An illogical sight unfolded in the night sky as the curtain lifted. A red line embroidering the darkness split in two, gaping wide open.
If the sky were to split in two, it would look just like that, and all sorts of smoke and dust were being sucked into the strange space revealed through the gap. At the same time, a bizarre form slowly crawled out from within that space, going against the flow.
Though its visible movement was slow, it wasn’t actually slow, given its extraordinary size. Like some monstrous life form, it writhed as it tried to emerge, gradually increasing in scale while rotating in a spiral.
A massive, purple, turbid flow covered the entire vast sky. It was slowly swallowing the darkness-dyed upper air. Like a feast of ominous clouds foretelling ill omens, the thickly cast shadow fed an unidentifiable fear.
The majesty of this thing, large enough to be seen from tens of kilometers away, bore a striking resemblance to something familiar in the human mind.
'An eye?'
To Flynn’s gaze, staring at the southern sky from afar, it looked like the 'eye' of a huge living being, wide open. This was because light glowed in the center of the oval vortex that hadn’t quite become a perfect circle, as if a golden pupil had been set there.
The brilliant beam of light stretched clearly down toward the humans through gaps in the writhing purple currents. At its center, golden diagonal lines swept incessantly amid fierce gusts. High-energy discharge phenomena occurred at intervals, completely burning away dust floating in the air on contact.
This sight made all humans looking up feel an unknown fear and an overwhelming sense of powerlessness.
At the apex of this perilous scene, within the beam of light, there was a human figure.
Pajijijik-
Leonardo, wrapped in mystical energy from head to toe, was pulling something out from the center of the giant eyeball. Each time he pulled with all his might, the formless energy grasped in his hand was dragged out, bit by bit.
Savage sparks flew from the friction point, and sharp sounds cruelly assaulted the eardrums. Strong waves spread outward, pushing away clouds, hinting at the ominous energy lurking in the area.
The backs of his hands, his forearms, his neck, his jaw. Muscles and blood vessels bulged all over his body as he strained. The more violently his golden hair lashed in the wind, the more unbearably rapid Leonardo’s breathing became.
To avoid being absorbed into the different dimension opening before his eyes, he kept pulling, using the undulating purple mass as a foothold.
That strange space he had opened in collaboration with Nero was a place where gravity was so strong that even light bent. It was the very space where objects would disappear forever if they deviated from the set path while passing through a portal, or when putting items into an unrefined artifact.
There were even rumors that this eerie other-dimensional world was a place where transcendent beings—creatures not of this earth—lived. For instance, places like the realm of gods unreachable by humans, or the netherworld said to be accessible only when faced with death.
But regardless of which was true, no one really knew the nature of that place. Not a single person had been sucked in and come out in their right mind. Therefore, deliberately opening an entrance to that unknown space, which instinctively evoked revulsion, was a forbidden act and sheer madness.
And Leonardo, who had committed this madness, was now trying to pull something out from within it. The great holy relic of the past, said to have vanished forever from this world.
The Holy Lance. This mysterious weapon, also called the Sacred Spear, appeared quite frequently in myths with an ambivalent image, but no one had ever seen its true form.
There were only abundant rumors that it had vanished for some reason hundreds—no, thousands—of years ago, so for those living in the present world, it was merely a symbolic object passed down by word of mouth.
However, coincidentally, among the Empire’s Armsilver, the location of this sacred spear was occasionally mentioned in secret.
And today, with the crisis of the end times approaching right before their eyes, the mythical sacred «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» spear was about to reveal itself to the world once again.
It would defeat evil and lead humans to victory, saving all things and writing a new history.
'Because I will make it so.'
"Leonardo!"
Just then, a familiar voice rising straight up toward the sky pierced Leonardo’s ears. Although the keenly honed sparks fluctuated violently, deafening him, only that one voice came through with startling clarity.
Leonardo, recognizing who it was without needing to turn around, gritted his teeth and poured out all his strength amid the violently flying sparks. Grasping the forbidden holy relic the dimension was trying to deny, he drew out mana until his heart screamed at its limit.
In the moment he concentrated all the energy he possessed into both hands, a strange power leaked out from the gap in the purple turbid flow. If his eyes weren’t deceiving him, a meaningful crack was forming along with the refraction of light.
