The night was eerily beautiful. The streets, usually filled with life, were unnaturally silent as my team and I patrolled the area. The city—always bustling, always alive—was now a ghost of itself.

Something was wrong.

One of my teammates finally spoke, breaking the uneasy silence.

“Isn’t the city always full of people at this hour? This… doesn’t feel right.”

I nodded, my senses screaming at me. “Yeah. Stay sharp. Something’s off.”

Then, it hit us.

An aura unlike anything I had ever felt—soothing yet monstrous—washed over us. The sheer pressure was suffocating. Two of my subordinates collapsed, immobilized, while the rest of us struggled to stay on our knees.

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Calista, still gasping for breath, muttered, "This is just too off..."

Before we could react, the same oppressive aura surged toward us at terrifying speed. And then, they appeared.

Two figures, their bodies enveloped in a golden radiance, stood before us.

Calista's voice was laced with certainty. “As I thought… these people are deities.”

One of them smirked. "The girl’s pretty smart," he said.

The other, his gaze cold and unfeeling, glanced at us like we were insects. "So… should we kill them too?" Twin daggers materialized in his hands.

The first deity chuckled. "Don’t be such a buzzkill, Oliver. I’d rather take my time. Torture is so much more… entertaining."

Rage burned through me.

With a single swing of my sword, I severed the oppressive aura they emitted, shattering the suffocating pressure around us.

The two deities looked at me, amused rather than alarmed.

Oliver narrowed his eyes. "A mortal… with such refined control over mana? How interesting."

I ignored him. He wasn't my target.

Instead, I dashed toward the smug one—Art—my sword cleaving toward him. He barely had time to react before he was forced back, his expression flickering with surprise.

Oliver’s smirk vanished. "How dare you ignore me?"

A staff materialized in his grasp, crackling with divine energy.

Jin, one of my comrades, stepped forward. "We’ll handle this one. You focus on Art."

I met his eyes, nodded, and without another word, launched myself at Art.

Tonight, the gods would bleed.