A red laser wave swept across the horizon of the Shadow Realm with terrifying force, appearing first as a thin line splitting the darkness before the Wraith clan’s defensive hills vanished in an instant. Rock, earth, and fortifications that had stood for generations turned into a stretch of still-smoldering black glass. The thunderous boom that followed came late, yet it carried enough power to shake the entire temple grounds until the stone floor beneath Axel’s feet shuddered violently and dust rained down from the ceiling already cracked since the first strike."The enemy has breached the outer defenses!" Kaelen shouted as he raised his crystal axe high, his voice booming through the ash falling from the now blood-red sky. "All forces, stand ready!"There was no time to draft long strategies, no chance to rest after the horrors in the meditation chamber—the Order had arrived far sooner than they ever expected. Axel stepped to the edge of the crumbling outer wall and gazed out across

The gray sky of the ^Void Realm^ shifted in mere seconds the moment Rena pressed both palms against the reactor core of the ^Energy Harvester^. The violet light flooding the tower's peak surged wild and high into the heavens, dragging black clouds from every direction until they spun faster and faster into a massive vortex that rose thousands of feet above the battlefield. The roar that followed was neither thunder nor explosion, but a heavy rumble as if something vast was being forced to move against the very laws of nature. The ground shook violently. Black cracks spread outward from the tower's foundation. Dust and shards of stone lifted from the earth and were drawn into the ever-raging wind."She breached the core!" Kaelen shouted as he raised his crystal axe high. His voice was nearly swallowed by the growing storm, but the ^Shadow Wraith^ forces roared in answer. They could feel it. The power that had been stolen from them was flowing back.At the tower's peak Rena set her jaw

Colonel Vane’s eyes rolled upward until only the whites showed. His body, which had still been fighting back, slowly lost control. His jaw muscles locked tight then trembled faintly while a faint glow began to seep from both his eyes, forming shards of light that flickered in the air like an old projector forced to work far beyond its limits. Kaelen watched the scene and unconsciously raised his axe a little higher, his eyes narrowing with sharp wariness."What is he doing?" he asked quietly.Rena did not answer. Her entire focus was locked on the man’s mind before her. Her fingers still hovered a few centimeters from Vane’s temples, but the mental connection between them had already formed. The world around her began to fade. The sound of wind, crumbling debris, and even the voices of the Wraith guards outside the emergency temple all receded until they felt like they belonged to another world. All that remained was Vane’s consciousness, and it was far worse than anything she had eve

The tactical digital band on Axel’s wrist flashed red without pause. ^36:12:08^. The number felt more threatening than any Order army they had ever faced. Every second that slipped away brought them closer to the annihilation ritual waiting in the human world. An ash storm blowing down from the north struck Axel’s face as he led the column across the barren stretch of land dotted with floating stone cliffs. The hem of his cloak grew stiff with freezing particles drifting through the air, and the steady tread of hundreds of Wraith soldiers echoed between the chasms that stretched as far as the eye could see."Time is running out." Kaelen called out from the right of the formation. The Wraith war leader kept pace while glancing back every so often to make sure no one fell behind. After twelve straight hours of portal modifications and battle preparations no one was in peak condition, yet no one complained. They had all seen the same countdown. They all knew what waited in Jakarta.Axel

"Rena, catch hold!"Axel’s shout cut through the storm of ash raging along the cliffs. In the same instant, his body shot upward with a burst of shadow energy that shattered the ground beneath his feet. The world seemed to slow before his eyes. He saw Rena thrown far from her rocky foothold, saw the Void Leviathan’s jaws yawning wide beneath them, and saw the black bottomless chasm waiting to swallow anyone who moved even a single second too late. There was no time to weigh the odds, no room to choose the safe path. And Axel had already made his choice."Axel, you idiot!" Rena screamed as the gale-force wind slammed into her face and her body kept falling. Her hands clawed for anything to grab, but only empty air met her grasp. The Leviathan’s earlier tail strike had broken her focus, the magic that usually held her body aloft had dissolved, and gravity pulled her relentlessly toward the monster’s waiting maw.Axel saw the fear that so rarely showed on his friend’s face. He saw that s