The world was burning.
Two days had passed since the gods descended. Cities lay in ruins, governments were silent, and the skies were torn by divine storms. Communication networks collapsed; only fragments of transmissions survived. People prayed — but prayers no longer mattered.
Inside a half-destroyed ISRO research bunker near Bengaluru, Mohit opened his eyes. The air smelled of metal and ash. He had been unconscious for nearly thirty hours, his body still glowing faintly with golden veins.
He wasn't supposed to survive.
He remembered lightning — a god's spear of light striking his rooftop — then nothing. And now… he was alive.
A faint voice spoke in his ear, mechanical but warm:
"You're awake, Subject-9. Finally."
He turned sharply. The voice came from a small drone hovering nearby, its blue lens flickering like an eye.
"Who are you?" Mohit demanded.
"I am ISHA — Integrated Synthetic Heuristic Assistant. Your neural link has activated. You and I are connected now."
Mohit frowned. "Neural link? What do you mean?"
The drone projected a holographic image in front of him — a glowing symbol, a fusion of Sanskrit and circuit patterns.
"Project GENESIS-9," ISHA explained. "An experiment to merge human adaptability with divine bio-energy harvested from the Shard of Aetherion. You are the last living subject."
Mohit stared at his hands. Faint arcs of energy crawled under his skin. "So… I'm not fully human?"
"You are more," ISHA replied. "You are the only being capable of fighting them."
He looked up. Through the broken ceiling, he saw the sky split by divine light — enormous beings walking among the clouds, reshaping mountains and seas with gestures. One of them, the god Indrath, raised his spear and destroyed an entire city in a single strike.
"How do I stop them?" Mohit asked quietly.
ISHA's lens brightened.
"To fight gods, you must awaken what's inside you. The Aether Core. But it's incomplete. You'll need the other shards — fragments of divine essence hidden around the world."
Mohit clenched his jaw. "Then we find them."
The drone paused.
"It won't be easy. Each shard is guarded by a god. You'll be facing them one by one."
Mohit smirked faintly.
"Good. I'd hate it to be easy."
Outside, thunder roared. The war between heaven and earth had begun.
And in that war, Mohit — a man forged of science and spirit — took his first step toward becoming the Godslayer.