[Seoul — World Tree Nexus | Zero Hour]
The sky split open.Not metaphorically. It literally split open — like a window that forgot how to close.
Bolts of data poured down like divine lightning, striking the streets of Seoul.Everywhere, awakeners starred up, eyes wide, as massive figures of light began to descend — faceless, shimmering, and terrifying.
The System Architects were arriving.The "gods" of this new world.
Or at least… that was the plan.
[System Message: MANIFESTATION INITIALIZING…]
[Error: Layer Synchronization Failed]
[Error: Entity FORM_Ω Not Found]
[Warning: Physical bodies require—oops.]
The light cracked.The "divine" figures began to flicker, parts of their bodies blinking in and out of existence like bad Wi-Fi.A few seconds later, one of them — the Architect of Balance — fell out of the sky like a meteor and crashed into a ramen stand.
The crowd froze.
Then, a very mortal-sounding groan came from the wreckage.
"Ow. My… perfect equilibrium…"
[The World's First Divine Faceplant]
Moments later, six celestial beings stood in the middle of Seoul — drenched, smoking slightly, and looking very, very annoyed.
Gone were their radiant forms.Gone was their omnipotence.
Now they looked… painfully human.Uncomfortably so.
Entropy coughed, spitting out ramen broth.Faith was trying to command a group of pigeons (and failing).Order stared at his reflection in a puddle like it had personally offended him.
And Balance, now wearing what appeared to be a delivery driver's vest, muttered darkly:
"This… is unacceptable."
The citizens was staring. The awakeners also starring. Even the monsters that crawled from the cracks stopped to stare.
Then the Observer appeared.
Perched casually on top of a half-collapsed billboard, he clapped slowly, grinning like a cat that had just pushed a god off a table.
"Bravo," he said cheerfully. "Truly divine landings. Ten out of ten for style, zero for execution."
"Observer!" Balance shouted, face red. "What have you done?!"
"Oh, nothing much," he said, dangling his legs over the edge. "Just… rerouted your descent protocols through Seoul's old subway grid. Turns out, the mana density down here fries divinity like street food."
"You… sabotaged us.""I entertained myself," the Observer corrected. "Big difference."
[The Monsters Join the Party]
Before anyone could respond, the air trembled.The cracks in the sky pulsed red, and from within them poured creatures far worse than before — distorted forms, half-machine, half-beast, roaring with hunger.
The first wave of Demonkin shrieked.Then came the Crawlers, the Void Serpents, and the Night Fanged ones — twisted remnants of two worlds colliding.
The ground quaked.
Yurina (who still had no idea she used to be Evelyn Park) raised her barrier around the civilians.Aiden shouted orders, rallying every nearby awakener.
Meanwhile, the newly "mortal" Architects stood frozen.
Order tried to command the system.
[Command: Purge Monsters]
[Error: No Access.]
Balance tried to summon energy.
[Command: Stabilize Reality.]
[Error: You're human now, good luck.]
Entropy just sighed.
"I told you all. Flesh is fragile."
Faith began praying to herself. It didn't help.
[The Observer's Commentary Hour]
From his vantage point, the Observer was laughing so hard he almost fell off the signboard.
"This is gold! Literal gods, can't even cast Fireball. You all wanted to descend? Well, congratulations — you've joined the tutorial level!"
Balance glared. "You find this amusing?"
"Oh, immensely," said the Observer, summoning popcorn that immediately disintegrated because mana wasn't cooperating. "You wanted to rule humans. Now you get to fight beside them. Welcome to the apocalypse!"
Order picked up a metal pipe and swung it at a charging crawler. It barely scratched.
"These bodies are inefficient," he muttered."They're alive," Entropy said dryly. "Try not to die in them too soon."
[Team-Up of the Century]
For the first time in history, gods and mortals fought side by side.And it was chaotic.
Yurina's barrier covered most of the survivors.Aiden's berserker flames burned bright enough to keep the monsters at bay.Meanwhile, the Architects were… adapting.
Balance throw traffic signs like divine spears.
Entropy used a mana battery as an explosive.
Faith accidentally healed a monster. Twice.
Order discovered that punching worked fine if you screamed equations while doing it.
And the Observer?He just leaned against a lamppost, laughing, occasionally tossing pebbles that caused mini black holes.
"That one's for fun," he said, grinning.
When the last of the monsters fell, the survivors cheered weakly.
Balance collapsed onto a curb.Faith groaned, "I miss omnipotence."Entropy stretched. "Mortality isn't so bad. There's… flavor."
The Observer landed beside them, clapping his hands together.
"See? Wasn't that exhilarating? You should thank me.""Thank you?" Order hissed. "We're stranded.""Exactly," the Observer said, smiling. "And isn't that what humanity's best at? Surviving?"
He winked at Yurina.For a second, she thought she saw something flicker behind his eyes — recognition, sadness, and an echo of a name she didn't know.
Then he vanished in a shimmer of light, his laughter echoing through the ruined city.
[Post-Battle Debrief — The New Normal]
In the aftermath, Seoul became the strangest place on Earth:
Fallen gods working part-time for the recovery forces.
Demonkin defectors forming local militias.
Yurina Kaito, now known as the "Barrier Saint," leading relief efforts.
And somewhere in the chaos, the Observer sitting on a rooftop, watching it all unfold with popcorn that finally stopped glitching.
"Oh, this is getting good," he murmured. "Mortals with magic, gods with jobs, and one missing anomaly about to remember her past.Let's see what happens when the next crack opens."
The sky pulsed faintly again — the promise of another catastrophe brewing.And the laughter of a being who loved chaos more than power filled the night.
End of Chapter 35 — "The Day the Gods Glitched"
"They fell from heaven, landed in Seoul, and accidentally became humanity's most under qualified heroes."