The sky above the Pacific Ocean tore open.
Not cracked.
Not shattered.
Torn apart like a sheet of black fabric ripped from both sides of the universe.
Crimson light spilled from the rift, flooding the world below.
The ocean wind stopped completely.
Waves froze in place.
Birds flying in the distance dropped from the sky and plunged into the sea.
The ship's compasses spun wildly.
Thousands of kilometers away, coastal cities began losing power, their lights going dark one by one.
Farhan stared at the radar screen, his face pale.
"All satellites in the eastern orbital sector have lost their signals..."
Lila whispered, "This isn't an attack."
"...It's an invasion."
Kai stood motionless, staring at the sky.
The crimson light from the cosmic rift reflected in his eyes.
When he finally spoke, his voice was barely audible.
"...That's not a single creature."
Arga turned toward him.
"What do you mean?"
Kai pointed upward.
"Look closely."
Farhan magnified the satellite readings.
A massive red signal appeared in the center of the screen.
Then a second.
A third.
Ten.
Dozens.
The number kept climbing.
Bimo stared at the display, his expression going blank.
"...I really want to go home."
Dika let out a weary sigh.
"If the world gets destroyed, your home goes with it."
He glanced at Bimo.
"So shut up and get to work."
The sky erupted.
WHOOOOOMMMMM!
The first meteor descended.
Then a second.
A third.
A tenth.
Dozens of crimson streaks tore through the atmosphere like a rain of apocalyptic fire.
The Pacific Ocean turned red.
Sinta immediately stepped into the center of the deck.
Her face was pale.
Her hands trembled.
But her voice remained firm.
"EVERYONE, TAKE YOUR POSITIONS!"
"Crew members, get to the emergency compartment!"
"Farhan, give me a global radar feed!"
"Lila, analyze their descent patterns!"
"Bimo, cover the port side!"
"Dika, secure the engine room!"
No one hesitated.
No one fled.
They moved as a team.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
The first meteor struck the ocean.
A wave taller than a skyscraper surged into the sky.
BOOM!
The second crashed down to the east.
BOOM!
The third struck dangerously close to the ship.
The hull split.
Seawater burst through the damaged metal.
A crew member was swept away by the current.
Bimo leaped without thinking.
"GRAB ON!"
He caught the crew member's hand at the last possible second, slamming his own shoulder against the railing.
Pain shot through his body as if his bones had shattered.
Still, he managed a crooked grin.
"Still alive. Good."
Inside the engine room, the main generator tore loose from its mounting.
Scalding pipes flew through the air.
Dika planted himself beneath a massive piece of metal weighing as much as a car and caught it with both hands.
His arm muscles trembled violently.
Blood trickled from his elbow.
"FARHAN!"
"I CAN HOLD THIS FOR THREE SECONDS!"
Farhan dropped to his knees in front of the damaged control panel.
Electric sparks struck his face.
He kept typing.
"Three seconds is all I need!"
His fingers flew across the keyboard.
The backup system activated.
The generator roared back to life.
The ship's lights flickered on.
Dika shoved the metal wreckage aside and dropped to his knees, gasping for breath.
Meanwhile, Lila stared at the energy patterns appearing on the screen.
Her eyes widened.
"They're not descending at random!"
Everyone turned toward her.
She pointed at the clusters of red signals.
"They're forming a circle!"
Farhan understood immediately.
"They're surrounding the Ocean Core..."
Kai's voice turned cold.
"A hunting formation."
Across the Pacific, enormous craters opened in the water.
And from within them, the creatures began to rise.
A black-winged dragon.
A six-legged beast covered in razor-sharp scales.
A colossal fish with jaws made of pure void.
A cosmic serpent with dozens of eyes.
Dozens of them.
Bimo stared at the sea.
"...There are way too many."
Kai answered without emotion.
"Void Beasts."
"Hunters sent to devour the Cores."
The Eclipse Devourer unleashed a deafening roar.
RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
The entire fleet answered with a chorus of roars.
The ocean trembled.
The sky trembled.
The world itself seemed to shake.
They had only one target.
The Heart of the Ocean.
But the ocean answered their challenge.
