Dawn unfolded over Orin in a soft, gentle hush, spreading across the mountain slopes like a light blanket.
Women carried buckets brimming with fresh water drawn straight from the mountain springs, their steps steady and unhurried. Further along, groups of men hauled heavy logs and stacked solid stones, working with quiet dedication to reinforce the makeshift walls and expand the boundaries of their new home.
Thin, wispy smoke rose gradually from cooking fires, drifting upward toward a sky that had finally cleared.
Beside the small but sturdy forge they had built with their own hands, Arthur stood with arms crossed, watching closely as a group of young men trained with spears and staffs.
A few meters away, Laura leaned against a wooden post, observing the practice with a faint approving smile.
"They're getting quite good at this," she said, turning her gaze toward him.
"They learn fast," Arthur replied.
Laura shifted her stance, crossing her arms more firmly. Her expression shifted from calm to thoughtful, then to something heavy with unease.
"Strange, isn't it?" she murmured, as if speaking more to herself.
Arthur raised an eyebrow, giving her his full attention. "What is?"
"Tsukumo," she answered, lowering her tone. "It has been weeks since we destroyed the Southern Forge. Weeks since we rose up and proved we would not bow again. Yet… there has been no response at all."
Arthur fell silent for a moment, his jaw tightening slightly. He had noticed the same absence.
A being as proud as Tsukumo would never let such a humiliation go unanswered.
That was when the light began to change.
A vast, dark shadow spread across the terrain, covering the houses and the training grounds like a curtain drawn shut.
Children stopped running in their tracks, their laughter dying instantly. Men and women working nearby paused, their tools hanging loosely in their hands, and lifted their heads, faces etched with confusion.
Laura frowned, narrowing her eyes. "Is a storm coming?"
Arthur scanned the entire expanse above the peaks. "Perhaps."
The bright golden light of dawn faded rapidly, turning first gray, then into a cold twilight. Within seconds, the entire valley was plunged into darkness as sudden as midnight.
Panic began to spread. Shouts of alarm rose from the village entrance, echoing off the rocky slopes.
Arthur and Laura exchanged a sharp, worried glance before breaking into a run toward the highest, most open clearing at the center of Orin.
The moment they arrived, both froze as if turned to stone, feeling their blood run cold in their veins.
The sky had vanished.
Where the blue expanse should have been, filling nearly the entire horizon and hanging so low it seemed to brush the mountain tops, floated a colossal sphere of deep, murky purple energy. It revolved with a heavy mechanical rhythm, sending low, threatening vibrations through the air with every turn.
And inside that sphere, suspended as if gravity no longer held any power, were structures of unimaginable scale.
Gigantic towers of blackened steel, linked by kilometers of metal bridges. Tall, rusted smokestacks, thick pipes, and massive furnaces still glowing with residual heat. Iron chains, each as thick as the trunk of a large tree, coiled through the space like living serpents. Entire factory floors, warehouses, and multi-story buildings drifted within the purple mass, turning at an unhurried pace.
As the structure rotated further, the truth struck them like a fist to the chest.
Kael came rushing up, breathless and pale, and lifted his eyes to the sight above. The color drained completely from his face. His legs gave way, and he stumbled, catching himself against a rock just to stay upright.
"No…" he whispered, his tone cracking and barely audible. "This… it's impossible…"
He pointed a trembling finger toward the heavens.
"That is… the Last Forge."
A silence heavier than any storm settled over Orin. No one breathed deeply; no one moved. For a heartbeat, even time itself seemed to stop.
Then the first objects began to fall.
A heavy iron chain slipped free from the energy field and crashed into the rocky surface with a thunderous boom that shook the earth. Another followed, then a steel beam so large it shattered the roof of an empty shed upon impact.
Next came bodies.
The first corpse struck the soil between two houses, kicking up a cloud of dust and debris. More followed—workers and soldiers who had been inside the Forge when it was torn from its foundations.
But amid the falling wreckage, a sharp, desperate cry cut through the air.
