"When monsters learn to move like shadows, heroes must move like gods."
Unified Advance
Before the next surge could land, Joaquin's voice pierced through the comms—sharp, commanding, and urgent:
"Sandata Unit, authorization code Sigma-Blue-Prime. You are cleared for 100% Sandata Synchrony. Complete the mission before sundown—if night falls, the Pretas will overrun the entire capital."
Gregorio's jaw tightened.
"Copy. Synchrony engaged."
Renato's Kalasag pulsed with energy.
Agosto's Kampilan ignited with intensity.
Prasert's blade radiated a brilliant glow.
"Move!" Gregorio commanded.
And they obeyed.
The Preta swarm shifted the moment Gregorio stepped forward. Shadows leaned toward him—stretching and tilting, drawn by the awakened hum of Kamay ni Bathala. Echoes that had previously tracked the Guardians abruptly redirected their focus to him, as if gravity itself had altered its allegiance.
Renato perceived it immediately.
"They're responding to you, Goyo. Kamay is drawing them in!"
"Then we use it," Gregorio replied.
He adjusted his stance—
KISAP MATA.
Feet light. Breath steady. Muscles coiled.
A violent calm settled into his frame.
His first strike blurred—
then doubled—
then tripled.
Echo Projection
Radiant afterimages erupted from his movements, each replicating the same lethal motions an instant behind him.
Every punch became three.
Every kick became a flurry.
Every dash left a trail of violet destruction.
The Pretas shrieked as Gregorio's projections tore through their ranks in a synchronized, lightning-fast rhythm.
"Go!" Gregorio commanded. "I'll draw their focus!"
The others sprang into action.
Agosto - The Cutting Rhythm
Agosto flash-stepped behind a pack of Pretas -
Kampilan ni Lam-Ang erupting in crimson angles.
"Rhythmic Counter Pattern!"
A Preta lunged at him.
Agosto parried its strike with impeccable timing, redirecting its momentum into a reverse slash that sent its head spinning into mist.
Two more Pretas pounced from the shadows.
"Flash-Step Synchronization!"
He vanished—
reappeared behind them—
and the Kampilan carved two parallel lines of burning red.
Both Pretas collapsed, cleaved in half as if reality had forgotten to keep them whole.
Renato called out, "Agosto-front left!"
Agosto planted his feet firmly.
"Flame Spiral!"
A whirling inferno erupted around him, severing an entire cluster of Pretas as the vortex carved burning helixes through the air.
Renato - The Shield That Remembers
The Pretas swarmed the flanks, utilizing collapsing shadows to encircle the Guardians.
Renato slammed a knee into the ground.
"Anchor Pulse!"
Blue glyphs erupted outward, stabilizing the fractured pavement and disrupting the Pretas' shadow leaps. The ground steadied beneath the Guardians' boots.
Prasert shouted across the battlefield, "Renato—your left!"
Renato braced the Kalasag.
"Prismatic Bulwark!"
A sweeping plane of refracted force burst outward, scattering Pretas and dissolving their momentum like waves breaking against stone.
Two Pretas slipped behind him -
but the Kalasag pulsed with memory.
It recalled the angle of their prior attack.
"Kinetic Refraction!"
Renato redirected both impacts into a single upward blast, sending the Pretas crashing into a flickering neon sign that detonated in a shower of sparks.
Prasert - Gold Against The Dark
The Pretas converged on a cluster of wounded Guardians.
Prasert leapt, his blade blazing gold.
"Sovereign Crescents!"
Three waves of golden light sliced across the street, carving glowing arcs that incinerated Pretas mid-lunge.
Sovereign Radiance flared—burning away corruption wherever the arcs touched.
One Preta darted behind him, utilizing a long shadow cast by a ruined pillar.
Prasert spun.
"Golden Dome—Chaiya Ward!"
A radiant dome erupted from his relic, deflecting the ambush and blasting the Preta backward in a shower of shocklight.
Renato synced with him.
"Prasert-boost!"
Prasert planted his heel firmly.
"Victory Pulse!"
A concentrated burst of solar resonance propelled him forward like a golden spear - straight into a converging pack of Pretas attempting to flank Gregorio.
The Pretas dissolved before they hit the ground.
Gregorio — Center Of The Swarm
Shadow gravity intensified.
Every Preta, every Echo, every creeping nightmare bent toward him.
Gregorio exhaled once.
Then vanished -
and reappeared -
and vanished again.
KISAP MATA at full synchrony.
He moved like lightning embodied -
Violet fists struck like meteors.
Echo Projections synchronized behind him in destructive harmony.
Each strike created a second, then a third—
a ripple of mirrored violence tearing through the dark tide.
A dozen Pretas lunged simultaneously.
Gregorio punched the ground.
The street cratered -
a violet shockwave imploding outward.
All twelve Pretas evaporated in its wake.
Agosto blinked to Gregorio's flank, his fiery sword cutting down incoming stalkers.
Prasert unleashed golden crescents overhead.
