The skies no longer burned.
But the world trembled.
Ash rained across continents, even those far from the site of Z'RHAKUL PRIME's eradication. The oceans roiled unnaturally. Weather patterns distorted. Entire leyline networks collapsed under the ripple of mana backlash.
The planet itself wept, not out of grief—but out of survival.
For the first time in recorded history, a god-tier entity had been killed by mortal hands.
And the world didn't know how to process that.
Iden slept.
No visions. No dreams. No voice of the system. Only stillness.
His stasis pod glowed faintly in the center of Sanctum's High Spire, guarded day and night by his closest companions.
Rael never left the chamber.
She prayed, studied his vitals, and poured her Sanctum Pulse ability into regulating the internal damage. His soul wasn't fractured—but it was scarred. The sheer mana density coursing through his veins had burned him clean, leaving him in an unresponsive, godlike dormancy.
[SYSTEM NOTICE – FINAL QUEST UNLOCKED][UNVEILING IN: 09:23:44:12]
Still ticking.
From the frozen towers of Aetherhold to the burning sands of Kra'tuhl Dominion, shockwaves echoed.
Sanctum was now not just a myth, not just a growing force—it was the only faction in the world capable of annihilating an Omega-tier being.
Panic spread in places where fear once kept peace.
Former allies from the Unity Council sent mixed signals—praises wrapped in veiled requests for armament sharing, masked behind pleas for "planetary unity."
The Eastern Kingdoms demanded transparency.
The Southborn Warlords sent silent envoys with trembling hands, offering full vassalage.
No one dared to threaten Sanctum anymore.
In the floating spires of World Core, a secret summit was held—leaders of six surviving global powers gathered.
The central topic wasn't unity.
It was containment.
"Sanctum cannot be left unchecked," said Chancellor Revka of the Arcanum Triad. "That... man destroyed a god. What happens if he turns on the rest of us?"
"He is asleep," murmured another. "Now is the only time to strike."
Only the Sovereign of Onyx Flame remained quiet. Then spoke with venom in his tone:
"Strike Sanctum? You first. Let's see if your blood outlasts the crater."
Silence followed.
The summit ended with no resolution.
Though Iden slept, his directives remained encoded.
Kael and Arlen oversaw the stabilization of the mana reactors and the relay satellites. Rael managed internal healing efforts. Nyra handled the elite squads guarding the Sanctum border. Every citizen was placed on a tiered recovery protocol, designed to help repurpose the overflowing fragments of mana absorbed during the Fallout impact.
And then, Kael locked down all teleportation into Sanctum.
[SYSTEM UPDATE – ALLIANCE TELEPORTATION TEMPORARILY DISABLED][REASON: SECURITY PRIORITY – SOVEREIGN IN STASIS]
[ONLY MANUAL ENTRY ALLOWED – FULL SCAN REQUIRED]
The allies were... not pleased.
But they obeyed.
Because even in slumber, Iden's will ruled the networked system.
Beneath the shadow of the broken moons, a subtle transmission spread.
A garbled signal.
Repeated every 14 hours.
"Coordinates unknown… anomaly detected…structure appears… organic? No—dimensional…fragment signature matches… Sanctum core…"
Rael was the first to trace it.
Kael listened with his mechanical eyes dimmed.
"It's not from this planet," he muttered. "It's from the other side of the Crownfall breach."
Nyra looked up from her monitor. "Z'RHAKUL may have died, but its… echo remains."
They all stared at the countdown screen.
[FINAL SYSTEM QUEST – UNVEILING IN: 00:23:11:04]
The final day arrived.
The stasis chamber lights pulsed brighter.
Rael's head rested gently on Iden's arm as she sat by him, singing softly. Her mana flowed in steady pulses—half out of healing, half out of longing.
Kael and Arlen stood atop the main sanctum wall, watching the final adjustments to the defense grid. Above them, satellites aligned with precise trajectory data.
Nyra watched the skies.
In the city, the people didn't cheer.
They prepared.
Because they all felt it.
The Final Quest was coming.
And something, somewhere, was already moving.
The countdown reached its final hour.
[FINAL QUEST – SYSTEM LOCKED UNTIL TRIGGER EVENT INITIATES][EST. TIME REMAINING: 00:01:00:00]
Suddenly—A high-pitched chime echoed from the depths of the throne room.
A crack appeared on the outer layer of the stasis chamber.
Not a wound. Not damage.
A fissure of light.
Rael's eyes widened. She backed away as the mana pressure inside began spiraling upward.
The chamber itself began pulsing—
And the ground beneath Sanctum trembled once again.
Not from war.Not from weather.But from something approaching.
Kael's voice echoed across the comms.
"Something just broke through the dimensional veil."
Nyra's whisper was barely audible.
"...He's waking up."