"What are you planning to do..."
Zane stood quietly, watching from above as shells rained down on the Ethereal below.
This level of firepower—whether against the core Ethereal in the Cretan Hollow or the Dead End Butcher—was absolutely devastating.
A sharp whistle pierced the air. Two dazzling beams of blue-white light erupted from somewhere behind and to the side, shooting out at incredible speed. In the blink of an eye, they struck the Ethereal on the ground.
Arcs of electricity rippled across its hardened shell, crackling and twisting as intense electrical energy surged.
The massive Ethereal was forced to halt, shrinking back like a turtle into its shell.
But the rest of the swarm pressed forward. They had already closed much of the distance and were now clashing with the Staff Army in brutal close combat.
With their ranged advantage lost, the battlefield plunged into chaos. Ethereals of all kinds roamed everywhere.
The sheer number of Ethereals here rivaled that of over half the Dead End Hollow.
A piercing screech rang out, growing louder in Zane's ears. He looked up and spotted an incoming Ethereal, rushing toward him.
It resembled a pterosaur, its wings lined with Ether crystals of various colors, and a glowing "core" at its head.
But it wasn't flying of its own will—it was being forced.
With a heavy thud, it slammed into an aerial structure and got lodged inside. Moments later, it burst free and attempted to rejoin the fight—only to suddenly freeze mid-air.
Its body twisted as it spotted Zane. With a couple of powerful flaps, it shot toward him, its razor-sharp jaw like the tip of a spear aiming to pierce him.
"Coming after the spectator? What for?"
Zane sighed and raised his head. With a light clench of his hand, a massive palm formed from Ether crystals reached out and seized the Ethereal mid-charge.
He swung his arm, hurling the captured Ethereal through the air. This time, it wasn't so lucky.
It smashed through several buildings in succession before being impaled on a jutting iron beam. Its body was pierced clean through, and the Ether energy clinging to it detonated instantly.
Within seconds, the ice shards dissipated, and the creature disintegrated into a haze of colorful light, leaving nothing behind.
The death energy surged into Zane's body. Insignificant as it was, it was something—better than nothing.
Suddenly, a strange fluctuation drifted down from above.
Zane sensed it and looked up. Several fighter jets were gliding steadily overhead, each carrying an unusual rectangular object.
His eyes didn't focus on the aircraft but were drawn instead to the dark rectangular object beneath them. A strange feeling stirred inside him.
Raising his hand, he noticed threads of Ether energy straining to break free, as if being pulled toward the object. The force tugging at them came from that very same black rectangle.
But Zane's tight grip on his own power held them in check. As the object flew farther away, the Ether threads calmed.
"What the hell is that thing?"
He frowned. This was something he'd never encountered before.
"These Jian 20 look nothing like the four from earlier… It's like a tiger with its fangs pulled."
From where he stood, Zane could clearly see the difference. The missile systems and weapon modules had been removed from these jets.
Even the exhaust flames from the twelve Jian 20 were smaller and darker than the previous ones.
"Heading to the battlefield, huh? That thing definitely isn't ordinary."
Watching as the dark speck shrank in the distance, Zane felt a strong curiosity rise.
He stood up and began channeling Ether energy, forming a staircase of Ether crystals beneath his feet, drawing closer to the battlefield.
This would give him a better view—and make it easier to witness what would come next.
Step by step, he ascended through the air, walking as if on a road sent down from the heavens.
Each step formed and gathered underfoot, carrying him forward at a leisurely pace.
…
At the same time, not all the pilots aboard those twelve jets missed Zane's presence. The distance hadn't been that far, and while their weapons had been removed, their detection systems were still intact.
"You mean the guy up in the sky ruins just now?"
Hearing the voice over the comms, the lead pilot responded immediately.
"My system picked him up too. But it's not part of our mission. No need to get involved."
"We only need to focus on our objective."
His voice echoed across the channels. The other eleven pilots confirmed in unison.
Just as he said, their priority was transporting and successfully activating the item they carried—the one called the "Black Coffin."
