Chapter 1 – The Night It Fell
They say the stars are watching us.
But if that were true, then on that night… they must have been crying too.
---
The city was quiet. A weekday night, where even the streetlamps seemed half-asleep. Somewhere above, a crescent moon hung low, carving silver shadows across empty rooftops.
On one of those rooftops sat three boys. Tojo Akatsuki, with his untamed black hair and a look that screamed "permanently tired." Next to him, Ozaru Kuruzama — broad-shouldered, knuckles always taped from boxing practice, posture straight like a fighter who never left the ring. The third, Kentarou, was the loudest of the bunch, chewing on a stick of candy as if it were his lifeline.
It was routine for them. After school, after dinner, after the city had finally shut up — this rooftop was theirs.
"You ever think the stars are staring at us?" Kentarou mumbled suddenly, tilting his head toward the sky.
Tojo snorted. "If they are, they must be bored out of their minds."
Ozaru smirked, taking a sip of canned soda. "You? Boring? Don't flatter yourself. You've been late to class four days straight."
"Yeah, yeah. Not my fault the alarm clock is my natural enemy," Tojo shot back, tugging at his messy hair.
Kentarou laughed, nearly choking on his candy. "Bro, if laziness was a sport, you'd be national champ."
"Shut it," Tojo muttered, but his lips twitched. This was how it always went. Pointless chatter, insults thrown around like confetti, nothing that really mattered. And yet, this was what kept him sane.
For a while, silence settled again. The city glowed faintly in the distance, and the three boys sat shoulder to shoulder, staring at the vast black canvas above.
Tojo felt something then — a faint unease, prickling at the back of his neck. The stars were too bright tonight. Sharper, almost… aware.
"…Yo," he muttered, his voice low. "Don't you think the sky looks weird tonight?"
Kentarou blinked. "Weird? Looks normal to me."
But Ozaru's eyes narrowed. He was staring hard at the heavens. "No. He's right. Something's off."
And then it happened.
The sky split.
A streak of light — no, fire — tore across the heavens, blazing brighter than the moon. It wasn't gentle like a shooting star; it was violent, raw, screaming through the night like the sky itself had been wounded.
The rooftop shook beneath their feet.
"What the hell—!?" Kentarou yelped, nearly falling over.
Tojo's eyes widened, heart hammering. "That's… that's not a meteor, is it?"
Ozaru didn't answer. His fists clenched tight. He didn't need to.
The burning mass cut through the clouds, descending fast — too fast — until it crashed somewhere beyond the city's edge. The sound followed a heartbeat later: a deafening boom that rattled windows and set off car alarms miles away.
The boys exchanged stunned looks.
"We're checking it out," Ozaru said flatly, already moving.
Kentarou gaped. "Have you lost your mind!? That thing just fell from space!"
But Tojo was already on his feet too, legs trembling with both fear and adrenaline. "…If we don't look, we'll regret it forever."
Kentarou groaned. "You guys are insane."
But he followed anyway.
---
The crater was still smoking when they arrived. The earth was torn open, soil scattered like shrapnel, the air heavy with heat and static.
Tojo swallowed hard, his throat dry. "This… this is crazy."
"Stay sharp," Ozaru warned.
That's when they heard it.
A low, wet sound. Like something breathing. Something wrong.
From the heart of the crater, the ground shifted. A shadow rose — hulking, jagged, with skin like stone and eyes burning red. Its body pulsed with a grotesque aura, as if it wasn't flesh at all but living smoke wrapped around a core of hate.
Tojo froze, terror pinning him to the spot.
"…What… is that thing?"
The creature lifted its head, and for the first time, the boys felt it.
The pressure.
The suffocating weight of something not of this world.
The Voidspawn.
Kentarou stumbled back, his voice breaking. "W-We need to run!"
But the monster roared, shaking the ground, and the boys' bodies refused to obey.
Then—
A sound.
A hum.
Buzzing, sharp, like a heartbeat amplified a thousandfold.
Two fragments of light rose from the crater's dust. One crimson, one sapphire. Stones. Burning, alive.
They hovered before Tojo and Ozaru — pulsing, watching.
"Yo…" Tojo whispered, eyes wide. "I don't like this."
Ozaru clenched his fists. "Why… why the hell do I feel like it's looking inside us?"
The Stones flared brighter.
And then—
FWOOOSH.
The crimson flame shot into Tojo's chest. The sapphire into Ozaru's.
The world exploded inside them.
Tojo gasped, collapsing to his knees. His veins burned, his skin felt like it was splitting apart, and a voice — a wordless scream — echoed in his skull. Destruction. Endless, pure destruction.
Ozaru clawed at his own chest, choking, his vision spinning. Creation. Endless possibility, infinite weight pressing down, too vast for his mind to grasp.
The Voidspawn roared again. This time, it moved.
"Tojo!" Ozaru shouted.
But Tojo's body acted on its own. His hand stretched forward, black light exploding from his palm.
The creature's head — its entire upper body — was obliterated in an instant. Flesh and smoke scattered into the night.
The silence that followed was deafening.
Tojo stared at his own trembling hand, breath ragged, eyes wide with horror. "W-What… what did I just—"
But before he could finish, the monster's body twitched. The smoke pulled back together. Its skull reformed, jagged, grinning with hollow eyes.
The Voidspawn lived.
Ozaru's face went pale. "It… regenerated!?"
The monster leaned forward, aura surging, and Tojo felt his legs give out. His chest screamed, his vision blurred. The Stone's power was too much — his body wasn't ready.
The Voidspawn lunged.
"Move—! I have to move—!" Tojo's voice cracked, but his body wouldn't obey. Panic flooded his veins. He was going to die.
The last thing he saw was a shadow descending from the sky. A blade of pure light carving through the night.
The Voidspawn's roar was silenced mid-lunge, its body split clean.
Tojo collapsed, gasping. His blurred vision caught a figure standing before them. Silver hair, eyes sharp as glass, uniform unfamiliar — glowing faintly with the same aura as their Stones.
A girl.
No, not just a girl. A warrior.
She lowered her blade, expression unreadable, eyes locked on the two boys.
For a heartbeat, none of them spoke.
Then her voice cut the silence, calm but edged with fury.
"…The Stones chose you?"
---
That was the night it fell.
The night the Stones awoke.
The night we learned the stars bite back.
But before it struck, a new light descended.
A slash of crimson carved through the night — sharp, merciless, alive.
The Voidspawn's body split down the middle. Its core shrieked, aura bursting outward as the halves crumbled into ash.
A figure landed between the boys and the beast.
A girl, silver hair glinting in the moonlight, uniform trimmed with markings neither Tojo nor Ozaru recognized. Her expression was cold. Professional.
She lifted her left hand, revealing a faintly glowing scar across her wrist. The mark pulsed once, and her chest lit up with an ominous crimson glow.
Her voice was low, steady.
> "Genesis Galacta… CRIMSON SEVER."
Her blade ignited again, a pure aura construct, and with a single downward swing she bisected the Voidspawn's regenerating core. This time, it did not return. Its scream cut short, its existence wiped clean.
Silence fell.
Tojo stared, breath ragged. "W-What… what just happened…?"
The girl didn't answer him. Instead, she turned — her cold gaze drilling into both boys. Her pupils shimmered faintly, as though scanning their very souls.
"…So it's true," she muttered. "The God Stones have awakened."
Tojo blinked. "God Stones…?"
But before she could elaborate, the ground itself shook. A low hum filled the air, but it wasn't from Earth. It was deeper, vaster.0