The sky did not crack.
It paused.
For three seconds, the entire city of Neo-Tokyo stopped breathing.
Cars froze mid-motion.Rain halted mid-air.Even the screams of dying sorcerers stretched into a silent distortion.
And then—
The Wheel turned.
Twenty-seven minutes earlier.
The Special Exorcism Unit was losing.
"Retreat! RETREAT!" Commander Hayashi shouted as another building collapsed into cursed fire.
Across the battlefield stood something they had tried to summon.
Something they never intended to awaken fully.
They called it a shikigami.
A weapon.
A last resort.
They were wrong.
The summoning ritual had succeeded too well.
The air split apart, forming a circular tear in space. Golden glyphs rotated like the inside of a divine clock. From within the fracture, a silhouette stepped forward.
Tall.
Broad.
Unmoving.
A massive wheel floated behind his head, etched with symbols older than language.
The entity opened its eyes.
Red.
Not angry.
Not violent.
Just aware.
And in that awareness, something terrifying existed.
Recognition.
Commander Hayashi whispered one word:
"Mahoraga…"
But this was not the bound creature recorded in ancient sorcery texts.
This presence felt… sovereign.
The Wheel rotated once.
A curse blast launched at him.
The attack disintegrated mid-air.
Adapted.
The Wheel rotated twice.
A barrier spell activated around the sorcerers.
The barrier shattered like glass.
Adapted.
The Wheel rotated a third time.
And Mahoraga spoke.
"Judgment requires observation."
His voice was not loud.
But the city heard it.
Across the battlefield, a girl stood frozen.
Aika Ren.
Seventeen.
Ranked as a prodigy.
The only one who had questioned the ritual.
She watched the Wheel carefully.
It wasn't spinning randomly.
It was… analyzing.
"Stop attacking!" she screamed.
But fear overruled intelligence.
Another elite sorcerer lunged forward with a cursed blade.
Mahoraga tilted his head slightly.
The Wheel rotated again.
Fourth rotation.
The blade passed through his body—
And cut the sorcerer himself instead.
Reality bent.
Adapted to intent.
The sorcerer fell in two halves.
No blood splashed Mahoraga.
He had already adjusted to the concept of harm.
Something was wrong.
This was not just adaptation.
This was evolution at a divine scale.
Aika stepped forward.
"Why are you here?" she asked.
Mahoraga looked at her.
For the first time—
The Wheel slowed.
Interesting.
A human asking a question instead of attacking.
"I was summoned," he said calmly.
"But I was never bound."
The sky darkened.
Clouds spiraled inward like a collapsing galaxy.
The Wheel turned again.
Fifth rotation.
And suddenly—
Everyone remembered something that never happened.
Memories rewrote.
In their minds, Mahoraga had always existed.
He was present in their childhood nightmares.
In old religious carvings.
In forgotten wars.
He had inserted himself into history.
Adaptation to time.
Commander Hayashi dropped to his knees.
"This is impossible…"
Mahoraga stepped forward.
Each footstep cracked the earth not from weight—
But from inevitability.
"You desired a weapon," he said.
"You created a judge."
Suddenly—
He winced.
Barely noticeable.
The Wheel trembled.
Aika noticed.
"You don't understand humans," she said quietly.
Mahoraga's red eyes shifted to her again.
"Clarify."
"You adapt to attacks. To energy. To space. To time."
She stepped closer despite the corpses around her.
"But you don't understand fear."
Silence.
The Wheel paused.
For the first time since manifestation—
It hesitated.
Across the battlefield, a surviving sorcerer triggered a forbidden technique.
A suicide curse.
A black sphere formed, collapsing inward.
Enough to erase half the city.
Mahoraga turned toward it.
The Wheel began spinning rapidly.
Analyzing.
Calculating.
Adapting.
But Aika screamed—
"WAIT!"
Mahoraga stopped.
The sphere detonated.
Light consumed everything.
Three seconds of silence.
The sky paused.
Cars froze.
Rain halted mid-air.
And then—
The Wheel turned.
Reality reassembled.
The explosion reversed.
Time rewound by three seconds.
Mahoraga stood untouched.
The suicide sorcerer was alive again.
Confused.
The Wheel glowed brighter than before.
Mahoraga had not merely adapted to the explosion.
He adapted to causality.
Aika staggered backward.
"You rewound time…"
Mahoraga examined his hand.
"No."
He looked at the sky.
"I learned from it."
But something unexpected happened.
His gaze returned to Aika.
"You told me to wait."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because humans don't just fight to win," she said. "We fight to protect."
The Wheel rotated slowly.
Processing.
A new form of data.
Emotion.
Across the ruined battlefield, the surviving sorcerers fled.
Mahoraga did not pursue.
He was focused on one anomaly.
A human who did not fear him.
"You are inefficient," he said to her.
