1

The throne room of the Absolute Order shook with reckless abandon. Cracks on what walls remained grew, while debris started falling, breaking parts of the already damaged floor in the process.

However, the rumbling sound stemming from the destruction paled in comparison to the bloodcurdling roar that Guren Izaya let out.

The silver-haired man barely supported himself by leaning against the throne. All the while, his trembling hands maintained an iron grip over his head, as if crushing his head away would alleviate him of the pain his body implied.

His wings flailed around, some of them hacking away part of the delicate marble throne. All the while, the dark purple substance continued creeping up his body. It started with his limbs, but now, the substance had reached past the limbs and are beginning to consume even his signature longcoat.

It was a plague that showed no sign of stopping, a catastrophe consuming him from within and causing him pure agony.

Was that the price to pay for getting the power of the three Ascended Ones? For integrating himself with the Akashic Records?

“I cannot watch this anymore!”

With a pained expression, Utara wiped away her blood and trudged to her feet. In spite of her wounds, she only focused on Izaya. It also dawned on her what was causing Izaya so much pain. She knew it coming in, but she refused to act on it.

Naivety? Perhaps.

But there’s just no way that the wielder of the Akashic Records won’t lose their minds with how big of a goal he had. It was simply impossible to try to make the entire world happy without it resulting in countless contradictions, and the strain of those contradictions were probably torturing their leader from within now.

Please don’t let up. Not until I can save him.

She told her body those words before taking her first step. Before she can take the next, she felt a firm hand wrap around her leg.

“Get off me! Can’t you see I’m trying to save Lord Izaya?!” she barked at Dr. Kagami. “Don’t try to stop me, or you’re gonna get it!”

She menacingly floated a knife in front of him, not that she can see any reaction from the doctor through the visor that covered half of his face.

“That right there is no longer the leader of Euphoria we all knew. It’s now a transcendent being.”

He used the ground to push himself up before calmly activating his Armament’s ability.

“Just like with the Absolute Order, Pandora’s Box no longer sensed any power from him. He is in the process of evolving, breaking the borders of what a human being can be. Logic no longer applies to someone like him.”

Utara gritted her teeth and looked on. She cannot accept it, but the doctor was right. The sheer fear and awe she was filled with was a testament to that.

The woman, priding herself in her fearlessness and ironclad fortitude, felt so… puny at the sight of the winged being who continued to struggle.

She only watched, unable to do anything in her powerlessness, as the dark purple substance continued consuming Guren Izaya.

The man let out one final scream, his entire body seemingly stretching to their limits, before the last of the substance engulfed him completely, leaving only his mouth and one eye uncovered by the hazy sheet of darkness.

And just as soon as he released, it was all over.

He hunched over, a being looking not too different from the Nullities they had spent years encountering and fighting. Only this one had the undisputed claim of being the god of this realm.

An incomprehensible existence. One not bound by the logic of man.

Satoru slowly walked to her side. Now, the three members of Euphoria stood side-by-side, speechless at the sight of their leader in his current form.

“You’ve done well, my three angels,” Izaya spoke in a voice completely different from the person they knew. “Now, the world will be saved and restored to its proper form.”

“Angels?” wondered Utara.

Without as much as a reply, Izaya stretched his hand out in a clawing motion. His head cocked back with a snap.

“It appears that I do not have full control over this power yet. In addition, the Akashic Records have told me that my desire would only lead to paradoxical phenomena.”

“Indeed. That’s a possibility,” replied Dr. Kagami, a meek reverence in his voice.

“But I would not allow my dream to end like that. My end goal of giving humanity paradise… Euphoria, will not be hampered. All I have to do is to maintain more control over this power and restructure my approach.”

Izaya sat on the throne with a crashing thud. He slumped his head, with one hand maintaining support while the other hand still remaining in the clawed posture.

“Lord Izaya, you—“

“But first,” he turned to Utara.

Reiya Utara nearly retched when their “eyes” met. She cannot bear to stare into those two hollow beads, seemingly burning with the fires of judgment.

