The battle had just begun.
From beneath the earth, a hand burst forth, fingers twitching, clawing at the air like a revenant rising from its grave. Then—
PPING!
A sharp, unnatural sound cut through the battlefield.
BOOM!
The entire mountain vanished in an instant. A deafening explosion tore through the land, sending shockwaves across the horizon. Dust and debris churned into a maelstrom, devouring everything in sight.
And when the chaos settled, only one figure remained—standing atop what had once been a towering peak.
Alexander.
His silhouette loomed against the ruined landscape, his body untouched, his gaze burning with an intensity that made the air itself tremble. It was clear—this was no man to be buried.
This was a force of nature.
From the distance, a voice rang out, tinged with disbelief.
"You... survived that?"
Lucian.
Alexander smirked, rolling his shoulders as if shaking off dust was the only inconvenience. "Survive? That wasn't even a tickle."
Lucian's grip on his weapon tightened, knuckles turning white. The sheer absurdity of it gnawed at him—he had just erased a mountain, and yet Alexander stood there as if it were nothing more than a mild inconvenience.
"Tch… always running your mouth."
With a sharp exhale, Lucian vanished.
His blade descended like a comet, splitting the air with a deafening crack—
CLANG!
The strike stopped.
Not against Alexander's arm. Not against a weapon.
Against nothing.
The blade hovered inches from Alexander's throat, held back by an unseen force.
Lucian's eyes widened. "What the—?"
Alexander tilted his head. "See, that's your problem, Lucian. You're too fast, too aggressive."
He raised a single finger and tapped the air in front of him.
And then—
BOOM.
Lucian was gone.
A shockwave erupted, hurling him like a ragdoll. He crashed through the shattered battlefield, skidding across the ruins before slamming into what little remained of the landscape.
Silence.
Then, from the rubble, Lucian groaned. He forced himself up, coughing dust from his lungs. Blood trickled from his lip as he glared at the unmoving figure before him.
Alexander stood exactly where he had been. Unbothered.
Still smirking.
"So…" Alexander cracked his knuckles. "Still think that was enough to bury me?"
Lucian exhaled sharply, brushing a hand through his hair, pushing it back to reveal his forehead. His expression darkened.
"Ha... What was your name again?"
"Alexander. Alexander von Negther. You can call me 'Father.'"
Lucian's face twisted into a look of pure disappointment. "That's so cringe."
Alexander hesitated. "...Yeah. Gotta admit, that one didn't land."
Lucian sighed, shaking his head. "Seriously, man. All that buildup, and that's your big line?"
Alexander rubbed his temples. "Look, I panicked, okay?"
Lucian scoffed. "At least I know you're human after all. Too bad—" His stance shifted in an instant, his aura igniting like wildfire. "—I won't let you live long enough to regret it."
In a blink, Lucian vanished again.
No blade this time. No predictable strike.
Instead—
A sudden, violent implosion.
The ground beneath Alexander collapsed, folding in on itself.
The air distorted.
Lucian's killing intent struck like a tidal wave, crushing everything in its wake—
WHAM.
Lucian stopped mid-air.
Frozen.
Reality itself had betrayed him.
His breath hitched.
Alexander hadn't moved. He simply looked up at Lucian, mildly amused.
"Did you really think the same trick would work twice?"
Lucian gritted his teeth. His body refused to obey.
And yet—he moved.
His muscles tore with every step. Blood spilled from every wound, but he pushed forward, dragging himself against the invisible force.
Then—
"Kneel."
Lucian's voice echoed through the battlefield.
The weight of the command struck like a divine decree.
The force that held him down obeyed. Not by vanishing—but by kneeling itself.
And Alexander felt it.
A crushing, primal authority pressed down on him. His body and mind screamed to submit.
But his pride refused.
Across the realms, the effect was undeniable.
Every being in the Demon World and beyond collapsed to their knees.
Not in worship.
In Fear!
Alexander stood firm, gritting his teeth against the sheer force of Lucian's will.
His smirk returned. "Heh. Not bad."
This time, Lucian didn't vanish.
He simply walked forward, each step deliberate, like a hunter approaching prey that had already been caught.
The sky wept.
Rain poured down, cold and relentless, as if the battle itself had broken nature's rhythm. Water splattered against the ruined earth, trickling through the cracks left by their clash.
