The sky broke at exactly noon.
Not with thunder.
Not with lightning.
With silence.
Across the entire city, conversations stopped. Birds vanished from the air. Traffic lights froze. Even the wind seemed to forget how to move.
Then the heavens cracked.
A jagged crimson fissure stretched across the clouds, spanning miles from horizon to horizon. It resembled a giant eye slowly opening above the city.
People looked up.
Some recorded it with their phones.
Others fell to their knees without knowing why.
Deep beneath the streets, ancient seals trembled.
Inside the apartment, Kael Ryven was already moving.
His black coat settled over his shoulders as he fastened the worn leather straps around his forearms. The cracked black sword rested across his back, its crimson veins pulsing faintly, as if sensing an old enemy had returned.
Leon stood by the door.
"The Hunter Association has issued a city-wide evacuation," he reported.
Kael shook his head.
"Too late."
Ari stepped forward.
"So... this is it?"
Kael looked at him.
"This is your first real hunt."
Mika grinned despite the tension.
"I was starting to get tired of training."
Kael's expression remained serious.
"Training let you make mistakes."
He opened the apartment door.
"The battlefield won't."
The city was descending into panic.
Sirens echoed through every district.
Helicopters circled overhead.
Emergency broadcasts played from giant digital billboards.
> WARNING
UNKNOWN DIMENSIONAL PHENOMENON DETECTED
EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY
The streets below had become rivers of frightened civilians.
Ari clenched his fists.
"So many people..."
Kael nodded.
"That's why hunters exist."
They reached the rooftop.
From there, the Rift was clearly visible.
It wasn't merely floating in the sky anymore.
It was descending.
Every second, it grew larger.
Long tendrils of crimson energy reached toward the city like roots searching for soil.
Lune looked pale.
"I can hear it."
Everyone turned.
"Hear what?" Mika asked.
"The gate..."
Her golden eyes glowed.
"...it's singing."
Kael's face darkened.
"That's impossible."
"No," Lune whispered.
"It knows we're here."
Without warning—
The Rift exploded.
A pillar of scarlet light slammed into the center of downtown.
The shockwave spread across the city, shattering windows for kilometers.
Ari instinctively raised a barrier.
The expanding force struck it.
The barrier held.
But Ari slid backward several meters across the rooftop, boots carving grooves into the concrete.
His eyes widened.
"That was just..."
"The opening," Kael finished.
The pillar of light faded.
Something stood within it.
Tall.
Armored.
Perfectly still.
It looked almost human.
Silver armor covered its body.
Six wings of crystal floated behind its back.
Instead of eyes, two burning circles rotated endlessly.
Leon slowly drew his sword.
"...No."
Kael's voice became colder than winter.
"A Herald."
The winged being opened its mouth.
Its voice echoed across the entire city.
"REALITY STABILITY: 41%."
"COMMENCING CORRECTION."
The ground split apart.
Buildings began collapsing—not from explosions, but as though gravity had forgotten how they were supposed to stand.
People screamed.
Kael disappeared.
One moment he stood beside Ari.
The next—
He was standing directly before the Herald.
The creature looked down at him.
"ANCHOR DETECTED."
Kael rested one hand on the hilt of his sword.
"You picked the wrong city."
The Herald extended one finger.
A beam of white light erupted.
Kael drew his blade.
The beam split cleanly in half.
The divided energy continued into the sky, slicing clouds apart for dozens of kilometers.
Ari stared.
"He cut..."
Leon nodded.
"...Light."
The Herald tilted its head.
"THREAT LEVEL REVISED."
"DEPLOYING ADDITIONAL UNITS."
Behind the first Herald—
The sky shattered again.
One...
Five...
Ten...
Twenty more crimson cracks opened.
From each emerged another Herald.
Mika felt her blood run cold.
"There's no way..."
Kael sighed quietly.
"There goes the easy option."
Across the city, hunters arrived.
The strongest guilds assembled near the impact zone.
S-rank hunters filled the streets.
Military divisions deployed specialized anti-monster weapons.
Everyone looked upward.
One Herald.
Then dozens.
The veteran hunters stopped smiling.
One guild master whispered,
"We can't fight that..."
An older hunter beside him answered,
"We're not supposed to."
He pointed toward the sky.
Where Kael Ryven stood alone before an army.
Ari stepped forward.
"I'm helping."
Kael didn't turn around.
"No."
"You said we hunt together."
"I did."
"So why—"
"Because," Kael interrupted,
"I'm not fighting monsters anymore."
His sword slowly rose.
"I'm fighting the laws of reality."
The atmosphere changed.
Clouds spiraled.
The ocean several kilometers away began rising.
Mountains in the distance trembled.
The Heralds all focused on Kael simultaneously.
Every one of them spoke with the same voice.
"ELIMINATE THE ANCHOR."
Kael smiled.
A calm...
Dangerous...
Smile.
"Come and try."
Twenty Heralds descended at once.
The war had begun.
Far beyond Earth...
Beyond dimensions...
Within a chamber made of living stars...
Seven shadowed figures sat around a circular throne.
One of them opened its eyes.
"So..."
Another smiled.
"The Anchor has finally drawn his sword."
A third looked toward the countless worlds drifting through space.
"Begin Phase Two."
The stars themselves dimmed.
Because the battle over one city...
Would soon decide the fate of every world.