The colossal ship began its slow departure—groaning, creaking—as if even it feared the black emptiness behind. Its engines screamed to gain speed, but the black hemisphere closed the distance faster than anyone imagined possible.
Then it touched the port.
And devoured it.
In a heartbeat, thousands were gone. Screams turned to silence, buildings to dust. The black sphere didn't stop—it accelerated, hungry and relentless.
Panic exploded across the deck like wildfire. Shouts, cries, chaos. People surged, trampled, clawed for safety that didn't exist. Not anymore.
Ariel clutched Ilya tighter. She trembled in his arms, on the edge of tears.
He rubbed her head gently. "Why are you afraid? Nothing will happen, Ilya."
Hopefully… he thought bitterly.
But it was closing in.
The hemisphere loomed now like a second sky, devouring the world. Every moment it grew—unstoppable, devouring light, sound, reason.
The chaos peaked. People screamed, begged, cried out to gods who gave no answer.
And then it reached the ship.
It didn't collide. It absorbed. Slowly, like ink bleeding into water, the ship's rear began to vanish—metal, people, air—all swallowed.
Humans broke. They stampeded to the front of the vessel, trampling one another, their fear drowning every shred of reason.
"HELP US!"
"SAVE US!!"
But the gods were silent.
Then, a voice rang out. Absolute. Commanding.
"Everyone! CALM DOWN! Awakened—take positions! If we cannot run, we will stand and FIGHT!"
The black-haired lady's voice cracked like thunder over the chaos. For a moment, the ship stilled.
But it wasn't enough.
Fear overwhelmed hope. The awakened obeyed—but the rest remained lost in hysteria.
Projectiles of Origin energy screamed toward the black hemisphere. Hundreds. Thousands. They struck—
—and vanished. Each attack was swallowed whole, as if they never existed.
Not even ripples.
Ariel's heart sank. "Even that didn't work…"
And then the world went black.
The ship, the sky-forts, every stronghold—swallowed.
They were inside the black hemisphere.
And still alive.
For a moment, confusion reigned. Until the pain started.
Reality itself twisted. Sound warped. Color bled. The laws of the universe bent and shattered around them.
Time.
Space.
Sense.
Order.
All decayed into madness.
"What's happening?!" someone screamed—only their voice came out slow, garbled, like it was melting.
Ariel's senses reeled.
He shouldn't have been able to see—but he could. Through some cursed clarity, he saw them:
People withering.
Pale.
Souls draining like ink drawn from paper.
Dying.
All of them.
All except…
Him.
And Ilya—clutched in his arms—was fading too. Her skin drained of color, her grip weakening, her cries muted by the void.
"Ilya!!" Ariel's voice cracked with pure horror. "I'm here! You'll be okay!"
But he was lying. He couldn't protect her. He was powerless.
And in that despair…
…something awoke.
Something ancient. Primordial.
It was not rage—it was the abyss inside him opening its eye.
His Origin. It had awakened deep within him.
He used the [Empty Vessel].
A pressure erupted from him that made the air scream. The very concept of mass broke beneath him. The black hemisphere shuddered—then cracked.
And then—it shattered.
Ariel stood in the stillness of obliteration, radiating power like a star gone mad.
Instinct took over.
He raised his hand—and tore a rift through space itself. A gate unfurled like the maw of a god, wider than cities.
"ALL OF YOU—GO IN! NOW!!" Ariel's voice shook the continent.
For a moment, none moved.
Then they ran.
He looked to Ilya, unconscious in his arms. He turned to John.
"Take her. Go."
"But what ab—"
"GO!!"
John couldn't speak. The pressure around Ariel made it impossible. He took Ilya—and fled.
Everyone else followed. All but a handful.
The Transcendents. And the two Rank 4, Pristines.
Ariel's eyes flared. "YOU TOO! I SAID GET IN! That's my dimension. You manage the people—I'll handle this!"
They hesitated. But in that voice was authority that brooked no refusal.
They obeyed.
And Ariel was alone.
The space trembled.
A darkness deeper than death unfurled from him, saturating the air.
"You DARE touch my sister? You DARE—?!"
The ship behind him was gone. The gate was closed.
Ariel stood in silence, wrath incarnate.
…
Elsewhere…
In the heart of a fortified city, a horror crawled.
The cosmic beast—born from the Rank 4 Gate, now evolved to Rank 5—feasted on souls. Its black hemisphere stretched from its body, sucking life, reality, sense.
But then…
The hemisphere shattered.
The beast froze. Its supply of soul-power severed.
But that wasn't what made it pause.
A voice.
A pressure.
An Authority.
Its body recoiled.
Then—
He appeared.
A silhouette cloaked in black fire. Eyes of void. A presence that crushed the sky.
Ariel.