Alexander remained locked in place, his body betraying him, his knees trembling under the weight of Kneel. But he refused. His pride burned too fiercely to submit.
And yet—Lucian was already there.
The distance between them had disappeared.
They stood face to face, eyes locked, their gazes sharp as diamond.
Lucian smirked, his hair once again disheveled by the rain. A single droplet trailed down his cheek as he looked Alexander in the eyes.
"Farewell, Alexander von… uh—"
"Negther."
Lucian blinked. "Oh."
Then his smirk widened. "Farewell, Alexander von Negther."
His hand opened.
A fist hovered just inches from Alexander's chest.
A one-inch punch.
"No wa—"
Before Alexander could finish, Lucian struck.
The impact didn't ripple outward. It didn't explode in a grand shockwave.
This time, the force condensed.
A single point. A single strike.
And from Alexander's back—golden energy erupted.
The beam of energy was blinding.
It tore through buildings, mountains—even realms. The blast carved a path straight into the Beastkin lands, its sheer force rewriting the landscape in an instant.
But that was just the tip of the iceberg.
What others couldn't see was far more terrifying.
The beam didn't stop at the horizon.
It escaped the planet!
Ripping through the void, it defied all logic. It needed no medium to travel—it was the medium. The raw energy sustained itself, refusing to dissipate, as if existence itself bent to its will.
In mere moments, it had already left the solar system—a system of five planets, orbiting a sun far larger than the one seen from Earth.
Yet even that was insignificant.
The beam kept going Faster. Beyond the speed of light.
It was headed toward the great devourer of the universe.
A black hole.
Then—impact.
At first, there was nothing. No explosion. No blinding light. Just a deep, unnatural silence.
Then the universe shook.
Not the ground. Not the sky. The universe itself.
Space twisted. Reality bent. The sheer force of the collision didn't just rival the death of a star or the clash of planets—those were insects in comparison.
This wasn't destruction.
It was creation.
From the point of impact, a spiral began to form—growing, expanding, pulling matter into its orbit.
A galaxy was born.
Back to earth.
The impact on Alexander's stomach was massive, his clothes burned away, revealing his battle-scarred physique. His muscles tensed, his breath shallow, as golden embers flickered across his skin. The rain hissed against the searing heat of the blow, steam rising in ghostly wisps around him.
Lucian took a step back, shaking his hand. "Damn. That actually hurt my wrist."
Alexander exhaled, slow and controlled. His body hadn't moved an inch from the sheer force, but the internal damage was undeniable. He could feel it—his organs rattled, his ribs fractured, his very core trembling from the concentrated might of that single-inch strike.
And yet—he laughed.
"Heh."
Lucian raised a brow. "What's funny?"
Alexander rolled his shoulders, the motion sending another ripple of heat into the air. His smirk widened, even as blood dripped from his lips. "Just wondering..." He lifted his gaze, eyes burning with raw defiance. "Was that your best shot?"
Lucian's smirk twitched. "You tell me."
"Well, it did hurt quit- no. It hurt a lot. This is the first time someone has injured me this much"
"They don't call me the king for no reason."
Lucian chuckled as he heard Alexander's response. Though it was surprising he was still standing with that strike. He was injured, not just a little. It was actually if a little child had been hit by a truck. He was covered in red with somewhat blue blood all over his body.
There was one more thing, lucian was also heavily injured. He's left arm, which he had regenerated was no longer able to move. Blood was flooding from his nose and mouth.
"They both are insanely injured now, i don't think they should still fight." Magnus watching from the observation window stated.
As the battlefield trembled, the fractures in reality deepened. The glowing veins of energy pulsed erratically, as if something alive was forcing its way through.
Then—
SKREEEEEEECH.
A sound unlike anything heard before—an unholy mix of distorted whispers, guttural growls, and the howling void itself—ripped through existence.
From the largest crack, something emerged.
It didn't crawl, nor step—it simply was.
A shifting, incomprehensible mass of writhing tendrils and jagged, ever-changing limbs. Its "skin" was an abyssal black, yet somehow reflected an unnatural, sickly sheen, as though it wasn't truly part of this reality. Countless eyes—some humanoid, some inhuman, some far too alien to comprehend—blinked across its shifting body, all staring in different directions. Some at Alexander. Some at Lucian. Some… at things that weren't even there.