“I need to gather my strength in silence. Those interlopers must be removed. Removed from the real world’s tether to Babel.”

“Interlopers, you mean those kids and your former colleague?” asked Utara. She stumbled forward but tried to hide her wounds. “We… we’ll take care of them. Just send us back, and we’ll take care of them.”

She turned around to address the other two, who were just as worse for wear. No way were they ready for more combat the way they were, but there’s nothing she won’t do for Izaya. Especially not when their desires were mere inches away from fruition.

“No need.”

“What do you mean ‘no need?’” asked a confused Utara.

“It means that he even has the power to affect that world from his position. Amazing. Simply amazing! I cannot help but be excited for what's to come!”

Dr. Kagami was beside himself. Even with his eyes partially seen underneath the cracked visor, Utara can clearly sense the joy in his eyes. It was accompanied with one of the biggest smiles she had ever seen from him.

Izaya did not utter a word. All he did was wave his free hand before closing his palm in one swift motion.

After that, came the sound of crashing thunder. Crystalline formations erupted from the floor, one of them barely missing Satoru.

“Lord Izaya, this is…”

“The entire tower is being restructured,” answered Dr. Kagami. “He’s reshaping Babel according to his image.”

Slowly, Utara raised her head. Looking at the unmoving Izaya once more, she felt frozen in place, completely immobilized in an unexplainable wave of emotions.

“Just what have you become?” her trembling voice trailed.

 

2

“Everyone hang tight!”

Ms. Sadohara made the order while the tremors only grew stronger with each passing second. Cradling the nearly-unconscious Uehara with her free hand, she started losing her footing. The other girls screamed in chorus, causing her to turn in alert.

“What is this all about?!” wailed Kimura, her microphone staff flying out of her hands. As she ran to try to pick her Armament up, something opened up in front of her with a cracking sound.

Instead of a usual portal to another dimension or the veiled gate that connected the real world to Mu, the opening looked unrefined. With cracks on the edges, it would be more appropriate to call it a fissure.

Kimura barely had time to understand what it was before it began exerting a powerful force, pulling her towards it. Even as she tried to fight it, the force only strengthened.

“Aaaah! Help!” she shouted.

“Oh no!” gasped Ms. Sadohara. Instead of the shaking, what concerned her more were these fissures. More of them opened up all over the place.

Kimura found herself on the edge when Ms. Sadohara felt a push. The momentary distraction loosened her grip, and the next thing she saw was Uehara pushing Kimura away from the fissure.

It saved the idol, but Uehara in her current state was completely powerless against the suctioning force. Her body moved through the air like a ragdoll, shooting straight into the fissure without even minor resistance.

“Uehara!” shouted Ms. Sadohara.

Alas, Uehara’s last ditch effort, her last burst of strength, was all in vain, as another fissure appeared near Kimura.

Ms. Sadohara had no time to grieve and rushed towards Kimura, stretching out her hand. Kimura took her hand, but before the counselor can try to pull her out of the fissure that’s slowly sucking her in, she heard the sound of another one materializing behind her.

“Just how many of these are there? Are these things intent on keeping us out of Elysium?”

Ms. Sadohara would not get an answer to her question as she was pulled away from Kimura. Their hands separated from each other, they were pulled into separate dimensional fissures.

While all of that happened, the same dilemma also befell the ones in the frontline of the battle.

“Woooaaaaah!” went Fujiwara’s voice before the tattered fairy disappeared into another fissure. Her petite body was completely powerless against the force that sent her in.

However, her partner was not so helpless, and even if half of his body had already been sucked inside the fissure, Reijy continued resisting, trying to pull himself out while keeping his murderous gaze on the wounded Kazuki.

“Dammit! Ain’t you a lucky bastard, Arata?!”

Kazuki barely had enough energy to respond in kind. He felt Amagi’s arms stiffening at that remark, but he had little energy to respond to Reijy in kind. All he managed to do was giving Reijy a regretful look before seeing him disappear into the fissure.

