It happened the moment Professor Nox finished speaking.
The ground rumbled. Then shook harder.
A cold wave hit the room like a storm.
> "Emergency situation ! South Sector compromised! Class-Unknown entity detected—"
The alarm lights turned blood red.
Sid's heart jumped. His body tensed.
But Nox? He didn't flinch.
He just said one word:
> "Move."
---
They sprinted down a narrow corridor. Soldiers passed them in a blur — shouting, casting protective spells, readying weapons.
Each door they passed was thicker than the last — reinforced, guarded.
> "This is the Vault Zone," Sid realized. "This place wasn't made to keep things out… it was made to keep things in."
They arrived at the South Sector gate. It was half-melted.
Smoke poured from the cracks. The walls were charred. Two guards lay slumped, unmoving.
Blood marked the floor in strange, looping patterns — like something fed on it.
Yara stood at the center of the room, coat torn, blade in hand. She was bleeding, chest heaving.
Kael flanked her, daggers glowing. Lucien's shield pulsed around a group of injured agents. Reinhardt stood behind him, fists clenched.
> "It's not a demon," Yara growled. "I don't know what it is."
> "It's watching us," Lucien said. "But… it doesn't have eyes."
> "It doesn't need them," Reinhardt muttered. "It feels everything."
---
Then it stepped out.
A tall, cloaked figure, mask blank as bone. No eyes. No mouth. No face.
It didn't walk. It floated.
The air around it died — sound, heat, even magic.
Sid's knees nearly buckled. His breath caught.
> "What… what is that?"
Yara hissed. "Some kind of devourer. It eats energy. It ate my blade's charge."
The creature raised one hand.
Black rings pulsed in the air. The ground beneath them melted.
Lucien snapped his fingers — Timeglass Aegis. The air slowed.
Kael launched forward — lightning daggers flashing — Stormpierce Fangs!
Reinhardt roared, slamming down Spinecrush Rebellion — bone spikes burst upward—
Nothing landed.
The creature was gone.
Then—
SLASH!
A black blade cut through the air — straight at Sid.
He couldn't move in time.
> CLANG.
Something blocked it.
A cane.
Nox stood in front of Sid, one hand raised, cane braced like a sword.
> "I've seen you before," he said coldly. "Cloaked Devourer. A remnant from the Hollow."
> "You should've stayed buried."
---
The creature screamed — a pulse of silence, so deep it cracked the walls.
The lights died.
Then it rushed at Nox.
In a blur, Nox's cane shifted — glowing symbols spiraled along its side.
He stepped sideways. Tapped the air once.
The creature stopped — frozen.
No magic circle. No chant.
Just pressure. Impossible pressure.
The Devourer's blade twisted toward itself.
SLICE.
Its arm vanished — erased, not severed.
> "He didn't cut it," Lucien whispered. "He deleted it from reality."
The monster screeched again. Chains of black fire erupted from its body — like screams made solid.
Nox's voice rose. Calm. Cold.
> "Collapse."
He snapped his fingers.
A sphere of white light swallowed the creature whole — space crumpled inward — like a paper ball folding.
Then—
Boom.
Gone.
No sound. No remains. Nothing.
---
Only a sliver of torn cloak remained, smoking in Nox's hand.
He turned to the others.
> "This wasn't Lords Of Demon"
> "But it was a message."
His gaze locked with Sid's.
> "They know."
> "They know you're waking up."
> "And now… they're coming."