"HELP! PLEASE, SOMEONE HELP US!!"
Not everyone was dead.
Hundreds of living people remained trapped within the floating ruin—clinging to broken railings, locked inside swaying cages, or stranded on unstable platforms thousands of meters above the ground.
Desperation swept through the village.
Shrieks tore through the air as women clutched their chests or covered their faces, fingers interlaced so tightly their knuckles turned white.
Children huddled smaller in their parents' arms, burying their faces against shoulders, eyes squeezed shut and bodies trembling like leaves in the wind. Some pressed their hands over their ears, as if that could block out the sound of the sky falling apart.
Before anyone could run or act, the mountain itself began to shake.
At first, it was only a faint vibration rising through the soles of their feet. Then it grew stronger, deeper, and more violent.
Huts creaked and swayed. Loose stones broke free from the slopes and rolled downward with a dry, continuous clatter. Plates and utensils crashed from tables, and smoke from the fires swirled in chaotic spirals.
Laura spun toward the main path leading up the mountain, her face hardening into a mask of grim realization.
Rising from the valley below, a wall of dust so high it obscured the entire slope surged upward. Marching beneath that cloud came an army the likes of which Orin had never seen.
Thousands upon thousands of soldiers in heavy, dark armor, their spears glinting like sharp thorns, their shields locked together into a living wall. Behind them rumbled war beasts, battering rams, and siege engines forged from the same cold steel as the Forges.
The full military might of Tsukumo's Empire advanced up the mountainside, surrounding the village from every direction.
Kael stepped back, his voice hollow and drained of hope.
"We are surrounded… there is nowhere left to run."
At that moment, Arthur looked upward again, past the purple sphere, far higher into the atmosphere.
There, hovering motionless above the entire structure, was a single figure.
Tsukumo.
His posture was relaxed, almost casual, as if he stood on solid rock rather than floating in empty air. His right arm was extended outward, palm open and facing upward—and upon that single hand rested the full weight of the Last Forge. He held the colossal structure as though it weighed no more than a pebble.
Hovering just behind him, keeping their distance but ever watchful, were Vanki and Katarina. Both stood rigid and silent, their auras contained yet dense and brimming with lethal intent.
His gaze swept over the houses, the fields, and the terrified faces below. He seemed to study every piece of the fragile hope they had built with such effort.
Finally, he spoke, his tone deep and resonant, echoing between the peaks like distant thunder.
"So…"
He paused, letting the word hang heavy and final in the air.
"This is where you chose to plant your hope."
"It would be such a shame…"
He shifted his eyes back to the massive Forge hovering above his palm before continuing.
"…if everything you built were buried along with it."
A chill ran down Arthur's spine, raising every hair on his body.
"WAIT!" Kael shouted, his tone raw and desperate. "There are still hundreds of people inside!"
Laura clenched her fists so tightly her nails dug into her palms, leaving deep marks.
"No…" she whispered, burning with rage and helplessness. "You cannot do this."
Deliberately, Tsukumo began to open his fingers.
The purple energy field flickered, weakened, and lost its hold.
The Last Forge began to fall.
Millions of tons of iron and steel plummeted straight toward the heart of Orin.
The sky itself seemed to be collapsing upon them.
"EVACUATE THE VILLAGE! EVERYONE RUN FOR HIGHER GROUND—NOW!!" Laura roared, amplifying her energy to reach every corner of the settlement.
People scattered in all directions, screaming as they grabbed children and whatever belongings they could carry. Laura vanished in a blur of speed, moving like lightning to reach groups of children further away, lifting them and shoving them toward safer paths.
Arthur planted his feet firmly, ready to leap and try to slow the descent, but without warning, a massive shadow fell across his path.
CLANG!!
The head of a giant axe slammed into the stone directly before him with such force that cracks spiderwebbed outward.
Vanki stood there, resting his weapon casually over his broad shoulder, a fierce and mocking grin on his face.
"Arthur…" he called, his tone booming. "Care to finish what you started?"
