The signal spread across Japan at the same time.
Not through television.
Not through phones.
Not even through mana networks.
It was deeper than that.
A vibration inside reality itself.
Every Master Rank sorcerer felt it.
Every Radiance felt it.
Every ancient barrier reacted.
And somewhere, far above the ruined skyline of Tokyo…
A throne appeared.
Not a physical one.
A conceptual one.
Floating in a void layered over the real world, like a second sky made of fractured dimensions and golden light.
On that throne sat a man.
Yearn Hikaru.
The Gold and Dragon hybrid.
The same man who once defeated Kenzuko with ease.
The same man who smiled like a hero.
The same man who carried a golden dragon on his shoulder.
Now, the dragon was gone.
In its place…
Twelve massive spectral dragon wings unfolded behind him, each one made of condensed gold and draconic mana.
And for the first time, his voice echoed across the entire sorcerer world.
"Slaughter Manifesto was never a game."
Silence.
Every screen.
Every barrier interface.
Every magical monitoring system in Japan suddenly displayed the same image.
Yearn, sitting above a broken world.
"Slaughter Manifesto was an experiment."
The police headquarters in Kyoto went into lockdown.
The Council chamber shattered three barrier layers instantly.
Even the Zodiac Clan's hidden networks reacted violently.
Rougen looked up slowly.
"…So it was you."
Vertigo felt Equilibrium fluctuate.
Riyo's one arm trembled.
Yoruko narrowed his eyes.
"The Game Master."
Yearn continued.
"I needed data. Human limits. Soul reactions. Resurrection thresholds. Fear density. Probability curves."
He lifted one hand.
Behind him, projections appeared.
Millions of sorcerers dying in the fake worlds.
Points systems.
Resurrections.
Mind breaks.
Soul erosion.
"All of you volunteered," Yearn said calmly.
"So I used you."
The sky above Tokyo tore open.
A massive golden sigil appeared, shaped like a dragon's eye.
Then another presence arrived.
A blur of pure speed.
The air screamed.
Space bent.
From the Temple of the Eight Lords, one of the oldest Radiances manifested.
Utotoka Riyo was not the fastest Radiance.
This one was.
His name was Kaishin Velorum.
The Speed Radiance.
His magic was Velocity Law.
Movement beyond inertia.
Acceleration beyond causality.
He existed at the edge of time itself.
He appeared in front of Yearn instantly.
The throne cracked.
The void shook.
Kaishin's voice was calm.
"You manipulated the world into killing itself."
Yearn smiled.
"And you arrived faster than predicted."
Kaishin raised his hand.
The concept of distance collapsed.
The space between his palm and Yearn ceased to exist.
A strike that should have erased anything.
But it didn't land.
Golden claws intercepted it.
Not one.
Five.
Dragon claws made of pure dimensional gold.
They clashed with Kaishin's attack.
The impact shattered the conceptual sky.
The shockwave alone destroyed three entire real-world districts below.
Buildings evaporated.
Barriers exploded.
The city screamed.
Kaishin's eyes widened slightly.
"…You blocked Velocity Law?"
Yearn stood up from the throne.
The dragon wings behind him expanded fully.
Each one was larger than a skyscraper.
"Gold is absolute stability."
"Dragon mana is absolute force."
"I am both."
Kaishin vanished.
He reappeared behind Yearn.
In front.
Above.
Below.
A thousand afterimages.
Every strike hit.
Every strike connected.
The void shattered again and again.
Yearn didn't move.
Every blow bounced off a golden dragon scale that formed automatically around his body.
Not defense.
Not reaction.
Reality itself refused to let Yearn be harmed.
Kaishin's expression changed.
First time.
Serious.
He activated full Radiance output.
Velocity Law broke.
Time fractured.
He moved so fast that the concept of movement lost meaning.
He reached inside Yearn's space directly.
A strike aimed at the core of his existence.
Yearn finally moved.
One step.
That was all.
The entire conceptual plane rotated.
Kaishin suddenly found himself standing inside a massive golden dragon's claw.
Not physically.
Existentially.
His body was caught between dimensions.
Yearn looked down at him.
"You're fast."
Kaishin struggled.
Space refused to obey him.
Velocity Law collapsed.
For the first time in thousands of years…
The Speed Radiance could not move.
Yearn closed his hand.
The golden dragon claw tightened.
Not crushing flesh.
Crushing existence.
Kaishin's Radiance aura shattered.
His form destabilized.
His presence flickered.
Kaishin looked up.
"So… this is…"
Yearn's eyes glowed draconic gold.
"…Game over."
The claw closed completely.
A pulse spread across reality.
The Speed Radiance disappeared.
No explosion.
No body.
No remains.
Just absence.
A Radiance had been erased.
Across Japan, every Master Rank felt it.
Rougen's knees nearly buckled.
Vertigo's Equilibrium shattered for three seconds.
Riyo clenched his remaining fist.
Yoruko whispered.
"…He killed a Radiance."
Yearn turned back to the world.
The throne dissolved.
Now he stood above Tokyo itself, physically manifesting.
The golden dragon wings pierced the clouds.
He raised one arm.
Massive dragon claws formed around his hand.
He slashed downward.
Not at a person.
At a building.
A forty-story skyscraper vanished.
Not collapsed.
Not destroyed.
It was sliced out of reality by dimensional dragon claws.
The air screamed as the cut extended for kilometers.
The city split.
Streets tore apart.
Mana networks failed instantly.
Yearn looked down at the chaos.
Calm.
Satisfied.
"This world needs a new balance system."
He looked straight into the global broadcast.
"Slaughter Manifesto was the beta."
"This…"
He spread his wings.
"…is the full release."
And somewhere deep inside Tokyo…
Tengen Orasu smiled for the first time in days.
Because even he understood now.
The real final enemy had just revealed himself.
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