Renato blinked in front of Gregorio, raised the "Wall of Giants" and moved towards the breach. Pretas crashing like ocean waves. Upon reaching momentum, the Kalasag answered with "Kinetic Refraction" and blasted the hoard, scattering them like bowling pins.
The Royal Guardians observed - breathless
as the Sandata Unit formed a moving wedge of annihilation.
One Guardian whispered,
"They're… cutting a path to the breach."
Another shouted,
"FOLLOW THEM! HOLD THE LIGHT!"
The Corps surged behind them, morale igniting like wildfire.
The Push Begins
The battlefield transformed.
Gregorio's violet lightning path.
Agosto's burning cuts.
Prasert's golden arcs.
Renato's impenetrable walls.
Each member moved as a cohesive unit—
a relentless advance toward the spiraling breach.
Echoes crumbled.
Pretas warped and perished.
Shadows split apart under their synchronized force.
Gregorio pointed forward, his voice slicing through the chaos:
"WE REACH THAT BREACH - NOW!"
And together,
through fire,
through darkness,
through a city being consumed,
the Sandata Unit advanced.
The breach pulsed -
as if sensing, at last,
the arrival of something capable of ending it.
Fall Of The Breach
Gregorio stood at the final barricade, the spiraling breach roaring above him like a wounded star.
The Pretas sensed him.
Every shadow bent toward his presence.
Every Echo halted mid-crawl.
Every creature twisted its head toward the single heartbeat that outweighed the swarm.
They charged - like a hoard needing to protect their queen.
Gregorio's myth-tech nano suit screamed with alarms. He ignored it and then he whispered...
"Divinity Mode - Ready"
Renato braced his Kalasag.
"Goyo - your vitals are spiking!"
Agosto grit his teeth.
"He's… he's about to—"
Prasert whispered what they all knew.
"Divinity Mode."
The Ascent
Kamay ni Bathala pulsed once.
The ground shook.
Baybayin runes ignited across Gregorio's skin in a violent cascade—
stone cracking beneath him,
air warping,
gravity forgetting itself.
Gregorio rose slowly from the ground -
levitating,
radiating,
eyes burning with divine resonance.
And at that exact moment -
THE WORLD SAW HIM.
A helicopter camera zoomed in from above the smoke.
The ATN International feed blinked red as it went live.
"This is Rico Velasquez, ATN International—
My God… people of the world, you're seeing this in real time!"
The camera struggled to stabilize.
Violet light flooded the frame.
"He's… he's floating! A man - no, a soldier levitating above Bangkok!
This relic signature -
I've seen traces of it in Bataan… Davao… Bulakan…
- but never like this.
Never at THIS scale!"
Millions watched worldwide.
In Biringan,
The Babaylan leader - Hermano Lopez leaned forward, eyes wide, breath trembling.
"The Kamay ni Bathala exceeds my expectations"
Desire burned behind his calm voice.
"We deserve you more than those government dogs."
Far across Manila inside a shadowed penthouse,
Raja of the Ahas ng mga Lakan stopped mid-sentence.
The violet light reflected off his lenses.
"A broadcast."
A smile crept up—cold, calculating.
"So that's how we unmake him."
"Let the world witness the god…
so they can watch the fall."
"And when you see what the world truly is, you will fight for our empire."
Back In Bangkok,Gregorio's glow intensified.
Renato raised his arm to shield his eyes.
"Kamay is fully awake!"
Gregorio opened his palm.
"Stay Still"
His voice - deafening.
The Pretas froze mid-lunge,mid-slash,mid-scream - suspended in the air as time bowed under divine pressure.
Gregorio's voice deepened,
echoing with resonance not entirely human.
"Shatter."
The decree rippled through the battlefield.
Pretas cracked like glass.
Echoes shattered into violet dust.
Entire clusters disintegrated without a sound.
Rico Velasquez choked on air.
"Ladies and gentlemen…
the swarm… it's DISAPPEARING—
he's ERA—
he's erasing them!"
His cameraman whispered,
"Diyos ko...magugunaw na ba ang mundo?"
The Breach Trembles
Gregorio raised his gaze to the rupture.
Kamay flared violently, violet corona cutting through the smoke.
The breach pulsed erratic, unstable,
as if recoiling from his presence.
Gregorio extended his arm.
Riftlight bent.
Reality warped.
He closed his fist.
"Fall", Gregorio commanded.
The breach fractured -
spiderweb cracks fanning across the sky.
Reality shattered into luminous shards,
falling like broken glass before evaporating midair.
The rupture collapsed inward and the spirit breach shattered.
Silence swept the entire city.
Even the ATN feed went wordless.
This is the first time the world has seen a Spirit Breach was ended not with seal - but with erasure.
At this point, the second largest spirit breach was erased from reality and the world is not sure if this is an event to celebrate about.
Divine Cooldown
The cooldown phase kicked in.
The divine glow dimmed.
Gregorio's breath faltered.
His knees weakened.
Renato sprinted forward and caught him.
