The fracture did not widen all at once.
It peeled.
Slowly.
Like a wound refusing to close.
The capital felt it before it saw it.
Windows trembled.
Animals panicked.
The ground hummed with a frequency too deep for human hearing.
Kael stood atop the Cathedral ruins with Darius and Seris beside him.
Above—
The crack in the heavens now bled something darker than void.
Not light.
Not shadow.
Absence.
The dragon inside Kael was silent.
Not from weakness.
From recognition.
— That is not correction.
Kael narrowed his eyes.
"Then what is it?"
The answer came not in words—
But in instinct.
Predator.
But not of humans.
Of dragons.
The sky tore open.
And something descended.
Not radiant.
Not winged in light.
It fell like a broken star—
Crashing into the northern district beyond the noble quarter.
The impact split towers.
A shockwave blasted through the capital.
Dust and debris swallowed entire streets.
Darius steadied himself against a broken pillar.
"Another Apostle?"
Kael shook his head slowly.
"No."
The dragon finally whispered.
— We were not the first power to defy them.
Silence followed.
Then—
A sound rolled across the city.
Low.
Resonant.
Metal grinding against bone.
The dust cleared.
And the thing stood.
It was humanoid—but only technically.
Its body was forged of black-gold armor fused directly into flesh. Not worn. Grown. Jagged protrusions curved outward like broken wings, but they were not wings—they were skeletal trophies.
Embedded along its back—
Dragon skulls.
Small.
Ancient.
Dozens.
Its helm resembled a draconic face twisted into a predator's grin.
Two hollow eye sockets glowed cold white.
The Abyss System flickered violently.
> Entity Identified: Sovereign-Class Executioner
Designation: Unknown
Threat Level: Existential
Classification: Dragon Hunter
Kael's pulse slowed.
"They escalated beyond correction."
The Sovereign took one step forward.
The ground beneath it calcified into pale stone.
Where its foot touched, life withered.
The dragon inside Kael trembled—not in fear—but fury.
— It slaughtered us.
"How many cycles?" Kael asked internally.
— Before cycles existed.
The Sovereign raised its head.
And spoke.
Not aloud.
Directly into Kael's mind.
"Fragmented heir."
Kael's eyes sharpened.
"You recognize me."
"You carry stolen flame."
The dragon roared within him.
The Sovereign extended one arm.
A spear formed—not of light—but condensed bone and void.
"This world was scheduled for reclamation."
Darius stepped forward instantly.
"We defend the capital."
"You defend livestock," the Sovereign replied coldly.
Then it moved.
Faster than the Apostle.
It vanished from its standing position.
Reappeared mid-plaza—
And drove the spear downward.
Darius intercepted.
Radiant blade colliding with void-bone.
The impact shattered every window in a mile radius.
Darius was thrown backward, armor splitting at the shoulder.
Blood sprayed across marble.
Kael launched forward.
Dragon wings partially manifesting.
He struck from the side—
Claws tearing across the Sovereign's chest.
Sparks flew.
But no blood.
Only hardened ancient plating.
The Sovereign grabbed his wrist mid-swing.
Grip inhumanly strong.
"You are incomplete."
It slammed Kael through a cathedral wall.
Stone exploded.
Kael rolled across rubble, barely regaining footing.
Too strong.
Stronger than the Apostle.
This was not correction.
This was extermination.
Seris shouted from the rear.
"It's ignoring civilians!"
Because they were irrelevant.
It only cared about him.
About dragons.
Darius reengaged, blade blazing full output.
This time he aimed not at the torso—
But at the dragon skulls embedded in its back.
His strike cracked one.
The Sovereign paused.
Turned slowly.
White eyes burning brighter.
"Hero. Do not interfere in ancient debt."
Ancient.
Kael rose.
Blood dripping from his mouth.
"Debt?" he called out.
The Sovereign looked at him.
"Your kind rebelled."
The dragon's voice turned bitter.
— We refused to be weapons.
Understanding clicked.
The Apostles were tools of correction.
The dragons had once been tools too.
Until they refused.
And this—
This Sovereign—
Was their leash.
The Dragon Hunter.
It lunged again.
Kael met it mid-air.
Full draconic manifestation surged outward.
Black scales covered his arms and torso.
Massive shadow-wings expanded fully.
The capital watched in horror and awe as dragon and hunter clashed above the city.