The air curdled around it, space itself screaming as if rejecting its presence. The ground beneath it did not exist—it did not stand on anything, yet it was here.
Alexander's smirk faded. Lucian's hands clenched, his breath sharp.
For the first time in their battle, an outside force had appeared.
"What the fu-" no no lucian. No cursing.
"What is that?!" Lucain questioned with his eyes meeting the gaze of countless of eyes.
Alexander set his thoughts straight and replied.
"It.. appeared from the crack, right? That's... A otherworlder.".
The Otherworlder loomed.
It did not breathe. It did not move. It simply was.
A being not of this world. Not of any world.
Its presence alone was a violation—an insult to reality itself. The ground beneath it warped, twisting in impossible directions, as though rejecting its very existence.
Lucian, despite the damage he had taken, clenched his fist. His instincts screamed at him to run. A king did not kneel, but before this thing, even his authority felt meaningless.
Alexander, despite his injuries, wiped the blood from his mouth and smirked. "You know, I thought this fight was already crazy..." He cracked his neck. "But this? This is on a whole different level."
Then—
The Otherworlder moved.
Not a step. Not a dash. Just movement.
One moment it was standing in the rupture. The next—
It was right there.
Its presence swallowed the space between them like a film reel skipping frames.
Lucian's breath hitched. He hadn't sensed movement. No shift in energy. No warning.
Alexander reacted. Instinct. Pure survival.
His fist shot forward, a punch carrying enough force to shatter planets—
It passed through.
The moment his knuckles connected, they phased through the creature's form as if punching through a mirage.
No impact. No resistance.
Just an abyssal void.
Then—
A thousand eyes blinked.
The world screamed.
A sound erupted, one that bypassed the ears and clawed directly into the mind. It was not a roar. Not a screech. Not a sound meant for mortal comprehension.
Lucian's knees nearly buckled. Alexander's vision blurred.
From above, Magnus cursed. "This is bad. That thing isn't just from another world. It's from outside reality itself."
The creature twisted.
Its tendrils lashed out.
Faster than light. Beyond time.
And then—
Everything stopped.
Not just movement. Not just energy.
Everything.
The air. The rain. The very concept of motion itself.
Alexander and Lucian were frozen—not by force, but by something even worse.
A law.
A commandment.
The Otherworlder was rewriting reality itself.
And at that moment, for the first time in their lives—
Lucian and Alexander felt fear.
Magnus, who was watching from the observer window was surprised. He looked beside and saw that both bob and Renaya were shaking in fear. Renata was buring her head on Bob's chest..... I suddenly feel angry at bob.
Magnus sighed "hey Myst, is that thing stronger than me?"
[Probably....not?]
"Guess not. Can I attack it from here?".
Myst hesitated for a moment before responding.
[If you attack from here, you might break the observer window.]
Magnus exhaled through his nose, rolling his eyes. "Okay, and if I go down there myself?"
[Then you might break reality first. And then the observer window.]
Bob, still trying to comfort Renaya (which I totally am NOT mad about), looked up with an uneasy expression. "Magnus… I hate to say this, but that thing is wrong. Even looking at it feels like it's rewriting my memories or something."
Renaya nodded, her voice muffled against Bob's chest. "It's like... it's not even moving, but I keep seeing it move in my head..."
Magnus scratched his head. "Huh. So it's like a messed-up visual bug in a game."
Bob's face twitched. "This isn't a joke, Magnus!"
"No, no, I mean it. If it's breaking reality just by existing, then normal logic doesn't apply to it." Magnus leaned forward, watching as Alexander and Lucian remained frozen, locked in the Otherworlder's grasp. "So, I just gotta ignore the rules too."
Bob blinked. "What?"
Suddenly magnus vanished from his throne....
"Where did he go?!" Renaya asked in confusion.
For all their strength, for all their power—against this thing, they were nothing.
Lucian's eyes flickered, muscles trembling as he tried to resist, but it was like trying to push against the weight of the universe itself.
Alexander, for once, wasn't smirking. His mind raced, grasping for a way out, but every instinct screamed the same thing.
This wasn't something he could punch.
This wasn't something he could fight.
This was something that shouldn't exist.
And yet, it did.
The Otherworlder pulsed, its form shifting between shapes, never staying the same for more than a moment. Tendrils twitched, eyes blinked in chaotic rhythms, and then—
Reality cracked again.
Not just space. Not just time.
