Fear.The emotion lasted less than a second.Less than a heartbeat.Yet everyone saw it.The invader was afraid.Not of Ethan's current strength.Not of the three awakened fragments.Not of Azrael.Not of the armies gathered on the battlefield.It feared uncertainty.For the first time since entering the Nine Realms, it faced something it could not understand.Something it could not predict.Something beyond its calculations.And that frightened it.The realization electrified the battlefield.Darius laughed.A loud, genuine laugh.The first truly happy sound he had made in thousands of years."There it is."His golden eyes gleamed."The look I wanted to see."The invader immediately turned toward him.Its expression darkened.Darius merely smiled.Then raised his sword.

BOOM!The Black Tower shook violently.Ancient buildings trembled.Golden lights flickered across the endless city.Warning sirens echoed throughout the Last Bastion.For the first time since Ethan arrived, the fortress felt alive.Not awakening.Panicking.Athena's calm expression had completely vanished.She turned toward the center of the city.Thousands of streams of data flashed through her eyes.Analyzing.Calculating.Searching.Then her face paled.A reaction Ethan never expected from an artificial intelligence."Impossible..."The whisper barely escaped her lips.Ethan immediately understood the severity."What happened?"Athena looked toward him.For several seconds she remained silent.Then answered."The Fourth Fragment accessed the Core Archive."The words meant nothing to Ethan.Not yet.Athena continued."And it woke something."The city trembled again.

The city fell silent. Millions of awakened soldiers stopped moving. Ancient weapons paused mid-activation. Even the warning alarms faded into the background. Everything seemed to wait. Because the voice that had spoken carried authority. Absolute authority. Not the authority of a king. Not the authority of a sovereign. The authority of a legend. The golden light intensified. The Vault continued opening. Ancient mechanisms moved beneath the city. Massive gears turned. Seals shattered. Runes awakened. Twenty-three thousand years of silence ended all at once. Then a figure emerged. A man. Tall. Broad-shouldered. Dressed in black military armor trimmed with gold. A crimson cloak flowed behind him. Silver scars crossed his face. His eyes were sharp. Ancient. Experienced. The eyes of someone who had survived countless wars. The moment he appeared— Every soldier in the city stood at attention. Every single one. Millions of warriors