"I've got you," Renato said, lowering him gently.
"Easy. Breathe."
Gregorio's vision swam.
The world no longer weightless and
the air was heavy once more.
Agosto and Prasert tightened formation around them,
weapons raised.
Divinity faded.
For the first time since the breach opened, Bangkok was quiet.
The Last Charge
The silence after the breach's fall lasted only a breath.
Then the shadows screamed.
From the wreckage of collapsed buildings and the broken pools of dying darkness, the remnants of the Preta Variant swarm convulsed -
jerking, twisting, reforming with savage desperation.
They had no queen.
No breach.
No source.
But they felt what Gregorio had done.
And something like vengeance drove them mad.
Prasert was the first to see the shift.
"Goyo, down!"
Renato dragged Gregorio fully behind his Kalasag as forty, fifty—maybe more—Pretas broke into a full sprint from every dark corner of the ruins. Their claws scraped concrete, teeth gnashing with unprocessed rage. Losing their anchor had left them feral, rabid, unbound.
Agosto stepped forward, blade raised.
"We hold them here."
The Pretas screeched back—
as if answering the challenge.
But the Sandata Unit was not the only force on the field.
Behind them stood the battered Royal Guardian Corps—stumbling, bleeding, barely standing after the battle. Fear rolled off their ranks like heat from shattered pavement. They had seen **too much**:
• Gregorio levitating in violet radiance
• Pretas crushed by divine pressure
• A Spirit Breach erased from existence
It was the kind of power that rewrote the line between mortal and god.
A line every soldier had been taught never to trust.
Some stepped back.
Hands trembled on rifles.
One dropped his shield entirely.
*What if he loses control?*
*What if that power turns on us?*
*What if… the world changes tonight?*
Doubt spread like smoke.
But one soldier moved before doubt could consume them.
The same Guardian Gregorio had saved on the collapsing bridge -
arm bandaged, armor cracked, but standing.
He planted his feet.
Raised his spear.
And shouted through raw fear:
"PROTECT AGUILAR!"
The battlefield froze for half a heartbeat.
Then another Guardian joined him.
Then a third.
Then ten.
Then the entire Corps.
Their voices shook but they still roared:
"FOR BANGKOK!"
"FOR THE KINGDOM!"
"FOR THE SANDATA UNIT!"
The Pretas lunged.
And the world moved.
The Royal Guardian Corps charged first, slamming into the Preta swarm in a wall of clangs, grit, and furious will. Shields locked. Spears thrust. Glyph-rifles emptied round after round of radiant-tipped ammunition.
The Pretas fought like rabid shadows—but the Corps held the line.
Agosto teleported into the fray, Kampilan tearing burning angles through the attackers.
Renato slammed his Kalasag into the ground.
Anchor Pulse flaring outward, Illuminating the streets, forcing Pretas to escape from their own shadows only to be ambushed with Kinetic Refraction upon their launch. Their bodies punched holes through building walls.
Prasert carved golden paths through the chaos.
Sovereign Crescents slicing clean light into the densest pockets of darkness.
One Preta broke through leaping directly toward Gregorio's weakened form.
The soldier from the bridge intercepted it.
It tore into his shoulder but he did not fall.
He held it steady long enough for Renato to blast it away in a kinetic arc.
Gregorio, barely conscious, rasped:
"Thank you…"
The soldier grinned despite the blood in his teeth.
"Just returning the favor, sir."
The Sandata Unit and the Royal Guardian Corps fought side by side -
one final gauntlet, a storm of steel, relic-light, and raw human defiance.
And when the last Preta screamed -
when its shadow-body disintegrated into harmless dust -
Bangkok finally breathed.
The battlefield quieted.
Only fires crackled.
Only wind moved.
Prasert lowered his blade.
Agosto wiped blood and ash off his cheek.
Renato knelt beside Gregorio, keeping him steady.
The Royal Guardians slowly formed a protective ring around them.
Almost reverent.
Almost afraid.
But standing with them nonetheless.
And then—
the sky rumbled.
Not thunder.
Engines.
Massive ones.
Arrival of the Anino Fleet
Every soldier looked up.
Three colossal silhouettes descended through the smoke-filled clouds -
airships built for war and dominance, their hulls lined with crimson glyph-light.
**OBSIDIAN WING**
Black armored plating. Serrated prow. Anino insignia glowing like a slit pupil.
**CROWNBREAKER**
Massive cannons spooled with red spirals—the type designed to breach fortresses.
**SILENCER**
Silent propulsion systems. No windows. No broadcast lights. Its presence alone was a threat.
The Royal Guardian Corps instinctively tightened formation around the Sandata Unit.
Agosto muttered,
"Great. As if today wasn't hard enough."
Prasert raised his blade.
"They're not here to help."
Renato braced his Kalasag, runes lighting one by one. "Now they arrived... perfect."
Gregorio, barely standing, forced his eyes open to the descending shadows.
And the chapter ended with Bangkok staring into a new threat.
The Anino ng mga Anito had arrived.