KING OF RUIN-Chapter 37: Hell’s Gate

The wind howled across the summit of Mount Union, thin air slicing through Kol's coat as he stepped off the marble threshold of the Divine Realm.

Behind him, the golden doors of the gods slammed shut. Before him, the mortal world stretched into hazy, cloud-filled sky.

Peace lasted all of three heartbeats.

Then the sky tore open.

Kol turned, eyes narrowing as thunder cracked above. A sick light oozed through the clouds—divine, but wrong. Twisting space itself.

Six massive figures emerged from the rift like nightmares crawling from a god's fever dream. Towering giants, each one a twisted mockery of man and beast. Black horns curled like bone crowns, skin layered with stone, steel, and glistening divine etching. Wings of glass, magma-burned arms, eyes that glowed like suns.

And behind them... footfalls. Hundreds. No—thousands.

A sea of divine foot soldiers, clad in radiant armor that shimmered like morning stars. Spears hummed with light. Shields bore the sigils of the Seven. They advanced in silence. Controlled. Efficient. Merciless.

Kol's jaw tightened.

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"Of course," he whispered. "This is how they wage peace."

The first giant roared, a sound that split the heavens, and the army surged forward like a wave of light and death.

But Kol didn't move. Not yet.

He closed his eyes. Let the rage settle into stillness. Let the pain curl inward like a fist. He thought of Lisa's smile. Of Dain's stubborn laugh. Of Elizabeth's power.

Then he opened his mouth—and whispered the words that would shift the world.

"Open... Hell's Gate."

The sky behind him cracked open like shattered obsidian. A scream echoed from beneath the world—a sound older than the gods. The clouds boiled in reverse, and from the vortex came flames darker than night, spiraling upward, forming an enormous black gate, chiseled in infernal runes, bound in red-hot chains.

The gates burst apart—

And from the abyss, they emerged.

Six Knights of the Devil, each riding beasts born of ruin. Their armor dripped with hate. One bore a halberd that bled shadows. Another's twin blades sang like sirens. One dragged a spiked censer that pulsed like a heart. Fire, frost, poison, war, rot, rage—they were primal forces shaped into killers.

Behind them marched Kol's legion—over a thousand hellborn soldiers, skeletal warriors with burning eyes and charred armor. Some bore molten swords, others dragged broken chains or massive spiked hammers. And every one of them bowed to the black lightning that cracked around Kol's form.

He raised a hand.

"Kill them all."

Hell met Heaven on Mount Union.

The two armies collided with a sound like worlds crashing. Hellfire met divine light. Screams filled the air as the first ranks were torn apart—limbs severed, bones shattered, heads flying through the air in sprays of gold and black blood.

Kol vanished in a flash of black lightning, reappearing behind the first giant and driving a fist through its spine. Bone cracked, and the giant screamed as Kol's hand burst out its chest in a storm of violet sparks.

Another giant lunged—Kol twisted, teleporting mid-motion, reappearing above its head and unleashing a burst of thunder that obliterated the creature's skull in a burst of gore and flame.

His speed was beyond light now—blinking between enemies, breaking bodies, lightning tearing the mountain apart.

The Devil's Knights waged war with elegance and madness.

One danced with twin scimitars, carving divine soldiers apart like wheat. Another unleashed flame from his mouth, incinerating swathes of foot soldiers. One knight crushed an angelic beast underfoot, then flung its body into the ranks like a comet.

Still, the gods sent more. The sky bled white as reinforcement after reinforcement poured from the rift above. The mountain cracked beneath the weight of it.

Kol fought without pause—bones broken, wounds healing mid-motion, black lightning arcing off his skin like living rage.

Two days passed in chaos.

By the second dawn, the entire side of Mount Union was a wasteland of scorched stone and shattered bodies. Blood soaked the ground. Corpses of giants lay in ruin. Hell's soldiers stood triumphant—but exhausted. The last of the divine warriors fled.

Kol stood in the ashes, body steaming, breath ragged.

And something twisted in his gut.

The sky was still wrong.

Too quiet. The clouds hung limp, unnatural. His senses screamed. It wasn't over.

He raised his hand.

"Return."

The Gates of Hell opened again, sucking the soldiers and the Devil's Knights back into the abyss. The gates snapped shut with a hiss, sealing away the madness.

Kol didn't hesitate. He teleported, his body vanishing in a flash of thunder.

---

He appeared outside Lisa's home—

But there was nothing left.

Where once stood a warm house filled with laughter and arguments, only ruin remained. The ground was scorched. Glass and wood littered the earth. The air reeked of smoke and blood.

He stepped through the rubble, chest tight.

"No," Kol whispered.

There was no sign of Lisa. No scent of Dain. Not even bones.

"Lisa..." his voice cracked, barely audible.

And then came the rage.

His aura erupted like a dying star. Lightning roared around him, black and violet bolts hammering the ruins, vaporizing what little remained. The ground cracked. The sky darkened.

Kol screamed, thunder exploding from his lungs. The force shattered the ground for miles.

He dropped to his knees, clutching his fist.

"They took her... They took all of them..."

The wind held its breath.

Kol stood slowly, eyes glowing brighter than ever before. His voice was steel wrapped in thunder.

"They think they've won."

He looked up at the sky, where the rift of the gods still flickered faintly in the clouds.