The entire room shook.
Not an ordinary shake.
Not like an earthquake.
It was as if reality itself was trembling.
The dim lights flickered.
Shadows stretched along the walls, merging and twisting, pulled by something unseen.
Airi grabbed Nora's arm, her body instantly chilled.
"N-Nora… what… what is happening…?" she whispered.
Lumina's smile vanished. Her expression stiffened—serious, tense… afraid.
Yes. Afraid.
Nova glanced at her and immediately understood.
"If she's scared… then this… is serious."
The air froze.
Breaths became heavy.
The light seemed to die.
Then, a voice emerged.
Not from outside.
Not from above.
Not from below.
But directly from inside their heads.
Deep, heavy, yet unnervingly calm.
"Interesting…"
Arou reflexively drew his short sword.
"Who's there!?"
Lumina swallowed hard, her voice trembling for the first time.
"…He. He has come."
A tiny black speck appeared in the center of the room, no larger than dust.
It pulsed.
Then it expanded.
Stretching, tearing through the very fabric of reality.
From the rift, blinding white light poured out, forming the silhouette of a man.
Tall, immeasurable.
An aura that made knees weaken.
As if gravity itself had been folded and dropped directly onto them.
Airi collapsed to the floor, her body shaking violently.
"I… I can't… move…" she whispered.
Rei tried to stand, but her legs buckled without her noticing.
Nora gritted her teeth, forcing herself to stay upright.
Arou, stubborn as ever, remained standing, though his knees trembled.
Nova nearly fainted.
Emi covered her mouth, eyes wide.
Shion stared, unable to believe what he was seeing.
Lumina took a step back, small though it was, enough to show the magnitude of the threat before them.
The silhouette slowly took a human-like form…
Or something resembling a human, yet more perfect, more deadly, more majestic than anything they had ever seen.
His gaze swept over them all.
A faint smile appeared. Calm.
Yet it felt like their hearts were being crushed.
"Lumina…"
The voice made the walls vibrate.
Lumina quickly bowed her head.
"…Z-Zata…"
Arou narrowed his eyes.
"So… you've come again…?"
Zata glanced at him briefly, as if observing ants daring to look at the sun.
And he smiled faintly.
"Amusing…
There are creatures in this world bold enough to look at me without crumbling."
Arou clenched his sword tightly.
"I don't care who you are. If you're our enemy, I'll fight you."
Zata chuckled softly—a light laugh more terrifying than a scream.
His eyes glowed, piercing their very souls.
"I know everything.
Yet you and your group… are merely pests.
Variables I never intended."
He gazed at each of them in turn.
Airi lowered her head, her body trembling.
Rei forced herself to grip her sword.
Nova held her breath.
Shion broke into cold sweat.
Emi hugged herself.
Nora prepared to attack, though her body wanted to collapse.
Zata stopped at Airi.
A faint smile touched his lips.
"Especially you."
Airi slowly raised her face, eyes filled with fear.
"W-Why… me…?"
Zata stepped forward.
All the light dimmed instantly.
"Because you… are the anomaly.
Your soul… does not belong to this world."
Airi froze.
Lumina glared at Zata.
"Zata! Don't touch her!"
Zata only chuckled.
"Relax, Lumina.
I won't kill you… yet."
He looked at all of them with a terrifying smile.
"I've come only to see…
if you are truly willing to defy me."
The room fell silent.
Only one voice dared to respond.
Arou's.
"If you threaten us… the answer is yes."
Zata smiled.
A smile that made the air itself feel like it was collapsing.
"Good.
Let's see… how long you can last."
The air grew heavy.
The room vibrated faintly… then stopped.
Too quiet.
Zata's eyes scanned the four of them—Arou, Airi, Nova, and Lumina—with a flat expression: not angry, not pleased. Just… bored.
"Fascinating that you dare to oppose me…
but I want to test one thing."
He lowered his foot slowly to the ground—
and before anyone could react…
Zata struck the earth with his heel.
Not forcefully.
Not fast.
