The sun slowly disappeared behind the towering canopy of the ancient forest.
Its amber light spilled across the cracked earth, broken roots, fallen trees, and every scar the battle had left behind.
A thin mist drifted lazily between the colossal trunks.
Only a few hours ago...
This place had been hell.
Now—
the forest was struggling to breathe again.
Birdsong slowly returned.
The breeze carried the scent of damp soil and fresh leaves.
In several places, tiny green shoots had already begun pushing through the charred ground.
As if nature itself refused to die.
But not every wound could heal so quickly.
Near the wreckage of the Dominion vehicles, the team gathered in silence.
Twisted metal lay scattered like the bones of giant beasts.
The generator that had drained the Forest Core was now nothing more than scorched, fractured steel.
Farhan sat atop a large boulder with his laptop resting on his knees.
His fingers trembled slightly as he typed.
Lila stood beside him, holding her tablet.
"We need to make sure there's no synthetic energy left."
Farhan nodded without looking up.
"I know."
His voice sounded flat.
Far too flat.
Lila studied him for a moment.
She knew that wasn't the voice of someone who was truly alright.
Not far away, Bimo lay on the grass with one arm covering his eyes.
"If those graphs say everything's safe..."
"...I'm sleeping for three days."
Dika sat beside him with a faint chuckle.
"You usually say two."
"The war earned me one extra day."
No one really laughed.
Because everyone could still see the blood running down Bimo's arm.
A long cut left behind by flying metal fragments.
Bimo noticed them staring and quickly sat up.
"Hey, stop looking at me like that."
"I'm still handsome."
Rani walked over carrying fresh bandages.
"Exactly."
"That's why we need to cover the wound, so your face stays the center of attention."
A few tired smiles finally appeared.
A fragile joke.
But enough...
To keep the silence from crushing them.
Sinta stood facing deeper into the forest—
toward the place where Ursa Vitalis had disappeared.
Her fists had remained clenched ever since.
Kai quietly stepped beside her.
"The Forest Guardian has returned."
Sinta didn't answer immediately.
Her eyes remained fixed on the endless trees.
"And we almost lost Arga."
Kai turned toward her.
Sinta lowered her head.
Her voice was softer than anyone had ever heard.
"I kept giving orders as if everything were simple."
"As if everyone would always get back up after falling."
She took a slow breath.
"But if he'd been one second later..."
She couldn't finish the sentence.
Kai watched her quietly.
"You still brought us home alive."
A faint smile crossed Sinta's face.
"Sometimes..."
"...that isn't enough."
Arga sat alone beside the massive roots of an ancient tree.
The MBG Lunchbox rested quietly on his lap.
He slowly opened it.
Sixteen glowing rice grains floated gently inside.
Yet their light brought him no comfort.
His chest still felt heavy.
His left hand still trembled.
He closed his eyes.
But instead of victory—
he saw the faces of his teammates being thrown through the air.
Sinta's desperate scream.
Bimo covered in blood.
Ursa Vitalis roaring in agony.
The forest dying around them.
Arga lowered his head.
"We won..."
His voice broke.
"...so why does it feel like we lost?"
A tear landed on the lunchbox lid.
He quickly wiped it away—
but another fell before he could stop it.
Soft footsteps approached.
Pak Rahmat stopped beside him.
Without saying a word, he sat down.
For several moments...
Only the wind spoke.
Then Pak Rahmat finally said,
"A person who can still cry after a battle..."
"...hasn't lost themselves yet."
Arga kept staring at the ground.
"I almost got everyone killed."
"No."
Pak Rahmat looked toward the recovering forest.
"You chose to carry that pain yourself."
He paused.
"That is the price every Guardian must pay."
Arga slowly looked at him.
There was something different in Pak Rahmat's eyes today.
Not just compassion.
Something deeper.
The understanding of someone...
...who had once stood in the exact same place.
Suddenly, Farhan shot to his feet.
"Everyone! Over here!"
The urgency in his voice made everyone move immediately.
He rotated the laptop toward the center.
A world map filled the screen.
Several golden points blinked.
Then more appeared.
One.
Two.
Five.
Seven.
Soon countless smaller lights emerged between them.
Bimo blinked.
"Well..."
"There goes my vacation."
Lila swallowed nervously.
"Global resonance is rising dramatically."
Kai narrowed his eyes.
"The World Core network is activating."
Farhan pointed at three familiar locations.
"The Northern Mountains."
"The Southern Island."
"The Ancient Forest."
He moved the cursor across the map.
"The rest..."
"...are awakening at the same time."
Rani whispered,
"How many are there?"
Farhan answered quietly.
"More than we ever imagined."
Suddenly—
The lunchbox on Arga's lap began vibrating violently.
The sixteen rice grains flared brilliantly.
But the energy wasn't warm.
It was freezing.
A thin layer of frost formed across the lunchbox.
Everyone turned.
Kai instinctively stepped back.
"A new energy..."
Farhan stared at the wildly fluctuating data.
"No..."
His eyes widened.
"This energy..."
"...is ancient."
Lila zoomed in on one point.
The northern region.
An endless field of white.
Frozen mountains.
An eternal storm.
A place where almost no one had ever lived.
The temperature reading continued to fall.
-10.
-30.
-50.
Bimo stared at the screen.
"Why is your laptop making me feel cold?"
No one answered.
Because suddenly—
The entire display froze solid.
CRACK.
Thin veins of ice spread across the screen.
Farhan stumbled backward.
"That's impossible..."
The MBG Lunchbox suddenly opened by itself.
The sixteen rice grains spun wildly.
At their center—
A fragment of pale blue-white light appeared.
Not yet another grain.
Only a fragment.
Incomplete.
Yet powerful enough to make the surrounding air turn bitterly cold.
Everyone's breath became visible.
Arga closed his eyes—
and saw it.
An endless frozen wasteland.
A black sky consumed by eternal storms.
An iceberg the size of a city.
And far beneath thousands of years of ancient ice—
A pair of eyes slowly opened.
Brilliant blue.
Enormous.
Filled with fury.
Arga's eyes snapped open.
His entire body trembled.
"...It's awake."
Sinta rushed to his side.
"Who?"
Arga stared at the northern point on the map.
His voice was barely audible.
"The Guardian of the Polar Core."
Every light on the laptop suddenly went dark.
Then the screen lit up again.
A single warning flashed across it.
WARNING: POLAR CORE BREACH
Farhan stared at the final stream of data.
His face drained of color.
"If that Core loses control..."
He swallowed hard.
"...it won't be just one forest that dies."
His voice became almost a whisper.
"...the entire world could freeze."
The wind stopped.
Far to the north—
beneath an ancient glacier untouched by human hands—
something colossal slammed against the walls of its icy prison.
BOOOOOOOM!!
The first crack appeared.