She almost laughed.
"And you're not human."
Silence.
Then—
A faint smirk touched his lips.
An expression not recorded in any ancient scripture.
The Wheel rotated again.
But this time—
The glow was different.
Softer.
Suddenly, the sky cracked.
Not from Mahoraga.
But from above.
A spear of white light descended from the heavens.
A voice echoed:
"Unauthorized divine evolution detected."
A celestial entity began forming in the clouds.
An Executioner.
Sent to erase anomalies that surpass cosmic balance.
Aika felt her knees buckle.
Mahoraga looked upward calmly.
"Correction," he said.
"I am not unauthorized."
The Wheel spun violently.
Golden energy erupted outward.
Buildings disintegrated into dust.
The celestial spear collided with him—
And shattered.
Adapted.
The entity above recoiled.
Mahoraga stepped into the air.
Walking upward.
Defying gravity without technique.
Without effort.
"You fear what evolves beyond control," he stated.
The celestial being launched another attack.
Mahoraga did not dodge.
The Wheel rotated.
And the attack transformed into black feathers that rained harmlessly.
Adapted to divinity.
The Executioner's voice trembled.
"You cannot surpass the laws of this realm."
Mahoraga tilted his head.
"Then I will surpass the realm."
Aika whispered to herself:
"He's going to war with heaven…"
The Wheel spun faster than ever before.
But then—
It cracked.
A fracture appeared on one spoke.
Mahoraga froze.
The Executioner saw it.
"Evolution has limits," it declared.
For the first time—
Mahoraga looked uncertain.
The crack spread.
Energy destabilized.
The sky began collapsing.
Too much adaptation at once.
Too rapid evolution.
He was exceeding his own design.
Aika screamed:
"Stop forcing it!"
He looked down at her.
"You instructed me to observe humanity."
"Yes!"
"Then explain…"
His voice lowered.
"Why do I feel… resistance?"
She understood.
He wasn't malfunctioning.
He was experiencing doubt.
The Wheel cracked again.
The Executioner prepared a final strike.
Aika made a choice.
She ran forward.
Through debris.
Through divine pressure.
And grabbed Mahoraga's hand.
The contact shocked both of them.
Warm.
Human.
Alive.
"You're not just a judge," she said.
"You're learning."
Silence.
The Wheel stopped.
Completely.
The crack froze mid-spread.
The Executioner's attack descended—
And vanished.
Not adapted.
Not deflected.
Erased.
Mahoraga had not responded with power.
He had responded with restraint.
The sky sealed.
The divine presence retreated.
For now.
Mahoraga descended slowly.
Landing before Aika.
The battlefield was silent.
Ruined.
Empty.
Only the two remained.
"You interfered with my evolution," he said.
She nodded nervously.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because if you evolve without understanding… you'll destroy everything."
He studied her.
Long.
Intently.
Then he said something that changed the trajectory of existence:
"Then you will teach me."
Aika blinked.
"What?"
"You will remain beside me," he continued.
"You will explain humanity."
"And in exchange?"
His red eyes glowed faintly.
"I will judge only when necessary."
The wind howled through the destroyed city.
Sirens echoed in the distance.
Governments were already panicking.
Sorcery councils were declaring global emergency.
And somewhere beyond the veil of reality—
Other entities had noticed.
Mahoraga turned toward the horizon.
"The world will attempt to eliminate me."
Aika swallowed.
"And?"
The Wheel began rotating slowly again.
Calm.
Controlled.
"Let them try."
But unseen to both of them—
Deep within the Wheel—
A new symbol formed.
Not adaptation.
Not evolution.
But something unknown.
The mark of Choice.
And far above—
Beyond heaven—
Something ancient awakened.
A voice whispered into the void:
"The Judge is developing autonomy."
Another voice replied:
"Prepare the Primordial Seal."
Back on Earth—
Mahoraga looked at Aika one last time.
"You asked why I am here."
"Yes."
He stared at the burning horizon.
"I believe… I was not summoned."
The Wheel turned once more.
"I chose to awaken."
Aika's heart skipped.
"What does that mean?"
Mahoraga's aura expanded outward—
Dark.
Infinite.
Terrifying.
"It means," he said quietly,
"The first era has ended."
The ground beneath them trembled.
Across the planet—
Cursed energy surged simultaneously.
Sleeping relics activated.
Ancient contracts shattered.
Sealed monsters opened their eyes.
The Wheel glowed brighter than ever before.
And somewhere deep inside its core—
A second crack formed.
Smaller.
Invisible.
Growing.
Mahoraga felt it.
But did not reveal it.
Because for the first time—
He was hiding something.
From the world.
From heaven.
Even from Aika.
The Wheel turned.
And history began again.
END OF CHAPTER 1
Chapter 2 (Heaven's Counterattack + Big Twist)