Barely appearing to be an attack.
"Power… 0.02%."
And in an instant—
THE EARTH
—EXPLODED.
No tremor.
No time to scream.
No warning.
The planet shattered like thin glass, bathed in silvery-white light before vanishing entirely.
The atmosphere was swept away.
Oceans boiled and evaporated.
Mountains, trees, cities—everything disappeared without a trace.
In the void of space, among the debris of the destroyed world…
Four figures remained.
Arou.
Airi.
Nova.
Lumina.
Their bodies were thrown, floating in emptiness, enveloped by Zata's residual energy.
Airi gasped, her face pale with fear.
"The… the Earth… our Earth… destroyed…?"
Nova stared blankly.
"With… just his heel…?"
Lumina bit her lip hard.
"0.02%… he annihilated an entire planet with 0.02%…"
Arou struggled to balance himself in the void.
"Nora!? Rei!? Emi!? Shion!? Feeth!?"
Airi turned weakly… and saw tiny shimmering fragments floating—not stone fragments.
The remnants of their friends… shapeless… unrecognizable.
Airi covered her mouth, silent sobs escaping.
Nova screamed in impotent rage, her voice barely audible.
Lumina bowed her head, her body shaking violently.
"They… never had a chance. Their bodies… couldn't withstand his energy…"
Arou clenched his fists, a mix of fear and anger painted across his face.
"ZATAAA!!"
His voice echoed in the void, carried by Lumina's lingering energy.
And in that moment…
Among the ruins of a planet turned to cosmic dust…
Zata reappeared.
Floating above the emptiness as if gravity were a mere toy.
His gaze fell upon the four.
Calm.
Detached.
Indifferent.
"Interesting.
You four still breathe."
Arou gritted his teeth.
"You've destroyed everything…"
Zata shrugged lightly.
"Planet?
Just a place. I can make another anytime."
He looked at the remains of their friends, shapeless and floating.
"And they… are insignificant variables."
Airi wept silently.
Nova wanted to strike Zata, though she knew it was impossible.
Lumina grasped Airi's hand, trying to steady her.
Arou stared at Zata with an expression he had never shown before:
Not just anger.
Not just fear.
But nearly impossible resolve.
"I swear… I will defeat you."
Zata's faint smile returned.
"Good.
I hope you survive long enough to amuse me."
And with a single blink—
Zata vanished.
Leaving four as the only witnesses to Earth's destruction.
Silence.
Emptiness.
Darkness.
Arou, Airi, Nova, and Lumina floated powerless in the void after Earth shattered into dust from Zata's 0.02% strike.
No sound. No air. Their bodies slowly froze, skin stiffening, breaths vanishing.
Airi shivered violently, eyes half-closed.
Arou clenched his jaw, forcing himself to stay conscious as his lungs began to collapse.
Lumina gripped her chest, her magic dimming.
Even Nova, the most skilled in magic, began to freeze from her fingertips.
"No… can't… b-breathe…" Airi whispered, barely audible in the void.
Arou's body tensed, gasping, yet no air entered.
The void was merciless.
Nova forced her eyes open, seeing her companions on the brink of death.
Her hands shook as she raised both hands, silver-blue magic flowing like mist.
"Eternal Lungs…"
The light wrapped around Arou and Airi first.
Their lungs resumed function—not with air, but with pure magic, allowing them to breathe in the vacuum.
Arou gasped, inhaling his first breath without oxygen.
Airi cried in relief, tears freezing on her cheeks.
Nova smiled faintly.
"Now… you can breathe… we… we're not defeated yet…"
Lumina, still unbuffed, fell further, her body stiffening, barely alive thanks to her self-preservation magic.
Nova forced her gaze toward Arou and Airi.
"Go… fight him… Zata… before he uses 0.03%…"
Arou clenched his fists, face burning with anger and grief as he looked at their already-destroyed friends.
Airi held Arou's hand, eyes filled with determination.
Together, they focused on the distance…
On Zata, floating effortlessly in space, completely unshaken.