The first Herald struck.
Then the second.
Then all twenty descended together.
The sky became a storm of white light and crimson fractures as beams of annihilation rained toward the city. Every attack carried enough force to erase entire districts.
Kael Ryven stepped forward.
He did not dodge.
He raised his sword.
The cracked black blade hummed once.
Then—
Silence.
Every beam stopped.
Not blocked.
Not reflected.
Simply...
Stopped.
The entire city stared upward.
Thousands of people watched impossible power freeze in the sky like streams of solid glass.
A little girl hiding beneath an overturned bus whispered,
"Mom... who's that man?"
Her mother, unable to answer, simply stared.
The Heralds reacted instantly.
"ANCHOR ABILITY IDENTIFIED."
"ADAPTATION INITIATED."
Their crystal wings unfolded.
Reality around Kael began folding inward.
Buildings bent.
Roads twisted.
Gravity reversed.
Cars floated into the air.
The Heralds weren't attacking Kael.
They were attacking the world around him.
Kael sighed.
"I warned you."
He lowered his sword.
The floating cars gently returned to the ground.
Collapsed buildings straightened.
Broken roads repaired themselves.
Even shattered windows reassembled.
It was as though time itself obeyed him.
Leon watched in disbelief.
"I've... never seen Master use that."
Mika looked confused.
"He didn't heal anything."
Lune shook her head.
"No."
"He reminded reality what it was supposed to be."
On the rooftop, Ari watched civilians running through collapsing streets.
His fists tightened.
"I can't just stand here."
Kael glanced toward him.
"Then don't."
That was all the permission Ari needed.
He jumped.
Mika immediately followed.
Leon cursed.
"They're insane!"
Kael smiled faintly.
"No."
"They're hunters."
Ari landed in the middle of a crowded street.
A bridge ahead had collapsed.
Hundreds of civilians were trapped beneath falling debris.
Without thinking—
He spread both hands.
His barriers expanded farther than ever before.
One layer.
Then another.
Then another.
Dozens of transparent shields stacked together, catching thousands of tons of concrete and steel.
The ground beneath Ari cracked.
Blood trickled from his nose.
But he refused to move.
"Go!"
he shouted.
"Run!"
Families rushed through the opening.
Children cried.
Parents carried the injured.
An old man stopped briefly.
"Young hunter..."
Ari smiled despite the pain.
"It's okay."
"Just keep moving."
Elsewhere—
A Herald landed in the financial district.
Its presence alone caused skyscrapers to twist like soft clay.
Mika arrived seconds later.
The Herald looked at her.
"SECONDARY DEVIATION."
"ERADICATION APPROVED."
It fired.
A spear of white energy crossed the street instantly.
Mika inhaled.
The world slowed.
Lines appeared.
Invisible paths connected every object.
Every building.
Every particle.
She stepped sideways.
Not fast.
Precisely.
The spear missed.
She reached toward space itself.
And pulled.
The street folded.
The Herald's own attack curved through the distorted space—
And struck itself.
For the first time—
A Herald staggered.
Mika grinned.
"So..."
"You can bleed."
Lune remained beside Kael.
Watching.
Listening.
Feeling.
Then suddenly—
She froze.
"Kael."
He didn't look away from the battle.
"What is it?"
"They're wrong."
"The Heralds."
Kael frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Lune closed her glowing eyes.
"They're not alive."
A long silence followed.
"They're..."
She gasped.
"...messages."
Kael's expression changed instantly.
"Say that again."
"They aren't soldiers."
"They're instructions."
Ari's voice came through the communicator.
"What?"
Lune looked toward the crimson Rift.
"The real enemy..."
"...hasn't arrived yet."
Every Herald suddenly stopped fighting.
Simultaneously.
They rose into the air.
Twenty figures floating around the massive Rift.
Then—
They spoke together.
"PHASE ONE COMPLETE."
The Rift expanded.
Ten kilometers.
Twenty.
Fifty.
It covered the entire sky.
Darkness spread across the city.
Lightning of crimson and gold danced inside the enormous wound in reality.
Something moved beyond it.
Not a monster.
Not a god.
Something...
Larger.
Kael slowly tightened his grip on his sword.
"So..."
"It remembers me."
Leon felt terror unlike anything in his life.
"Master..."
"What is coming?"
Kael answered without taking his eyes off the Rift.
"A Judge."
The word alone caused the sanctuary's ancient seals beneath the city to activate.
Thousands of forgotten runes ignited underground.
Ancient guardians awakened from centuries of slumber.
Even the Sevenfold Eye halted its operations.
Far away, the Seer looked toward the crimson sky.
Her calm expression finally broke.
"No..."
She whispered.
"It's too early."
A colossal hand emerged from the Rift.
Not flesh.
Not stone.
It looked like an entire constellation compressed into the shape of a hand.
Every finger contained countless stars.
Every movement distorted the sky.
Its size dwarfed skyscrapers.
Then came the voice.
Not heard with ears.
Felt inside every living soul.
> ANCHOR.
> YOUR EXISTENCE HAS BEEN REVIEWED.
> JUDGMENT SHALL NOW BEGIN.
The city fell silent.
Kael took one step forward.
His aura exploded.
The clouds vanished.
The sea hundreds of kilometers away parted.
Mountains trembled.
His cracked sword slowly repaired itself, crimson veins blazing like rivers of fire.
For the first time in centuries...
Kael Ryven released a fraction of his true power.
He looked toward the cosmic being and spoke calmly.
"You sent a Judge..."
He raised his sword.
"...when you should have sent your king."
The heavens shook.
The Judge descended.
And the battle that would determine the fate of Earth...
Finally began.