Morning came slowly.
The ruined city looked worse in daylight.
Smoke still curled from shattered towers, and whole sections of the old districts had collapsed inward where the Devourer's body had once filled the earth beneath them. What used to be streets were now jagged trenches. Buildings leaned against one another like wounded giants trying not to fall.
The Bastion survivors had begun organizing evacuation routes before sunrise.
Supply trucks rolled in from the outer checkpoints. Medics moved through the rubble searching for anyone trapped beneath fallen structures. Helicopters circled overhead, dropping ropes and scanning the damage.
And everywhere Kael walked…
People stared.
He pretended not to notice.
Mara noticed enough for both of them.
"Congratulations," she said as they stepped over a cracked concrete slab that used to be part of a courthouse roof.
"You're officially the scariest man alive."
Kael rubbed his eyes.
"I didn't ask for that."
"Yeah but you kind of earned it."
A group of Bastion soldiers stood nearby loading injured civilians into a transport truck. One of them froze when Kael passed, his hand tightening around his rifle before he realized what he was doing.
Kael sighed.
"See what I mean?"
Mara shrugged.
"You ripped a god's heart out of its chest."
"People notice stuff like that."
Ahead of them, Aurelion stood on the edge of one of the massive sinkholes left behind by the Devourer's collapse. The pale man had been there since sunrise, staring down into the depths where the cathedral chamber used to exist.
Kael walked up beside him.
"You find something?"
Aurelion didn't look away from the pit.
"Absence."
Kael peered over the edge.
The entire underground structure had collapsed during the Devourer's death. Stone, bone, and flesh had fused together into a massive crater filled with black ash.
"Good," Kael said.
"That thing deserved worse."
Aurelion's expression remained thoughtful.
"The Seraph fragment you absorbed…"
"Yeah?"
"…it changed the balance."
Kael snorted.
"You mean I leveled up."
"In a manner of speaking."
Before Kael could reply, the System flickered across his vision again.
ASCENDANT SIGNATURE DETECTED
He froze.
"…again."
Aurelion looked at him sharply.
"The one from last night?"
Kael nodded slowly.
"Yeah."
Mara stepped closer.
"Where?"
Kael turned.
Across the city.
On the broken skeleton of a skyscraper that had partially collapsed during the Devourer's rampage.
Someone stood there.
The distance between them was nearly a kilometer.
But Kael could feel the power coming off the stranger like heat from a furnace.
Tall.
Slim.
Wearing a long black coat that moved gently in the morning wind.
Even from this far away Kael could see the man's posture clearly.
Relaxed.
Almost amused.
The stranger lifted one hand.
Then clapped slowly.
Again.
The sound carried faintly through the still morning air.
Mara squinted.
"…is that the same guy from last night?"
Kael nodded.
"Yep."
The stranger stopped clapping and placed his hands in his coat pockets.
Then he stepped off the edge of the skyscraper.
Mara gasped.
"…did he just—"
The man didn't fall.
He landed on the side of the building.
Standing sideways against the glass like gravity didn't apply to him.
Then he walked down the wall.
Each step deliberate.
Calm.
Until he reached the street below.
And started walking toward them.
Mara slowly lifted her rifle.
"…I really don't like this guy."
Aurelion didn't move.
But his crescent blades appeared in his hands.
"Neither do I."
The stranger reached the edge of the ruined district ten minutes later.
He didn't seem rushed.
Didn't seem concerned about the dozens of Bastion soldiers watching him approach.
Some of them raised weapons.
Others backed away instinctively.
The man finally stopped about twenty meters from Kael.
Up close, he looked… ordinary.
Early thirties maybe.
Dark hair.
Sharp features.
No visible weapons.
But his eyes…
His eyes were wrong.
They glowed faintly gold.
Not like Kael's shadow-ringed gaze.
These looked like burning sunlight trapped behind glass.
The man smiled politely.
"Good morning."
Nobody answered.
