The winds whispered through the empty skyline.
Ash floated like snow across the wreckage of what had once been a proud city. Towers, now nothing more than half-melted steel skeletons, reached toward a bleeding sky like desperate hands frozen in prayer. The epicenter of the crater—miles wide, still smoldering—was where Gendai had summoned the meteor known as Grave of the Heavens, a spell that had dragged the wrath of the cosmos down upon the earth.
And she had succeeded.
But the cost was carved into the land.
The survivors—Jessie, Neve, Tyrone, Lihanna, Raijin, Kamaki, Felicia, Gendai, and Evelyn—stood at the edge of the Prismic Gathering's mountain path as their personal carrier descended, touching down beside the ancient moss-covered stones that once marked the outer boundary of their training grounds.
They had made it back.
But nothing felt like home.
Inside the grand mansion of the Prismic Gathering, the silence was louder than any battlefield.
Everyone gathered in the atrium, surrounded by the fractured glow of the sky panels and glowing glyphs on the marble floors. A holographic memory of Kazimir's last transmission flickered on the side wall—paused. The reminder of his absence hung over them like a ghost.
Lihanna was the first to speak.
Lihanna:"...That city never stood a chance. I still see it. The crater. The sky split apart. And the quiet that came after. Gendai... you really dropped a star on them."
Gendai sat on the edge of the stairwell, her emerald hair tangled and matted with dried blood, eyes heavy beneath the weight of what she'd done.
Gendai:"I didn't think it would destroy the entire region… I—I just wanted to stop him. Foogle wouldn't die. I had no choice. He would've killed Raijin. Kamaki. Me. Everyone..."
Raijin leaned against the wall, arms crossed, face scarred, but gaze steady.
Raijin:"You didn't mess up. You saved us. That attack? I've never seen anything that massive. Not even from Kaz. You're stronger than you think."
Felicia nodded quietly, her hands folded in front of her.
Felicia:"People survived because of what you did. Maybe not everyone, but... enough."
Kamaki:"Hell, I'd rather the city be gone than all of us buried in it. You did what you had to. We all did."
Gendai looked down at her trembling hands, the faint burn mark from the spell still etched into her palm.
Jessie paced in the background, arms behind her back.
Jessie:"Still... It wasn't just the meteor that wrecked everything. That entire night felt... planned. From the vampire lord to the parasite hybrid to Ingress showing up at the end—like they were trying to tear down our foundation piece by piece."
Neve:"Kazimir and Riah left for Vrasnia right after. And now we're here holding the pieces."
Jessie stopped pacing and turned toward the team.
Jessie:"Kaz is the Eye of Nullity. Riah's a Satura of Solaris. And we're in the middle of something way bigger than just another war."
Tyrone, who had remained silent, stood up from the couch. Still shirtless, his bandaged chest rose and fell slowly.
Tyrone:"Yeah... but that doesn't mean we stand down. I don't know what's coming next, but I'll tell you all one thing…"
He looked at each of them, his eyes full of fury and purpose.
Tyrone:"We're not side characters in Kazimir's story. We're warriors. So next time the sky falls? We won't just survive—we'll tear down whatever drops it."
The room went still.
Neve placed her hand on Felicia's shoulder—her flames had not yet settled from the Phoenix Ember state. There was something different in her aura now: a calm clarity, like she was finally whole.
Evelyn, who had been sitting by the window, finally spoke, her voice soft:
Evelyn:"We won the battle. But the war is only getting louder. That crater in the city? That was a message."
Felicia:"A message that the world's not ready for what we've become."
And somewhere beyond the stars... in Nebula's reach...
A black veil flowed in silence.
Eyes as dark as the void watched timelines collapse and converge. Cytherea stood still in the heart of a fracture—a quiet observer of what threads would be snipped next.
Her fingers hovered over a broken hourglass.
She did not speak.
She never needed to.