CHAPTER 58: CHAPTER 58: AGAINST THE GODS ASCENDANT

The thousand-meter-tall entity towered over the Amazon clearing like a living mountain of corruption. Its red eyes burned with malevolent intelligence as it gazed down at Evon, who stood barely visible at its feet among the thousands of corpses.

"You know," Evon said conversationally to the goddesses in his soul realm, "I’ve fought a lot of things, but never something quite this big."

Naia’s voice was steady despite the circumstances. "Size isn’t everything. This is just a projection of his will, not his true form."

"Just a projection?" Evon looked up at the massive entity. "I’d hate to see the real thing."

"You will," Sythara said grimly. "Eventually. But first, we need to survive this."

The Corrupted God’s voice boomed across the landscape, shaking trees and cracking the ground. "KNEEL, MORTAL. YOUR DEFIANCE ENDS HERE."

"I don’t really do the kneeling thing," Evon replied, drawing the Blade of Fate. "Ask anyone."

He closed his eyes and reached deep into his soul realm, where four glowing orbs pulsed with increasing intensity. And there, faint but growing stronger, was a fifth presence—Yena’s holy light, distant but unmistakably real.

"Are you all ready for this?" he asked them.

"We’ve been ready since the day we were sealed," Lyria said, her flame burning brighter.

"Let’s show this thing what real power looks like," Veyra added, her cybernetic energy crackling.

Evon opened his eyes and spoke the words that would change everything: "Destiny Resonance—full activation."

The change was immediate and overwhelming.

Five colored auras erupted around Evon’s body—Naia’s deep blue water, Lyria’s brilliant red fire, Veyra’s electric cyan energy, Sythara’s purple draconic force, and the faint but growing gold of Yena’s holy light. The auras spiraled around him like a living rainbow, each one feeding power into his core.

His eyes blazed with silver-gold light as the Eyes of Fate activated to their maximum potential. He could see not just the present and near future, but the threads of destiny that connected all things—including the massive entity before him.

But the power was too much for his human form to contain. He needed to push Destiny Resonance further to stabilize this power.

"Sythara," he said through gritted teeth, "I need your help."

"Take what you need," she replied without hesitation.

Evon felt his body begin to change. His bones became dense as dragon scales, harder than any earthly material. His muscles restructured themselves, gaining the supernatural strength of a true dragon. His skin took on a subtle shimmer, each cell infused with draconic resilience.

He was still recognizably human, but he was also something more—a bridge between mortal and divine, powered by the love and trust of five goddesses.

The Corrupted God watched this transformation with growing interest. "FASCINATING. THE MORTALS OF THIS REALM HAVE LEARNED TO MIMIC DIVINITY."

"Not mimic," Evon said, his voice now carrying harmonic overtones from all five goddesses. "Channel."

The entity reached down with one massive hand, moving to crush Evon like an insect. But Evon was no longer bound by normal physics. He leaped upward with dragon-enhanced strength, meeting the descending palm with the Blade of Fate.

The sword, charged with five types of divine energy, cut deep into the entity’s hand. Black ichor sprayed outward, hissing where it hit the ground.

"IMPOSSIBLE," the entity rumbled, pulling its wounded hand back. "YOU ARE MERELY MORTAL."

"Was mortal," Evon corrected, landing gracefully on the rim of the now-empty stone pool. "Now I’m something new."

The entity’s other hand swept across the clearing, trying to backhand Evon into oblivion. But he was already moving, using Veyra’s speed enhancement to blur across the battlefield. The massive hand struck empty air while Evon repositioned himself near the entity’s knee.

He struck again, this time with Lyria’s True Fire coating the blade. The heat was so intense that the entity’s leg began to steam and bubble where the sword touched it.

"YOU DARE WOUND A GOD?"

"You’re not a god," Evon replied, dodging a stomp that cracked the ground. "You’re a parasite that feeds on corruption. There’s a difference."

The entity’s form began to shift and change, becoming less solid and more like living shadow. "IF BRUTE FORCE WILL NOT SUFFICE, THEN I SHALL SHOW YOU THE TRUE NATURE OF CORRUPTION."

Waves of dark energy poured from the entity’s body, washing over the clearing like a tsunami of despair. Everything they touched withered and died—trees, grass, even the stones themselves began to crack and crumble.

