(Execution Livestream Continuation, The Pit, The Fourth Ring)
After picking up serious momentum, it took Leo under thirty minutes to wipe out the Fourth Ring as a whole, as he turned into a bloodthirsty demon who cut everything that moved in his path.
*SLASH*
*THUD*
As the last Monarch fell and the space ahead of him finally opened up, the battlefield did not settle into silence, nor did it offer even a moment of relief, because the instant the Fourth Ring ceased to exist as a stabilizing layer, the war reached its true breaking point.
The most immediate consequence was the pressure.
With the Fourth Ring erased, the burden of the Chakravyuh shifted inward once again, the massive weight that had been distributed across several initial layers now collapsing toward the core, as the formation attempted to re-balance itself under a load it was never designed to bear for long.
For the Cult Army following behind Leo, the moment was iconic, as a wave of exhilaration swept through their ranks as realization spread that their Lord had accomplished something that should have been impossible, that he had survived and triumphed in a one-versus-all battle against tens of thousands of Monarchs, a feat that shattered every expectation they had grown up believing.
*DEAFENING CHEERS*
*EMPHATIC ROAR*
*WEAPONS BANGING*
Cheers erupted across the battlefield.
Roars of devotion echoed through the Third Dimension as Cult soldiers screamed Leo’s name, weapons raised high as their morale surged to its absolute peak, disbelief and pride mixing into a feverish celebration that threatened to drown out all reason.
However, their voices were insignificant compared to what came next.
Because as the Fourth Ring vanished, the Chakravyuh did not merely tighten.
It reacted.
A violent pressure surge rippled outward from the innermost structure, a catastrophic backlash as the formation attempted to redistribute energy that no longer had anywhere to go, causing the Fourth and Third Dimensions to grind violently against one another.
*THRUMMMM*
*GRRRSHHHHH*
The air screamed.
Space distorted.
And within seconds, the innermost ring began to destabilize, as the three Demi Gods anchoring the core of the formation trembled under the sudden load, their souls reaching their limits, as the pressure climbing within the innermost ring became unbearable even for them.
"Oh no.... Oh fuck nononono—"
Raymond muttered in a panicked voice, as he felt the sudden weight of fifty mountains being placed on his shoulders with a violence that felt less like suppression and more like suffocation.
"I definitely can’t take this for long, or I’ll be crushed alive...."
He concluded, as while the Chakravyuh demanded that he try to balance its core principles by taking on the pressure meant to endure by tens of thousands of Monarchs alone, he found himself grossly incapable of actually doing so.
*CHOKE*
*STEP*
Clarence was the first to falter, his posture breaking as the sudden load crushed down on his circuits, veins bulging along his neck as blood leaked from the corners of his eyes, his aura spasming erratically as the formation demanded an output that a Demi God’s soul was never meant to sustain alone, as incapable of doing so, he stepped out of the inner ring.
*THRUMMM*
*CRACK*
Terrence followed a heartbeat later, teeth clenched hard enough to crack, breath hitching as the pressure wrapped around his chest and skull simultaneously, his vision tunneling as his knees threatened to give out, instinct screaming louder than pride as survival overtook obedience, forcing him to step out as well.
*THRUMMMMM*
*CRAAACK*
Raymond became the last to step out, but the impact of him doing so hit the Chakravyuh the deepest, for the moment he did, the Chakravyuh screamed.
*KABLAAM*
With three of its eight anchors removed, the formation lurched violently as it attempted to redistribute the entire load onto the remaining five Gods, pressure surging erratically as the structure strained to maintain coherence under a demand it was never designed to endure alone.
For a fraction of a second, it failed.
Hairline fractures tore through the barrier, invisible seams ripping open as momentary gaps flickered into existence, spatial inconsistencies where the Fourth and Third Dimensions failed to overlap cleanly, the formation stuttering as it tried and failed to correct itself in real time.
Inside the core, Soron felt it instantly.
The suffocating suppression loosened in pulses, his senses flaring as freedom brushed against his awareness for the first time since the battle began, his battered body reacting before conscious thought could catch up, as he noticed a gap instantly.
’There—’
He thought, as Helmuth’s axe came screaming toward him in a wide, rage driven arc, the weapon howling through distorted space as it aimed to cleave him in half.
However, this time, instead of blocking it, Soron leaned back, the blade missing him by mere millimeters, as rather than trying to counter or reposition, Soron took the chance to burst straight through the fleeting gap that had opened in the Chakravyuh’s barrier, his body twisting mid-air as he slipped between dimensions and tore himself free from the formation’s grasp.
*STEP* *STEP*
*GASP*
Almost, at the same moment in time as he crossed the boundary, the restrictions preventing him from stepping into the Fourth Dimension vanished, as he hit the ground outside the core hard, boots skidding across cracked stone as his breath tore free from his lungs in a ragged gasp, while the confident glint in his eyes returned as the oppressive weight that had been crushing him for so long ceased to exist.
"Free to walk between the seconds at last...."
He muttered, as behind him, chaos erupted.
With him no longer being contained, the five Great Clan Gods were forced to react, instinct overriding strategy as they stepped back from the collapsing core almost in unison, unwilling to remain inside a formation that was actively tearing itself apart, in what became the final blow for the Chakravyuh.
*THRUMMMM*
*BAM!*
Deprived of all of its anchors, the Chakravyuh could no longer sustain itself, as the structure shuddered violently as its dimensional framework destabilized completely, the Fourth Dimension losing cohesion as it ground against the Third without restraint.
*KABOOM*
Space folded inward, then outward, the boundary between dimensions rupturing as the Third and Fourth Dimensions collided violently, shockwaves ripping across the battlefield as reality itself convulsed, the sky fracturing into overlapping layers of distorted light while the ground buckled beneath the strain.
On The Pit, distant mountains and volcanic rings trembled, as the planet itself began to scream.
The clash between dimensions rattling the divine planet to its core, as it began vibrating like a hot metal ball left over a layer of ice.
*Violent Earthquake*
For a moment, every mortal left alive on the Pit stumbled to their knees, as they were forced to hold on to the ground below them so as to not be violently tossed aside.
However, as if that wasn’t enough, a blinding surge of energy tore through the battlefield next as the Chakravyuh collapsed in its entirety, dimensional pressure exploding outward before snapping back into place as the Third and Fourth Dimensions fused once more, in a phenomenon that ensured that the war crossed a threshold from which there would be no return.