The shadow stepped closer.
Every footstep made the ground sink.
Grass withered into dust.
Trees bent away like they were begging for mercy.
The orb flickered violently.
CRACK—
CRACK—
CRACK—
Lines of white light spiderwebbed across the protective barrier.
Cyrus lifted his axe.
Benjamin backed up slowly.
Destiny grabbed the doorway.
Keuirseu whispered:
"…that's not a demon."
Blood Reaper stepped forward, jaw tight.
The creature's massive ash-like eyes blinked once.
The orb dented inward like something was pushing on it.
The silver spider scrambled up Kenna's leg and hid behind her hair, trembling.
Kenna whispered, "Reaper—what IS that—?"
And then—
Dyren stepped out from behind the group.
He swallowed hard.
More fear than anyone had ever seen in him.
His voice dropped to a shaking whisper.
"…that's an Ashen."
Blood Reaper turned to him sharply.
"A what?"
Dyren's jaw locked.
He didn't want to answer.
But he had to.
"They're older than demons. Older than angels. Older than Eylon."
The creature pressed its hand against the orb—
and the barrier melted under its palm like ice under fire.
Dyren continued, voice dropping even lower:
"They're from before Creation.
When there was only ash and void."
The orb screamed.
Everyone covered their ears.
Blood Reaper stood still, unfazed.
Dyren pointed with a shaking hand.
"That one—
that's Ash-Morrow."
Everyone stared.
"Who is Ash-Morrow?" Benjamin asked.
Dyren looked genuinely terrified.
"Not who."
He whispered.
"What."
The shadow leaned in, its giant hollow eyes staring directly at Blood Reaper.
The orb cracked wider.
Dyren hissed:
"Ash-Morrow is an Extinction Titan."
Blood Reaper froze.
Even she had never heard that term.
Dyren continued:
"They awaken only when a world is doomed.
When a God fails.
When the balance collapses."
The Titan pressed again.
CRRRRRKKKK—!!!
The orb bowed inward like a bubble being crushed.
Dyren grabbed Blood Reaper's wrist.
"Reaper—listen—EXTINCTION TITANS don't come to kill."
He swallowed.
"They come to claim."
Blood Reaper's eyes narrowed.
"Claim what?"
Dyren stared at her.
"You."
The Titan lifted its hand and the sky darkened.
Its voice entered every mind at once—
A whisper that sounded like all dead souls speaking together:
"THE DEMONIC ANGEL BELONGS
TO VOID."
Blood Reaper's aura exploded.
Black flames shot into the sky.
"Come claim me then," she said.
The Titan pressed its hands against the orb—
CRAAAAAACK—!!!
The barrier shattered like broken glass.
Everyone screamed—
and Blood Reaper stepped forward alone.
Her eyes turning completely black.
Ash-Morrow pressed its massive ash-formed hand through the fractured orb.
The sky dimmed.
Clouds shredded.
The moon flickered.
Blood Reaper stepped forward, her flames rising higher than the treetops.
Dyren grabbed her arm desperately.
"Reaper—STOP. You can't take that thing alone—!"
She pulled her arm free without even looking at him.
Constant suddenly appeared at her side, wings wide, shoulders squared, jaw tense.
"I'm here," he said quietly.
Blood Reaper didn't turn.
But her flame flickered softer for half a second.
Cyrus muttered, "Thank God—this is bad."
Benjamin nodded. "Yeah, we're so dead."
Keuirseu whispered, "I regret everything I've ever done."
The silver baby spider crawled onto the ground in front of Blood Reaper.
It hissed, then—
Its body shifted.
The silver dimmed.
Then went black.
Pitch-black.
Absorbing every bit of light around it.
The entire world flickered—
and light itself vanished.
The sky turned black.
The sun vanished behind an impossible shadow.
The world became pure darkness.
Destiny screamed, "THE SUN—WHERE'S THE SUN?!"
Cyrus yelled, "REAPER WHAT IS HAPPENING—?!"
Dyren stared in horror.
"That spider—that's not a normal broodling—"
Constant stepped closer to Blood Reaper, ready to fight the universe if he had to.
Then—
Blood Reaper walked out of the orb.
Straight toward Ash-Morrow.
They stood inches apart—
Her face glowing with a cosmic gold-white light that no one else could understand.
Ash-Morrow leaned in.
Smoke hissed around them.
The world trembled.
Blood Reaper's lips moved—
but no sound came out.
Not a whisper.
Not a breath.
Nothing.
Yet the Titan heard her.
Understood her.
The giant ash eyes widened—
Then began to shrink.
And shrink.
And shrink.
Until the Titan was human-sized—
Then smaller—
Then it dissolved into dust and drifted into the wind.
Gone.
The sun flickered back on.
The spider turned silver again.
Everyone stared in absolute shock.
Dyren stumbled forward, eyes blown wide.
"What did you DO?" he demanded.
"Where is it going?!"
Blood Reaper didn't answer.
Her eyes slowly returned to normal.
Constant stepped beside her silently, ignoring Dyren completely.
Cyrus didn't.
He crossed his arms and glared.
"Why are YOU even here?" he snapped at Dyren.
Dyren brushed imaginary dust off his shoulder, smirk returning.
"I stand where she stands," he said proudly.
He winked at Blood Reaper.
"Unlike Constant here, I plan on winning the whole cake."
Blood Reaper slowly tilted her head.
Her eyes narrowed to glowing slits.
"…Cake?" she asked.
Keuirseu popped his head out from behind a bush.
"WAIT—do we have some?!"
Dyren groaned.
Constant rubbed his temples.
Benjamin muttered, "Oh my god…"
Cyrus shouted, "NO WE DON'T HAVE CAKE—FOCUS!"
Blood Reaper blinked once.
"…I would like cake."
The entire group groaned in ten different languages.