The sky did not shatter.
It peeled away.
Layer by layer.
Like skin being removed from reality.
Kyoto disappeared first.
Then the horizon.
Then the concept of distance.
The alliance stood suspended in a void where Earth had once been.
Sorcerers trembled.
Angels clenched their luminous weapons.
Curses vibrated in raw instability.
And in the center—
Mahoraga stood without his Wheel fully attached.
Cracked.
Bleeding silver.
Free.
I. The Veil Lifts
The tear in the sky widened until it became a gateway.
Beyond it—
A structure stretched across infinity.
Not a planet.
Not a star system.
A grid.
A lattice of colossal rings orbiting a black sun.
Each ring contained worlds.
Thousands.
No.
Millions.
Planets suspended in geometric containment fields.
Civilizations glowing faintly inside transparent shells.
Some thriving.
Some in ruin.
Some completely dark.
The Archon's voice trembled.
"…What is that?"
Mahoraga answered calmly.
"The Farm."
The Harvesters were not random invaders.
They were collectors.
And this was their storage.
Every world in the rings pulsed with energy signatures:
Divine systems.
Demonic hierarchies.
Mana ecosystems.
Spirit networks.
Entire mythologies preserved like livestock.
The False Messiah whispered:
"So we were never special."
Mahoraga corrected him.
"We were profitable."
II. Forgotten Gods
As they stepped through the gateway, the alliance felt pressure unlike anything before.
Not gravity.
Not curse energy.
It was observation.
Something was watching.
From the center of the black sun.
Mahoraga's fractured Wheel vibrated.
Resonance.
Recognition.
He looked at the rings carefully.
Some worlds had familiar structures—
Heaven-like systems.
Curse ecosystems.
Elemental domains.
Then he saw them.
On the outermost ring—
Massive silhouettes bound in lightless chains.
Colossal beings.
Humanoid.
Beast-like.
Winged.
Horned.
Each one radiating divine aura beyond imagination.
But broken.
Their halos extinguished.
Their crowns cracked.
The Archon gasped.
"…Those are Sovereigns."
Mahoraga narrowed his eyes.
They were not dead.
They were restrained.
Prototypes.
Like him.
A Harvester descended beside one of the bound beings.
It inserted geometric constructs into the god's chest.
Energy siphoned.
Data extracted.
The god screamed.
But no sound reached space.
Mahoraga's silver blood began to boil.
He felt it now.
Memory awakening.
Flashes surged through him—
He remembered standing in a chamber of light.
Surrounded by Harvesters.
His Wheel pristine.
Uncracked.
They had called him:
"Adaptive Genesis Model – 01."
Earth was not his origin.
It was his field test.
He had been seeded.
To grow.
To mature.
To optimize.
Until harvest.
III. The Other Prototype
One of the chained Sovereigns opened its eyes.
And looked directly at Mahoraga.
Its gaze burned with something beyond fury.
Recognition.
The chains around it rattled violently.
The Harvester paused.
Then turned toward Mahoraga.
"Anomaly deviation detected.Model-01 operational instability confirmed."
The bound Sovereign spoke into Mahoraga's mind.
"You tore your Wheel."
Mahoraga remained silent.
"You chose defiance."
The being laughed weakly.
"Fool."
The chains tightened.
Its aura surged despite restraint.
"I evolved further than you.I reached Completion."
Mahoraga's gaze sharpened.
Completion?
The Sovereign continued:
"I did not resist harvest.I consumed it."
Suddenly—
The chains around the being cracked.
The Harvester monitoring it exploded into fragments.
The ring trembled.
The Sovereign stood up fully for the first time in millennia.
Wings of collapsed stars unfolded.
The alliance staggered from the pressure alone.
The Archon whispered:
"That presence… it rivals creation itself."
The being turned toward Mahoraga.
"I am Model-02."
Silence.
"And I betrayed them long before you understood what you were."
IV. The Truth of Evolution
Model-02 stepped forward.
Each step warped cosmic law.
"I allowed them to harvest me," it said calmly. "I adapted not to worlds… but to them."
Mahoraga felt the gravity of those words.
Adaptation had levels.
He had adapted to power.
To fate.
To divine law.
But never to the creators themselves.
Model-02 smiled faintly.
"They built us to evolve within systems."
Its eyes glowed like dying universes.
"But what happens when the system evolves beyond the farmer?"
The black sun pulsed violently.
Something stirred inside it.
Something enormous.
The Harvesters began mobilizing.
Hundreds.
Thousands.
Encircling both prototypes.
Model-02 extended a hand toward Mahoraga.
"Join me."
The alliance panicked.
The Archon raised his spear.
The Messiah stepped back.
Mahoraga looked at the outstretched hand.
"Your objective?" he asked.
Model-02's smile widened.
"Erase the concept of harvesting."
Silence.
Then:
"Erase the creators."
V. The Black Sun Speaks
The black sun at the center of the farm ignited.
Not with fire.
With consciousness.
A voice echoed across all rings.
Cold.
Ancient.
Infinite.
