In a region of absolute nothingness, the magnificent Great Realm of Primordia was a stunning visual contrast. It floated as a spherical jewel, vibrant with the emerald greens of life, the azure blues of vast oceans, and the brilliant whites of its atmosphere. A single, colossal bubble of existence, rich and colorful, viewed from the endless dark of the void.
Above it, separated only by a sliver of space-time, waited the predators. Four gargantuan, dark entities hovered. Their forms shifting, grotesque, and horrifying, as if nature's laws had been violated to create them. They eyed the spherical realm below as a monstrous creature eyes its delicious, helpless prey. These beings were the cosmic horrors spoken of only in forgotten nightmares, resembling the fiendish, tentacled nightmares of ancient lore, cloaked in abyssal decay and ruin.
Three of the grotesque entities were currently locked in a devastating, multi-front war against eight individuals, the defenders of Primordia. The battlefield was the void itself, a necessary precaution, for the power wielded by both sides was too destructive to unleash upon the realm below.
The battle was a clash of cosmic will, a rupture of fundamental laws.
One of the colossal dark beings, a mountainous, gelatinous mass covered in countless, unblinking eyes, was battered by two defenders. One of the figures, the golden dragon, manifested not in humanoid form, but as a colossal, mountainous beast of gold-plated scales and solar fire, easily comparable in size to the dark god itself. His roar, a physical wave of golden-white energy, slammed into the grotesque mass, momentarily stunning it. Alongside him, a majestic looking dwarf, wielded a hammer that weigh as heavy asthe world, is striking the vast, shifting dark entity form with repeated blows.
The other six defenders fought in two groups of three against the remaining two dark entities:
One group, consisting of an elven mage who wove silver chains of magical law, a human human cloaked with shadow that looked merged with nothingness who struck with twin void-cutting daggers, and a stoic looking warrior of might, stood against the dark entity made of swirling, decaying space, weaving a net of reality-warping spells and martial arcs.
The final three, the beautiful looking merfolk whose sacred song purified madness, the muscular werewolf like figure who struck with purifying light, and a female human mage that is shrouded with formless transparent lights, are focusing on the sickly, pale leviathan whose body wept foul ichor, bathing it in dark energy.
Their fighting was truly godly. Every collision of mana, every stroke of will, and every burst of power caused the distant stars to shudder and the very fabric of the void to ripple like disturbed water. The immensity of their power was immeasurable and vast.
While three fronts raged, a fourth, far more menacing confrontation took place.
The last dark god, a massive, humanoid, tentaclish being, its form veiled in an ever-shifting cloak of abyssal shadow, had yet to move. Dozens of shadowy appendages writhed from its body.
Gazing at this entity were two figures whose power was the living embodiment of Primordia's defense.
The first was a figure of lean, perfect build. He looked as if the world revolved around him, as if the universe was merging with him by his sheer presence alone.
Beside him, a figure with golden long hair, was cloaked with blazing golden lights. He emanated a shining aura as if he were the sun itself, a true anti-thesis of the dark power. The void darkness recoiled, unable to approach his light.
The shadowed figure watched them, speaking with a humming, grotesque sound that rattled the soul.
"Why bother resisting? Your world will be devoured in darkness." The abyssal entity smiled, a fiendish, horrific gesture.
"Scum of cosmos! There is no way we will let you devour Primordia." The golden shining figure said with grim eyes.
"Ahh, Caeloras! There will be a day when your lights fail to protect your pitiful world." The entity sneered.
"As long as we are here, Primordia will always be safe." The first figure said, his voice imbued with quiet, absolute authority.
"With your meager power? We both have fought the longest, Kyros. You know how will this end." The entity said, its voice dripping with mocking disdain for the human.
Suddenly, the void itself groaned and recoiled. A powerful, terrifying burst of aura, the color of starlight and deep cosmic purple, erupted from the first figure, Kyros. It was a fundamental shift in power, one that shook the surrounding space violently.
The entities fighting on the other three fronts suddenly stopped their assault, their attention snapping to Kyros. He clearly showed a stronger aura compared to the other nine defenders, but despite the sudden burst of power, they looked grimly determined.
"Trinity Ascendant. So you have taken a step higher," the shadowed entity said, its eyes narrowing at the immense pressure. "But it will change nothing!" The colossal figure said menacingly, and a gust of oppressive darkness instantly enveloped everything. Even the magnificent golden aura of Caeloras looked suppressed, despite still shining powerfully around him.
"NOTHING CAN STOP US FROM DEVOURING THIS WORLD!" The entity roared, its vast, hideous form dissolving into pure shadow and lunging itself at the duo.