Arthur's only answer was to clench his fists tighter and brace himself for battle.
At the same time, Laura leaped toward the sky. Her body shifted, and her hands transformed into long, silvery claws sharp as razors. She shot upward, eyes blazing with fury, and screamed toward the figure above.
"TSUKUMO!!"
In an instant, another figure appeared directly in her path, moving faster than the eye could follow.
It was Katarina.
Without a word, she lifted one leg and delivered a kick that carried the force of a cannon blast.
BOOOOM!!
Laura was hurled backward like a stone, crashing through two wooden houses before slamming into the mountainside and coming to rest in a cloud of splinters and dust.
Katarina landed lightly on her feet, her single visible eye remaining cold, empty, and unwavering. Gradually, she drew her sword, the steel singing a sharp, deadly note as it left its sheath.
"Your fight is with me," she said, calm yet final. "And only me."
High above, the Forge continued to drop. Every second brought the mountain of iron closer, and the wind rushing around it roared with deafening power.
Far from Orin, deep within a range of silent, barren mountains, Suki remained completely still.
He sat cross-legged atop a large, flat boulder, eyes closed in deep meditation. Bright green marks flowed across his entire body, pulsing in a steady rhythm as if matching the heartbeat of the land itself—the sign of the Earth Transformation, linking his soul directly to the core of Ruitan.
All was quiet and peaceful.
Until the earth screamed.
A shockwave traveled through the bedrock from the direction of Orin, spreading like a pain through the body of the planet. The mountains around him trembled violently, sending loose stones tumbling down the slopes. Birds took flight in panic, screeching as they fled. The wind reversed direction abruptly, howling through the valleys as if confused.
Suki's eyes snapped open.
The green marks flared with blinding intensity.
Tsukumo.
The earth beneath him sank, forming a crater under the pressure of surging energy.
Without a single thought or moment of hesitation, Suki launched himself upward.
He turned into a brilliant, blinding streak of green light, cutting through the atmosphere faster than sound, faster than the wind itself. Behind him stretched a long, spiraling trail of energy, carving a glowing road across the sky.
From every corner of the planet, every living being felt something break the sound barrier.
Back in the valley of Orin, time seemed to slow.
The wind generated by the falling Forge roared like a wild beast, sweeping dust and loose stones against the slopes.
Down below, chaos reigned.
Arthur shifted his weight, lifted his leg, and delivered a sharp, precise kick to the shaft of the axe. The impact rang like a hammer striking iron, tearing the weapon free and sending it flying. It crashed into two empty cabins, reducing them to splinters instantly.
Before a heartbeat could pass, Arthur launched himself upward in a leap that cracked the rock beneath him. His fist, wrapped in a vibrant green aura, shot forward like a bolt of lightning and struck Vanki squarely in the face.
BOOM!!
The force unleashed a shockwave that swept the entire area—stones, dust, and splinters of wood were thrown in every direction, rising into a thick cloud that obscured sight for a moment.
Vanki was driven backward, his feet dragging deep furrows into the stone until he planted his heels and steadied himself.
While the two exchanged blows that shook the mountain, Laura had already pulled herself back up. Her lip was bleeding, and her left shoulder throbbed as if crushed by a boulder, but she felt nothing beyond the urgency to stop the approaching disaster.
Ignoring the pain, she bent her knees and shot upward again, claws extended and glowing with dark, cutting energy.
She knew she could not hold the Forge alone, but she could at least deflect it, break its heaviest parts, or create currents of air to slow its fall. Anything was better than doing nothing.
Yet all at once, a grip like iron talons clamped around her ankles, squeezing hard enough to threaten her bones.
Katarina's fingers closed with deadly precision, and a slow, sadistic smile spread across her lips—empty of joy, filled only with satisfaction at seeing her opponent's efforts wasted.
"No, no…" she whispered, her tone low and cold, dripping with disdain that made the air around them grow colder.
With a sharp, violent twist of her arm, she pulled and spun, hurling Laura back toward the terrain with far greater force than before.
