08 / 07 / 2018, 17:42 - Tuesday, Nakagawa City.
Akane froze, eyes wide, heart trembling. Above him, impossible visions unfolded: a kingdom of light with pillars that stretched to infinity, a colossal tree piercing the heavens, cracked earth burning beneath alien skies. The city he knew had warped into something unreal.
Then, creatures descended. Shapes of myth and nightmare, some human, some unrecognizable, slipped through the fractured sky.
The stronger ones ignored the chaos, moving with purpose. Others attacked monsters immediately, driven by instinct or mission.
Survivors hiding in the ruined streets were forced from their shelters, scrambling like prey as pandemonium spread.
"I… what is happening?" Irina's voice trembled, barely audible over the rumble of collapsing metal. Blood streaked through her hair as she pressed her hand to the cut on her temple. Ayato staggered beside them, his shoulder scraped raw, his steps uneven.
Akane swallowed hard. "Stay close. Keep moving!" Even as he spoke, long-forgotten fear coiled through his chest.
Debris littered the streets: overturned cars, twisted signposts, shards of glass cutting at their shoes. Each step was frantic, careful, survival distilled into motion.
A guttural roar shook the air ahead, distorted by the fractured space itself. Sparks flew as a metal beam groaned and collapsed under the weight of a massive creature, while a faraway explosion shook buildings in its wake.
They ran. Twisting through ruined streets, helping one another over shattered stone and twisted steel.
Sweat mixed with blood, stinging eyes, ragged breath catching on each step. Akane's legs burned, his hands raw, yet he pressed on, gripping the fear that pulsed through their chests like a second heartbeat.
Finally, they found a shadowed corner behind a battered building and slowed. The chaos paused.
The air hung, suspended like a held breath. Shadows froze mid-motion, distant roars faded to nothing. The city seemed… still, as if it were nothing more than an illusion.
But the pain in their bodies was real. Akane's chest heaved as he lifted his gaze. Above them, a mirrored layer of the city hung like a superimposed mirage, perfectly existing against the sky.
"This… this isn't right," he whispered, jaw tight, voice trembling despite exhaustion. "Just… what the hell is happening?"
Irina clutched his arm, shaking. "Aka-nii… what should we do now?"
Ayato stood silently, watching the mirrored chaos. Nothing surprised him anymore; only a hollow wish for it all to end.
Akane swallowed again, eyes flickering between the mirrored city and the ruins beneath their feet. "We survive. We keep moving. Whatever this is… we survive."
Even as he said it, a shiver ran through him. Above, beyond comprehension, the world itself seemed to fold and shift.
---
Far above the quiet Earth, space hung in its usual emptiness. Stars twinkled indifferently, distant suns casting pale light over the silent void. And yet, among this vast background, a single shape begins to tremble.
The Knight. Once still, once nothing more than inert armor, now quivered with life. Cracks spider-webbed across its surface, glowing a sickly green. Iron bled, molten and luminous, veins of strange vitality snaking through its form.
Iron became sinew. Cables twisted into nerves. Servos and pistons pulsed like muscles, and the emptiness of the void was replaced by a heartbeat, deep, resonant, and alive.
Something stirred within it, power and the greatness of life that has to give, the instinct to nurture, all things advance towards growth, now the 'seed' that is placed inside the armor shall bloom, towards a life, to announce its endless vitality.
Continuing its transformation, the endless vitality is restless to be unleashed, to grow, and to nurture all life as its children.
Then a low growl came out of its mouth, his figure hunched, armor cracked, flesh struggles to get out, blood that is supposed to be doesn't exist, now appears in his body, flowing like a river, signs of undergoing transformation.
From various gaps in his armor, flesh struggles to get out along with the root of the plant that encased the armor, growing and growing, bigger, until it all encompasses and consumes everything.
---
08 / 07 / 2018, 17:58 - Tuesday, Embryonic Domain, Valshaviere.
In the high and serene heavens, his eyes were fixed on the star system. Focused as ever, his starry gaze, sharp as a blade, traced every orbit, every pulse of light… until a single anomaly on the surface of the sun snapped him from his vigil.
The Knight below trembled, its form warping with a living, corrupting energy. A terrible will seemed to burrow into its body, as if the cosmos itself had granted it a malignant heartbeat. Aldean's chest tightened.
Eyes open wide, his breathing quickened as he watched all of it unfolding through the perspective of his Authority; thousands of whys appeared in his mind as to why something so obvious slipped through his observation. But, he cannot wait any longer.
He will no longer save his own power and decided to go full power at the beginning, just because the threat level is different from before.
He raises his two hands, clasping them together in force, then…
"Authority of Layer: Thousand Planar Plane!" A shimmering lattice unfolded, isolating the star system, containing the chaos within its own axis. Cold hydrogen clouds swirled unnaturally, bound by invisible threads.
"Authority of Layer: Exile, Distance Erasure", space bent inward to attract matters.
"Authority of Layer: Seal, Forced Binding", all matters and space are bound to their own place.
