At the same time, far from the mortal world, in a place known among the celestial beings as the Divine Domain—also called Valh'arel, the gathering place of gods from various universes—the atmosphere of peace was suddenly shattered.
At the heart of Goddess Aqua's residence, the gods were gathered in a sacred forum. A divine aura gently rumbled throughout Valh'arel, until suddenly, the holy sky cracked open, revealing a portal of fiery, dark-red flames. The sound of heavy footsteps dominated the silence.
A tall figure emerged from the portal, clad in deep crimson armor and a cloak that trailed across the heavenly floor. His hair was long and silver, his skin hard and glimmering like dragon scales, and his eyes burned like embers. Behind him flew a cavalry of mounted warriors, but they remained in an intimidating silence.
He lowered his head slightly—not in reverence, but more as an acknowledgment of this world's customs.
"I am Siegrith, the Red Knight of the Ancient Dragon Blood. Envoy of the Absolute. I have come to fulfill His will—to take the divine weapon you've hidden, the Divine Armament Mjolnir. I hope for your cooperation... for the sake of this world's survival."
His voice rumbled like a collapsing mountain—calm, yet resonant and overpowering in the gods' meeting chamber.
The gods exchanged startled and anxious glances. The name Mjolnir was no ordinary name. It was their secret project, a universe-destroying weapon, not yet complete, still under refinement.
Without much discussion, dozens to hundreds of lesser and intermediate gods attacked immediately, treating Siegrith as nothing more than an arrogant dragon who didn't know the rules. But the Red Knight stood firm. Even as thousands of magical attacks, energy spears, and lightning blades surged toward him, he showed not a hint of fear.
With movements nearly imperceptible, he dodged strike after strike. His body floated effortlessly, as if he controlled gravity itself. Using only his sword's sheath, he struck, deflected, and cut down gods without unsheathing the blade. With each flash, three gods fell. With each blink, five were obliterated.
Divine blood soaked the heavenly air.
Only when the ground trembled violently did heavy footsteps sound. A massive god with skin like living stone, robed in ancient, living roots—Gaia, one of Goddess Aqua's chief allies and commander of Valh'arel's defenses—stepped forward.
"Enough, dragon. You may be strong, but this is the land of gods. I will not let you act savagely here!"
Gaia's aura surged, as if the earth itself spoke. But Siegrith offered only a faint smile.
"Finally. A foe who might actually make my blood stir."
Their battle raged fiercely. Gaia summoned mountains, forests, and earthquakes with a wave of his hand, while Siegrith danced among them, tearing the air with his claws and creating spatial rifts. The ground collapsed, the sky split open, yet Siegrith seemed to be merely toying with him.
Then, at one moment, with a voice barely audible, he whispered:
"That's enough."
His dragon hand transformed into its true form, glowing deep crimson, and with a single swift strike, he slashed Gaia nearly in two. Gaia fell, severely wounded, gasping for breath.
"He… he's insane… Even I—one of the most powerful gods in the Divine Domain—was treated like a toy," muttered Gaia. "Bring out Mjolnir. We'll test it on that damned dragon directly."
"But, Your Grace! Mjolnir isn't stable—" his assistant cried out in panic.
"I don't care! He wants Mjolnir, then he'll have it… Charge it to maximum. Fire!"
The massive weapon rose from beneath the central temple, its blue-white core flickering wildly. The world trembled. All the gods stared in fear.
But before it fired, Siegrith's aura began to rise. No longer holding back, half of his true power emerged. The gods felt minuscule, like ants before him.
"The Absolute… who is he really?" whispered Gaia, sweating. "Even the Dragon God Ragnar wasn't this powerful… If only he were on our side, we might've completed our mission from millennia ago."
Mjolnir's beam was unleashed, aimed directly at Siegrith.
But… he didn't dodge. He stood tall. His hand extended—
And he caught it.
The beam screamed, twisted, and was absorbed.
"Hmph. Strong enough. This weapon shouldn't exist here."
He clenched the beam into a single point of light—like a tiny star—and then aimed it at Gaia. In an instant, the light pierced Gaia's body, reducing him to ash—along with the weapon development facility behind him.
Valh'arel fell into silence.
Siegrith calmly walked toward Mjolnir and touched it.
"The Divine Weapon… has been taken. Tell Goddess Aqua. We are confiscating it."
A portal reopened, and he vanished along with his army, who had been silently watching as their commander fought.
The skies of Valh'arel continued to rumble long after his departure.
Not long after that event, Goddess Aqua's consciousness—previously fragmented from her observation of the mortal world and her meeting with Aris—fully returned to her body in Valh'arel.
As her eyes opened, she immediately sensed the destructive aura hanging in the air. Her guards approached nervously, and a female priest whispered the news of Gaia's defeat and Mjolnir's loss.
Goddess Aqua rose with a furious expression. Her voice echoed throughout her palace.
"WHAT WERE YOU ALL DOING WHILE I WAS AWAY?!"
With a single motion, she shattered a temple pillar. She turned, pointing at her guards.
"GAIA WAS USELESS! WHAT WAS HE THINKING, LOSING TO A LOWLY DRAGON?! AND YOU? YOU JUST WATCHED?!"
Her guards bowed in silence, trembling.
"WE JUST LOST MJOLNIR! A WEAPON THAT, EVEN UNFINISHED, COULD DESTROY AN ENTIRE DIMENSION! AND ONE OF MY STRONGEST ALLIES IS DEAD!"
Goddess Aqua looked to the heavens, her chest rising and falling in rage.
"This is not just a failure. This is a DEVASTATING BLOW to our power. Our faction has been weakened… and the world is about to change."
She clenched her fists.
The skies of Valh'arel continued to rumble—but this time, not from destruction—rather, from the fury of the Awakened Goddess of Water.