The first creature landed.
Then another.
Then ten more.
The seam hanging above the plaza tore wider, spilling fragments of the dead world into Veyra like water through a broken dam.
Dust from the other reality drifted into the air.
The creatures poured through.
Not organized.
Not coordinated.
But endless.
---
Kai stepped forward into the center of the plaza.
The warmth inside his chest surged violently again.
The fracture in the sky responded instantly.
Light rippled outward across the clouds like a pulse.
Reality tightened around him.
For a moment—
Every creature froze.
Unstable bodies flickering between forms.
But Kai felt the strain immediately.
Too many.
He couldn't hold them all.
---
"Move!" Aris shouted.
Archive vehicles roared into the plaza from three streets at once.
Armored teams jumped out, carrying alignment generators.
Metal towers slammed into the pavement around the seam.
Energy fields hummed to life.
One of the Archive commanders shouted:
"Stabilization grid active!"
The creatures began to slow.
Not stop.
But slow enough to fight.
---
Aris swung the metal rod again, striking the first creature that reached her.
It shattered into fragments of unstable light.
Another Archive agent fired an alignment pulse from a rifle.
The creature it struck solidified instantly.
Two soldiers tackled it to the ground.
Reality tore it apart seconds later.
---
Lira stood behind the barricade, writing with trembling hands.
The entire plaza had become a battlefield.
Archive teams shouting commands.
Citizens evacuating through side streets.
Creatures pouring from the seam like broken shadows.
She looked at Kai.
He stood in the middle of it all.
Not fighting.
Holding.
Keeping reality from collapsing completely.
---
Inside the Archive command room, Serah watched the live feed.
"Sector Eight is engaged," a technician said.
"Entity count increasing."
Serah grabbed her coat.
"Command?" someone asked.
She was already moving.
"I'm going to the field."
Marrow didn't stop her.
He only said one thing as she passed.
"Watch the sky."
---
Back in the plaza, the battle intensified.
More creatures crossed through the seam.
Aris fought beside the Archive agents now.
Metal rod striking again and again.
Kai's control field flickered.
The fracture pulsed harder above them.
For a moment—
The sky itself seemed unstable.
Like it might split further.
Kai gritted his teeth.
"Close… the seam…"
The Archive commander shook his head.
"We can't stabilize it yet!"
Kai's voice hardened.
"Then buy me ten seconds."
---
Aris stepped forward beside him.
"You're about to do something stupid."
"Yes."
"Good."
She turned toward the Archive soldiers.
"Hold the line!"
The soldiers formed a defensive ring.
Creatures crashed against them from all sides.
Alignment pulses fired.
Metal clashed.
Reality screamed as unstable bodies unraveled.
---
Kai stepped closer to the seam.
The dead world beyond it loomed closer now.
Broken buildings.
Black sky.
And more shapes moving in the distance.
Waiting.
He placed his hand near the edge of the fracture.
Not touching.
Just close.
The warmth inside him surged like fire.
The fracture above responded instantly.
The entire sky flashed.
Reality compressed.
The seam shrank violently.
Creatures caught halfway through screamed as their forms collapsed.
Then—
With a thunder-like crack—
The seam sealed shut.
The plaza went silent.
Every remaining creature dissolved instantly.
Gone.
---
Kai staggered backward.
The warmth vanished completely.
Aris caught him before he hit the ground.
"You look terrible," she said.
"Consistent feedback today."
"You nearly collapsed."
"Yes."
She looked up at the sky.
"So did the city."
---
Across Veyra, the remaining seams flickered.
Some shrank.
Some stabilized.
But the fracture in the sky remained.
Still watching.
Still waiting.
---
Serah arrived minutes later as the battle ended.
Archive teams were already securing the plaza.
She walked toward Kai.
"You closed it."
"For now."
She looked at the sky.
"How long will that hold?"
Kai followed her gaze.
The shadow behind the fracture had grown again.
"…Not long."
---
Far above the city, something shifted behind the crack in the sky.
The experiment had just entered a new phase.
---
— End of Chapter 38 —
---