After that brief exchange, silence returned. But then, a harsh burst of static cut through the comms, and the pilots' expressions grew serious.
"Verify identity. Confirm the defector!"
The order was immediate. Within seconds, they identified the missing fighter and its pilot.
Turns out, they'd failed to avoid a sudden spatial rift and had been warped to another part of Hollow Zero.
The static was simply a result of the communication link breaking due to the distance.
"Switch to Formation 11. Secure the Black Coffin."
The Annihilation-20s shifted positions mid-air, quickly forming a new formation. The lead pilot remained calm—this scenario had been anticipated.
The jets were top-tier, and their pilots experienced enough to handle Ethereals and spatial anomalies alike. But under the current circumstances, they were operating under heavy restrictions.
There was no way around it.
"The path ahead's even more unstable. I wonder which of us will be the so-called 'lucky ones' in the end."
"Haha, maybe it'll be us two old timers. Gotta go out with a bang before retirement!"
"What, weren't you planning to see your granddaughter and build up that grandfatherly bond? Changed your mind?"
"Haha, well, these kids don't even have daughters yet. Sure, I used to dream of a quiet retirement. Been working in Hollow Zero for over twenty years. Back in the old capital days…"
"Alright, alright. Spare me the glory days speech—my ears are bleeding."
"You're such a buzzkill!"
"What, you want me to ramble on from start to finish?"
…
On the ground, the battle raged fiercely. Zane watched everything unfold from above, standing atop floating rubble in the sky, not far from the aerial combat mechs.
The air was thick with Ethereals in flight, swarming close by, yet neither they nor the humans had noticed him.
A faint veil of ice mirrors shimmered around him, concealing his presence amidst the chaos.
"Hm?"
Zane had been focused on the Staff Army tightening their encirclement below, when a disturbance from another direction caught his attention. He turned to look.
Over a thousand meters away, a high-rise building collapsed with a thunderous crash. Zane narrowed his eyes, catching sight of an agile fighter jet darting through the sky.
The rebels had clashed with the Staff Army over there.
After extended observation, Zane had a clear grasp of the situation. The people he was looking for weren't here on this battlefield.
If they weren't here and trouble had broken out over there, the answer was obvious.
Still, Zane didn't rush to head over.
The battlefield before him was far more fascinating.
"Obol Squad... With this kind of combat strength, the old me would've stood no chance in a head-on fight."
From what he'd seen, Zane had made up his mind.
Back in the Cretan Hollow, he definitely couldn't have handled a human force like this. In the Dead End Hollow, direct confrontation was also out of the question.
Even during the Lamia Hollow period, when he could at least fight head-on, his chances of winning had been slim.
But now, with two Hollows under his command, if he went all out...
Zane eyed the massive war machines and the flawlessly coordinated troops. He frowned.
Hard to say.
"The Staff Army really is strong... Worthy of being the pillar of the Defense Forces."
And this was just the Obol Squad.
There was no doubt the entire Staff Army numbered far more.
Zane turned his gaze from the battlefield toward the depths of the Hollow, thoughts racing.
What secrets lay buried in Hollow Zero, where the entire Staff Army had been trapped with no way out? Just how powerful was it?
He couldn't wait to find out.
Reining in his thoughts, he refocused on the battlefield and raised an eyebrow.
Because of the sheer number of combatants and the wide encirclement, many Ethereals had already broken through, heading in his direction.
"Letting Ethereals breach the line? What's that one thinking?"
The image of Xin appeared in Zane's mind. As the top commander of this operation, what exactly was her plan?
Sensing through the Cretan Hollow, Zane pinpointed where the Nocturne were—Xin was over there.
"That far?"
He glanced back. That location was a good distance from the battlefield.
"Unless..."
Piecing together what he knew, Zane formed a theory. He turned his gaze back to the massive Ethereal on the ground, towering like a mountain.
Could that be the true target?
If the Ethereals breaching the line were just a distraction, this whole approach started to make sense.
But... how did the Obol Squad plan to handle such a high-risk Ethereal?
Throw bodies and firepower at it?
No. That wasn't it...