AETHERNOX rose from the depths.
Its crystalline body burst through the waves like a living continent.
Leviathan Thalassa emerged on its left.
Thalorion rose on its right.
Three mighty Guardians stood together.
Blue light swept across the surface of the Pacific.
The war had begun.
The first Void Beast lunged.
Leviathan tore through its body with crystalline fangs.
A second creature attacked from below.
Thalorion struck it with tremendous force, shattering its body.
Aethernox roared—
A wave of blue energy swept across five monsters at once.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
Seawater surged into the sky, forming a towering wall.
But there were too many enemies.
More meteors continued pouring through the rift above.
Farhan stared at the radar.
"They're not stopping!"
Lila bit her lip.
"As long as that rift stays open..."
"...the ocean will be crawling with them," Farhan finished.
Arga stood in the middle of the deck.
His body was still trembling from the previous battle.
Dried blood stained the corner of his mouth.
His left hand shook violently.
Yet he opened the MBG Lunchbox.
Twenty-eight glowing grains of rice revolved inside like a golden galaxy.
He could feel the world's Cores.
They were calling to him.
But his body was barely holding together.
Kai stood beside him, his own breathing still strained from the power he had used to awaken Aethernox.
"You can't hold this back alone."
Arga nodded.
"I know."
He looked at his friends.
"That's why... this time, we're doing it together."
Sinta stepped to his left.
"What are your orders?"
Bimo moved to his right, one hand pressed against his bruised shoulder.
"I'm not dead yet."
Dika flashed him a crooked grin.
"Shame."
Farhan shut his laptop and rose to his feet.
"Global systems are online."
Lila stepped forward.
"I've mapped the rift patterns."
Kai looked at all of them.
For a brief moment, the coldness in his expression softened.
"...You idiots."
But pride flickered in his eyes.
Arga raised the MBG Lunchbox toward the sky.
Golden light burst into the air.
WHOOOOOMMMMM!
The Pacific turned gold.
For one brief moment, the sea fell still.
The cosmic fleet halted.
Even the Eclipse Devourer narrowed its eyes.
That energy—
It was connecting the entire planet.
Across the Sahara Desert, the sand split apart.
Aurelion Siroth rose and roared at the heavens.
On the Fire Continent, mountains erupted.
Ignivar Draco took flight, trailing rivers of molten lava.
Deep in the Amazon, the trees bowed as Ursus Vitalis emerged from the shadows.
At the Poles, ice fractured across thousands of kilometers.
Ursus Glacialis rose amid a raging blizzard.
In the mountains, ancient rock formations crumbled as Himal Yaksha awakened.
Deep beneath the Earth, Gaia Primordia unfurled her golden wings.
One by one, the world answered the call.
Bimo stared at the global display.
"...That's insane."
Dika gave a faint smile.
"Now this is a world war."
But then—
Every light dimmed for a fraction of a second.
Not because the energy had run out.
But because something far greater had appeared.
Farhan stared at the radar.
The color drained from his face.
"N-no..."
Lila whispered, "A new energy signature..."
"...Our systems can't read it."
Kai looked toward the sky.
And for the first time—
His knees nearly gave way.
Arga turned toward him.
"Kai?"
Kai's voice broke.
"...It's here."
The cosmic rift widened, expanding far beyond its previous limits.
It was no longer a portal.
No longer a mere tear in the sky.
It had become a colossal mouth leading into the void.
And from within that endless darkness—
A shadow larger than a continent began to emerge.
The Eclipse Devourer lowered its head.
Every Void Beast fell silent.
Aethernox took a step back.
Leviathan let out a low, uneasy growl.
The ocean receded from the approaching shadow.
Then a pair of golden eyes opened within the void.
Eyes that held no anger.
No madness.
Only cold, absolute indifference.
The eyes of a creature that had already erased thousands of worlds.
Kai dropped to his knees.
Arga held his breath.
"What... is that?"
Kai stared at those golden eyes, his entire body trembling.
His voice was barely more than a whisper.
"The king who devoured my world."
The creature moved forward.
And the entire night sky vanished behind its colossal form.
TO BE CONTINUED...