The golden dome above Jakarta still stood.
Cracks spread across its surface.
Its light flickered weakly after enduring the rain of Void blades.
Yet it continued to protect millions of lives.
Beneath its fading glow—
the city began to breathe again.
Sirens continued to wail.
Rescue helicopters returned to the skies.
Civilians rushed toward designated evacuation zones.
And in the middle of the shattered main road—
Arga collapsed to his knees.
His breathing was ragged.
His hands trembled.
Blood dripped from his nose onto the cracked asphalt.
Inside the MBG Lunchbox, the thirty-first rice grain was still spinning wildly.
Sinta caught his shoulder.
"Don't push yourself."
Bimo stood in front of them, gripping a bent metal rod.
"If another monster shows up, I'll throw something at it."
Dika sat against a wrecked car, still bleeding but alert.
Farhan stared at a radar screen covered in red dots.
Lila clutched the ancient tablet tightly.
Kai simply kept his eyes on the sky.
Because he knew—
this wasn't over.
One hundred violet eyes opened beyond the cosmic rift.
Watching Earth.
Watching Arga.
The pressure from above made the air feel unbearably heavy.
Several buildings began to crack on their own.
Streetlights flickered.
The golden dome trembled.
Arga tried to stand.
His body immediately gave way.
Sinta caught him around the waist.
"Enough."
Arga stared at the sky.
"I'm not finished."
"Your body is," Sinta shot back.
Arga was about to answer—
when the entire city suddenly fell silent.
No wind.
No sirens.
Not even the sound of falling debris.
It was as if the world itself had stopped to listen.
Green-gold light began to rise from the cracks in the road.
From the roots of trees.
From the water flowing through the drains.
From shattered windows.
From the soil.
From the dust.
From every corner of the city.
All of it moved toward a single point.
The middle of the road.
Right in front of Arga.
Bimo tightened his grip on the metal rod.
"Okay... if that's some kind of earth monster, I'm retiring."
The light grew brighter.
It began to take shape, forming a colossal figure as tall as the surrounding buildings.
Not a complete body.
Only a vast silhouette made of stone, roots, oceans, fire, clouds, and starlight.
Its eyes glowed green-gold.
Gentle.
Ancient.
Beyond measure.
Lila whispered, her voice trembling.
"Terra Ultima..."
Everyone fell silent.
Even the hundred eyes in the sky seemed to stop blinking.
The colossal figure gazed at the team one by one.
At Dika, who remained standing despite his battered body.
At Bimo, who hid his fear behind jokes.
At Farhan, holding his laptop as though it were a weapon.
At Lila, clutching knowledge like a torch.
At Sinta, standing fearlessly in front of Arga.
At Kai, carrying the weight of thousands of years of guilt.
And then—
at Arga.
There was no threat in its gaze.
No demand.
Only recognition.
Terra Ultima spoke.
Its voice did not reach their ears.
They felt it in their chests.
In their bones.
In every breath they took.
"Children of the World."
The road trembled softly.
In the distance, several civilians who witnessed the scene found tears streaming down their faces, though none of them knew why.
"You are wounded."
Bimo swallowed.
"...It speaks better than I do."
No one responded.
They were too overwhelmed by a feeling none of them could explain.
Terra Ultima turned its gaze toward Arga.
The MBG Lunchbox responded.
All thirty-one rice grains began to spin more calmly.
Arga slowly rose to his feet.
"Why me?"
The question escaped him before he could stop it.
Every wound.
Every doubt.
Every burden he carried.
All of it was contained in those three words.
A long silence followed.
Then Terra Ultima answered.
"Not because you were chosen."
Arga froze.
"Not because you are the strongest."
The light surrounding them pulsed gently.
"Not because you are a fragment of a Core."
Kai lowered his head.
As though those words were meant for him as well.
Terra Ultima took a single step forward.
The asphalt cracked beneath it, and tiny blades of grass began to grow through the fractures.
"But because when the world fell..."
It gazed deeply into Arga's eyes.
"...you kept choosing to rise."
Arga held his breath.
All this time, he had believed fate was dragging him along.
That everything had already been written.
That he was nothing more than a tool.
Yet before a being as ancient as the planet itself—
he was being offered something no one had ever given him.
A choice.
Terra Ultima raised its glowing hand.
Two visions appeared in the air.
The first:
Arga stood alone, surrounded by light, transformed into a perfect weapon.
Powerful.
Cold.
Untouchable.
The second:
Arga stood beside his team.
Wounded.
Laughing.
Crying.
Imperfect.
But alive.
"I could force you."
Terra Ultima's voice shook the heavens.
Above them, the hundred violet eyes flickered uneasily.
"But I will not."
Sinta stared at Arga.
Bimo fell silent.
Even Kai slowly raised his head.
Terra Ultima lowered its hand.
Both visions vanished.
"Power without choice is a prison."
"Fate without a heart is emptiness."
Then its voice softened.
Like the earth after the rain.
"Choose for yourself, Arga."
The sky suddenly roared.
All one hundred violet eyes blazed at once.
They sensed what was happening.
They feared something far more dangerous than power—
free will.
The cosmic rift widened.
The Void fleet began its descent.
The golden dome cracked even further.
Farhan stared at his screen.
"They're attacking now!"
Dika forced himself to stand, wincing in pain.
"Then choose while we're fighting."
Bimo raised his metal rod.
"Now that's a language I understand."
Arga looked at his team.
Sinta, who had never abandoned him.
Bimo, who could always make the darkness feel a little lighter.
Dika, who kept standing even when his body was broken.
Farhan, who fought the sky with nothing but his mind.
Lila, who kept hope alive through knowledge.
Kai, who continued to endure despite the weight of his regrets.
Then he looked at Terra Ultima.
"I choose..."
Light began to rise within his body.
The sky trembled.
The enemy descended.
The city held its breath.
Arga gave a faint smile.
"...to be myself."
WHOOOOOMMMMM!
An explosion of golden and green light pierced the clouds.
The city's golden dome was restored, whole and radiant once more.
All one hundred violet eyes retreated at the same time.
And in Arga's hand—
the MBG Lunchbox opened on its own.
Inside it,
a new empty space had appeared.
A place for the next rice grain.
Kai stared at it, his face turning pale.
"No..."
Lila turned toward him.
"What is it?"
Kai looked up at the sky, where the cosmic rift continued to tear wider.
"If a new space has opened..."
He turned his gaze toward Arga.
"...then the world is preparing to demand a far greater price."