Earth's sky no longer looked like a sky.
Above the Pacific Ocean, the horizon had split open from west to east. The cosmic rift blazed with dark violet light, resembling a colossal wound being forcibly torn open in the body of the world.
Stars went dark one by one.
Not hidden by clouds.
Not overwhelmed by brighter light.
But... swallowed by shadow.
In cities across the world, people stepped outside and stared upward, holding their breath. Sirens wailed. Aircraft lost their bearings. Satellites fell from orbit like showers of fire.
The planet knew.
Something was coming.
Amid the turbulent Pacific, the research vessel shook violently.
Lights flickered. Alarms screamed from every direction.
Farhan clung to a console that was nearly torn from the floor, his fingers trembling over the keyboard.
"Gravity is changing!"
Lila stared at the chaotic holographic display.
"Atmospheric pressure is rising rapidly! The ocean... the ocean is being lifted!"
She was right.
In the distance, an enormous wall of water slowly rose toward the sky, as if an invisible hand were dragging the entire ocean upward.
Bimo stared at it, his face drained of color.
"...I want our biggest problem to be school exams again."
Despite the tremor in his voice, he remained in front of the panicking crew.
"Grab anything you can hold on to! If we're going down, we're going down in style!"
A few crew members who had been trembling moments earlier let out nervous laughter.
Dika rushed toward the damaged main engine. A massive metal pipe was about to collapse onto an operator.
Without hesitation, he caught the falling debris with both hands.
The muscles in his arms strained.
"Farhan!" he shouted. "Finish what you're doing!"
Sinta stood in the middle of the deck, breathing heavily. Fear filled her eyes, but her voice remained firm.
"Everyone, brace yourselves! Nobody runs off alone! We're getting through this together!"
No one argued.
Because even in the face of terror, they trusted her.
High above—
something moved behind the rift.
At first, there was only a shadow.
Then came the eyes.
Four colossal violet eyes slowly opened in the darkness beyond the cosmos.
Each one was larger than an entire city.
Their gaze fell upon Earth.
And the entire ocean began to tremble.
BOOOOOOOM!
Waves as tall as mountains erupted in every direction.
The Guardians raised their heads in unison.
Gaia Primordia spread her golden wings.
Aethernox released a deep, rumbling growl.
Lava ignited across Ignivar Draco's body.
Even the Void Emperor... took a step backward.
Kai stared at the sky, his face frozen in disbelief.
"...Impossible."
Arga turned toward him.
"You know what that thing is?"
Kai didn't answer for several seconds.
He looked like someone watching an ancient nightmare return to life.
At last, he whispered—
"Cosmic Leviathan."
The name alone seemed to make the air grow colder.
The creature descended a little farther through the rift.
But the more of its body that emerged, the more impossible it became to comprehend.
At one moment, it resembled a winged dragon.
Then it shifted into a mass of luminous tentacles.
Then it became something like a liquid galaxy, swirling endlessly within itself.
Anyone who stared at it for too long began to stagger.
One crew member dropped to his knees and vomited.
Another covered his eyes and began to weep.
Lila pressed a hand against her forehead.
"Its form... it won't stay consistent..."
Kai slowly shook his head.
"No."
"It's the human mind that can't comprehend its true form."
The Void Emperor roared in fury.
RAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
It shot toward the heavens, enveloped in swirling void energy.
The World Eater unleashed a colossal beam of black energy at the Cosmic Leviathan.
WHOOMMMMMMMMM!
The attack, powerful enough to erase an entire continent, struck the gigantic creature in the sky—
and vanished.
It wasn't blocked.
It wasn't deflected.
It simply ceased to exist.
Bimo swallowed hard.
"...It just erased the attack."
The next instant—
a cosmic tentacle plunged from the heavens.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
It slammed into the Void Emperor, crushing the colossal creature against the ocean with such force that the seafloor fractured beneath it.
A shock wave swept across the entire Pacific.
The Guardians were hurled backward.
The research vessel shot into the air before crashing down hard.
CRAAASH!
The main mast snapped.
Flames erupted from the engine room.
Bimo immediately lunged toward the edge of the deck, catching a crew member who was about to be thrown into the sea.
"I've got you! Don't go trying to become a fish!"
Dika braced himself against a steel door that was about to crush two technicians.
Sinta pulled an injured crew member to safety, shouting over the chaos.
"Everyone, move to the center of the ship! Now!"
Farhan remained at the burning console.
His fingers continued flying across the keyboard.
"I'm almost inside the World Core database!"
Lila scanned the ancient symbols appearing on a newly activated display.
Her eyes widened.
"This isn't a weapon..."
Everyone turned toward her.
She swallowed hard.
"The World Core... is unlocking a seal."
Arga froze.
The MBG Lunchbox in his hands began to vibrate violently.
All thirty glowing grains of rice spun like tiny galaxies trapped within the box.
Then—
a voice.
It came from somewhere impossibly distant.
Yet Arga felt it deep inside his chest.
Arga...
He closed his eyes.
The voice called to him again.
Come home.
Arga's eyes snapped open.
"Did you hear that?"
Everyone shook their heads.
Only Kai stared at him, his expression darkening.
"So... the time has finally come."
Arga turned toward him.
"What time?"
Kai lowered his head.
The secret he had buried for so long could no longer remain hidden.
"You think the world chose you by chance?"
Arga fell silent.
Kai looked directly into his eyes.
"No, Arga."
"The world didn't choose you."
The wind died.
The sky groaned.
The ocean trembled.
"It recognized you."
Kai took a shaky breath.
"You're part of something sealed within the Earth's core."
Silence descended.
For once, even Bimo had nothing to say.
Farhan stopped typing.
Lila stood motionless.
Sinta stared at Arga, barely able to breathe.
Arga took a step backward.
"What... do you mean?"
Kai's voice nearly broke.
"I've been watching over you all this time because I failed to stop what happened back then."
His eyes filled with regret.
"I allowed you to be born."
Across the world—
the Sahara Desert split apart.
The Amazon glowed green.
Cracks of blue light spread across the polar ice.
Mountains trembled.
Oceans boiled.
The seven World Cores ignited simultaneously.
And all their energy converged upon a single point.
The Pacific Ocean.
Toward Arga.
The MBG Lunchbox erupted in golden light.
All thirty grains spun faster and faster.
Then one of them began to change.
Its golden glow faded, replaced by a pure white radiance.
It pulsed like a living heart.
The Cosmic Leviathan stopped moving.
Its four enormous eyes fixed upon Arga.
And for the first time—
the creature that resembled a nightmare born from the galaxy spoke.
Its voice shook the atmosphere.
"So..."
"The heir has awakened."
Arga trembled.
"The heir... of whom?"
No one had time to answer.
Because the ocean split apart.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
A colossal vortex opened in the middle of the Pacific, plunging all the way down toward the Earth's core.
Ancient light erupted into the heavens.
Even Gaia Primordia bowed her head.
The Guardians retreated.
The Void Emperor roared in terror.
And from the heart of the planet—
a gigantic hand slowly emerged.
It resembled a human hand.
Kai dropped to his knees.
Tears streamed down his face.
"...He's awake."
Arga stared at the figure rising from the light.
For one fleeting moment, his heart seemed to stop.
Because the face emerging from within the Earth's core—
had eyes identical to his own.