He then turned his eyes to Amagi and Sana.

“B-big bro… I-I’m scared.”

With her hands clasped, Sana looked over him. Tears welled up in the corner of her eyes before they started dripping one by one.

He did not even know what had happened. All that registered in his mind were the screams. Something happened to the rest of the group, and it hurt him so much that he found himself unable to help, much less comprehend the events surrounding him.

The same could be said of his childhood friend.

All this time, Amagi had her eyes on him, gently protecting him. They were not going to defeat Reijy, so it looked like whatever happened just saved them.

He reached his hands out, wanting to hold both Sana and Amagi to try to relieve their sorrowful expressions.

“Don’t feel sad, Sana,” he mouthed. “You’ll be fine now. It’s all over.”

“Thank you for everything, Amagi. I don’t think I’ve ever repaid everything you’ve done in full, but I hope…”

His vision faded, and he closed his eyes, fully understanding that he just said those words with zero awareness of the situation they’re in. But it just was an instinct in him, a desire to protect, to comfort. After all he’s been through with this team of Awakeners, he had finally found the urge to move forward, to change and be better.

He was at peace.

He no longer heard any more of what the two girls said in response. Whether it was Amagi’s pained yet reassuring words or Sana’s attempts to appear strong and mature, those were washed away in the sound of the tempest around them. Sounds of breaking material and electric sparks reverberated.

Released from Amagi’s gentle touch, he found himself floating in air. When he opened his eyes, he was levitating, being pulled away from the two girls.

He stretched his hands out to the best of his power, hoping to grasp the hand of his childhood friend. Another hand of his stretched out, looking to protect the blonde girl he had come to love as his little sister.

“Amagi! Sana!” he yelled upon seeing the dimensional fissure behind the two girls. Those things that sucked Reijy up were trying to do so with the two girls, and presumably himself, too.

“Arata!”

“Big Bro!”

In spite of their best efforts, they were just as easily pulled into dimensional fissures.

Then, the world turned black.

 

3

The tremors never subsided, even spreading to the places far away from Elysium.

“W-what is happening?!” screeched Sayori Misawa. Her drill hair bobbed up and down as she hurriedly tried to grab onto something. Almost dropping her camera and notebook, she managed to grip the railings of the mall floor.

She turned to see that her friend, Lilya Bloomenfled, had dropped all her art materials in the chaos. Despite being a person who always took things in stride, Misawa gasped when for the first time, she saw the look of pure fear in her senior’s face.

“T-this isn’t just an ordinary quake, Misawa.”

Just as she said that, an explosion can be heard from the distance. Like a bomb, it only served to create more panic. The mall floor shook from the stampeding customers just as the two girls took cover by a corner.

Bloomenfled embraced her student council junior in an attempt to shield her from harm.

---

Shizaki, who was silently looking at the hospital window, saw it when it happened. Warning sirens rang from outside.

He hurried over to Hikari’s comatose body to stabilize all the tools keeping her alive when the sound of an explosion caused him to recoil.

“Ow!”

He awkwardly fell on his butt, and just as he was getting back up, he managed to get a peek through the window once more.

His jaw dropped.

From the distance, a gigantic pillar of light illuminated the night sky. It exuded a brightness that made the surrounding area seem like daytime, all while it pierced the sky, stretching all the way to the heavens.

---

“Kya!”

Rin Amamiya tripped, nearly spilling the slices of cake onto a game board. Luckily, the person put down his board game pieces in time to catch her.

“That’s close!” the patron said before helping her up to her feet. His friend also took the plate from her hand before gently setting it on the table, somewhere far enough from the tokens and character pieces they were playing with.

“Sorry!” Amamiya apologized. But that’s one strong earthquake. Could have sworn I heard a boom, too.

“Yeah, looks like we have to reset the game on our end as well,” groaned the one who saved her.

“It seems something’s happening outside.”

