'Boom'

'Boom'

'Boom'

Massive collisions were heard from the skies above.

The vibrations that stirred the atmosphere became more and more apparent to the humans who dwelled on the surface.

The sounds of a collision were faint at first, but very soon half the northern hemisphere could hear the meat grinding sounds of fist and flesh in a constant battle for dominance.

'Puchi'

'Puchi'

'Puchi'

The weaker-willed amongst the humans began throwing up their stomach contents.

Even if they were inexperienced with violence, the instinctual survival instinct that had dulled over the years was still enough for them to identify what a rock against flesh sounds like.

The wind swayed and squirmed under the pressure of the fighting divine beings.

Alice, Zeel, and The Kraken's bodies began to burn up from atmospheric re-entrance.

There was no concept of terminal velocity for gods as they could interfere with some minor laws of physics.

Zeel and Alice wanted nothing more than to crash into a desert at maximum speed.

The world, as if responding to their will, rid their bodies of all frictional forces and some concepts of velocity.

It was as if the world was saying 'I will turn a blind eye to this blight'.

The fall was, of course, an extremely long one, lasting for almost half an hour.

Each time the Kraken's divine transformation was on the verge of completion, Alice and Zeel would interrupt the beast by hitting it that much harder.

The fall from the exosphere felt extremely long. The Earth below seemingly avoiding them, leaving them in a state of perpetual fall.

Zeel doubted that they would ever truly reach the ground.

The moment he thought that; the ground became that much closer.

'So this is what it means to be protected by the world laws, huh?' Zeel contemplated in fondness of the advantages of being an ascending god.

∞∞∞

30 Minutes Earlier – Beginning of The Fall

Alice and Zeel darted towards The Kraken in the distance having successfully beaten the beast into the Earth's exosphere.

They expected the task of falling to be relatively easier as the Kraken was a water-based mythical creature.

The duo had already formulated a plan in their minds – they would push their anti-gravity boots to their limits crashing into The Kraken continuously and guide it towards the desert.

The anti-gravity boots would act like propulsion engines.

Alice and Zeel would detach from the Kraken just before a big collision with the desert sands. Such a plan was basic but also very effective – at least theoretically.

However, plans never come to fruition so easily. One clash, then two and three clashes.

It was Alice that first noticed the discrepancy.

No matter how many times they clashed with The Kraken, the beast's trajectory could not be altered from the pre-determined pathway – towards the ocean.

It was almost as if…

"It's attracted to the ocean like a magnet," Zeel pointed out smiling bitterly at their lack of foresight.

Alice nodded "Yeah, it keeps falling to the ocean no matter what we do!"

"What should we do?" Alice asked since Zeel was always the man with the plan.

Zeel smirked, a facial expression Alice didn't know he could manage until now.

"Punch harder and harder. Time to test what divine bodies are capable of," Zeel replied with a primitive solution that caught Alice by surprise.

'Maybe sometimes violence is the right answer,' Alice thought as they both began attacking the beast with renewed vigor.

Alice and Zeel attacked recklessly not sparing even a second, by this time the transformation of The Kraken was on the verge of completion.

Since the start of the descent, the beast had been taking the onslaught of attacks passively.

'Twrrrp'

A couple of clashes later and an ear grating sound was heard from the nearby air.

It was as if the Earth itself was having a hard time accommodating the existence coming into birth.

The Kraken was enveloped in a sickly red light that shimmered along the contours of its body like flames that would soon be huffed out.

Of course, the flame-like energy did not falter in the least despite the rampaging winds of the skies.

The sickly light sent shivers down the spine of everyone unlucky enough to bear witness.

From the surface of the Earth, a red star could be seen emerging in the skies.

It was an obviously apocalyptic sign if there ever was one.

Even the atheists in the population got on their knees to begin praying for the first time in their limited lives.

Zeel had no doubt that he caused the still surviving gods of faith to smile widely at the influx of prayers.

Alice and Zeel were irritated for an entirely different reason.

Instead of falling like it was before, the Kraken could now barely float towards the encroaching Earth's surface.

Now there would be no great impact like initially planned but more like a 'poof' instead.

At that moment, the Kraken was obviously on the road to victory, but like humans, beasts also had the tendency to perform unnecessary actions.

Since the start of the battle, the Kraken had avoided looking into the eyes of Alice and Zeel. Its instinct ringing like a bell whenever the thought came to mind.

But at this moment, The Kraken's victory was all but assured.

The Kraken became complacent and decided to provoke its weak enemies.

The ocean water below, though still a distance away, was rapidly approaching, at this point, it was futile for Alice and Zeel to resist – or so it thought.

The Kraken turned its slit-like eyes to look directly into Zeel's eyes in provacation.

The moment The Kraken turned its slitted eyes towards Zeel's eyes, the beast trembled imperceptibly.

What it found staring back at itself was not human eyes, but also slit-like eyes.

But Zeel's were much more imposing, more silent, colder like the abyss was staring at it. Panic enveloped The Kraken as it shifted its eyes to the weaker of the two – Alice.

Sadly, it underestimated the power of Alice's stare in comparison to Zeel's. True, Zeel was stronger than Alice, but he was no 'God of Punishment'.

The moment the Kraken stared into Alice's eyes, it saw all the ancient civilizations it ransacked, the Atlantians it killed, the fishes it ate, the other mythical beast it mauled to death out of jealousy.

The Kraken even saw the mermaid ex-girlfriend that cheated on it thousands of years ago.

It saw every sin it had ever committed in its extensive lifespan.

The longer the lifespan, the more sin for the soul to burn with. The beast shrieked in pain as the slits of its eyes began to flicker with crimson flames.

Its enormous slit-like eyes became black with fine fractures inside. Its eyeballs looked reminiscent of the charcoal used for a barbeque outing.