Leonardo’s eyes flashed as he seized the opportunity. His low voice spoke the name of the holy relic.
"Lance of Longinus."
At that moment, as if answering the call, sacred light burst from the crack in the distorted space-time. Following his gesture, a long golden spear shaft was pulled out, revealing half of the four-pronged spearhead at its tip.
Leonardo squeezed out the last of his strength and fully drew the sacred spear free—three times the length of his body. Then he quickly dropped away from the boundary of the dimension, widening the distance to avoid being dragged into the other side.
Pyung-
Suddenly, a discharge sound like a fuse snapping blanketed the southern land of the peninsula. At the same time, the strange entrance opened toward the ground unleashed an enormous shockwave, centered on the point where the sacred spear had been pulled out.
In that same moment, the red line that had split in two slowly sealed itself, as if returning to its original form. The massive form that had poked its head through the gap also withdrew to where it belonged. The ominous purple shadow looming in the upper air was swallowed into the center of the vortex in an instant.
The figure floating in the sky against the backdrop of this bizarre scene radiated dazzling light from his entire body, gripping the holy relic in one hand.
Two lights flashed in the sky as if the moon and sun had risen at once, and they became one, looking down upon the captured source of evil.
Hugo’s eyelids trembled as he looked beyond the shadow of the mother body. His dark pupils, crossed with a swirl of emotions, contracted endlessly as they tried to take in a single person.
All that could be heard was the eerie wind and the occasional resonant rupture of the atmosphere. Yet the music of nature, intertwined with beating hearts, lent grandeur to the astonishing sight before their eyes.
"...The Lance of Longinus?"
"Why is that sacred spear there..."
Hugo was not the only one gripped by those emotions. All the battalion commanders watching the descent couldn’t take their eyes off it, as if in a trance.
Goosebumps rose along their skin and ran down their spines, making them shudder. In the many pairs of eyes washed with overflowing gold, a sacred and unapproachable being was reflected.
At that moment, Hugo felt a subtle tremor at his fingertips. His blue eyes, sensing something ominous, naturally shifted to the mother body pinned at the center of the Pentagon.
There was no notable movement from the creature, but the magnetic force lines shook again as the commanders’ concentration slipped. Sensing the danger, Hugo shouted orders to his comrades above.
"Everyone, focus on your role! Don’t waver!"
As the Commander’s shout cut through the air, those who had been blankly staring at the sky turned their eyes back to the mother body. As Isabella glanced down, her view caught a bizarre form that had already crept within arm’s reach.
"Commander, below-!"
She shouted toward Hugo beneath them, her voice suddenly tinged with shock. Hearing it, Hugo’s gaze snapped down to his feet.
There, a horde of monsters that had been crawling up to reach their queen was swarming in silence. They climbed over one another at a frantic pace, crushing each other’s heads. Like a surging whirlpool, they built a jagged tower, raising its height in the blink of an eye.
Hugo, grasping the situation, flicked his eyes up and down. With an anxious expression, he had no choice but to unwind the mana threads wrapped around both arms.
Then, after rewrapping the threads tightly around his left arm alone, he stretched his freed right hand toward the monsters below. The creatures were faster than expected, and at this rate, it seemed they would reach the queen first.
Hoping it wouldn’t affect the sealing magic tied to him, he instantly drew a frost-like chill from his entire body. His pupils, holding light like blue flashes, flickered ominously in the darkness.
"Ice Age."
Dung-
A heavy rupturing sound rang out with Hugo’s voice. Simultaneously, a transparent sphere fired from his hand.
It crushed and collapsed the vanguard of the ascending monster horde in a single blow. Ear-splitting cries echoed across the area, and the creatures clambering up the tower of their own kind tumbled helplessly to the bottom like leaves.
The sphere, widening its reach as the monsters fell, instantly froze the surrounding ground solid. As if an ice age had come to the volcanic zone, the temperature of the entire area flipped, and white frost settled everywhere. The frost sealed everything within a 3 km radius, as if stopping time itself—including the climbing monsters.
However, from the aftermath of the powerful mana he had unleashed so suddenly, that shock was transmitted in full to the connected commanders as well. As a tingling sensation ran through their arms, pained groans burst out here and there, even as they tried not to show it.
And at that moment, on the eve of the final act of this long battle, the countdown to the final showdown began.
