As they prepared to move out of the blackened, smoking ruins of the domain, Isha walked up to Rudra, her eyes shifting from her husband to the strikingly handsome new brother. She lowered her voice. "Rudra... you've accepted him and broken his curse, but what is your brother's name? We can't just keep calling him 'brother'."
Rudra paused, his stoic face turning toward the man. "To be honest, Isha... because my memories were sealed by Grandfather Prasad, I do not know his name either." Rudra stepped closer to him. "Tell us. What is your name?"
The handsome man smiled elegantly, his eyes reflecting a deep cosmic light. "My name is Dev."
"Okay, Dev," Rudra nodded, his sharp wolf eyes settling into a calm expression. "Show us the way to the throne."
Dev led Rudra and his nine wives out of the dark Doom of Forest domain. But curiously, instead of guiding them deep into uncharted wilderness or toward distant mountain peaks, Dev led them straight back to their own estate. Stepping into the courtyard and looking around the familiar walls, Dev sighed deeply, a wave of intense nostalgia washing over him. "I have missed this place so incredibly much..."
Rudra's eyebrows knitted together in confusion. He crossed his arms. "Dev... you said you knew the exact coordinates of the absolute throne. Why have you brought us back here? Why are we at our own house?"
Instead of answering, Dev walked directly into the main room and approached the ancient, dust-covered wooden box belonging to Grandfather Prasad—the very box Rudra had just brought back from Gota village to break the curse.
Dev knelt down before the box. He didn't look at the main compartments where the cosmic rings had been. Instead, his elegant fingers traced the ornate carvings on the very bottom rim of the wood. With a sharp, precise click, Dev pulled open a completely hidden, microscopic secret lock that Rudra had missed.
VROOM!
The moment the secret lock snapped open, Grandfather Prasad's box didn't just unlock—it erupted. A colossal, roaring vortex of cosmic energy burst out of the wood, expanding instantly and swallowing the entire room.
Before anyone could scream, the space-time fabric tore open, and Rudra, Dev, and the nine wives were instantly teleported across the cosmos into an entirely different universe.
When the blinding light faded, they found themselves standing on a floor of solid, crystallized cosmic dust under a sky swirling with dark nebulae and shattered stars. Sitting at the absolute center of this void, radiating an intimidating, terrifying primordial power, was the legendary Shadow Throne.
Isha, Aarini, Ananya, and the rest of the wives stood completely frozen, their jaws dropped and their eyes wide with absolute shock.
Isha gasped, clutching her head. "I don't believe it... The entire world, all our enemies, and all of us were risking our lives searching through the terrifying depths of the whole forest... but no one ever thought to search the house! It was right under our roof the entire time!"
Dev turned to Rudra, bowing his head respectfully as the dark energy of the Shadow Throne hummed in response to Rudra's Pure Demon God bloodline. "The path is clear, my kingly brother. The throne is yo
urs to claim."The air in the alternate universe grew suffocatingly dense as King Rudra took a heavy step forward, his eyes locked onto the glowing Shadow Throne.
"Rudra, wait! No!" Dev shouted, reaching out his hand, but it was too late.
Before Rudra's boot could touch the dais, a massive, terrifying tear ripped through the space-time fabric right in front of the throne. Out of the darkness, a monstrous, towering creature materialized. It was a gargantuan, demonic ape, engulfed from head to toe in raging, pure black flames. Its eyes burned with ancient malice.
The black-fire monkey grinned, its voice shaking the entire cosmic dimension. "If you want to sit upon the Shadow Throne, King, you must defeat me first! I hold the cosmic skill: The Authority of the Five Coins. If you conquer me, I will grant you the ultimate reward—the skill of Reverse Time, which allows you to rewind time itself with zero cost or damage to your present reality. Do we have a trade?"
Rudra's stoic face didn't flinch. "Okay."
Crossing his arms, Rudra immediately tapped into his spiritual reservoir.
"MṛgaPrāpti vṛkah dama!"
Instantly, his inner wolf awakened, and Rudra's irises shifted into piercing, predatory wolf eyes. Watching from the sidelines, Isha crossed her arms confidently. "Rudra has his wolf form active. He will easily slice this oversized monkey to pieces."
Rudra drew his blade and blurred forward, unleashing a blinding flurry of sword strikes. But as his blade sliced through the air, he hit absolutely nothing. The black-fire monkey didn't even try to dodge, yet Rudra's sword passed right through its body like vapor.
Why can't I even touch him? Rudra thought, his sharp instincts flashing a warning.
"Weak King! You think you are worthy of the throne?!" the monkey roared. With a savage swing of its arm, it unleashed a wave of cursed black fire. The inferno slammed directly into Rudra, sending him crashing into the crystallized floor. The sheer impact shattered Rudra's right leg completely.
As the agonizing pain flared, Rudra's vision blurred. His consciousness dipped deep into his inner soul space, where his inner wolf spirit stood waiting. "Rudra, listen to me," the wolf growled urgently. "The wolf power isn't enough to bypass his dimensional phase. You possess another spirit animal within your bloodline, Rudra! Call upon it now!"
Rudra opened his eyes within his soul. "Another one...?"
He focused his mind, reaching deep into the hidden corners of his sealed lineage. Suddenly, a piercing, majestic screech echoed through his soul. A colossal, cosmic Vulture materialized above him, its dark feathers radiating primeval power.
"My King Rudra," the vulture screeched, its voice echoing with divine authority. "Speak my command!"
Rudra snapped back to reality. Standing up on his broken leg through sheer, unyielding willpower, he pointed his blade at the heavens and roared a brand-new incantation:
"MṛgaPrāpti gṛdhaḥ ayaja!"
Instantly, a pair of massive, razor-sharp vulture wings erupted from Rudra's back. His cosmic power level surged exponentially, shaking the very foundations of the alternate universe. Launching himself into the sky, Rudra dive-bombed the demonic ape, swinging his sword with double the speed. Yet, to his horror, his blade still passed right through the black flames. He still couldn't touch him!
The monkey laughed hysterically, mocking Rudra's struggle. "You cannot touch a god, boy! Just like that pathetic girl Mouni couldn't touch me when I dragged her into the abyss and brutally killed her!"
The mention of the name Mouni—the girl from his locked memories who loved him deeply—shattered something inside Rudra's psyche. An unforgivable, primordial rage exploded from his soul.
Instantly, Rudra's glowing wolf eyes turned into a blood-red, demonic crimson. The cosmic vulture wings on his back began to multiply and expand, growing wider and darker until they blocked out the nebulae above. The temperature of the entire dimension plummeted to absolute zero.
With a flick of his wrist, Rudra summoned his legendary Mora Sword, the blade humming with a terrifying, pitch-black energy.
Watching from the back, Dev's eyes widened in profound awe. A confident smirk crossed his handsome face. "It's over. The monkey is going to finish in exactly two seconds."
When Rudra spoke, his voice was no longer human. It completely changed, echoing with two distinct voices overlapping at the exact same time—his own voice, and the terrifying, deep rumble of the Pure Demon God within him:
"𝑊ℎ𝑜 𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡𝑜 𝑡𝑜𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑚𝑦 𝑔𝑖𝑟𝑙𝑠...?"
Before the monkey could even realize what was happening, Rudra lifted the Mora Sword. He didn't even use a complex technique; he just executed a single, effortless downward swing.
The space-time continuum split wide open. The absolute, unstoppable conceptual weight of the Pure Demon God erased the monkey's dimensional immunity instantly. The towering black-fire ape didn't even have time to scream. Its massive body instantly disintegrated into ash, leaving behind a single, glowing Gold Coi
n clinking onto the floor.