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Low Earth OrbitDark Side Boundary
Alarms blared through the International Space Station.
"Oh my God…"
Astronaut Andrei stared out the window in shock. Between the Earth and the Moon, a purple vortex of energy was forming in the vacuum of space.
With no atmosphere to filter it, that eerie violet light was blinding against the darkness.
"H-Houston, this is ISS, we're seeing—" His voice cut off mid-sentence.
From the center of the vortex… a long, slender, purple arm began to stretch out. Six fingers unfurled slowly in the vacuum.
A Gate of Hell was opening… in space.
Zhulang glided out of the vortex, graceful as ever.
His violet skin was etched with flowing markings, and his crescent-shaped crown glimmered faintly in the solar wind.
As he fully emerged, nearby satellites suddenly jerked off course.
They crashed into each other like marbles flicked by an invisible hand!
"Freedom…" His voice echoed in the vacuum, somehow defying the laws of physics.
His tongue flicked, his fingers twitched, and with a lazy wave, the shattered satellites began plummeting toward Earth.
He turned, staring at the pale surface of the moon. In his glowing purple eyes, ancient runes shimmered.
"What a perfect canvas…"
All four arms stretched outward, palms aimed at the moon.
Thick, purple energy oozed from his hands—flowing like liquid toward the surface along invisible lines of gravity.
The energy wrapped around the entire moon like a living organism.
His whisper echoed hauntingly through space.
"Separate… shadow from substance."
CRACK!
A pitch-black fissure split across the moon's surface.
The entire moon shuddered violently. Rock layers split apart as purple-black energy pulsed underneath like veins.
And then—with a soundless, cosmic tear—
The moon split in two.
One half, now completely corrupted by dark energy, hovered in place, glowing with liquid purple essence.
The other half stayed its pale gray—but dimmed, as if something essential had been drained from it.
The two moons began orbiting each other. Purple and gray light intertwined, casting an eerie double shadow across Earth's night sky.
Earth.
"Oh my god, what the hell is that?!"
Nighttime in New York City—people stared up in terror.
The moon, which had always stood alone in the sky, now had a twin.
One a strange, eerie violet… the other a pale, ghostly gray.
Even worse, the tides were going haywire.
The sea level surged like crazy, then froze in place at random intervals.
Somewhere in an observatory—
"All gravity wave detectors are maxing out!" a researcher screamed, yanking off his headset.
"The Moon's showing anomalies in its tidal locking!"
On the monitors, the blue grid lines representing lunar gravitational fields twisted into swirling vortices.
The distortion was rapidly spreading toward Earth.
In the Pacific, freak mega-tides had already begun.
Back in New York, late at night—
Jade woke up to screams coming from outside her window.
Rubbing her eyes, she pulled the curtains open—only to see the mug on her desk suddenly float up like it had lost its weight.
Chaos had taken over the streets. Cars, trash cans, even water from small fountains were all rising into the sky, completely defying gravity.
And right in the center of this madness was that moon in the sky—its surface being swallowed by a spreading purple-black corruption.
"Dad!" she shouted, bolting downstairs barefoot.
"Come quick! There are two moons!"
Her dad's magic compass spun wildly—then exploded with a loud crack.
"Oh no! This is bad. Really, really bad," he said, face going pale.
"Shendu's split the Moon into Yin and Yang! The purple moon holds demonic energy. The gray one's lost its balance. If this keeps up, Earth's tides, magnetic field—heck, even our axis of rotation could collapse!"
Jade stared out the window, eyes locked on the two creepy moons above.
"So… now even the Moon's got a good and evil version?"
Meanwhile—
China, Tibet, Kunlun Mountains—
The eternally snow-covered mountain peaks began to tremble. A huge black crack split down the ridge—like the Earth had just opened a monstrous vertical eye.
From deep inside the fissure, black mist reeking of sulfur burst forth. Snow melted and rocks crumbled wherever it passed.
Crack!
BOOM!!!
The mountain began collapsing. Amidst the falling rubble, a giant claw covered in shimmering blue scales grabbed the edge of the fissure.
Then came muscular arms, forcefully ripping the gap wider.
A dragon-like head emerged from the abyss, crimson eyes sweeping across the world it hadn't seen in ages.
"HAHAHAHA!"
His laugh unleashed a hurricane. The clouds across the entire mountain range vanished instantly.
"Thousands of years… and I'm finally BACK!"
Egypt, beneath the Great Pyramid of Giza—
The archaeologists' flashlights lit up strange patterns appearing on the tomb's walls.
Twisted humanoid figures arranged in a circular pattern—seeping a foul-smelling black liquid.
"Professor! T-That wasn't on our excavation map…"
Before he could finish, the wall exploded. A massive wave of water surged in, flooding the chamber in seconds.
From the murky depths, a graceful yet horrifying figure began to rise—her snake hair slithering, her fish-scaled body radiating pressure.
"Ugh… air on land still smells disgusting," she muttered.
She licked her sharp teeth, then waved her hand—and the entire pyramid shattered underwater.
Brazil, deep in the Amazon rainforest—
The ground beneath a tribal altar suddenly collapsed, revealing a massive bottomless pit.
Thorny vines shot out, tangled in brambles.
From within, the hulking form of Earth Demon slowly stood up.
Every step he took made sharp rock spires erupt from the ground, shoving giant trees high into the sky.
"Humans…"
He inhaled deeply. The smell of rotting soil made him bare his fangs.
"Your time… is up."
Antarctica, beneath the ice—
Every reading on the research station's instruments maxed out. Alarms screamed as bone-chilling cracking sounds echoed from beneath the ice.
"Evacuate! NOW!"
Seconds later, a massive chunk of the ice shelf collapsed.
Lightning Dragon burst through the frozen sea—his body arcing with blue-white electricity that lit up the sky like a spiderweb.
The auroras twisted into a hideous, laughing demonic face as he cackled madly.
Russia, Tunguska Forbidden Zone—
The scorched ground split open with lava-filled cracks. Bogang's massive, bloated body forced its way out of the Earth's core.
She grabbed a dead tree and shoved it into her mouth, the sound of her chewing like rolling thunder.
"Hungry… so hungry…" she growled, her voice sparking tremors as new cracks spread from beneath her feet.
Pacific Ocean, Mariana Trench—
The deep-sea probe transmitted its final image—
A massive, armored claw crushing the titanium hull.
Simu's maniacal laugh came through the sonar system as a piercing screech. Sparks flew from every speaker before they exploded.
Back in New York—
Jiro had just returned to the real world.
He was standing on a street in Brooklyn, staring up at the sky.
Two moons hung overhead—one violet, one gray. A bizarre glow covered everything.
The city was in chaos. Cars, debris, even pieces of entire buildings floated in the air, defying gravity.
People screamed and ran, unable to even control their own bodies.
In the distance, several terrifying auras were closing in—fast.
"....."