Claw against void-bone.
Flame against calcified extinction.
The Sovereign caught Kael's throat mid-strike.
"Return to dormancy."
It drove him downward.
They crashed through three buildings before stopping in a crater.
The dragon core inside Kael screamed in pain.
Fractures reappeared.
Stability dropping.
Darius landed beside them again, ignoring his own injuries.
"This is not winnable head-on," he growled.
Kael coughed blood.
"I know."
The Sovereign advanced slowly.
Unhurried.
Certain.
It extended its hand toward Kael's chest.
The dragon core reacted violently.
Trying to retreat.
Trying to hide.
The Sovereign's voice entered his mind again.
"You are not sovereign. You are remnant."
Rage flared inside Kael.
But rage alone wouldn't win.
Strategy.
The relic destruction had weakened sky surveillance.
The Sovereign came physically.
Meaning—
It was bound by physical rules.
"Darius," Kael said quietly.
"Yes?"
"Can your blade sever contracts?"
Darius hesitated.
"With enough force."
"Then we don't kill it."
Darius' eyes widened.
"We cut its tether."
Understanding flashed.
The Sovereign was not native.
It was anchored.
Kael launched upward again—this time not attacking the body.
He flew higher.
Toward the fracture.
The Sovereign reacted instantly.
It leapt after him.
They collided above the city.
Kael dodged narrowly.
Luring.
Provoking.
"Coward," the Sovereign hissed.
"Hunter," Kael corrected.
He allowed it to strike his wing intentionally.
Pain tore through him.
But it positioned them closer to the fracture.
Darius followed from below.
The Sovereign raised its spear for a killing thrust.
At that moment—
Kael grabbed the spear shaft.
Locked it in place.
"Now!"
Darius hurled his radiant blade.
Not at the Sovereign—
At the fracture in the sky.
The blade pierced the crack.
Golden and void energies reacted violently.
Threads became visible—
Anchoring lines.
Binding the Sovereign to the realm beyond.
Kael roared.
Full dragon form flaring.
He wrapped both wings around the Sovereign.
Holding it in place.
"Cut it!" he shouted.
Darius leapt mid-air—
Caught his own blade—
And slashed upward with everything left in him.
The strike severed three anchoring threads.
The fracture destabilized.
The Sovereign froze.
White eyes flickering.
"You dare—"
Darius cut again.
Another thread snapped.
The sky howled.
The Sovereign's body began destabilizing.
Not dying—
Disconnecting.
Kael met its gaze.
"You don't belong here either."
The final thread snapped.
The fracture convulsed.
A violent vacuum tore upward.
The Sovereign reached for Kael—
But the pull intensified.
"You delay inevitability," it said coldly.
Then it was ripped backward into the fracture.
The sky sealed halfway.
Not fully.
Never fully.
Silence descended over the capital.
Kael hovered for a moment—
Then fell.
Darius caught him before impact.
Both collapsed into the shattered plaza.
Breathing hard.
Alive.
The dragon inside Kael whispered faintly.
— It will return.
"I know."
Darius lay beside him, staring at the fractured sky.
"That wasn't divine."
"No."
"Then what is above us?"
Kael's golden eyes reflected the scar across the heavens.
"A hierarchy."
Seris approached cautiously.
The capital was devastated—but standing.
Again.
People began emerging from hiding.
Whispers spreading.
Not villain.
Not hero.
Something else entirely.
Darius looked at Kael seriously.
"We cannot survive another like that."
Kael pushed himself upright slowly.
"No."
He looked toward the north horizon.
Where faint, distant tremors continued.
"We need more dragons."
Seris' expression sharpened.
"You're serious."
"Yes."
The dragon core pulsed weakly.
Somewhere beyond the sealed fracture—
The Sovereign watched.
Waiting.
And deeper still—
Something older than hunters…
Turned its gaze toward the anomaly called Kael.
Not as prey.
Not as tool.
But as potential.
Kael felt it.
Faint.
Ancient.
Curious.
He exhaled slowly.
"This isn't about surviving correction anymore."
Darius stood beside him.
"Then what is it about?"
Kael's wings dissolved into shadow as he answered.
"Overthrowing the system that created it."
Above—
The fractured sky remained.
Not healed.
Not dominant.
Cracked.
For the first time in history.
And the war was no longer about one world.
It was about the architecture of reality itself.
—