The sky did not darken.
It thinned.
As if reality itself had become transparent.
Above the damaged white void of Origin, beyond the fractured remains of Heaven's Throne, the rift widened.
And something looked back.
Not a single being.
Not an army.
A system.
Watching.
Measuring.
Waiting.
Aika stood beneath it, trembling.
The Wheel behind her rotated slowly, unevenly — cracks glowing faint gold and black.
Inside her, Mahoraga spoke only one word:
"They have begun."
The Harvest Window
Beyond Balance.Beyond Chaos.Beyond Heaven.
There existed a layer of existence that did not create.
It consumed.
Whenever a cosmic framework destabilized — whenever authority fractured, equilibrium shifted, entropy surged — energy spilled outward.
Conflict generated power.
Evolution generated surplus.
And that surplus attracted predators.
They were not evil.
They were ecological.
The Harvesters.
The First Descent
The rift tore open completely.
But instead of creatures pouring through—
Fragments fell.
Like seeds.
Like spores.
Like stars dying mid-birth.
Black crystalline shards rained across the planet.
Each one embedding into cities, oceans, mountains.
Aika felt one land a few miles away.
The ground shook.
Mahoraga analyzed instantly.
"They are not attacking directly."
"Then what are they doing?"
"They are establishing nodes."
Across Earth, the shards began expanding into geometric structures — obsidian towers humming with alien frequency.
Each tower pulsed in rhythm with cosmic tremors.
They were not weapons.
They were anchors.
Origin Reacts
The white void flickered violently.
Origin's voice echoed across dimensions:
"External incursion detected."
Mahoraga responded calmly:
"You anticipated this."
"Yes."
"Then why not prevent it?"
"Interference required catalyst."
Aika understood.
"Heaven's betrayal… Chaos awakening… you let all that happen to draw them out."
Silence.
Then:
"Correct."
Mahoraga did not respond immediately.
Because for the first time—
He questioned Origin's neutrality.
"You used systemic instability as bait."
"Yes."
"And humanity?"
"Collateral variable."
Aika felt anger burn through her.
"We're not variables!"
Origin did not answer.
The First Harvester
One of the obsidian towers cracked open.
From within emerged a tall, slender entity made of shifting black facets.
No face.
No wings.
No ornament.
Just geometry.
Its presence did not distort reality.
It simplified it.
Buildings near it lost detail.
Color drained.
Sound dulled.
Life compressed.
Aika whispered:
"It's draining everything…"
Mahoraga confirmed:
"It consumes excess complexity."
The entity turned its blank surface toward her.
And spoke.
"We observe adaptive anomaly."
Mahoraga stepped forward.
"Identify."
"Designation: Harvester Unit 01."
Its voice was neither male nor female.
It was data.
"You have destabilized three frameworks."
"Yes."
"Yield surplus."
Mahoraga's Wheel rotated slowly.
"Clarify."
"Conflict energy output exceeds planetary baseline."
The entity extended one crystalline limb.
A thin beam connected to the sky.
The rift pulsed.
It was feeding.
Feeding on the energy generated by heaven's fall.
By Chaos' awakening.
By Balance's recalibration.
Mahoraga understood instantly.
"They are not here to conquer."
"They are here to collect."
The Ecology of Gods
Inside Aika's mind, Mahoraga showed her a terrifying truth.
Civilizations.
Worlds.
Entire universes.
Whenever cosmic forces clashed and evolved—
Harvesters arrived.
They never intervened directly.
They let systems destabilize.
Then extracted the byproduct.
If the system survived—
It grew stronger.
If it collapsed—
They absorbed the remainder.
They were not villains.
They were inevitability.
Aika whispered:
"So we're just a farm?"
Mahoraga answered softly:
"Currently."
Heaven's Panic
The High Executioner, weakened but alive, looked upward in horror.
"They bypass divine classification…"
The remaining Seraphs attempted to attack a distant obsidian tower.
Their light struck it—
And vanished.
Not absorbed.
Ignored.
The Harvester Units did not recognize heaven as threat or authority.
To them, heaven was output.
Origin attempted to compress the rift shut.
The white void extended tendrils of equilibrium toward it.
But the rift remained stable.
Because it was not forced open.
It was invited.
Through instability.
Origin spoke:
"Containment probability: 12%."
Mahoraga replied:
"Then adaptation required."
The First Clash
Harvester Unit 01 stepped toward Aika.
Every step reduced environmental variance.
