The battlefield fell into an unnatural silence.
The Judges remained suspended above the city, their crowns of stars rotating in perfect synchronization. The crimson Rift pulsed behind them like an open wound in the heavens, casting a blood-red glow over the ruined skyline.
Kael stood motionless.
The black blade in his hand emitted a low hum that seemed to resonate with the heartbeat of the world itself.
Ari felt the sound in his chest before he heard it with his ears.
"What is that?" he whispered.
Leon swallowed hard.
"The Blade of Ending."
"It doesn't just cut matter."
"It cuts conclusions."
Ari frowned.
"I don't understand."
"You will."
Kael slowly raised the sword.
The movement was calm, almost lazy, yet every Judge shifted backward at the same time.
They were retreating.
Not because they had been ordered.
Because instinct demanded it.
The armored warrior standing beside Kael let out a quiet sigh.
"You always did have a talent for terrifying things older than time."
Kael didn't answer.
His eyes remained fixed on the Judge that had struck him moments earlier.
"You aimed for my family."
His voice carried no anger.
That frightened Ari more than shouting ever could.
The Judge answered without emotion.
"They are designated anomalies."
"They increase instability."
"They will eventually threaten existence."
Kael nodded once.
"I know."
The Judge paused.
"You acknowledge the prediction."
"I do."
"Then why defend them?"
Kael's expression softened for the briefest moment.
"Because predictions don't raise children."
The Judge remained silent.
"They don't laugh."
"They don't cry."
"They don't choose."
Kael took another step forward.
"They only calculate."
The Judge lifted both hands.
The stars above its crown separated, transforming into seven massive rings that rotated around its body.
"Calculation is superior to emotion."
Kael smiled faintly.
"That's why you keep losing."
Without another word, he disappeared.
The Judge reacted instantly.
Thousands of shields formed around it.
Kael's blade touched the first shield.
It vanished.
The second disappeared.
Then the third.
Every defensive layer dissolved the instant the black blade brushed against it.
There was no explosion.
No resistance.
It was as though the sword simply informed reality that those shields had never existed.
The Judge attempted to retreat.
Kael was already there.
Their clash shook the entire battlefield.
The Judge swung a massive arm forged from compressed starlight.
Kael leaned slightly to the side.
The attack missed him by inches.
His sword traced a single black arc through the air.
One of the Judge's arms slid silently from its shoulder.
The severed limb remained suspended for a heartbeat before breaking apart into countless fragments of fading light.
For the first time since arriving on Earth—
The Judge cried out.
Its voice echoed through every layer of reality.
Every remaining Judge turned toward the sound.
Every Herald froze.
The Seven Rulers, watching from beyond the Rift, leaned forward in silence.
"He damaged a Judge's true form," one of them said.
"Impossible," another replied.
The eldest ruler slowly closed his eyes.
"No."
"I warned you."
"The First Hunter never fights to overpower his enemies."
"He fights to end them."
Below, Ari stared at the battlefield in disbelief.
"He cut it..."
Leon nodded.
"And that wasn't its physical body."
"It was its existence."
Ari looked at Kael with new understanding.
The title of First Hunter wasn't earned because he was the strongest.
It was earned because no enemy survived once he decided the battle was over.
The wounded Judge retreated toward the Rift, its missing arm already beginning to regenerate.
The process was painfully slow.
Kael noticed.
"So."
"They can heal."
The armored warrior chuckled.
"That's disappointing."
"I was hoping they had learned."
"They never do," Kael replied.
The remaining Judges spread across the sky, forming a vast circle around the city.
Their voices merged into one.
"Authority synchronization complete."
"Permission granted."
"Release the Warden."
The Rift trembled violently.
The crimson light faded into absolute darkness.
A pressure unlike anything before descended upon the battlefield.
Even the Judges lowered their heads.
The darkness inside the Rift slowly moved.
Not forward.
Downward.
Two enormous crimson eyes opened within the void.
They were so large they seemed capable of swallowing entire mountain ranges.
A gigantic silhouette emerged, wrapped in chains that stretched endlessly into the darkness behind it.
Every step it took caused reality to fracture.
The armored warrior's smile disappeared.
"...They brought him."
Kael tightened his grip on his sword.
"I was hoping they wouldn't."
Ari looked between them.
"Who is that?"
Neither man answered immediately.
Finally, Kael spoke.
"The Warden."
"The jailer of worlds."
The colossal figure stepped completely out of the Rift.
Unlike the Judges, its armor was black as endless night, covered in cracks glowing with molten crimson light.
A massive chained spear rested in one hand.
Its helmet concealed its face, but its burning eyes remained fixed on Kael.
For several long moments, neither moved.
Then the Warden slowly lifted its spear.
A deep voice echoed across heaven and earth.
"Kael Ryven."
The First Hunter raised his blade.
"It's been a long time."
The Warden tilted its head.
"I have come..."
Its grip tightened around the spear.
"...to finish the sentence you left incomplete."
The sky shattered as the Warden took its first step toward Earth.