173 ZARIOTH THE TEMPEST SOVEREIGN
Then he realized what struck him.
Appearing before him was a colossus of electricity—a being so vast that it blotted out the stars. Its form shimmered in a constant flux, a humanoid shape sculpted from pure current, as though lightning itself had taken flesh.
Arcs of plasma coiled around its limbs like living serpents, tearing through the air with each movement.
Its eyes burned white, like twin stars of judgment, and its voice was thunder given form. Every word it spoke vibrated through the desert and into Damen's bones.
From its shoulders streamed ribbons of ionized light that flared like wings. Beneath its feet, the desert glassified into molten rivers, yet the being did not sink—it hovered, sustained by the fury of the storm.
Its features flickered—sometimes a man of regal countenance, sometimes a faceless silhouette crowned in lightning.
It carried no weapon, for its entire body was the weapon.
When it looked down upon Damen, he felt like an insect before a god.
"Mortal thief," the being's voice roared, splitting the clouds.
"You have fed on my kin. You have unbalanced the storm. Return what you have stolen—or be undone."
The sovereign's enormous hand soon caught him in his grasp before he had a chance to escape.
Damen grit his teeth, electricity crawling over his armor like living veins.
"So, you're the one who's been watching me," he said, his tone half awe, half defiance. The sovereign was the being secretly watching Damen as he hunted the Storm Wraiths.
The being raised Damen into the sky as lightning bolts cascaded across the horizon, illuminating the entire desert.
"I am Zarioth, the Tempest Sovereign, Keeper of the Electric Vein. You bear what belongs to me. Return them to me."
Damen's Vision Connect flashed warnings.
[Overcharge detected.]
[Core of Electricity—Unstable]
Damen's Annunakin form could resist lightning, but he was taking too much of it from the Tempest Sovereign. His being was being overloaded with currents.
He could feel his own cores vibrating in response, as if they were afraid. He quickly scanned the being with his Vision Connect.
Name: Tempest Sovereign
Meta Rank: A
Attributes: Strength: 0 | Charm: 0 | Meta: 5214 | Command: 5213
Description: The Tempest Sovereign is a primal consciousness born from the pure element of electricity. It is not a creature but a living phenomenon, as ancient as the planet Anu itself. Its existence maintains the equilibrium of the planet's electric currents and atmospheric storms.
Lesser entities, known as Storm Wraiths, were sired from fragments of its essence, roaming the night skies as echoes of their progenitor's will.
"Damnit… this thing is the god of electricity in this world," Damen muttered.
His reckless hunt had drawn retribution — the parent of all Storm Wraiths had come to reclaim what was stolen: the Cores of Electricity pulsing within his body.
Fighting it was almost impossible.
The creature's meta stat readings were ten times higher than his own. Even if he could resist lightning, the plasma forming around him was another matter entirely.
Zarioth's voice thundered through the storm.
"Die…"
Damen's live view screamed warnings.
[Electric overload detected]
He staggered in midair, his skin peeling beneath the molten edges of his armor, more from the plasma by-product generated from the electricity than the electricity itself.
"Damnit—this plasma will kill me faster than the electricity itself."
The air around him ignited, the sand below fusing into glass.
Every breath of his burned.
"So, this is it…" he whispered through his teeth. "A human against a god. I really overdid it this time."
"Die now," Zarioth thundered.
Then — a message flashed across Damen's vision:
[Core of Electricity is being overloaded. Please unload.]
He froze. "Unload? …Is that supposed to be a clue?"
The thought hit him instantly.
Plasma is generated from electricity. If his body was flooded with too much charge, then—why not burn it off?
"I can use this energy…"
Damen thrust both hands forward. The circle of silver light on his chest lit up and spun into action. His Halo's Judgment activated — not in short bursts this time, but as a continuous beam of concentrated plasma.
A blinding torrent of plasma erupted from his body, blasting straight into Zarioth's chest as the heavens turned white.
"Arrrggghhh!" the Tempest Sovereign roared, its radiant eyes seared by the beam.
Halo's Judgment was usually limited to two short bursts, due to Damen's limited ability, but… now it flowed endlessly.
Damen's overload became his weapon. Every volt Zarioth forced into him was returned in kind, transformed into pure destructive plasma.
"How dare you return my power to harm me!" Zarioth's voice shook the desert.
"I don't have a choice!" Damen shouted over the roar. "You're killing me—am I not allowed to fight back?"
Lightning and plasma collided, creating a blinding storm that swallowed the night.
-----
"Pest! You are making me furious!" Zarioth thundered, his voice shaking the heavens.
"Let me go," Damen said through gritted teeth. "We end this with a truce."
He didn't want to destroy the Tempest Sovereign — he only wanted to live. If words could buy him a way out, he'd take them.
But Zarioth was beyond reason.
"You have nothing to bargain with me," the god replied, his tone deep as rolling thunder. "You may reflect a spark of my power back at me, but my current is endless. You, mortal, are not."
Zarioth's words struck deeper than lightning — they were the truth.
Damen could only recycle the storm being poured into him, converting a fraction of the electricity into plasma. But Zarioth was electricity itself — eternal, boundless, impossible to exhaust.
"Damnit," Damen muttered, his voice cracking. "My plasma isn't generating fast enough."
His body was failing.
His skin had peeled away, exposing muscle and bone scorched black. Only fragments of his organs still held shape beneath the searing plasma that devoured him.
The battle was lost long before it began — no human could defeat the god of storms.
"Return my Cores to me!" Zarioth roared, his voice booming across the desert like an endless peal of thunder.
It wasn't a command anymore — it was destiny. Damen's end was inevitable.
"Never…" Damen spat, defiant even as his body broke apart. "If I die… I'll die on my own terms."
The horizon began to glow …. the first shards of dawn cutting through the storm. Two golden peaks of light rose behind the clouds, painting the blackened world in fire.
Zarioth raised his colossal arm of lightning, his voice thundering through the desert one last time.
"Die!"
The word tore through the air like the wrath of the heavens themselves.
This was the end — the final heartbeat before oblivion.
"Damen will die."