But the fundamental rules of existence.
Colors inverted. The sky shattered like glass. Gravity ceased to matter, then overcorrected, slamming everything down before reversing again.
And in that moment—
A single voice rang out.
Clear. Calm. Unbothered.
"Alright, that's enough of that."
Time restarted.
Gravity stabilized.
And the Otherworlder—
Stopped.
Not because it chose to. Not because it was defeated.
But because someone had told it to.
Slowly, the creature turned.
And standing there, arms crossed, looking mildly irritated—
Was Magnus.
Lucian and Alexander gasped for breath, stumbling back as they regained control of their bodies. Every cell in their bodies screamed, every instinct still howling at them to run.
Yet Magnus stood there, completely relaxed, staring down the incomprehensible entity like it was an annoying customer at a coffee shop.
"You done?" he asked.
The Otherworlder didn't respond in words. It didn't need to.
The air warped. The stars flickered. The sheer concept of hostility radiated from it.
Magnus sighed. "Yeah, that's what I thought."
Then he raised a finger.
And flicked.
BOOM.
The entire battlefield—no, the entire world—shook.
A shockwave erupted, not of physical force, but of authority.
And the Otherworlder—
Flew.
Not backward. Not away.
Out.
Out of this world. Out of this reality.
Like it had been forcibly ejected from existence itself.
It didn't scream. Didn't resist.
Because it couldn't.
Because Magnus had decided it didn't belong here.
And so, it was gone.
Silence fell.
Lucian and Alexander could only stare. Their brains refused to process what had just happened.
An eldritch being—something that had twisted time, gravity, and reality itself—was gone. Not defeated in battle. Not sealed away. Just... dismissed.
Like a speck of dust brushed off Magnus's sleeve.
"...Hah." Lucian let out a breathless chuckle. His pride screamed at him to say something—anything—to reassert his superiority. But what could he even say?
Alexander, ever the scholar, trembled as he tried to comprehend it. "W-What... What did you do?"
Magnus, still looking at the air where the Otherworlder had been, yawned. "Kicked it out."
"Kicked it... out?"
"Yup. Thing wasn't supposed to be here. So I told it to leave." Magnus stretched his arms, letting out another lazy sigh. "Now, about this crack..."
They followed his gaze.
Hanging in the air was a jagged wound in reality itself. The space where the Otherworlder had been still shimmered with an unnatural distortion, leaking colors that shouldn't exist. The sky beyond it twisted and bled into itself, as if struggling to decide what it should be.
Lucian scowled. "Fixing it is your problem, isn't it?"
Magnus rubbed his chin. "Ehh, kinda. I mean, I could probably leave it alone, and it'd fix itself eventually. Probably. Might turn into a minor dimensional collapse, though. Sucks for anyone in the area."
Alexander turned pale. "'Minor dimensional collapse' is not a thing! That would be catastrophic!"
"Yeah, yeah," Magnus waved him off. "Alright, fine. Let's see here..."
He walked up to the crack and poked it.
It pulsed. The air around them twisted.
Lucian and Alexander braced themselves.
Magnus, on the other hand, just muttered, "...Huh. That's weird."
Alexander flinched. "What's weird?"
"This thing." Magnus tapped the crack again. "Feels like it's trying to... I dunno, merge with something else?"
Magnus suddenly grabbed the fabric of the crack and then the other one opposite to it, and pulled them back together. Fixing(?) the crack.
[Why are you always doing things the wrong way]
"Shortcuts".
The crack shimmered, resisting for a moment—then, with a faint shloop, it snapped shut like a zipper being yanked closed.
Lucian and Alexander blinked.
"Did... Did that actually work?" Alexander asked, sounding almost offended by the possibility.
Magnus dusted off his hands. "Yup."
Lucian scowled. "That shouldn't have worked."
"But it did," Magnus pointed out.
Alexander rubbed his temples. "That's not how spatial distortions are supposed to—You know what? Never mind. I don't want to think about it anymore."
"Smart choice," Magnus said with a nod. "Anyway, we're done here, right?"
Lucian crossed his arms. "Tch. For now." He turned on his heel. "I don't like it, but fine. Let's go."
Alexander sighed, shaking his head. "Agreed. Let's just....but i still won that fight."
"No i did!"
"Nah"
"Are they dumb?". Magnus said as he once again teleported, walking is such a pain.