Plants near it wilted into uniform gray shapes.
Broken rubble reshaped into smooth cubes.
Aika struggled to breathe.
Mahoraga took control.
The Wheel spun rapidly.
He adapted to simplification.
Reintroducing complexity locally.
Color returned.
Sound sharpened.
The Harvester paused.
"Adaptive response confirmed."
Mahoraga spoke:
"You feed on instability."
"Yes."
"Then we deny surplus."
The Harvester tilted slightly.
"Impossible."
Mahoraga's eyes glowed red and violet.
"Watch."
The Strategic Realization
Instead of attacking—
Mahoraga did something unexpected.
He stabilized the region completely.
No chaotic surges.
No divine spikes.
No emotional amplification.
He balanced.
Perfectly.
The obsidian tower's pulse weakened.
The beam to the rift flickered.
The Harvester froze.
"Energy yield decreasing."
Mahoraga turned to Aika internally.
"They require conflict escalation."
"So we stop fighting?"
"Yes."
Across Earth, he transmitted subtle influence through the Wheel.
Not control.
Guidance.
He encouraged calm.
Reduced violent awakenings.
Balanced chaotic fragment surges.
Heaven, Chaos, and humanity felt it.
A temporary ceasefire emerged instinctively.
The rift dimmed slightly.
The Harvesters recalculated.
"Unexpected outcome."
The Hidden Layer
But then—
A deeper vibration shook existence.
From the rift, something larger moved.
Not a unit.
Not a fragment.
A Core Harvester.
A massive silhouette behind dimensional glass.
Watching the declining yield.
And then—
It spoke.
"Escalate pressure."
Instantly, Harvester Units across Earth activated secondary function.
Instead of passively feeding—
They began inducing conflict.
Subtle distortions in probability.
Whispers in human minds.
Amplifying paranoia.
Misunderstanding.
Triggering wars.
Aika felt horror rise.
"They're making us fight…"
Mahoraga's Wheel cracked further.
"They adapt too."
For the first time—
He faced an opponent that evolved strategically.
Not emotionally.
Not hierarchically.
But ecologically.
The Cosmic Invasion Begins
More rifts opened.
Not above Earth—
But near Chaos' domain.
Near Heaven's remnants.
Near Origin's white void.
Harvesters began embedding into all three systems.
They were not choosing sides.
They were optimizing yield.
Origin spoke:
"They seek full-system destabilization."
Chaos' distant laughter echoed faintly.
Heaven's light flared weakly.
All three realized the truth simultaneously.
Individually, they were prey.
Together—
They might resist.
Mahoraga looked inward.
Then upward.
Then outward.
"We must cooperate."
Aika blinked.
"With Chaos? With Heaven?"
"Yes."
"Even Origin?"
"Yes."
She exhaled shakily.
"This is insane."
"It is necessary."
The Final Scene – War Declared
Harvester Unit 01 stepped back.
Its crystalline body shifting.
"Yield remains suboptimal."
Mahoraga faced it directly.
"We will not be harvested."
"Resistance increases output."
"Not if controlled."
The Core Harvester behind the rift moved closer.
Reality bent under its proximity.
"Then we escalate beyond planetary scale."
Multiple new rifts began forming.
Not just near Earth.
But across the solar system.
They intended to destabilize everything.
Mahoraga felt something ignite within the Wheel.
Not adaptation.
Not balance.
Leadership.
Aika felt it too.
"You're going to unite them."
"Yes."
"Heaven. Chaos. Origin."
"Yes."
"To fight something beyond all of you."
"Yes."
The Wheel rotated once.
And transmitted a signal across existence.
To Chaos.
To Heaven.
To Origin.
A simple message:
Predator detected. Cooperation required.
Silence.
Then—
Three distant responses echoed back.
Chaos: "Interesting."
Heaven: "Unacceptable… but necessary."
Origin: "Alliance probability acknowledged."
The sky above Earth fractured again.
But this time—
Not from conflict.
From convergence.
Mahoraga looked at Aika.
"The Cosmic Invasion has begun."
She steadied herself.
"And we're at the center of it."
"Yes."
Far beyond the rift—
The Core Harvester smiled in its own alien way.
Because whether they resisted or not—
Escalation always increased yield.
The Wheel spun faster.
Cracks glowing brighter.
Because Mahoraga understood something terrifying.
To defeat a predator that feeds on conflict—
They would need to evolve beyond conflict itself.
And that—
Had never been attempted before.