High above the battlefield, where the smoke of the destruction caused by the catastrophe the Falcon Guild had befallen on Red Eastern could not traverse, a massive winged creature cut through the darkening sky of the midnight. The creature's wings, each spanning nearly twenty feet, suspended the occupant in the air even without flapping. Sitting atop this menacing familiar with the casualness of someone who owned the world was Yuki Nakamura, the orchestrator of this entire attack. His black hair ruffled in the wind as he stared at the devastation below. Beside him was Mia—the double agent of the Falcon Guild and the FSG. They had watched the entire event unfold, and watched Kyujiro being murdered, but no one made a move. Mia was particularly worried, hoping Yuki would give her the permission to quickly aid Kyujiro. But even at the last moment of Kyujiro's life, even as Master Sung's hand pierced through his chest and his blood painted the ground below, Master Yuki had remained

Zhou was running ahead while Ryder stayed close by, matching the pace with ease. The Luo techniques he had absorbed earlier were still flowing through his body like second nature, making movements feel even more effortless. They were heading west, particularly toward the Tian district, and it didn't take long for them to close in on the vicinity. The floating buildings made it clear they were at their destination—massive structures suspended in the air like stagnant clouds against the sky. Several thuds and violent sounds could be heard resounding from various directions on the floating structure, clearly indicating that the Red Eastern members of the Tian were already putting up a fight. *Crash!* *Boom!* *Roar!* Flashes of light went on and off, glowing through the night as if it was fireworks. "It's a good thing that they didn't falter, isn't it?" Ryder exclaimed, staring at the first building within his field of view. "Not like I was expecting the entire guild to be taken

Yuki Nakamura remained airborne, his massive winged familiar cutting through the night sky with fluidity and silence. Even up till now, at this point, Mia was trembling. The whole ambush that had appeared to be going slightly in their favor just a few minutes ago had made a sudden flip. The battlefield stretched out beneath them like a painting of blood and destruction. What had once been the proud territory of the Red Eastern Guild was now a field of corpses and scattered buildings. Yet somehow, impossibly, it wasn't the Red Eastern corpses that littered the ground the most—it was their own. Over a hundred and fifty of the Falcon Guild members deployed within the Red Eastern perimeter had been exterminated. Each death happened so quickly that she could barely keep track. One moment she would see the familiar glow of a summoner's aura through her enhanced vision, the next it would simply... vanish. Not fade, not weaken—just cease to exist entirely, like a candle being snuffed

Violet thunder roared in the sky above them, sending lightning crackling haphazardly across the once-peaceful veil of night. The lightning was unlike anything any of them had ever witnessed, nor did the lightning follow the natural patterns they had grown used to seeing during ordinary storms. It weaved through the darkness like serpents of pure malevolence, like countless electric snakes momentarily sprawling across the night sky as if the non-living display had some sort of predatory intent. The portal that had been opening gradually suddenly expanded with astronomical violence. The growth was so rapid and massive that a small town could fit through it. The sight was both mesmerizing in its own way and utterly terrifying. Through the violet swirling vortex of the portal, they could see nothing, as they were unable to see through it, making them tense up increasingly. "The gamma energy in the air is increasing exponentially," Leo alerted, his voice carrying growing pani

The portal above them groaned like it was building up something, its violet edges crackling with malevolent energy. The thunder that had been rumbling moments before now fell into an ominous silence. Valachi tilted his pale head upward, that single white eye locked on the portal above. His devilish smirk widened as he watched something massive begin to push through the portal. "Ah," he said with the tone of someone greeting an old friend, "my dear companion has arrived. Though I must admit, I was rather enjoying having all of you to myself." The second creature to emerge from the portal created by Yuki Nakamura was surprisingly humanoid, just like Valachi. However, it had an apparently different structure that made it appear far more threatening than Valachi. It was floating quite menacingly in the sky, standing around ten feet tall with thick muscles that seemed to ripple beneath its skin while motionless. The sheer bulk of this creature was enough to balance its towering he