Zane shook his head. Knowing Xin, she was far too calculating to resort to such a blunt method.
But if it involved something... unconventional...
His eyes narrowed. A thought struck him.
That strange black rectangular object.
That squadron of Jian 20 heading to the battlefield—completely unarmed.
Zane looked skyward.
Human mechs, Ethereals... No—still up there.
Sure enough, he spotted the jets and the black rectangular object below them. The formation had dwindled to ten aircraft.
"Are the aerial units escorting the fighter formation upward?"
From what he could see, nearly twenty mechs—essentially the bulk of the aerial forces—were flanking the jets, blocking any Ethereals from getting close.
"Not looking good... Nineveh's on the move."
Zane now truly looked like a spectator—calmly "watching" the evolving scene while commenting like an observer.
In the sky, Nineveh surged forward, her massive body barreling toward the formation, aiming to smash through the entire group.
The escorting mechs noticed immediately. Half of them split off to intercept her.
The Ethereals around Nineveh weren't idle either. As the mechs approached, they dove in to clash with them.
Nineveh's core pulsed, gathering Ether energy, and then unleashed a shockwave.
The mechs were blown apart. She wasn't as terrifying as the monster on the ground, but compared to the Staff Army, she was no weakling.
A dozen mechs weren't enough to stop her.
Still, despite knowing that, the mechs charged again. They weren't trying to stop her—they just needed to stall her.
Delaying was enough!
One by one, the mechs fell.
Some were ripped to shreds midair by Ethereals. Others crashed to the ground, bursting into flames.
For every fallen mech, another took its place. Relentless. No one wavered.
The combat mechs paid in wreckage, but their sacrifice worked. Nineveh was forced to halt midair, struggling even to move forward.
Finally, with only seven mechs remaining, the fighter formation gained distance, carrying the black rectangular object into the sky—far from Nineveh's reach.
Seizing the moment, the jets shifted formation. With the black rectangular object in tow, they ascended like rockets, shooting straight upward.
Their exhaust trailed behind like the tails of shooting stars.
"Let's see what all this cost is buying you."
Zane's voice was low. He didn't doubt the Staff Army's regard for its soldiers—a unit with this level of combat prowess was beyond question.
But that last clash had already cost the aerial forces dearly.
His tone grew serious, and anticipation surged within him—driven by a deep curiosity about the unknown.
...
"It's already begun..."
Inside the camp, Xin stared at the now-defunct signal limiter in front of her. She understood—the Black Coffin had been activated.
The fate of this battle would be decided from here on out.
With that thought, she left the camp and climbed to the rooftop of a crumbling high-rise, looking out toward the battlefield.
She used no equipment or enhancements. As a result, she couldn't see much at all.
Still, she waited quietly.
A faint rustle came from the shadows nearby. Xin raised an eyebrow, surprised—it wasn't an Ethereal, just a small black cat.
"How did a little guy like that get into the Hollow?"
She wondered if her eyes were playing tricks on her. But after rubbing them, the black cat was still there, calmly perched in place.
It looked completely at ease.
"What's that little orb?"
Xin noticed a black sphere floating beside the cat and grew curious. She'd seen similar things before—sometimes as toys, props, even weapons.
But something like this floating beside a cat? That was odd.
"Hey, Little Black, come here..."
She crouched down, smiling gently, trying to coax the black cat over to get a closer look.
But the cat just glanced at her, then turned its head with a clear air of disdain.
Please. Back home, Zane and the friendly bunch could call it "Little Black" all they wanted—it didn't mind, because they were friends.
But out in the field? At the very least, it should be addressed properly as Lord Nocturne!
It wasn't about pride—it was about preserving Zane's dignity!
The cat gave a soft meow, then nimbly leapt off the edge of the building and vanished from view.
Xin's eyes flickered slightly. Did she just get snubbed?
She quietly committed the moment to memory, then stood up and turned back toward the battlefield.
That cat was odd, sure. But everything else could wait.
...
The little black cat, having jumped from the top of the twenty-plus-story building, was now wandering through the interior floors, occasionally glancing at the small black orb floating beside it.
