Calamity and Kaido

The lightning fell from the clouds above Heaven's Gate without any warning, dropping straight down from an immense height and striking the exact center of Kaido's back.

The instant it hit, the cloud surface beneath Kaido exploded. A huge crater dozens of paces wide appeared under his feet, while the clouds at its bottom were vaporized into white steam by the lightning's heat. The steam surged upward, shrouding all of Heaven's Gate in a vast white mist.

Kaido was smashed to one knee by the bolt, his spiked club flying from his grasp and rolling far away. Its head carved a crooked trench into the cloud surface. The black feathered cloak on his back turned to ash at the moment of impact, exposing skin scorched black by lightning. Countless tiny golden arcs still crackled across its surface.

Sariye sheathed her blade and lowered her head slightly toward the direction from which the lightning had descended.

"It's God!"

The wounded guards beneath Heaven's Gate also struggled to their feet and dropped to one knee in the same direction.

The Blue Sea merchants and explorers hiding behind the cloud wall poked half their bodies out. Seeing Kaido kneeling at the bottom of the crater with smoke still rising from his back, then seeing every Heaven's Gate guard kneel in the same direction, they followed suit in a daze.

The clouds slowly split apart to either side. Some immense force pushed them outward from the center, north and south, opening a straight, blade-cut gap.

Cloud wisps still churned along the edges of the opening, lit from behind by sunlight. At its center, a humanoid form of golden lightning slowly descended.

Kaido rose from the bottom of the crater. Within a few breaths, the scorched mark on his back changed from black to dark