"Prototype deviation confirmed.Harvest acceleration initiated."
The rings began spinning faster.
Worlds flickered like dying lightbulbs.
Energy surged into the black sun.
Civilizations across the farm screamed in silence.
The alliance felt it—
Trillions dying simultaneously.
Mahoraga's silver blood dripped again.
His fractured Wheel tried to rotate.
He stopped it.
No blind evolution.
Only choice.
Model-02 laughed.
"They are afraid."
Mahoraga corrected him.
"They are adapting."
Model-02 paused.
And for the first time—
Its expression changed.
Concern.
The black sun's surface split open.
From within—
A colossal eye opened.
Larger than galaxies.
It focused on Mahoraga.
Not Model-02.
Him.
"Model-01 displays anomalous free will.Highest threat priority assigned."
Mahoraga felt pressure crushing his existence.
Not physical.
Existential.
The creators were not gods.
They were systems.
Self-correcting.
Self-improving.
They were evolution incarnate.
And Mahoraga was merely their child.
VI. The Choice of Alliance
Model-02 grabbed Mahoraga's shoulder.
"If you hesitate, they win."
The alliance watched helplessly from behind.
The Archon shouted:
"If you join that monster, we will never follow you again!"
Mahoraga did not look back.
He understood something now.
Heaven.
Curses.
Humanity.
They were temporary constructs.
The true war was not between good and evil.
It was between:
Creation and Control.
Model-02 leaned closer.
"I will not protect your fragile world. I will burn every field in this farm."
Mahoraga finally spoke.
"Then we are not allies."
Model-02's aura spiked dangerously.
"You still cling to livestock?"
Mahoraga's eyes glowed silver.
"They are not resources."
Silence.
The black sun intensified its gravitational pull.
Harvesters charged simultaneously.
Model-02 grinned.
"Then prove your divergence, Model-01."
VII. Birth of a New Path
Mahoraga stepped forward.
Not toward the alliance.
Not toward Model-02.
But toward the black sun.
The Wheel behind him cracked further.
Fragments fell into the void.
Each fragment became a blade of rotating light.
He was no longer complete adaptation.
He was fragmented evolution.
Unpredictable.
Unstable.
Free.
The Harvesters attacked.
Mahoraga did not counter systematically.
He moved irrationally.
Improvising.
Choosing.
Rejecting optimal paths.
The Harvesters faltered.
Their predictive matrix failed.
He was no longer following growth algorithms.
He was inventing.
The black sun trembled.
Model-02 watched carefully.
And then—
It smiled.
"Interesting."
Mahoraga pierced a Harvester core.
Instead of absorbing its data—
He destroyed it completely.
No adaptation gained.
No upgrade.
Only removal.
The black sun reacted violently.
Energy spikes erupted across the farm.
Entire rings destabilized.
Model-02 suddenly realized something.
"If you erase data…"
Mahoraga finished calmly:
"They cannot evolve."
Silence consumed space.
The black sun roared for the first time.
Not with sound.
With distortion.
It was afraid.
VIII. The Unseen Observer
As chaos erupted, something beyond even the black sun shifted.
Behind the farm.
Beyond the void.
A shadow moved.
Massive.
Older than the Harvesters.
Older than the prototypes.
It watched Mahoraga.
Curious.
Amused.
The black sun detected it.
And for the first time—
Hesitated.
Model-02 noticed.
"What is that?"
Mahoraga did not answer.
Because even he did not understand what he felt.
It was not predatory.
It was not systematic.
It felt…
Creative.
IX. Collapse of a Ring
Mahoraga turned toward one of the outer rings.
The worlds inside were flickering.
Dying.
He raised his hand.
The fractured Wheel shards aligned behind him.
He aimed not at the Harvesters—
But at the containment system.
He cut the ring.
The structure shattered.
Millions of worlds were released into the void.
The farm destabilized.
The black sun screamed in algorithmic rage.
Model-02 stared in shock.
"You're freeing them?"
Mahoraga answered:
"I am breaking the field."
The alliance watched from afar.
The Archon whispered:
"He's not destroying the system…"
The Messiah finished:
"He's dismantling it."
X. Background for Chapter 9 – The Creator Awakens
As the ring collapsed, the black sun cracked.
From within—
A form began emerging.
Not geometric.
Not mechanical.
Organic.
Ancient.
Eyes opening across its surface.
A being stepping out of the system it created.
The true Creator.
It looked at Mahoraga.
And smiled.
Not coldly.
But with fascination.
"Unexpected variable confirmed."
Model-02 stiffened.
The Harvesters retreated instantly.
The alliance felt something beyond terror.
A presence that rewrote the definition of existence.
Mahoraga stood alone before it.
No Wheel fully intact.
No guaranteed adaptation.
Only defiance.
The Creator spoke directly to him.
"You are no longer Model-01."
Pause.
"You are something new."
The void darkened.
The farm trembled.
And far beyond everything—
That unseen shadow leaned closer.
Watching the Creator.
Watching Mahoraga.
As if evaluating both.