That same orb had just led it to meet the winged woman earlier.
Nocturne didn't know what the orb's purpose was, but he knew it belonged to Zane. So he didn't resist its guidance.
Now that that business was done, he looked curiously around the level, meandering here and there.
In the corners of the floor, several floating Ethereals lingered in silence. Their eyes were locked on the black cat—the only living creature in sight—but none dared to move.
To them, the black orb orbiting around Nocturne was something terrifying, setting off deep instincts to stay away.
Unfortunately for them, the little black cat kept strolling back and forth right in front of them. With nowhere to hide, they could only huddle even deeper into the corners.
...
"How many left?"
"According to the relay link—seven."
"Good. Keep accelerating!"
The engines roared as the fighter jets surged upward.
With their weight reduced and fuel supplies ample, these freshly deployed, peak-performance jets pushed their engines to the limit.
The formation climbed higher and higher.
"How many left?"
"Six remaining!"
"How many?"
"Five!"
"Status?"
"Four!"
As altitude increased, the airspace grew increasingly unstable. Compression, distortion, spatial rifts—chaos erupted, challenging the pilots to their limits.
Jets were damaged. Some were transported away by sudden distortions. The team's numbers dwindled rapidly, and with it, their pace slowed.
By the time they reached the final stretch before their target altitude, only two Jian 20 remained. Only two pilots.
"Damn it, you really jinxed us! It's just the two of us!"
"Haha, what jinx? That's what you call prophecy, my friend!"
"Seriously though, you regretting anything? Thinking of your adorable granddaughter yet?"
"Hahaha, not a chance. We've come this far—what's there to regret? I'm fired up!"
"You're right. So many brothers died protecting us from those damn Ethereals... The battle below must be even worse."
"I'll make them pay."
"Well said!"
The squad leader chuckled and patted the side of his cockpit, a trace of regret in his voice.
"Shame about this new model. It should've had its day in the sky... and now it's stuck doing this with an old guy like me."
The jet engines roared louder, exhaust flaring.
The squad leader laughed again.
"Alright! Let's give it everything we've got!"
"We finish this last stretch—together!"
The space above the jets had fallen silent. No more chaos—only a deathly stillness.
The two jets howled upward. The Black Coffin streaked into the clouds.
Then, at a certain height, the jets stopped. Their engines shut down abruptly, and the two locking clamps detached completely.
Inside both cockpits, the pressure surged rapidly.
"I said I don't regret it. What about you?"
"You never really asked yourself that before."
"Heh... Regret? I just know I'm one of the Staff of Justice—one of Heaven's Judgment."
A calm voice, crackling softly with static.
"Fearless."
"Unafraid."
"No regrets..."
With two wet bursts, blood sprayed in both cockpits. The two Jian 20 were crushed by the mounting pressure, imploding without even a flash—just twisted scrap plummeting toward the ground.
The Black Coffin fell too.
Faster and faster.
Its pitch-black casing peeled away, revealing a sleek silver shell inscribed with brilliant, intricate patterns.
It looked like a massive silver bullet—beautiful, and deadly.
Despite its accelerating descent, to onlookers it didn't appear fast. That silver streak looked almost... slow.
In the distance, Zane watched in silence.
Around the bullet, colored halos shimmered. Ether energy from Hollow Zero surged toward it in vast waves.
As it descended, the Ether converged into a surreal image—a massive web, a flowing sheet of silk.
And the silver bullet fell atop that silk.
The energy was so overwhelming that, even from afar, Zane could feel the ripple.
No—not just him. Everyone could feel it.
On the ground, the Ethereals slowed. Some, even without intelligence, looked up.
In the sky, Nineveh twisted and fled, retreating at full speed.
Far from the battlefield, Xin also looked on. She couldn't see the bullet—but the convergence of Ether painted the scene vividly enough.
So dazzling.
Xin smiled.
She knew. Despite all the restrictions, the risks, and the sacrifices—the power of the Black Coffin was beyond doubt.
The silver bullet continued its descent.
Under countless watching eyes...
Heaven's Judgment
has arrived.