Amamiya’s uncle, the owner of the board game café First Strike, walked towards the scene with a mobile device in hand. He scrolled through the social media feed to show them many posts and comments of a commotion.

There were multiple angles of the scene, but they all depicted one thing: a pillar of light that had suddenly appeared from a faraway distance. Comments and discussions mostly argued about what it was, but one thing was made clear after a few lines of replies.

That thing was somewhere in the northern end of the city, near Melissa Road. The other end of the city. However, Amamiya can’t help but feel an ominous feeling tugging her heart looking at the pictures.

“Why do I feel like… it’s like I forgot something important.”

Amamiya winced before massaging her forehead.

“I feel lighthearted. T-there’s just something with the picture that’s making me uncomfortable.”

She cannot put a finger to it, but something in it just made her feel so sick.

---

“Everyone hang onto something! Someone go contact those who went underground.”

After that booming sound from the distance, Kenji Saito wasted no time taking charge as all hell broke loose in the Fuyusato Engineering Club room. They have been busy pulling an all-nighter, and a powerful series of earthquakes was one of the worst things that can happen.

Especially when some of the members had gone to the underground storehouse to check on their latest project.

One of the members of the club clicked his communications device. “It’s not working! Signal’s dead!”

“Signal’s dead?” asked Saito. He hurriedly opened his phone to confirm that signal was indeed cut off.

That’s weird.

“Pres, we’ll go check the underground storehouse,” said the boy.

Saito clicked his tongue. “Just when it’s almost ready…”

The rumbling sound persisted as the world continued to shake. In a momentary pause, he took the chance to address those who remained in the club room.

“I’ll go check on the people still inside the school.”

Getting everyone’s permission, he stepped out, uncharacteristically antsy and uncertain. He wanted to contact his two student council colleagues who had gone out to shop, but with signal being dead, there’s no way to do so. For now, the object of concern were those possibly stuck in the storehouse and the faculty who remained at school late into the night.

But all those worries disappeared when he turned to the direction of a bright area to see what had transpired outside. In the distance, a large pillar of light had appeared.

“That wasn’t there before, was it?” Saito asked himself, slowing his pace while looking at the pillar.

---

“What just happened?” asked a man, coming out of the convenience store after the shaking had mostly stopped. He walked into a street in chaos, people all looking in one direction.

Another person pointed at a faraway direction, and he saw it.

The pillar of light that shot all the way to the sky. It was a strange occurrence, and even stranger was how it illuminated the night sky.

The cool night sky in its vicinity had been mixed with a shining radiance, not unlike that of the Sun. And from the radiant rays came translucent red.

“Look, over there!”

He turned, a bewildered look on his face, only to see a black sphere appearing in midair. It looked completely different from anything he had seen before, and to make things even stranger, it started growing.

All while it was growing in size, a throbbing noise can be heard, perhaps an omen of things to come.

The man grabbed his bag and prepared to step away. Seeing the reactions of the people, a chorus of fearful gasps and curious sounds, befuddled him.

The black sphere opened up, but instead of an explosion like he expected, the sphere only split into multiple parts. Sliding pieces one by one, the floating black sphere stopped when it turned into a levitating flower.

“A lotus?” murmured some people.

The man did not know how to respond. Something in him told him he had to go, but something in him held his body in place. There was this morbid curiosity as to what this black lotus was. It’s unlike anything he had seen before.

It stopped its transformation, but just when all sounds stopped from it, tendrils shot out from all directions. They latched onto people, striking some of them.

The curious mood completely turned into full-blown panic as people stampeded away. The man himself was knocked down by the crowd of people, and he found himself face down on the ground.

Before he can struggle to get away from the location, one of the tendrils shot straight at him, piercing him in the chest.

He felt no pain. However, his limbs refused to move.

“Aaahhh…” his voice weakened as light engulfed his view.

Heaving breaths alternated between fading in and out of consciousness. All the while, the man felt as if he was levitating.

Eventually, his eyes rolled back as he completely lost all senses.