Part I — The Stage of Ruin
The night split open like a wound.
Neon Vale burned below the eclipse sky — skyscrapers flickering like dying stars, smoke curling in rhythm with sirens. Every faction had come to claim him: the Alpha Order descending in their silver-marked robes; Syndicate drones cutting through the fog; and, above them all, a radiant tear in the clouds — where the divine emissary stepped through, blazing wings folded like knives.
Kai stood at the center of the abandoned amphitheater where his first band once played.
Ash's broken drum kit still sat at the edge of the cracked stage.
Lira was somewhere in the shadows, whispering through her earpiece, "You don't have to fight all of them."
He smiled faintly. "That's the point, Lira. I'm not here to fight."
The ground trembled as the Alpha Order's High Fang advanced, voice booming like thunder:
> "Kai Moon. Abomination. You defy the divine hierarchy. You will kneel, or be unmade."
Behind them, Syndicate agents raised weapons humming with captured moonlight.
The emissary descended in silence — her wings dripping radiance, her gaze a scalpel.
Kai breathed in. The air itself vibrated. The hum of every streetlight, every broken radio, every heart — all of it aligned to him.
He felt the static in his blood ignite.
> "You call it defiance," he said quietly, "but all I ever did was listen."
Then he raised his hand — and the city began to sing.