The northern skies cracked with thunder. But no lightning followed.
Only silence.An unnatural hush that stretched from horizon to treetop. Birds didn't cry. The winds didn't howl. Even the mana in the air refused to stir.
Then—the clouds opened.
It wasn't a meteor.It wasn't a dragon.It was a shadow that swallowed the heavens, a grotesque, tendrilled horror that descended like judgment itself, dragging with it a corruption that stained the sky a sickly purple.
[WORLD ANNOUNCEMENT]
Omega -CLASS ENTITY DETECTED
Codename: Tzakaroth, the Blooming Silence
Origin: UNKNOWN
Corruption Level: 37.5%
Tier Classification: OMEGA
Advisory: All candidates are advised to retreat. Standard tactics ineffective.
Atop Sanctum's command platform, Iden watched the massive construct breach the mana atmosphere.His HUD flickered. The detection drones were wiped from the air before they could even transmit a full scan.
"Kael, Arlen—visual feed?""Gone.""All of it?""Worse." Arlen replied grimly. "It erased the signal pathways."
Even the communication lines were corrupted. That shouldn't have been possible.
Rael appeared behind Iden, eyes wide. "That thing isn't alive… it's becoming."
Six hours earlier – A scout team spotted a forest's sudden rotting near Frostmaw Ravine.Thirty minutes later, three elite mage skeletons went silent.Forty minutes in, a mountain collapsed.
Now? The creature's aura alone had begun to kill the wildlife from five kilometers away.
Iden didn't hesitate.
"Prepare the Big One. Full payload. Priority override. Code: Crimson Break."
Kael's fingers tightened around the launch terminal. "Big One primed… Are you sure?"
Iden's voice was cold. "That thing touched mana and the leyline responded like it was a god. We don't test this."
"We kill it."
From deep inside Sanctum's eastern launch rail, a core reactor hummed to life.Three containment pillars split open.Compressed mana surged through the weapon conduit as the Big One missile ignited.
Launch confirmed. Trajectory locked. Speed climbing. Target: Center Mass.
The world held its breath.
A pillar of light split the sky.
The Big One struck true.
And… it vanished.
No explosion.No shockwave.
Just…
Silence.
Then came the screech.
Not a roar. Not pain.
But laughter. Sickening, distorted, and echoing like it was inside Iden's head.
"The hell…?" Kael muttered, gripping his ears. "It's mocking us."
A visual feed returned for 0.8 seconds—long enough to show the monster regenerating the entire upper half of its body as if it were rewinding time itself.
[SYSTEM ALERT]Big One has failed to neutralize target.
Ω-tier Entity unaffected by singularity-core detonation.
Initiating fail-safe protocol: Omega-Breach Level 1.
"Begin evacuation protocols for surrounding sectors," Iden ordered, his voice low but resolute. "Everyone under Level 20, off the front."
Nyra appeared, blood on her cheek, fresh from a recon skirmish. "Iden. The scouts from three different factions already ran. You're not retreating?"
"No.""Why?""Because it's watching us now."
Across the continent, screens lit up in every base, fortress, and sanctuary.
[GLOBAL MESSAGE]
FIRST CONTACT MADE WITH TRUE Ω-TIER ENTITY
Codename: Tzakaroth
Estimated Power: EXCEEDS KNOWN METRICS
Known Resistance: ALL CONVENTIONAL ATTACK TYPES
WARNING: THIS IS NOT A RAID BOSS. THIS IS AN EXISTENTIAL EVENT.
Rael stood with her staff glowing, murmuring an enhancement spell over the main defense cannon.
Kael prepared necrotic sigils in the soil, already planning to sacrifice three elite undead for a containment ward.
Arlen's hands flew over blueprints. "We need time. If we link every mana core into a feedback array, we might be able to generate a localized field..."
"Arlen," Iden said slowly, "what are you building?"
Arlen swallowed. "...A last line. Just in case. Something that might kill it if it steps into Sanctum proper."
Iden stared into the sky.
"Good. Because the Big One was a warning.""And it didn't even flinch."