Chapter 17 — The Day the Sky Shattered
Cold Open — The Omen
The air over Elysium Prime tasted of rain and static. The sunrise was supposed to bring warmth, but instead it brought tension that coiled in every street and rooftop like a held breath.
Xavier's body still hummed from the transformation the World Breaker had forced upon him — muscles faster than lightning, bones that could withstand the crushing pull of a collapsing star. He could still feel the phantom gravity pressing against his skin, the memory of that endless battlefield carved into him like scars beneath the flesh.
The Tribunal fleet was gone. Not defeated… just gone. They had pulled away like predators satisfied with the hunt, but their retreat was only the first step in something far worse.
And now, the sky itself was breaking.
Dawn — The First Fractures
It began so quietly no one noticed.
A street vendor in the central plaza paused mid-sale, eyes drawn upward. The pale glow of morning shimmered strangely, as if the heavens were made of glass. Then— crack.
Thin fissures of light spiderwebbed across the sky, branching outward from a single point far above the clouds. A second crack followed, sharper than any thunder. It wasn't the sound of air—it was the sound of reality breaking.
The sky peeled apart.
Great shards of refracted light drifted away, revealing a roiling wound in the atmosphere. Beyond it churned a storm of blinding crystal and burning clouds. Out of that storm came shapes—things—with wings as wide as skyscrapers, plated in jagged crystal armor that scattered sunlight into lethal rainbows.
The Skyborn War Beasts had come.
Act I — The Descent of Monsters
The city responded instantly. Sirens blared, panic erupted in the streets, and the Hunter Guild's planetary defense grid roared to life. Rail cannons along the outer wall rotated toward the breach. Mana-charged artillery towers spun up with a low, hungry hum. Fleets of interceptors burst from the hangar bays, their engines trailing streaks of blue fire as they climbed toward the breach.
Xavier and Kai reached the Central Defense Spire just as the first War Beast broke through the defensive perimeter. It swept a crystalline wing across an armored airship—splitting it in half like a piece of parchment. Burning wreckage spiraled toward the lower city.
"We're not ready for this!" Kai shouted, adjusting his comm headset.
Xavier's gaze locked on the monsters, his Beast Sense igniting like wildfire inside his mind.
"They're not here for the city," he said. His voice was steady, dangerous. "They're here for me."
Act II — First Contact
He didn't wait for orders.
With Gravity Resistance pulsing through his veins, Xavier crouched—then launched himself upward in a single impossible leap. Wind tore at his face as the clouds split around him.
The nearest War Beast reared back, its wings striking toward him with enough force to level a city block. Xavier caught the blow one-handed. His muscles screamed, but the force broke against him like a wave on stone. With a roar, he pivoted, using the monster's own momentum to hurl it into another. The collision shattered their crystal plating and sent both tumbling in a rain of shards.
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HUD ANALYSIS:
• Weakness: Core located within crystal heart.
• Kill Condition: Total core destruction.
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He blitzed into the swarm, moving at supersonic speed. Volt Breaker Overdrive crackled across his body, arcs of electric-gold light trailing in his wake. His fists punctured wings, shattered armored faces, and ripped glowing cores from the beasts' chests.
Below, Kai barked orders to ground teams, detonating the falling carcasses midair before they could crush the city beneath their weight.
For a moment, it seemed the tide could be turned.
Act III — The Queen Arrives
Then the sky darkened again.
The clouds twisted into a spiraling vortex, pulling light toward its center. Out of the whirl descended the Skyborn Queen.
Her wings stretched across half the horizon, each scale cut from diamond and infused with deadly mana. Every movement blurred at the edge of perception—too fast for even Xavier's sharpened senses to fully track.
When she screamed, every window in the capital shattered at once. The ground shook as if the city itself wanted to collapse.
Her arrival wasn't an attack—it was a declaration of dominance.
Act IV — Clash of Apex Predators
She struck first.
Crystal-tipped limbs scythed through fortress walls as if they were made of smoke. Her core hung behind a fortress of rotating crystal rings, each one shimmering with enchantments designed to turn aside any weapon.
Xavier surged forward, chaining Apex Hunter Mode into Volt Breaker Overdrive, then into Star Killer's Edge. Each blow detonated in blinding arcs, breaking shield after shield.
The Queen retaliated, her spear-like limbs jabbing in rapid succession, each strike a city-killer in its own right. The final shield shattered under Xavier's onslaught—
—and then the counterattack came.
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A spear of crystal the length of a skyscraper punched through his shoulder.
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HUD WARNING:
• HEALTH: 9%
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Pain became his world. Blood poured down his arm, hissing where it struck the still-burning plating of fallen beasts. His vision tunneled, narrowing to the Queen's core.
He snapped the spear in his hand, every muscle screaming as his Limit Break ignited. Stats surged past their limits, his body a living weapon.
He gathered all of it—all his rage, speed, and power—into one final strike.
Hunter Technique — SKYFALL FANG SEVER
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The atmosphere ignited around him as he descended like a meteor. He drove the Queen from the clouds, through the troposphere, and into the ocean with a detonation that sent a geyser of water clawing into orbit.
The sound rolled across continents.
When the steam cleared… she was gone.
Act V — The Surge
LEVEL UP: 2,535 → 2,545
• New Passive: Aerial Apex — Triple damage while airborne.
• Permanent Boost: Agility +50%
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"That was insane…" Kai's voice broke through the static of the comms. "You just killed the Queen!"
Xavier, blood still dripping from his shoulder, allowed a thin smile.
"Then the King's next."
Ending Scene — The Tribunal's Hand
Far across the stars, the Tribunal Master stood before a vast holographic map of known worlds. The marker for Elysium Prime pulsed in steady red.
A shadow—larger than the World Breaker, darker than the void—loomed at his back.
"Send him," the Master said without turning.
"End the Hunter."