For the majority of people in Sector 3, the day had started normally.
The sun rose, its beautiful rays illuminating the entire sector. Hover cars zipped through the sky, their rumble a familiar background noise as people commuted to work or school.
Automated vendors set up along the neon lit streets, selling meals and advanced gadgets, while drones flitted around delivering goods to towering residential blocks.
Holo screens flickered to life in public spaces, broadcasting the morning news and advertisements for the latest innovations. Citizens, dressed in various styles, strolled through the bustling city center. The atmosphere was a mix of happiness and frustration, as it often was.
To everyone in Sector 3, it was just another day, one that would end as boring and predictable as usual.
However, words could not begin to describe how much they would soon wish that had been true. But reality, as always, was cruel.
At exactly 12:43 PM, to every single person in Sector 3, it felt as though the world was ending.
The Ravensteins had annihilated a tier 2 family in seconds.
The paragon alert had been triggered.
The Stellaris paragon appeared high above the sky.
A sudden cloak covered the entire sky, plunging the whole sector into perpetual darkness.
And then, a world-ending explosion shook the entire sector.
People screamed.
People panicked.
Women wept.
Children cried.
The entire city was thrown into chaos.
Imposing architectural buildings, once the envy of many architects, crumbled like Lego bricks in a child’s game. Jagged fissures appeared on the sturdy earth, splitting the ground and creating chasms that would dwarf many canyons.
The damage and deaths were incalculable.
But it seemed as though the universe hadn’t entirely forsaken the inhabitants of Sector 3. Seconds passed, and… there was no second impact.
However, this reprieve was for the inhabitants of Sector 3 alone.
In the whole of Sector 3, only two beings remained in motion, the rest of the world standing still.
The clash between Magnus and Luminous had torn reality itself. Where they collided, the sky shattered, a violent vortex of black and gold energy devouring everything in its path.
For a single, terrifying nanosecond, it was as if existence teetered on the brink of destruction.
Then, the vortex vanished.
Luminous shot backward, faster than thought, his body a blazing comet of golden light.
In an instant, he crossed the impossible distance between Sector 3 and Sector 2. The sheer speed ripped the very air apart in his wake, creating shockwaves that flattened the terrain.
However, unlike Sector 3, the people of Sector 2 were already prepared, their aegis shield fully activated.
Luminous’s momentum carried him straight into the impenetrable shield surrounding Sector 2—a force so unbreakable that not even a paragon’s might could shatter it.
BOOM!
The impact resounded like thunder, the force so intense that a shockwave rippled across Sector 2.
The once calm, futuristic city inside shook violently. Skyscrapers swayed. Hover cars in mid-flight lost control, and the holographic advertisements flickered and shorted out, casting the city in a sudden, eerie darkness.
On the ground, people stumbled as the earth beneath their feet trembled. Windows shattered into a thousand pieces, raining down deadly shards.
Though the shield held firm, protecting the sector from total annihilation, words could not do justice to the fear that surged through the inhabitants of Sector 2.
If they had been even a second late in activating their shield, only annihilation would have awaited them.
Luminous’s golden figure ricocheted off the aegis shield of Sector 2, his body spiraling upward as if gravity itself had lost hold of him.
“You bastard!”
Luminous growled, his intense voice booming so loudly that it parted the clouds in the sky for kilometers. He had used a significant amount of power in that clash with Magnus, yet he had still lost.
An intense sunbeam shone from the sky, striking him, his figure radiating an even more blinding light.
“I’ll show you!”
Luminous halted his momentum, his head snapping toward the direction he had just come from, intent on retaliating.
However, before Luminous could even react, the sky split open with the deafening roar of thunder.
CRACK!
Magnus appeared before him, faster than a blink, his fist already in motion.
The force of his punch detonated like a cataclysmic bomb. The impact was instant, and the world seemed to explode.
Luminous’s golden figure was launched backward, his blinding light dimming for the briefest of moments as the sheer force tore through him.
The sound of the punch echoed across Sector 2, as if the heavens themselves were being torn apart.
Luminous was sent flying across the sky, crossing the entire sector in a second, a streak of radiant gold blazing through the atmosphere.
His body collided with the Academy’s shield at incomprehensible speed.
BOOM!
The shield held, but the force of Luminous’s impact made the entire Academy tremble.
Aurora, Nate, Lucas, and every single student currently in the Academy felt the tremors, their gazes frantically searching as they struggled to remain standing.
Harrison and many of the instructors flew out of various buildings, their expressions serious as they attempted to make sense of what was happening.
Harrison’s gaze soon landed on Aric Stormrider, the paragon of the Stormrider family, suspended high in the sky, his eyes fixed on the source of the tremor.
His figure radiated intense battle intent, as though he was restraining himself from leaving the Academy and joining the battle happening outside.
‘What is happening?’
This same question rang in the minds of everyone in the Academy.
But there was no one to answer.
“I WILL END YOU!”
Luminous’s aura exploded, a nuclear blaze of golden fury that bathed the entire landscape in blinding light.
The temperature soared, melting the earth itself as the sand for miles around crystallized into shimmering glass.
His hands erupted in a thick, radiant glow, and he turned his head just in time to see Magnus’s fist rocketing toward him with unstoppable momentum.
Fist met fist.
And the whole world shattered.
