This time, it wasn't thunder.
It was a tear.
The sky split like a fragile surface, streaked with jagged lines of light and shadow, stretching… widening… then breaking faster than the eye could follow.
Everyone stepped back on instinct.
"Get ready—this isn't natural," Marley said sharply.
Zack stood frozen, eyes locked upward, his breathing uneven.
"The signals… they've changed."
"In what way?" Lexia asked, raising her blade.
He swallowed.
"It's not one anymore… there are multiple patterns. Overlapping… but not aligned."
Violet lifted her gaze.
She could feel it.
Not danger… not exactly.
A pull.
Then—
The first rift opened.
Golden light poured out, warm… yet piercing.
Figures descended from within—armored, radiant, their bodies gleaming like fragments of the sun. They moved instantly, without hesitation, striking at the remnants of parasites that had begun to stir again.
"Fall back!" one of them commanded.
They didn't wait for a response.
Their attacks were precise, synchronized—like a system long perfected.
Then—
Another rift.
Darkness.
It opened in silence, like a wound in the air.
From it emerged figures made of dense shadow, their forms unstable, shifting. They didn't speak—but they moved, devouring the parasites instead of cutting them down.
Lexia stepped back.
"They're not human."
"Not enemies either… apparently," Marley replied, though her guard didn't drop.
"More than that…" Zack muttered. "They're… from different worlds."
As if answering him—
A third rift split open, glowing blue.
Figures emerged, their eyes lit with energy, their bodies surrounded by a translucent force. They didn't move normally—they flickered, vanishing and reappearing, striking from impossible angles.
Within moments—
The battlefield changed.
No longer chaos.
But convergence.
"Don't merge formations blindly!" Marley shouted. "Watch their methods!"
But Violet wasn't looking at them.
She was watching the rifts.
Something in them… responded to her.
Suddenly, one of the golden warriors stopped.
He turned toward her.
Froze.
Then slowly—
He lowered his weapon.
"…Impossible," he whispered.
He approached, each step measured.
Lexia raised her blade immediately.
"Stop right there."
But he didn't look at her.
Only at Violet.
Then—
He dropped to one knee.
Silence spread.
"We have finally found you."
Marley's expression hardened.
"What are you talking about?"
He didn't answer her.
Instead, his voice lowered—like he was speaking to fate itself.
"The heir… has returned."
Zack's eyes widened.
"Heir of what?"
Violet said nothing.
Because she felt it again.
The rifts weren't stabilizing.
They were—
expanding.
The air trembled violently, energies colliding.
"Fall back!" Zack suddenly shouted. "This isn't stable—!"
But his voice was swallowed.
Because the sky—
opened wider.
One rift—larger than the rest—tore itself apart, as if something from within was forcing its way through.
All allies stopped.
Even the shadow beings.
Even the golden warriors.
Everyone looked up.
"We're too late…" one of them said under his breath.
The earth trembled.
The temperature dropped.
Violet stepped forward, her eyes locked on the massive rift.
"This isn't like the others."
Zack clutched his head.
"No… this is different… this signal—"
His voice broke.
"It's not from a world."
Silence.
Then he whispered:
"It's from outside them… all of them."
Something began to emerge.
Not a form.
Not yet.
Just a presence—
Darker than shadow.
Moving.
Closer.
Marley stepped back.
"Everyone—prepare yourselves."
But one of the newcomers said quietly:
"It won't matter."
She turned sharply.
"What?"
He looked at Violet.
Then said:
"It came for her."
Silence fell like a verdict.
Violet didn't move.
Didn't retreat.
She only stared.
And the thing…
Stared back.
Then—
The darkness smiled