"Authority of Layer: Seal and Replicate, Great Attractor", gravity is replicated and then sealed to be attracted towards a single point.
"Authority of Filament: Replicate, Hundred-Fold Energy Multiplication", through the galaxy filament, energy is injected into that single point.
"Authority of Layer: Seal, Compression", and then all thing is compressed and fused.
Around the monstrosity, a hundred suns bloomed, each the size of a continent, each burning with compressed, unbearable energy. They hung in the void like celestial needles, gravity bending the light of nearby stars.
The monstrosity convulsed, its flesh and blood mutating, absorbing the fire, adapting to every assault. Yet Aldean pushed further, as if it's not enough.
"Authority of Layer: Seal, Forced Fusion." Each sun is forced to fuse into a single star.
"Authority of Filament: Replicate, Thousand-Fold Energy Multiplication", thousand-fold energy is injected into the star from the galaxy filament.
"Authority of Filament: Replicate, Matter Generation - Iron." Iron is generated from the Course of Filament to fill the core of the star.
"Authority of Layer: Seal and Replicate, Compression Thousand-Folds", weight begins to pull down as iron produces massive gravity inside the core of the star.
Each command sent ripples through space. Hydrogen and helium clouds condensed, bound, and compressed. Nebulae twisted unnaturally, forming artificial stars. Gravity itself became a weapon.
The blooming sun fused, forming a single, blindingly bright supernova, its light cutting through the darkness of space, focused entirely on the monstrosity.
The creature shrieked, a sound that echoed through the void, vibrating the cosmic lattice Aldean had formed. Its body twisted, green vitality pulsing like blood through veins of metal and sinew. It mutated faster than logic allowed, shielding itself from the heat and radiation. Every fiber of its being screamed to survive.
And then… the needle of light struck. The fused sun detonated. Supernovae flared, stretching space itself. Waves of energy tore across the surrounding system, scorching planets and bending the paths of orbiting debris. The monstrosity's body, once a nightmare of unchecked growth, was hurled into blinding light, forced into mutation, adaptation, and finally… pause.
Aldean's breathing remained steady, but his gaze sank. Even this, the culmination of his Authority, was not enough.
"Even this… can't you just die, dammit!" His voice was small, almost lost in the expanse, but it carried his anger and frustration.
Aldean is also afraid that if such a thing advanced steadily in rank with the 'seed', that monstrosity will rival the energy of that being in this universe; if the two of them cannot hold on, then this monstrosity will directly tear a rift that leads to Outside and guide the contact to 'greatness of life'.
That's why he could no longer maintain his composure and neutral observing attitude; if it succeeded, the entire universe could be a puppet of life or even worse be consumed and be part of 'greatness of life'.
---
The blinding explosion subsided. The Knight's mutation had reached only halfway; the endless vitality flowing from the 'seed' had finally ceased.
In the void of space, an island floated, shaped like a grotesque jellyfish, vast as a continent. Flesh, blood, machinery, and mutated plant life fused into a living, pulsating mass.
Tentacles and intestinal roots dangled from its underside; rivers of blood ran across its surface, circulating like veins through the monstrous terrain.
Ancient machinery jutted upward, forming pillars and obelisks, a fusion of life and technology.
Inside, a trace of the Knight's consciousness lingered. It knew its fate. With one last act, it gave the orders that would shape the coming apocalypse:
"Seize the 'Destined Serpent'… go! It's on Earth."
And then it vanished. Dead. The rift that had sustained its power collapsed, leaving the silver light that had blanketed half the star system to fade, unveiling the universe's dark, silent canvas once again.
The monstrosity roared into the void, a sound that traveled even to Earth. Its massive body moved at incomprehensible speed, stabilizing as it hurtled toward the planet. At this rate, it would arrive in mere minutes, visible even to the naked eye as it pierced the atmosphere above Japan.
---
Above the swaying grass of his domain, Aldean's eyes narrowed. So that's how it was.
"That rift is messing with my perception; that's the biggest threat itself, but I dismiss it lightly, though I'm still cautious, and then it still eventually erodes my perception."
"The knight standing in front of that rift is to receive the light itself, to enter the Shadow and be enveloped by it, and thus goes unnoticed."
"Right, the enchanter only acts as a bait or diversion. Even the light that fills the universe itself may still be aiming at me."
As he notices something more than this, a flash of sadness flickers in his eyes, suppressed immediately beneath his calm exterior. He rose, leaving his domain, stepping effortlessly through space to hover above Fukuoka.
The breeze brushed against him, ruffling the hem of his kimono and the sleeves of his haori. His eyes closed briefly, savoring the moment of quiet before the storm.
"Seems inevitable. The chase ends here."
Spatial rifts opened around him. From one, he drew a long, crimson jian, its blade as tall as two men, the grip designed for both hands. A fluttering tassel danced along its length.
His eyes opened, sharp and cold, reflecting the shadow creeping over the island of Japan below.
"Only one can survive," he murmured.
He raised the blade, letting its weight anchor his resolve.
"Come on… Heaven or Hell."