CHAPTER 154: SAND VS. THE STORM 1

The desert broke into war.

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The first blow fell from Ra. His staff flared, and the sun itself screamed. Fire rolled across the sky in waves, rivers of molten gold pouring onto the battlefield. The sands turned to glass where it touched, the air itself seared.

Zeus raised his hands. The storm bellowed out of him, thunder ripping through the fire. Lightning split the flood of flame, sparks and embers bursting into storms of their own. The clash blinded the horizon, heat and storm locked in one endless scream.

All at once the armies collided.

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Ares leapt forward with a roar, his sword dripping fire as he crashed into Sekhmet. Claws met blade, blood spraying at the first strike. Her roar tore the sand apart, but Ares only laughed, teeth bared, his body blazing with warlust.

Athena moved precise, her spear darting into the lines of jackal-headed warriors raised by Anubis. Her strikes were clean, her shield unbreaking, each thrust piercing black armor and scattering souls back into sand. Anubis himself closed, scales glowing, his eyes cold. Athena braced, their weapons clashing, sparks and death flashing at once.

Poseidon roared from the center, his trident raised. The desert answered not with waves, but with rivers bursting from nowhere. His waters churned across the sand, swallowing Sobek whole. The crocodile god rose from the tide with a hiss, jaws snapping wide, dragging Poseidon under. The Nile itself seemed to fight Poseidon with Sobek’s fury, river and sea tearing at one another in madness.

Hades moved colder, quieter. His cloak spread across the battlefield, turning sand into graves, dunes into pits of shadow. Isis lifted her hands to unravel his darkness, her light weaving through the dead. They clashed in silence—his fire of corpses against her radiant song, neither giving ground.

Apollo’s bow sang, arrows blazing like suns. Each shot tore into lines of falcon warriors behind Horus, their bodies falling in smoke. Horus dove from above, his wings sharp enough to split stone, his talons carving sparks against Apollo’s golden shield. The sky burned with their duel, sunfire and falcon cries echoing together.

Artemis’s arrows fell cold and silver, her aim never wavering. She loosed into Bastet’s dancers, her shafts breaking their illusions. Bastet smiled, sleek and cruel, weaving through them, claws darting. Artemis spun away, the moon and the cat god circling, each strike faster than breath.

Hermes flickered at the edges, too fast for the eye. He struck at Hathor’s musicians, stealing their rhythm before it could bind the battlefield. His blades flashed into Thoth’s scrolls, cutting lines of law before they could settle. Thoth snapped his pen through the air, writing new bindings, trapping Hermes in chains of ink. But Hermes grinned, vanished, and the god of wisdom felt the knife nick his side.

Nyx spread her veil over the field, stars dripping into the chaos. Set surged to meet her, storm-eyes wild, his blade sharp with desert winds. He cut through her night with roars, his storms raging, but her stars refused to die. They clashed above, shadow and sandstorm twisting the sky into madness.

Gaia’s hands pressed into the earth. Roots erupted beneath Geb, cracking his mountain body, dragging him down. He bellowed, his fists smashing valleys into dust, his weight crushing the desert. Gaia did not yield, her body bleeding stone, her roots binding tighter. Earth itself tore as the two pressed, mother and mountain in war.

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At the center, Zeus and Ra tore the heavens apart.

Every strike burned a horizon. Ra’s staff split into a thousand suns, each one screaming fire across the sands. Zeus’s fists met them, lightning spearing through suns, detonating them into storms of light. Their roars cracked the desert wide open, dunes collapsing into molten rivers.

Nut bent overhead, her star-body spreading wide, trying to smother Zeus’s storm beneath her night. He raised his arms, thunder bursting upward, ripping holes into her skin of constellations. Shu’s winds wrapped tighter, his breath crushing Zeus’s storm, trying to choke it out. But thunder did not bow. The storm erupted, tearing Shu’s winds into tatters, blasting Nut’s stars apart.

Tefnut surged forward, her body a torrent of steaming water. She struck, her claws ripping across Zeus’s chest, steam boiling against lightning. He staggered, blood hissing from his skin. His fist answered, thunder splitting her water body apart, scattering her into clouds of steam across the battlefield.

Still Ra pressed. His fire burned hotter, his crown blazing until the desert itself screamed. The sun bent closer, crushing all beneath its heat.

Zeus stood bare-chested, bloodied, fists clenched. His storm howled, arcs brighter than day, thunder heavier than the Nile’s flood. The sky split under their duel, heaven and desert collapsing under their wrath.

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The field turned red.

Sand drank blood, rivers boiled, air burned. Greek and Egyptian gods shredded one another, their roars echoing beyond realms. Ares and Sekhmet tore wounds into each other’s flesh until they were both dripping, neither willing to fall. Athena’s spear cracked against Anubis’s scales, her shield catching his claws, the dead screaming at every clash.

Poseidon and Sobek drowned the desert, their waters twisting into whirlpools of blood. Hades’s pale fire spread, corpses rising from sand, only to be unraveled by Isis’s glow. Apollo and Horus raged in the sky, their light blinding, their wings and arrows breaking the clouds. Artemis and Bastet spun, silver and shadow clashing, blood dripping across their dance.

Hermes laughed in Thoth’s face even as chains bound him, his knife always finding escape. Nyx’s stars flared even as Set’s storm shredded them. Gaia and Geb split the desert into canyons, roots and stone cracking one another apart.

Everywhere was blood, smoke, ruin.

And through it all, Ra and Zeus burned.

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The war had only begun.

Their gods bled, their realms shook, but neither side yielded. The desert screamed with their fury, the sun dimmed, the storm refused to fade.

Egypt would not bow.

And Zeus would not stop.

A/N

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