The night sky looked peaceful.
The stars hung above Earth as they always had—cold, distant, and seemingly unchanged.
But there was no peace in the underground control room.
Dozens of holographic screens filled the chamber. A rotating map of the world hovered in the air, covered in streams of light that rose and fell like the heartbeat of a living planet.
Earth was still breathing.
But its rhythm was beginning to change.
Farhan stood before the main display.
His eyes were red. His face was pale, and his hands trembled slightly from exhaustion.
Since the battle in the Sahara, he had barely slept.
Every time he closed his eyes, he saw the shattered sky.
He heard the Void Tyrant's roar.
He remembered how close the world had come to destruction.
His fingers moved rapidly across his laptop.
He enlarged the orbital radar.
One point of light appeared.
Then a second.
Then five more appeared at once.
Farhan held his breath.
"This can't be…"
Sinta immediately moved closer.
"What are you seeing?"
Farhan pointed at the screen.
The points of light were surrounding Earth.
They weren't moving randomly.
They weren't passing by.
They weren't lost.
They were slowly circling the planet.
Like eyes studying their prey.
"Cosmic entities," Farhan said quietly.
The room fell silent.
Lila stared at the energy graph as it continued to move.
"Their frequency is similar to the Void Tyrant's…"
She paused.
"…but much more stable."
Bimo raised an eyebrow.
"Isn't that supposed to be bad news?"
Kai answered before anyone else could.
"It means they're older."
Everyone turned toward him.
Kai stood beside the main display, his expression calm.
But his eyes were sharp.
"The Void Tyrant was a wild predator," he said quietly.
He pointed toward Earth's orbit.
"What's coming now…"
He paused.
"…is a force."
Dika leaned against the table.
"Great."
He sighed.
"So now we have organized cosmic monsters."
Bimo stared at the ceiling.
"I'm starting to miss the days when our biggest problem was a school exam."
Nobody laughed.
On the rooftop balcony—
Arga was still standing alone.
The night breeze brushed against his face.
The city glittered below, peaceful and ordinary.
But Arga knew how fragile that peace really was.
He opened the MBG Lunchbox in his hands.
Twenty-six glowing rice grains shimmered softly inside.
They looked like a tiny cluster of stars.
But tonight—
their light was trembling.
Faintly.
Restlessly.
As if they could sense something approaching from impossibly far away.
Arga tightened his grip on the Lunchbox.
Faint scars still marked his hands from the last battle.
His body had healed.
But the fear of almost losing everything—
hadn't.
"You can feel it too."
Kai appeared in the doorway of the balcony.
Arga didn't turn around.
He simply nodded.
"Their energy is different."
Kai walked over and stood beside him.
Together, they looked at the same sky.
"Because they're not ordinary hunters."
Arga finally looked at him.
"The Void Tyrant was a hunter too."
Kai slowly shook his head.
"The Void Tyrant was a predator."
He pointed toward the sky, where countless points of light were slowly moving around Earth.
"What's coming now…"
He paused.
"…is a fleet."
Back in the control room—
Farhan enlarged the satellite feed.
One of the points became clearer.
A silhouette slowly emerged on the screen.
A long body.
Enormous wings stretching like dark mountains.
Crimson energy cracks running across its body.
Its eyes were closed.
Yet even while motionless—
the creature radiated such overwhelming pressure that the entire room seemed to grow colder.
Lila stared at the screen, her eyes widening.
"That creature…"
She swallowed.
"…it's larger than the Void Tyrant."
Sinta folded her arms.
"How many?"
Farhan expanded the radar.
One.
Two.
Three.
Five.
Eight.
Ten.
Twelve.
The number stopped.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Farhan swallowed hard.
"Twelve."
Bimo nearly choked.
"Twelve?!"
Dika rubbed his face.
"This isn't a hunt anymore."
Kai stared at the screen without blinking.
"It never was."
His voice was quiet.
"This is an invasion."
Suddenly—
the alarm blared.
BEEP!
BEEP!
BEEP!
Everyone turned.
Farhan switched to another screen.
His fingers moved faster.
"There's another energy spike!"
Lila looked at the coordinates.
Her expression changed immediately.
"This isn't in orbit."
Sinta stepped closer.
"Where?"
The world map expanded.
A red point appeared.
In the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
Far from any land.
Far from major shipping routes.
Far from any immediate help.
Yet the energy radiating from that point was far too powerful to ignore.
Farhan swallowed.
"This is a Core."
Lila whispered,
"An oceanic Core…"
Farhan expanded the depth readings.
The numbers continued dropping.
5,000 meters.
8,000 meters.
10,000 meters.
Deeper.
Darker.
Far beyond the depths where humans were meant to survive.
"The signal is coming from the deepest trench," Farhan said quietly.
"A place where even sunlight has never reached."
Kai narrowed his eyes.
"And the fleet is moving toward it."
Arga stepped back into the control room.
He closed the MBG Lunchbox.
The golden light inside slowly dimmed.
But the faint pulse remained.
"Then we have to move faster."
Sinta nodded firmly.
"We leave now."
Bimo raised a weak hand.
"I haven't even slept."
Dika patted him on the shoulder.
"You can sleep on the plane."
Bimo stared blankly ahead.
"Why does every apocalypse always start with a plane?"
This time—
a few of them smiled.
Not because it was particularly funny.
Because they needed even the smallest reason to stay calm.
Then—
someone noticed the corner of the room.
One chair remained empty.
No one sat there.
No one mentioned his name.
But everyone knew.
Pak Rahmat hadn't returned.
And somehow—
that felt more unsettling than the twelve monsters orbiting Earth.
Far beyond Earth—
deep within the silent darkness of space—
twelve enormous creatures moved between the stars.
Their colossal bodies swallowed the light as they passed.
Their gigantic wings unfolded across the darkness.
Crimson eyes opened one by one.
But among them—
something far larger moved.
Slowly.
It didn't need to hurry.
The entire swarm moved in rhythm with its breathing.
Then—
its eyes opened.
Two crimson lights burned in the darkness.
Far ahead, a tiny blue point glowed in the distance.
Earth.
A planet overflowing with energy.
A living world.
A world that would feed the entire fleet.
The colossal creature growled.
The sound could never travel through the vacuum of space.
Yet the twelve creatures immediately changed direction.
Toward one world.
Toward one target.
Toward Earth.
And for the first time—
Earth was surrounded.
TO BE CONTINUED…