In the capital of the Asteria Empire.
The sky was torn apart.
That small crack had expanded, transforming into a vast canvas of darkness.
The entire sky above the imperial capital was consumed by the Fracture.
Many citizens walked along streets lined with bricks and illuminated by warm streetlights.
Bars, restaurants, and shops were all open well into the early hours of the morning.
Something that happened only on this specific day of the year.
The day of the Coming-of-Age Test.
Tension could be seen on everyone’s faces, everywhere.
In some bars, many were already completely drunk.
Others had been unable to touch their food.
Almost everyone here had a child, nephew, sibling, or friend who had entered the Fracture.
They had entered as young people, many of them innocent, and in the end…
They came out as adults.
Or at least those who managed to come out.
Above the wall, silence had already become the norm among the Lords of the lineages.
For hours, they had not taken their eyes off the sky.
“…I thought things would be bad when the Fracture had grown to cover almost half the sky.
But…
The entire sky above the capital is beyond anything normal.” Finally, one of the Lords of the boar lineages spoke.
Like a stone falling into a still lake, the echoes of their voices began to grow.
In response to the boar Lord, a certain goat Lord spoke a little louder.
“I noticed there was an anomaly in the size of the Fracture, my lord.
So I took the liberty of examining the historical records.
There is nothing recorded in our libraries about a Fracture this vast!” As he explained in a calm and almost excessively academic manner, the goat Lord deliberately adjusted his elegant pair of pink glasses.
They strangely complemented his beige suit and pointed black horns.
The goat Lord’s words seemed to carry weight.
For as soon as he finished, the murmurs continued to grow.
Even with the wine, the tables made of polished wood and filled with food, and even some of the finest musicians in the capital, who had begun playing with increasing intensity…
The fear of losing their carefully nurtured offspring or their beloved children could not dispel the heavy atmosphere that had taken hold of the Lords.
A little farther away, at a table deliberately reserved to be on the opposite side of a certain lion, sat an old black-and-white wolf.
His eyes were dark, and his hand instinctively moved toward a ring on his finger.
The jewel depicted two wolves staring at each other, fighting over a pearl that glowed with the colors of the stars.
“My King, young Rael will be fine.
Even if an Elite emerges, he can stand his ground or flee.
We made sure he received the best training possible.” The deep voice came from behind the old King of the Wolves.
There, a man nearly two meters tall, dressed in a completely black suit, stood with his arms crossed.
His canine eyes swept across the surroundings before settling on the back of the king he had fought for his entire life.
His skin was glossy, carrying deep obsidian tones, but what immediately revealed his lineage were the two Dobermann ears replacing his human ones.
“I do not fear for my son’s life, Commander Varok.
I know how much dedication all of you have shown and how hard he worked.
I do not fear for his life, but for that of all the other wolves and non-wolves.
A Fracture this vast means that our plans have most likely failed.” The neutral and completely controlled voice of one of the greatest living veterans revealed not a trace of concern.
And precisely because of that, those with the sharpest instincts who managed to overhear the conversation became even more frightened.
If the King of the Wolves had to maintain that much control…
Then things were far worse than anyone imagined.
Like a faint warmth and light, several rays began to appear on the horizon not covered by the Fracture.
The light slowly began bathing some of the capital’s shadows, but even with dawn knocking at the door…
No one dared lower their guard.
A faint shadow rippled like a puddle near King Garran and, from it, completely silently, a small woman emerged.
She had cat-like eyes and patches of fur covering parts of her body, fur that seemed to refuse to let the light reach them.
“Your Majesty.
We checked our records regarding the information from Lord Elliot Truthhorn, and the situation is even more concerning.
The only time an expansion one-quarter this size was ever mentioned, the envoys of that era had to face an Elite that slaughtered half of them.” The words whispered by the woman with the features of a black cat fell like drops into magma.
The nearby parents turned toward her with their eyes wide open.
Several glasses met their end against the floor of the wall.
The murmurs stopped, and only the faint sound of strings from the musicians remained.
Everyone there was at least an Elite Human.
Many were at the final stage, while others had already taken a step beyond it.
And with lineages that enhanced their senses, even the faintest murmur could still be heard.
King Garran’s eyes sank even deeper, and his fingers began tightening around the ring with such friction that sparks almost flew from it.
“My king…
The news isn’t getting any better.
The monitoring division reported that the energy levels have increased to alarming levels over the past few minutes.
Please, see for yourself.” The cat woman handed over an object she had been holding against her chest this entire time.
It resembled a relatively thin, flat stone.
It was black and white, bearing the symbol of a gray eclipse.
On its front, an image of a graph projected itself.
It began with a dull red and progressed along an upward line until reaching the latest levels.
A dark green, accompanied by a phrase beside it, made the King of the Wolves freeze.
[Critical Fluctuation Levels.
Threat Level: Commander] King Garran remained there, frozen, his eyes fixed on the graph as it continued to rise.
In his mind, he desperately begged for the increasingly lighter green not to change color.
The minutes passed, and the rays of dawn fell upon his fur, but his eyes never left the tablet-like device of the Asteria Empire.
Even with the Empress, that repulsive lion, and me…
I have no idea if we could handle something approaching cyan…
When the green was almost reaching faint shades of cyan…
Characteristic lights of blue tinged with purple suddenly shone above the capital’s square.
But King Garran did not take his eyes off the graph.
He managed to see it, if only for a few seconds.
The green completely entered the cyan range, and soon the readings began to drop rapidly until, at last, they became completely colorless.
Above the capital, the Fracture receded at a terrifying speed, and in the end, all that remained were the rays of the Sun from a beautiful dawn above the clouds.