“IT HAS ONLY JUST BEGUN.”

Galgom’s words are drowned out by the screeching coming from the heavens. The sky is being torn apart— a rift forms above, flashing in an eclectic range of colors. A rain of false comets fall through the hole, burning up as they tumble all across Utana. Capsules. Ships. Cells. Whatever they are. They fall, bringing with them the wrath of Idu.

“No…” Kalmat’s eyes widen.

Nindran drops to her knees, and Beihal growls as he leans over the battlements. Nelrel hearself grits her teeth at this sight. Below the wall where we stand, I can see a crowd of faces. The people of Thornthistle looking up in horror and pointing to the meteor shower falling from the sky.

For a moment, there is no panic. Just moments ago, they had been celebrating the defeat of the Eternal Elementals. We had just repelled the first wave of Void Pirates. But now?

The second wave is here. And the fact settles in. I can see the panic spread like wildfire as they realize that the second stage of Idu’s invasion has begun. The Keepers of the Grove standing amongst the crowd tries to maintain the peace, but pandemonium breaks loose. The crowd part ways, scattering in all directions.

I narrow my eyes, then turn back to the sky. My eyes flash— they turn indigo as my vision improves drastically. The School of Divination. I can see these fake comets from afar. They are ships. Prison cells. Or pods. But far more shoddily put together than the ones used for the first wave of Void Pirates that had threatened the four domains of Utana.

I can see dozens— maybe even hundreds— of shadows lurking in each of these pods as they rip through the sky. They are everyone. The enemies they bring are going to be everywhere. I concentrate my Aspect into wings as I ascend.

“Kalmat!” I shout to the Bladewielder. “Protect the city!”

He blinks in a daze for a moment. Then he catches himself, nodding. “I will.” His Aura coalesces around him.

But Nindran does not let me go just yet.

“Where are you going, Tian?” the azure-haired woman calls out.

I look up at the rift in the sky. It is still there. Opening and closing. Like a sputtered breathing. My brows snap together.

“I will stop it at the source.”

And I fly up, leaving behind my friends. They watch me go, flying higher and higher towards the purple sky. It is not far. Not for me. Not compared to how high I had to go to reach the Forsaken Palace for ascension.

Not only that, there are far less obstacles. There are only these falling pods. And to me, they are nothing.

I thrust a palm forward, unleashing a volley of Qi blasts. The attacks shoot up rapidly, taking down the pods as soon as they enter Utana. It takes multiple blasts to rip through the defenses of the pods before they explode. Some of them, however, manage to slip right through.

A larger pod barrels its way towards me, resisting the barrage of attacks. I frown and inhale. I harness the Blue Essence and enchant my entire body. I speed forward, coming into direct contact with the falling ship. I rip straight through the metal, breaking it apart as it explodes and kills all its occupants.

Finally, I reach the rift in the sky. I see the pods falling out around me, but I no longer focus on them. Instead, I stare through the fissure, taking in what is on the other side of the distorted space. There, I see a vast expanse. A darkness— no, not a darkness. A nothingness that expands far beyond my sight.

It is like staring into something that you know is wrong. Something that you realize is uncanny. But no matter how long you stare into it, you know not why it inflicts fear into your soul. It simply does. And it sends a shudder down my spine.

I am almost drawn to it. I almost enter it as I have done before. But I catch myself. I remember the feeling of crushing nothingness that nearly consumed me when I first broke into the void. I know that I am not currently strong enough to step through that fissure and survive. It is only thanks to the Elocunive I am here today.

I bring my arms out as I use Soul Cycle to gather as much Qi in my core as I can. Then I bring my hands together, pulling at the world itself. I grip onto reality, forcing it to close. Trying to bring a halt to this invasion. I weave the world back together like a master artisan, putting my all into creating my masterwork.

The world sparks, flashing in iridescent colors as I try to reverse this damage. It is not easy. Ripping a hole in the world is easier than trying to patch it. I have, after all, broken through the fabric of space. But I know I am able to seal it. I replace the nothingness with my Qi, forming reality where it should be, recreating what has been lost.

“Do you really think this will stop us?” a voice echoes in my head.

I blink. My eyes dart to the left and to the right, trying to pinpoint the source of the noise. I see nothing around me. No place for the voice to come. Yet, it continues.

“Galgom may have tried to save your petulant world, but there is no stopping us,” the voice says. “Your efforts are pointless.”

I clench my jaw, steeling myself. His words light a fire in me. The pretentious tone only makes me stronger. It reminds me of the elders when I had been in a sect. Or the Springs of Jhisie. I focus, once again expending Indigo Essence. The School of Divination does not fail me. My eyes snap open as I peer into the abyss.

And I see a world staring back at me.

It is but a speck from where I am right now, nearly invisible, but I can see just how large it is. It is a thousand times larger than Galgom’s ship had been. A giant sphere that looks akin to a moon rather than a pod or a boat. It does not sail through the void. Instead, it remains inert.

I focus, enhancing my vision even more to find the exact source of the voice. I peer further into the giant sphere, and I see a sprawling landscape of metal. An odd architecture that I cannot parse. Thousands of odd protrusions jut out from it in every angle. And docked on its sides are these familiar giant things filled with hexagonal holes. I recognize them in an instant.

They are Galgom’s Hive.

Or, at least, they look like Galgom’s Hive. They vary slightly, some of them larger, others smaller. But their purpose is clearly the same. They are designed to invade worlds.

I catch myself from staring. The fissure is still there. And I still have yet to find the source of the voice. I pull myself together, continuing to fix the hole in Utana as I scour the alien world. My sight lands on a man standing at the very edge of the void.

He stands tall and unafraid of the darkness. His face holds little features, and he has no mouth. His eyes are red like a visor, but there is a keen intelligence beneath. But the part that stands out the most to me is that he is made entirely of metal. Even though he does not introduce himself, I know he is.

He is the leader of the Void Pirates. He is the one Galgom has spoken of. He is Idu. And he meets my gaze.

“Cleanse the Horde from your world if you may. It only will slow the inevitable,” he speaks in a tinny voice. “By the end of this, your world will be dead, and the Pishtim will be mine!”

His words reverberate in my soul as I use the last of my strength to repair the hole entire, fixing it and stopping the rain of pods from continuing. My vision of Idu disappears, and exhaustion settles in. I blink, vision going blurry.

And I fall back to the earth, unconscious.