The sky over Emberhold was no longer a sky—it was a burning ocean of gold and white.

Twelve colossal figures floated in the heavens, their presence pressing down like mountains upon the Demon Realm.  

The air itself trembled beneath their divinity.

Even the Ten Demon Kings, each a calamity in their own right, stared upward in complete silence.

Their thoughts echoed through a shared mental link, their calm completely shattered.

> “Dalph, what in the abyss are those things?”  

> “That’s not divine projection—that’s full descent!”  

> “Everyone retreat! Now! This is a divine-class disaster!”  

> “You think *I* need to tell you twice?! MOVE!”  

Dalph Bakian’s mental voice was sharp and grim.  

> “All demon legions, evacuate Emberhold immediately!  

>  Don’t engage—repeat, DO NOT engage! That’s not a battle, that’s extinction!”

All over the fortress, the high-ranking demons scrambled into action.  

Energy barriers unfolded, teleportation sigils flared.  

Even veteran generals were trembling.

But one person didn’t move.  

Floating in the center of the chaos,  

**Jexy Bakian** stared at the ruins of his once-pristine fortress.

Half of his city was gone.  

His towers—obliterated.  

The banquet hall—ash.  

The wedding banners he’d paid billions for—smoldering.

His eye twitched.

“…Okay,” he said slowly, voice trembling.  

“Which one of you divine bastards… just blew up my castle?”

The gods didn’t answer.  

They merely hovered above, vast and silent, their eyes like distant suns.

Behind him, Lyssara shouted, “Jexy! Don’t! Those are gods—real gods! Their power—”

“I don’t care what they are!!”  

He turned, pointing his hand to the sky.  

“They broke my city. They can pay for renovations in *blood!*”

The next instant, the world exploded.

Magic circles—hundreds, thousands—bloomed behind him, spreading across the horizon.  

Each one shone in a different color, humming with demonic sigils of forbidden rank.

A storm of arcane light erupted upward as Jexy roared,  

“**MULTI-LAYERED BAN PROTOCOL: ALL-IN!!!**”

The entire sky turned black-blue,  

then detonated.

Bolts of destructive flame and dimensional energy tore through the clouds,  

crashing toward the twelve ancient gods like a barrage of exploding stars.

Inside the psychic link, the Demon Kings went pale.

> “He’s actually attacking them!?”  

> “That idiot’s lost his mind!”  

> “He’s your grandson, Dalph! CALL HIM BACK!”  

Dalph groaned, rubbing his temple.  

> “If you think I can *stop* him, you clearly don’t know him.”  

High above, the Twelve watched the storm descend.  

Even weakened, they were still gods—  

their bodies burned with a radiance no mortal magic could pierce.  

Still, Jexy’s fury was unlike anything they’d seen.  

The spells struck them like meteors, shaking the sky, scattering divine mist.

The gods raised their hands together, forming a sphere of light that absorbed the barrage.  

Waves of power rippled outward, sweeping away entire clouds.

When the last explosion faded, the gods hovered, unharmed.  

Only faint traces of smoke curled from their radiant forms.

Lumial—the Archon of Creation—spoke, his voice calm and thunderous.  

> “Child of Bakian… your defiance amuses me.”  

Jexy snarled. “Defiance? You destroyed my house!”  

> “Then rebuild it, demon. You’ll have need of it soon.”  

The Twelve turned their gazes downward, their eyes glowing like suns.  

> “We have seen your kind.  

>  We will see you again.  

>  Prepare yourselves,  

>  for the gods shall walk this world once more.”  

And with that, their light folded in upon itself.

The Twelve vanished—  

their divine forms dissolving into twelve streaks of blinding radiance that shot across the sky,  

piercing the clouds,  

descending far beyond the horizon.

A new glow rose in the distance, far to the east—  

the human kingdom’s greatest city, **Molercaesia**,  

ancient capital of the Divine Concord.  

There, the light touched earth again.

The gods had returned—  

and the next war had already begun.

Below the smoking heavens, Jexy floated amid the ruin.  

Ash rained around him.  

He glared upward, teeth grinding.

“…They ran away,” he muttered.  

“Blew up my castle, and ran away.”

Dalph landed beside him, sighing. “Well, look on the bright side, boy. You survived gods.”  

“Yeah,” Jexy said bitterly. “But my *furniture* didn’t.”

He clenched his fist, fire flaring in his eyes.

“Fine.  

They want to play gods?  

Then I’ll show them what a pissed-off demon with infinite money looks like.”