Evon raised the Blade of Fate and channeled Yena’s faint but pure light through it. The holy energy formed a barrier around him, holding back the corruption like a lighthouse in a storm.

"You’re going to have to try harder than that," he called out.

The entity’s response was to summon dozens of smaller versions of itself from the remaining shadows in the clearing. Each one was only twenty meters tall, but they moved with terrifying speed and coordination.

"Now that’s more like it," Evon said, grinning fiercely.

He met the first shadow-spawn with Naia’s water techniques, using flowing movements to redirect its attacks while simultaneously counter-striking with dragon-enhanced strength. His blade, wreathed in elemental power, cut through the creature like it was made of smoke.

Two more attacked from his flanks. He spun between them, using Sythara’s aerial mobility to leap over their grasping claws, then came down with both hands on his sword’s hilt. The impact split one spawn in half and sent shockwaves through the ground that toppled the other.

But more kept coming. The massive entity was generating them faster than Evon could destroy them.

"This could be a problem," he muttered, parrying a claw strike from a spawn that had managed to get behind him.

"Not necessarily," Veyra’s voice cut through the chaos. "I’ve been analyzing their construction. They’re all linked to the main body."

"Meaning?"

"Cut the head off the snake, and the body dies."

Evon looked up at the towering form of the Corrupted God, now wreathed in shadow and malice. "Right. Time to go big."

Evon began to run—not away from the entity, but toward it. The shadow-spawns tried to intercept him, but he was moving too fast, powered by all five goddesses simultaneously. He leaped from spawn to spawn, using them as stepping stones to gain altitude.

The entity realized what he was doing and tried to swat him down, but Evon was already too close. He landed on the creature’s massive shoulder and immediately began climbing toward its head, using his dragon-enhanced claws to find purchase on the shifting shadow-flesh.

"GET OFF!" the entity roared, reaching up to grab him.

But Evon was already moving again, leaping from the creature’s shoulder to its neck. The Blade of Fate blazed with all five elements as he raised it high.

"This is for every person you’ve corrupted," he said, and brought the sword down.

The blade sank deep into the entity’s neck, and for a moment, the world went silent. Then light erupted from the wound—not the sickly glow of corruption, but pure, cleansing radiance.

The entity screamed, a sound that shattered windows in cities hundreds of miles away. Its form began to destabilize, the shadow-flesh rippling and breaking apart.

But it didn’t fall.

Instead, it reached up and grabbed Evon with both massive hands, pulling him away from the wound. "YOU THINK THIS WILL STOP ME? I AM ETERNAL. I AM INEVITABLE. EVEN IF MY TRUE BODY WASN’T HERE, I WILL CRUSH YOU!"

The hands began to squeeze, and even with his dragon-enhanced body, Evon felt his ribs creaking under the pressure.

"Maybe," he said through gritted teeth. "But I’m stubborn."

He channeled every ounce of power he had left into the Blade of Fate. The sword became a beacon of crimson light, so bright that it was visible from space. And with that crimson came immortal water — Naia’s Immortal Water’s purification power with Lyria’s Crimson True Fire became an ultimate force of purification.

The entity’s hands began to smoke and burn where they touched the blazing sword.

"IMPOSSIBLE! NO MORTAL POWER SHOULD BE ABLE TO—"

"I’m not mortal anymore," Evon said, his voice echoing with five distinct harmonics. "And I’m not alone."

The Blade of Fate pulsed once more, and the entity’s hands dissolved like smoke. Evon broke free and landed over the empty ground, looking up at its burning red eyes.

"Round one goes to me," he said.

The Corrupted God’s form began to shift again, it began to shrink, becoming more solid and defined. Its features sharpened, its muscles bulged, and its eyes burned brighter than ever.

"VERY WELL," it said, its voice now carrying a note of genuine anger. "YOU WANT TO PLAY WITH REAL POWER? THEN LET ME SHOW YOU WHAT A TRUE GOD CAN DO."

The air around the entity began to warp and twist. Reality itself seemed to bend in response to its will. And Evon tried to stop it but the sheer pressure around them was so intense that he was unable to move.

The fight was just getting started.

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