Northern strolled through the dark streets of Lithia, the melancholic city silent under the weight of its own history. He was heading back to city hall, where his room awaited him.
He could have teleported or melted into the shadows, but walks like these reminded him that, despite everything, he was still human.
'Speaking of shadows… that talent.'
He had yet to test Eclipsing Dread. The thought of retreating into the Limitless Void to experiment with it crossed his mind, but he decided against it. Right now, the Limitless Void was teeming with activity. Even though what the people were migrating into was merely an illusion woven into its depths, it was still occupied, still restless.
As he approached city hall, a gaunt yet well-muscled man stepped forward. His gaze was calm, his brown eyes striking in the dim light.
Ascendant Zion.
He bowed slightly upon reaching Northern, a gesture that made Northern vaguely uncomfortable. The man looked to be in his late twenties, perhaps early thirties.
If Northern were to combine the years he had lived across both worlds, he would have easily surpassed that age. Yet no matter how much he reminded himself of this, he still felt younger.
It had nothing to do with appearances. Even back on Earth, he had struggled to see himself as his actual age. Growing older had always been a strange and distant concept, something he acknowledged in passing but never truly felt.
Here, in this world, where responsibility and horror forged him anew with each passing moment, he was forced to grow in ways he had never experienced before.
Back on Earth, everything had come too easily—his job, his wife, his life.
'Why have I been reminiscing about that so much lately?'
Northern exhaled, pushing the thought away, and smiled as Zion spoke.
"You mentioned providing us with some aides. I came to see you regarding that, sir. I don't know when I'll get another chance, and we need to move soon to create a diversion—considering the Ryugan Brothers might be arriving any moment now."
There was tension in Zion's voice, a weight behind his words that piqued Northern's curiosity. Just what kind of people are these brothers to be so feared and respected?
And weren't they supposed to be Sages?
Northern met Zion's words with an easy, polite response.
"There's no problem, Ascendant Zion. I can just—"
His sentence cut off abruptly, his expression darkening into a frown.
Almost immediately, Zion reacted, his sharp brown eyes narrowing, his stance subtly shifting—guarded.
There was a shift in the air—not just any shift, but one laced with danger. A silent, suffocating pressure settled over the night, thick and oppressive.
Northern narrowed his eyes, a dark frown creasing his face.
'A rift…'
But it wasn't just about the rift. There was something else, something fundamentally different about it. An anomaly. An evil distortion that made him uncomfortable and extremely wary.
As he contemplated what it was, a figure landed heavily on the ground.
The impact sent a faint tremor through the air.
Tall and powerfully built, the man stood bare-chested, his sculpted muscles shifting with each breath. A deep-blue skirt-like garment fluttered around his legs in the night breeze.
His hair, the same striking shade of blue, framed his strong features, while two thick bracelets circled each of his rigidly defined biceps. His breathing was slow but forceful, his entire body rising and falling with each measured inhale.
Northern studied the man's back, his wariness deepening.
He didn't need to peek to gauge the stranger's strength—he could feel it radiating off him in waves, an undeniable force saturating the space between them.
Still, he peeked anyway.
And what he saw only confirmed what he already knew.
[Profile]
Name: [Ryugan Rhama]
True Name: [Severed Waves]
Attributes: [Currents]
Soul Rank: [Transient]
Soul Core Saturation: [High]
Talent: [Undulating Waves]
Talent Class: [SS]
Talent Ability: [Ocean Waves], [Wave Sense], [Wind Waves], [Sound Waves], [Charge Waves]
Just as his aura suggested, this man was serious bad news.
He could control waves—not just ocean waves, but all forms of them, tangible and intangible alike.
Northern exhaled sharply.
'There really are monsters in this world. I might have gotten complacent.'
There were countless nobles he had never met. He had yet to cross paths with his brothers and sisters from the Reimgard Empire, let alone its Emperor and Empress.
He hadn't even stepped outside this continent.
So many powerful figures existed in the shadows, their strength beyond what he had ever considered. It became clear—though the academy he was, in truth, it had been nothing more than a dilution of the raw power that ran deep in the Central Plains.
Northern felt an unexpected tinge of disappointment.
The academy was nothing but a cage.
But of course, this man had nothing to do with the rift.
He was either Roma's brother or father, someone who had been traveling this way and had landed here for the same reason Northern and Ascendant Zion were now on high alert.
And then—
The sky shattered.
A deep, guttural rip tore through the darkness, like fabric being torn apart by unseen claws.
Northern looked up and immediately grimaced.
"What in the world is that?"
The night sky twisted, rippling like disturbed water, then split apart. Something massive pushed through.
Charred fingers plunged from the rift, grotesquely long, moving unnaturally as they groped their way further out. The hand continued to extend, forcing the sky to tear wider—ripping through like a giant escaping from beneath suffocating blankets.
The sheer size of it cast an enormous shadow over Lithia.
The man standing before them turned slightly, his sharp eyes scanning the horror unraveling above.
"I am Ryugan Rhama. I'm here in search of my sister. But that can wait… because whatever the hell is crawling out of that rift isn't going to let me take her and leave in peace."
He cracked his knuckles.
"You all can call me Severed Waves… Now—"
His gaze lifted to the grotesque hand still forcing its way into reality.
"How do we deal with this damn monster?"
Northern's eyes remained locked onto the monstrosity clawing its way free.
The rift widened further.
And with it, smaller things began to drop from the gaping wound in the sky.
They rained down like meteors, striking the ground with devastating force. Cracks ran like veins through the earth upon impact.
Then, they moved.
Northern's gaze sharpened.
They looked human—almost. Their bodies were blackened, burned beyond recognition, but they had no features. No eyes. No mouths. Just charred husks of existence.
And as soon as they landed, they launched themselves at the nearest people.
Screams erupted as Drifters in the area engaged them immediately, blades flashing, energy igniting in bursts of resistance.
Yet Northern remained still, watching.
The three of them stood there, unmoving, eyes trained on the unfolding chaos.
Then, with a measured voice, he finally spoke.
"I don't know how exactly we plan to defeat these monsters."
His eyes narrowed.
"But each of those them — they're Maelstroms."
His gaze lifted back to the monstrous hand still emerging from the rift.
"And that enormous thing trying to break free… that's a Leviathan."
A heavy silence settled between them.
Ascendant Zion's expression darkened. Severed Waves' jaw tightened as he slowly turned to face Northern, his face unreadable.
But in his eyes, there was no mistaking it—
This battle was about to get ugly.