The stranger glanced around the destroyed city.
"Quite the mess."
Kael stepped forward.
"You were watching."
The man nodded.
"Of course."
"You killed a Devourer."
He said it the way someone might comment on a nice sunset.
Calm.
Appreciative.
Kael folded his arms.
"You got a name?"
The man tilted his head.
"Adrian Vale."
Kael waited.
Vale smiled.
"You're Kael Mercer."
"Hard not to know after last night."
Mara muttered under her breath.
"Great."
"Fan club."
Vale glanced at her and chuckled softly.
"I assure you, Miss…"
"Mara."
"…Miss Mara, I am not a fan."
His eyes returned to Kael.
"I am a colleague."
The System flickered again.
ASCENDANT CONFIRMED
Kael raised an eyebrow.
"You've got a System too."
Vale smiled wider.
"Something like that."
Aurelion stepped forward slightly.
"And your purpose here?"
Vale looked genuinely surprised.
"Oh."
"Curiosity, mostly."
He gestured vaguely toward the ruined city.
"I've been tracking that Devourer for months."
"Imagine my surprise when someone else killed it first."
Kael studied him carefully.
"You didn't help."
Vale shrugged.
"You seemed to have things under control."
Mara scoffed.
"Yeah."
"Only half the city collapsed."
Vale's gaze flicked toward the massive crater behind them.
"A small price."
The way he said it made Kael's stomach tighten.
"You don't sound too concerned about the people who died."
Vale shrugged again.
"Humanity loses cities every year now."
"That's the world we live in."
Kael's voice hardened.
"Not one I'm okay with."
Vale studied him thoughtfully.
"That's what makes you interesting."
Aurelion spoke quietly.
"State your intentions."
Vale clasped his hands behind his back.
"Simple."
His golden eyes locked onto Kael.
"I wanted to meet the man who rang the bell."
Kael frowned.
"Bell?"
Vale pointed upward.
"To the stars."
"When you killed the Devourer…"
"You broadcast something."
Kael already knew that.
But hearing it confirmed out loud didn't make it better.
Vale continued calmly.
"Every Devourer in the galaxy now knows where Earth is."
Mara whispered,
"…great."
Vale nodded.
"Quite."
Then he looked back at Kael.
"Which raises a very important question."
Kael narrowed his eyes.
"What question?"
Vale smiled.
"When they arrive…"
"…which side will you be on?"
Silence fell.
Kael blinked.
"What?"
Vale gestured toward the sky again.
"The Seraphs lost the war."
"The Devourers won."
He spread his hands.
"So the rational choice is obvious."
Aurelion's voice went cold.
"Submission."
Vale nodded.
"Exactly."
Mara stared at him like he'd lost his mind.
"You want humanity to surrender to monsters that eat planets?"
Vale tilted his head slightly.
"You say that like extinction is preferable."
Kael's patience snapped.
"Or we fight."
Vale laughed softly.
"You killed one starving Devourer."
"You think that makes you ready for what's coming?"
His golden eyes burned brighter.
"There are things in the dark that make that creature look like a house pet."
Kael stepped closer.
"Then we'll kill those too."
Vale studied him.
Then smiled slowly.
"…good."
Kael frowned.
"What?"
Vale turned and began walking away.
"Because if humanity is going to resist…"
"…I want to see how long you last."
Mara shouted after him.
"That's it??"
"You just show up, say the world's doomed, and leave??"
Vale stopped.
He glanced over his shoulder.
"Oh."
"One more thing."
He pointed at Kael.
"You're not the only one evolving."
Then he vanished.
Not ran.
Not jumped.
Just…
Gone.
Like a shadow pulled out of the world.
Mara stared at the empty street.
"…I hate that guy."
Aurelion nodded.
"He will be a problem."
Kael looked at the sky again.
Somewhere out there…
Devourers were already moving.
And now another Ascendant had entered the game.
He exhaled slowly.
"Yeah."
"This just got complicated."