The movement cut through the air like a whip. Laura plummeted downward, the wind screaming in her ears and pressing against her chest so hard it felt impossible to breathe. The impact carved deep trenches into the soil, raising a curtain of dust and debris that rose meters into the sky.
She rolled several times, stopping only when her body collided with a large boulder. Her claws returned to normal, her arms trembling as she pushed herself up, and a thin line of blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.
High above, Katarina remained motionless, wiping her fingertips lazily as if she had brushed away nothing more than a bothersome insect.
"I told you—your fight is with me," she repeated, and her blade glowed with a cold, threatening light.
Down below, the heat radiating from the ancient structures could already be felt against the skin, and the wind pushed downward with enough force to threaten tearing the huts from their foundations.
That was when the ground beneath Orin began to stir.
First, thin cracks spread across the entire slope, widening into giant spiderwebs. The earth shook with far greater intensity than before, and massive boulders began to rise from the surface, moved by a force rising from deep within the planet.
Suddenly, hands erupted from the soil.
Giant hands formed entirely of compacted earth, solid rock, and intertwined roots—tall as stone pillars, crisscrossed with glowing green veins of energy that pulsed like living hearts. One, ten, a hundred, then thousands rose from every direction, stretching rapidly toward the sky until they reached the plummeting structure.
CRACK!!
The first hands closed around steel beams, pillars, and towers, gripping them with overwhelming strength. The impact swayed the upper sections, and three of the oldest, rusted towers buckled and fell away, crashing harmlessly into deep, uninhabited valleys far from the village.
"What…?" Tsukumo frowned, surprised for the first time.
More hands continued to emerge, not just from the earth but also solidifying in mid-air to support slipping sections. Some formed directly beneath the heaviest parts, pushing upward, while others wrapped around chains and bridges, locking every movement.
The sound was deafening—steel groaning, rock compacting, energy exploding outward. Then, abruptly, the entire structure halted its descent, compressing the air around it before releasing a violent gust.
For a heartbeat, there was silence.
The Forge, millions of tons of iron and steel, hung motionless just two hundred meters above the earth, held steady by thousands of giant hands that seemed part of the mountain and the planet itself.
And floating in the center of that web of hands and energy was Suki.
His feet did not touch the surface; his entire body was wrapped in a cloak of green light, lines of power running across his skin like burning veins. His eyes were wide open, shining with a light drawn from the very heart of the land. He extended one arm, palm facing upward.
"So this is your answer?" I shouted, my voice resonating through the rocks, echoing between the groaning beams, and making the air vibrate with power. "If you needed a reason for me to kill you… you have just given it to me."
The hands of earth tightened further, locking every joint and beam.
"You will pay for everything you have done, Tsukumo," I said, firm, cold, and absolute, leaving no room for doubt.
"Then try."
He opened his arms slightly, and a wave of dark, dense energy erupted from his body. It was an aura ancient and heavy as lead, carrying centuries of power, cruelty, and domination. It spread outward like a toxic cloud, compressing the space around it and making the air itself grow thick and hard to breathe.
I tightened my own fists and released my full power. A column of brilliant light rose around me, surging upward and expanding until it collided directly with Tsukumo's oppressive force.
BOOM!!
The impact of the two powers sent a shockwave sweeping across the entire valley.
Down below, Arthur and Vanki paused their clash for a moment, both feeling the crushing weight pressing down upon them. Arthur's muscles strained, and he dug his heels deep into the rock just to stay standing. Vanki's face hardened, clearly surprised by the intensity of the forces clashing above.
Further off, Laura and Katarina also froze mid-strike. Laura felt the air pressing against her chest as if mountains were being stacked upon her, yet at the same time, the green light filled her with a strength that made her lift her head again. Katarina narrowed her single eye, sensing the balance of the day had shifted irreversibly.
High above, our auras continued to collide, swirling and pressing against one another, splitting the sky into two halves—one dark and suffocating, the other bright and unyielding.