The Rift shuddered.
Mana, thick as thunderclouds, pressed down on the ruined cityscape like a living storm. Stone groaned. Metal curled inward. Even the sky darkened—its hues turning a deep violet, veined with cracks of flickering white, like the world itself had been struck and split open.
In the center of it all, Virex stood motionless, bloodied but defiant. Towering and cloaked in shadows, his masked face glinted with dark iron. Around him, the Silver Lions lay broken—Han Gilsoo crumpled against a wall, Yerim coughing blood into her gloves, and Nam Doohyuk—
Doohyuk's arm was gone from the elbow down.
His scream had stopped minutes ago. Now, he just stared blankly at the stump, lips parted in shock, his weapon forgotten in the rubble.
Yoon Taesung pressed his hand to his gut, still coughing from the blow he'd taken. His ribs felt cracked, every breath a fire. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, but his eyes were clear. Watching.
Waiting.
Because the Rift hadn't stopped trembling.
Because something worse was coming.
A voice crackled through the comms—broken, distorted.
"...Back...up...is coming..."
And then—
Boom.
The air detonated.
It wasn't a sound. It was a presence, like the sky had descended in full force. A vertical line tore open the space between rooftops, a golden fissure in the air—and from it stepped a man.
Tall. Broad. Clad in sleek obsidian combat armor lined with runes that burned blue-white with suppressed power. A long coat flared behind him, its edges tattered from countless battles.
Choi Daehyun. The Apex Sovereign.
His eyes, silver like moons, swept across the battlefield without emotion. One step forward—and the ground fractured beneath his foot. Trees bowed. Wind stopped.
Virex tilted his head.
For the first time, the Rift guardian spoke.
"You."
His voice, muffled behind his jagged mask, was deep, almost thoughtful. "You were not supposed to come."
Daehyun didn't answer. He reached behind him and drew a weapon from his back.
A spear.
Not just any weapon—an S-rank relic, the Heavenpiercer, forged from a shard of a fallen star. The moment it left its sheath, the Rift howled, as if the spear's mere existence had offended the laws governing this twisted world.
The two didn't exchange threats.
They didn't posture or speak of pride.
They moved.
The shockwave from their first clash rippled through blocks of concrete, flipping cars and cratering entire streets. A cone of force shot upward into the sky, scattering Rift clouds into spirals. The Silver Lions were hurled like leaves in a typhoon—only Taesung remained grounded, barely, digging his blade into the earth to anchor himself.
Daehyun's spear caught Virex across the shoulder, carving deep—but the masked being twisted in midair, letting the momentum spin him into a retaliatory axe-kick.
Daehyun vanished.
Reappeared above him.
Brought the spear down.
Boom.
The spear cratered Virex into the ground. Dust exploded outward, a mushroom cloud of shattered cement and mana. For a heartbeat, there was silence.
Then the debris parted.
Virex erupted from the rubble, one arm fractured and hanging limp—but he moved like it didn't matter. His other hand formed a claw, energy condensing into talons of pure Rift essence. He lunged.
Daehyun met him.
They clashed again, and again—speeds incomprehensible, every movement a blur of lethal intent. Taesung tried to track them, but they moved faster than thought, the battle unfolding across shattered highways, over rooftops that crumbled under the pressure of their power.
Choi Daehyun was a force of nature—precision honed by countless battles, footwork elegant and ruthless, his spear dancing through air like a dragon's tail.
But Virex was relentless.
Each blow he landed shook the Rift. His presence was evolving mid-fight, shifting, adapting. His movements weren't just instinctual—they were remembering. Reacting. Learning.
Even Daehyun grunted as he parried a sequence that nearly broke his guard.
"You're...not just a Riftspawn," the Sovereign said coldly.
Virex didn't answer.
Instead, he unleashed a scream—not of rage, but of focus.
The ground split. A surge of black crystal erupted from beneath, forming twisted spires that surged toward Daehyun like grasping fingers. Daehyun spun the spear once, then launched it like a bolt of lightning.
Crack.
The weapon punched through crystal and struck Virex square in the chest, pinning him to the far wall of a broken cathedral. He slammed into it with bone-cracking force, the structure groaning under the impact.
But he didn't fall.
He pulled the spear free. Dropped it.
Then charged.
Their second clash was worse.
This time, they fought in the sky—mana forming platforms of light and darkness beneath their feet. Each step generated shockwaves, wind tunnels forming from every arc of their limbs. Fists clashed, weapons cracked, the very Rift distorting from the clash of two apex predators.
Taesung could hardly stand. He shielded the others with his body, eyes squinting against the flare of colliding power.
And through it all—he felt it.
A resonance.
Like something deep within Virex… was connected to him. Not blood. Not fate. But recognition. The way Virex's gaze sometimes flickered toward him—not with hatred, but warning.
You are not ready yet.
The words came to him like a whisper not spoken aloud.
Then Virex moved faster than ever—broke through Daehyun's guard, raked claws across his chest.
Blood sprayed. Daehyun hit the ground hard, coughing.
But he didn't stay down.
He stood. Wiped the blood from his mouth.
And then—he spoke a word.
A single word.
The runes on his armor ignited.
"Domain."
A ring of light expanded outward, swallowing the Rift. Time twisted. Space snapped.
Suddenly, Virex and Daehyun were gone—locked inside a sovereign's battlefield, a realm crafted entirely by Daehyun's will. To outsiders, it looked like a sphere of rotating light and shadow, suspended above the city ruins.
Inside—
Daehyun was no longer holding back.
The Domain allowed him to bend laws. Gravity, friction, time itself bent to his advantage. His spear reformed in his hand, wrapped in gold flame.
Virex fought like a demon, but even he was bleeding now. His mask cracked.
With a roar, Daehyun unleashed a finishing blow—a spear thrust through the chest, straight through the heart.
Crack.
The mask shattered.
And for one breathless moment, Yoon Taesung saw the man behind the monster.
Not a Riftspawn.
A human.
Or what used to be one.
Short blue hair. Pale skin. Eyes the color of fractured sapphire.
Recognition struck him like a thunderbolt.
He was once one of us.
But then—Virex's form erupted into black mist, retreating, disappearing from the Domain just as it collapsed. Daehyun landed in the wreckage, chest heaving, blood running down his side.
The Rift went still.
The sky began to clear.
And then, the Sovereign turned to Taesung.
Those silver eyes pinned him in place.
"You."
Taesung straightened, every instinct screaming to run—but his feet wouldn't move.
Daehyun's voice was quiet. Flat.
"You're not just a C-rank, are you?"
The wind carried the silence that followed.
Taesung met the Apex Sovereign's gaze—and said nothing.