The peace in Aryavarta was a sweet, fleeting dream.
"Nothing could be better than this," Nero sighed, contentedly watching the sunset with Eri by his side.
The words were a curse. A searing, white-hot agony exploded in his skull, dropping him to his knees.
"Nero! What's wrong?!" Eri was at his side instantly, her voice tight with fear.
His friends gathered, but Nero was already gone, his mind ripped across dimensions. A vision of hell flooded his senses: Anandvana, the city of knowledge, was a wasteland. Its white marble was stained with soot and blood. Saints and fighters clashed desperately with an army of Gate Users. He saw Mooai, locked in a brutal duel, and Mani, his face a mask of terror.
The vision vanished, leaving him gasping.
"Something's wrong," Nero rasped, clutching his head. "We have to go back. Now."
---
The Outer Barrier
Eri's portal spat them out not onto solid ground, but into the cold vacuum of space. Before them, the entire world of Anandvana was encased in a shimmering, obsidian barrier, pulsing with a malevolent energy.
"We're too late," Eri whispered, horror dawning on her face.
Nero's fists clenched. "No. We have to do something. Fast."
"But that barrier... it doesn't feel ordinary."
It wasn't. Inside, the beautiful land was a charnel house. Mooai fought with desperate grace against a Gate 5 User named Hisen, their clash leveling city blocks. When Mani tried to intervene, a blade of pure energy cleanly severed his arm. Mooai's scream was swallowed by the din of battle.
(The stone! I have to find the summoning stone!) Mani thought, scrambling through the rubble, clutching his bleeding stump. He remembered how it started: Nero's departure, then the sudden, orchestrated chaos. The enemy hadn't just attacked; they had manipulated the populace, driving them to kill each other, artificially inflating the land's karmic debt to a catastrophic level. (They triggered a Heavenly Punishment... Nero was right all along. They're using the universe's own laws as a weapon!)
---
A Cosmic Stalemate
High above the multiverse, in a neutral council chamber, two figures sat in silence. Aekai and Obsidian. They didn't move, but the space between them crackled with enough power to snuff out stars.
Aekai's mind was a calm lake of triumph. (It is over. The fragment will be mine.)
Obsidian's was a storm of frustration and memory. He remembered a time when Aekai was his friend, a fellow protector. But Aekai had always seen a flaw in creation, a cosmic mistake. And now, he was consorting with the very darker forces they had once sworn to oppose.
---
The Futile Assault
Outside the barrier, Nero's frustration boiled over. "It's all pitch black! I can't sense anything inside!"
A smooth, arrogant voice answered him. A new figure, Kai, a Gate 6 User, materialized on the other side of the barrier. "Just a few more hours, and it will all be over."
Nero's eyes narrowed. "You're all just a tail on a dog, always following. I can undo this chaos. And when this barrier falls, you think I'll let you take the fragment? I don't see your leader showing his face this time."
Kai smirked. "So bold. What makes you think you can stop any of this?"
"You're a Gate 6 User, aren't you?" Nero laughed, a cold, dangerous sound. "Why don't you come out and test my commitment? I'm telling you, this ends badly for you all."
"No need for a challenge," Kai replied, confident in his fortress.
Nero simply started stretching. "Ahhh, it's really boring to stand still while all the fun is happening inside."
The next second, a faint, white aura enveloped Nero. It wasn't the explosive transformation Kai expected. It was a silent, terrifying compression of power. In the blink of an eye, Nero was an inch from the barrier's surface, his fist striking with the force of a dying star.
BOOOOM!
The entire barrier shuddered, shockwaves rippling across its surface. Kai flinched, his confidence cracking. (If not for the barrier... that would have hurt. What is that aura? It's not a Gate power... is this his Karma? But which one?!)
Nero began a relentless, world-shaking assault on the barrier, each blow echoing like a divine drum.
---
The Last Hope, Broken
Inside, Mani and Yusan fought back-to-back, a desperate rearguard action to buy time.
"You're a tough one," an intruder named Uko grunted, pressing his attack against Yusan.
Yusan, bleeding from a dozen wounds, saw his chance. He tossed the summoning stone toward Mani. But as Mani reached for it, another blade flashed, severing his remaining hand.
Despair turned to resolve. As enemies closed in for the kill, Mani lunged forward and grabbed the stone with his teeth. With a final, desperate surge of will, he bit down, shattering it.
---
The Savior Arrives
A spiritual pressure so heavy it crushed stone and bent reality descended upon the battlefield. Time itself seemed to slow. A rift tore open in the sky, and from it emerged Nero.
His eyes were a terrifying symphony: one glowed with the red mist of bloodlust, the other with the blue fire of cosmic judgment.
In the space of a single, brutal blink, every enemy surrounding Mani and Yusan was reduced to a fine, red mist.
"Whity. Darky. Assist the people. Now," Nero commanded, his voice a dual-layered echo. His two manifestations materialized and shot off in streaks of white and black light, turning the tide of battles across the continent.
Mani, bleeding out on the ground, gasped, "Ner... Nero... Save Yusan... hurry…"
Nero knelt by Yusan. His breathing had stopped. A closer inspection revealed the horrifying truth: the enemies were using soul-rending weapons. There would be no easy resurrection this time.
He cast the most powerful healing spell he knew, a complex weave of life energy. The wounds closed, but Yusan remained still, his soul clinging by a thread.
"I'm sorry," Nero said, his voice low. "I've done all I can. I can't say for sure if he'll make it."
---
The Tide Turns
Nero's gaze swept the battlefield, finding Mooai. She was on her last legs, barely holding off Hisen.
As Hisen gathered energy for a final, obliterating strike, Mooai dropped her greatsword and collapsed to her knees, whispering, "I leave this to you... Nero."
Hisen's triumphant grin vanished as a fist connected with his face. The impact wasn't just physical; it was a conceptual shockwave that cracked his skull and sent him flying hundreds of kilometers across the continent, where he crash-landed near a shocked Kai.
Nero didn't let up. He was on Hisen in an instant. Their battle was a blur of destructive force, moving faster than sight. With another overwhelming strike, Nero vaporized half of Hisen's body, sending the Gate 5 User crashing back to earth in a ruin of his own flesh.
Kai watched, his own situation deteriorating. The elders of Anandvana, empowered by Nero's Karma of Neutrality—a nascent energy that could form or shatter any bond—were breaking free of his seals. Their ancient Chi techniques were now turning the battle against him.
(If Hisen dies, I'm next!) Kai thought, sending a frantic telepathic message. (We have to end this, NOW!)
---
The Final Move
The message reached Aekai in the council chamber. A flicker of movement, the barest intention to intervene, was all he offered.
It was enough.
Obsidian's power descended, a silent, immovable mountain of force that locked Aekai in place. No words were spoken, but the message was clear: Move, and the consequences will be beyond your comprehension.
The real battle for Anandvana was just beginning, and its outcome now rested solely on the shoulders of a single, enraged Dual Gate User.