A cataclysmic battle erupted on the fourth front. Kyros struck with a martial fist wrapped in the essence of soul, a crystalline purple light that turned the fabric of space into glass. Caeloras answered with a sword strike that contained the full might of the sun, cleaving through the thick shadow like a knife through fog. The exchange was a blur of absolute power, with the forces of light and cosmic will fighting the ancient, corrupting might of darkness.
The other three fights intensified again. The golden dragon hammered the gelatinous entity with its tail, while the dwarf's immense willpower kept its mind clear of the God's maddening whispers. The three figures fighting the entity of decay managed to anchor it with a web of interwoven magical arrays, a temporary prison forged from the fundamental laws of Primordia. The final three pushed the weeping leviathan back, bathing it in a cleansing tidal wave of pure, sacred energy.
The fight last for a very long time. Eventually, the defenders looked haggard, bleeding starlight and mana from countless severe injuries. Their bodies were strained to the breaking point. The four dark gods, though regenerating rapidly, had also sustained significant visible damage.
Suddenly, the ten defenders broke off their attacks, standing side-by-side, defiant.
One of the immense, skeletal dark gods, whose form resembled empty space and decay, spoke with a grating, empty whisper of oblivion. "Any last words? Your resistance ends now. The collapse is inevitable."
Kyros the Saint smiled, a serene, confident expression even through the blood streaming from his temple. "Yes, and that is: let us continue our fight another time."
Before the dark gods could react, a massive burst of blinding aura erupted from all nine other figures.
Their bodies could be visibly seen burning from the inside, their flesh and essence dissolving into pure, unbridled cosmic energy.
"Last struggle. Burning your essence will change nothing," the tentaclish figure hissed, its shadow power surging to counter the light.
The nine figures funneled their immense, life-ending power and every drop of their existence into Kyros. With this terrifying, newly found cosmic power, Kyros grew immensely strong, his light momentarily eclipsing Caeloras's solar power. The void itself broke and fractured around him, unable to contain the overwhelming infusion of energy.
Kyros, his eyes blazing with the combined will of his nine comrades, waved his hand. Seven colossal, colorful lights materialized like a vast, shimmering film, stretched far across the visible spherical Great Realm of Primordia. This was the Realm Membrane, an impossible defensive barrier of interwoven cosmic laws and burned essence, covering the entire world. When he finished this monumental feat, his face looked utterly exhausted, drained of life.
"How long do you think this realm membrane will last to protect Primordia? Hundred thousand years? A million years?" the tentaclish figure said grimly, its rage palpable.
Kyros smiled, a victorious and mocking gesture. "It does not matter how long. What we know is that now there is nothing that you can do."
"Next, it's your turn."
Kyros's haggard, exhausted face suddenly turned fierce, fueled by the borrowed life-force, and he lunged himself full speed at the four dark gods. His fist suddenly glowed with blinding purplish cosmic lights, and the lights condensed at his fist into a single point.
The dark gods roared and instantly merged together, their four distinct, grotesque bodies flowing into one, forming a single, massive entity. It quickly conjured a thick, undulating darkness shield to block the punch.
The dark shield shattered and dispersed into nothingness as Kyros's fist hit the combined dark gods.
"Arghhh!" The multiple sounds of agony could be heard. The fist had wounded them deeply.
Kyros, still sustained by the burning essences, stood upright. With a booming, commanding voice that echoed across the vast emptiness, he proclaimed:
"With my authority as the strongest Paragon and Leader of the Realm, I command the Realm itself to banish these Eldritch beings into the depths of the Abyss!"
A gigantic sword made of pure, searing white lights condensed above his head. The sword shone so brightly that it illuminated the entire void. With a decisive hand gesture, the sword flew with unimaginable speed and pierced the grotesque, merged entity through and through.
As it pierced them, colossal chains of pure light formed around their wounded, struggling form, holding them together and pulling them relentlessly down toward the void beneath Primordia, toward the abyssal, crushing darkness.
"This will not hold us forever, Paragons! We will be back! We will survive, while you die for burning your essence! And when we return, we will devour your world! Mark my words, Paragons!" the merged entity roared, its voice a fading, cosmic oath.
The nine other figures, their ultimate sacrifice complete, their bodies slowly disintegrating into shimmering particles of ligh then approached Kyros.
Kyros, his own body already beginning to fade and dissolve into the starry void, turned to them with a final, serene smile.
"We've done our part," he said, his voice fading like a distant echo. "Next, we live it up to the younger generation."