strain is temporary. Victory is permanent."
The Herald changed tactics.
Instead of attacking physically, it struck conceptually. Gravity collapsed around Mardus in irregular patterns. Time skipped. Portions of the plateau flickered in and out of existence. His perception twisted.
Pain tore through his head. Not just physical, but existential. The Herald attempted to unmake his presence, like the previous Null Warden—but faster, more precise.
Mardus fell to one knee. "You don't get to erase me. Not today."
He reached inward, summoning energy not from the planet, not even from Mars itself, but from the void surrounding matter. He pulled in fragments of time, folding them into his consciousness. Energy flared across his skin as he stood again.
SYSTEM ALERT: HOST MENTAL RESILIENCE INCREASING.
TEMPORAL MANIPULATION SUCCESSFUL.
Mardus's eyes glowed. "Good. Let's make this interesting."
He shifted his battlefield again.
Gravity twisted in loops, folding the red plains. Dust swirled like living serpents. Mountains floated like islands in an inverted sea. Rocks rotated in impossible trajectories, acting as both shields and weapons.
The Herald struck again.
Its blade ripped through a loop of warped gravity—but Mardus was already elsewhere. He landed atop a floating rock, compressing the energy of the plateau into a concentrated strike.
The strike hit the Herald squarely, destabilizing its core.
ENEMY STRUCTURE COMPROMISED.
ADAPTATION DELAY DETECTED.
Mardus pushed forward. "Now we test limits."
He focused entirely. Not just on strength, but on conceptual control. Gravity, energy, matter, time—all bent toward his will. The plateau itself became a tool. Mountains were weapons. Craters were shields. Dust storms became traps.
The Herald struggled, reforming slower, faltering under his absolute command of the battlefield.
SYSTEM ALERT: HOST CAPACITY NEARING INFINITE STATE.
Mardus laughed. "Good. That's what I want."
The Herald responded with desperation.
It struck not at Mardus, but at the plateau, attempting to erase the foundation beneath him. Chunks of Mars vanished mid-air. Gravity snapped, making him fall through imagined layers of rock.
Mardus adjusted. He did not panic. He reached into time, compressing the next few seconds into a singularity of perception. The vanished rock reappeared mid-fall. His body twisted, landing atop the debris with perfect balance.
SYSTEM ALERT: HOST TEMPORAL SYNCHRONIZATION SUCCESSFUL.
PHYSICAL AND CONCEPTUAL CONTROL MAXIMIZED.
Mardus smiled faintly. "Yes… that's it."
He struck again. Not a punch. Not a wave. A manifestation of law itself. Gravity folded on the Herald, space twisted around it, time slowed. Energy he pulled from void and planet collided into a singular point.
The Herald screamed—not with sound, but with distortion. Its jagged geometry began unraveling rapidly. It lashed out desperately, but Mardus anticipated each movement, guiding the battlefield around its attacks.
ENEMY DESTRUCTION IN PROGRESS.
Mardus closed his eyes, extending his arms. The plateau itself pulsed with his will. Rocks, dust, air, energy, even gravity—everything responded. The Herald, towering and chaotic, was compressed into a singularity of void energy, then fractured into incoherent geometric shards.
Finally, it collapsed.
Silence fell.
Mars exhaled. Dust settled. The jagged cliffs and floating rocks slowly returned to the plateau, stabilized by Mardus's will.
SYSTEM UPDATE: HOST SURVIVAL CONFIRMED.
CAPACITY FURTHER EXPANDED.
COSMIC THREAT NEUTRALIZED.
Mardus dropped to his knees. Sweat and blood coated his body. Every muscle screamed. Every fiber of his being had been tested beyond known limits.
He looked at the horizon, red sun burning low. The sky, though scarred, was calm.
OBSERVATION: HOST APPROACHING GALACTIC THRESHOLD.
RECOMMEND TEMPORARY REST AND ANALYSIS.
Mardus exhaled slowly, letting his energy settle. "That was… close."
He rose, brushing dust from his shoulders. His eyes glowed faintly silver. "They're getting stronger. Faster. Smarter. But so am I."
He walked slowly across the plateau, surveying the battlefield. The fractured terrain, floating debris, and warped craters were a testament to the trial he had survived.
For the first time in hours, Mardus allowed himself to smile faintly.
SYSTEM ALERT: HOST PSYCHOLOGICAL STABILITY HIGH.
PREPARE FOR NEXT COSMIC INTERACTION.
Mardus's hair drifted in the windless air. "Bring it on," he said softly. "I'm ready for anything."
And as the sun dipped beneath the horizon, casting long shadows across the red plains, he walked calmly among the remnants of Mars' surface. His body burned with power, his mind sharp with awareness, and his resolve stronger than ever.
THE GALAXY WATCHES.
THE VOID SOVEREIGNS TAKE NOTE.
Mardus smiled faintly again. "Let them watch."
The Red Horizon had witnessed another battle.
And it would not be the last.