Dubai woke beneath a perfect sky. The air was clear, the skyline burned with glass and steel, and the streets pulsed with the rhythm of a city that thought it had already seen everything. In the plaza, crowds gathered under the giant floating screens, their voices mixing with the hum of traffic and the faint hiss of the wind between towers. Then the sky cracked. A pulse of static rolled over the city, every screen flickering, every sound flattening into silence. They looked up as a shadow descended from the clouds, slow, deliberate, unshaken. MRD. Sword in hand, mask sealed, no words, no gesture — just presence, and every eye turned toward him. Phones lifted. Streams went live. "He's here!" "Why is he—?" "Is something—" The rest died in their throats because the sky cracked again and this time it tore open.
Something slammed into the earth like the fall of a meteor, carving a shockwave through the plaza, shattering windows, driving the air from every chest. Smoke cleared to reveal a figure that didn't belong to man — tall, wrapped in black, eyes burning like twin storms, a thing that stood too still to be human. The Tribunal's devil had arrived. The two vanished in the same heartbeat, reappearing mid-air, fist meeting fist in a blast that rattled the city's bones. MRD's sword flashed, the blade lighting like a piece of the sun as he swung, each strike sharp enough to split the wind. The devil moved like thought, dodging, countering, driving a kick into MRD that hurled him across rooftops. MRD rebounded, twisted, and struck back, the clash breaking stone and shaking towers. A crater bloomed in the plaza as his blade drove the enemy into the ground. The crowd roared. "I see you," MRD whispered.
The enemy laughed. His aura detonated, and in the next blink he was faster, heavier, merciless. One punch bent the skyline, sending MRD through steel and glass. He rose limping, sword cracked, but his eyes never broke. He spun into a final slash, a spiral of light that tore the air into a thousand blades, and the cut landed, opening the devil's shoulder. The world gasped — then the moment ended. The roar that followed was not human. The devil blurred, seized MRD, slammed him into the earth so hard the ground screamed, lifted him again, broke him through stone, through metal, again and again until bones cracked and blood marked the street. MRD tried to lift his weapon; his hands trembled. The devil's grip closed on his throat. "You're not enough. Not ready. And this little mask… ends now." The sound of tearing straps cut the air.
The world saw him. Every screen on Earth froze on that face — eyes lit with something beyond human, features carved in the shape of a man but touched by something older. Gasps. Cries. Whispers. "That face…" "He looks like light…" "Is he even human?" The devil's smirk widened. "Let them see the god before I kill him." MRD's body flew, smashing through glass and steel, skidding lifeless across the plaza. Cameras shook. The air turned cold.
Then the fog came. Smoke bombs burst from rooftops and shadows dropped like rain. The Reapers. The Anti-Core weapon fired, a low pulse that cracked the devil's stance, draining his strength in an instant. "Now!" The Reapers moved, grabbed the broken body, and the city watched as the god was lifted away. He was still conscious, blood trailing down his face, eyes open but distant. "They saw me fall…" he whispered. The Commander's voice was steady. "No. They saw you stand longer than anyone else could." And then the rooftops swallowed them, and they were gone.
The world froze. News anchors stammered, voices breaking. Civilians stared at their screens. "He… failed?" "Is he dead?" "Our protector…" Fear came back like it had been waiting. Some wept. Some screamed. Some only looked up, hoping for a sign that didn't come. In the Reaper helicopter, MRD lay on a stretcher, bones knitting slowly, mask gone, sword shattered. He breathed. He lived. But he didn't move. The Commander's voice was low, meant only for the comms. "Prepare the island. Sir is wounded. But the storm… will return."
Even gods can fall. But when the world saw his face, they didn't see defeat. They saw divinity.