Chapter 324: The Final Strike

The enormous object kept descending, filling more and more of the sky with every passing second. Black water rolled endlessly across its surface.

White frost sheeted broad sections of it. Crimson lightning lashed through the ice in jagged bursts. Thousands of golden swords rotated around the outer shell, and deep within the frozen core, six enormous spectral blades hung suspended, still trapped, still glowing.

Kai stared up at it, mouth dry. "...What are we supposed to do against that?"

For once, he had no answer waiting.

"Attack it," Tiamat said.

He blinked. "...What?"

"Attack it."

He looked at the meteor again, disbelieving. "That’s your plan?"

"Yes."

His expression twitched. "You could’ve at least made it sound more complicated."

Her tone sharpened. "Everyone needs to attack."

His smile disappeared. "Everyone?"

"Every surviving hunter." A pause. "Every relic you can activate." Another. "Every source of power available to Mythal."

He looked toward the city. "All at once?"

"All at once."

He looked back at the falling mass overhead. "Are we actually strong enough?"

"Yes."

"You’re sure?"

"I can sense it." She continued, voice steady. "This isn’t an attack designed to overwhelm you with impossible power. It’s excessive only in appearance."

"Then what is it?"

"A final test."

He frowned. "A test?"

"The disasters tested the City Leader." A beat. "This tests the city."

He looked out at Mythal, at the damaged buildings, the surviving hunters bracing in the streets below, the relic network still glowing faintly beneath the cracked roads, the people watching from whatever shelter remained.

"You spent the entire disaster fighting as one," Tiamat said. "Now the final attack is asking whether everyone can do the same thing."

Understanding settled over him all at once. This wasn’t another enemy to outfight. It was the final examination of everything Mythal had built.

The pressure kept climbing, buildings groaning under the weight of it, the remaining barriers flickering to life on their own.

"...How long?" Kai asked.

"Not enough."

"Meaning?"

"If you want to save what remains of Mythal, you need to act now."

The hesitation drained out of him instantly. "...Got it."

He opened the network. "Lily."

"I’m here."

He stared at the descending mass. "Get everyone ready."

A brief pause. "For what?"

"Everything."

Silence, then: "...Understood."

His voice carried out across every corner of the city. "Everyone in Mythal."

Hunters froze mid-motion. People looked toward the sky.

"We’re attacking."

Mira stared upward. "All of us?"

"All of us."

Raze gripped his weapon. "That’s one hell of a target."

Sera raised her blade. "Then let’s hit it."

"You’re certain this will work?" Gabriel asked.

Kai nodded. "I believe in us. We’re strong enough."

Gabriel looked at the falling meteor, then smiled faintly. "We trust you."

Lily’s voice snapped into command mode instantly. "All surviving hunters! Prepare your strongest attacks!" Across every district, weapons began glowing, mana gathering, skills charging, hunters raising blades and staffs toward the sky. "Do not fire yet! Wait for the countdown!"

Elden moved to the control system. "I’m opening every remaining relic channel."

Lily glanced at the readings. "Can the network handle it?"

"Probably not."

"...Probably?"

"But we’re going to make it."

He activated the network.

One relic lit up. Then another. Then dozens, ancient structures buried across Mythal waking one after another, mana flooding beneath the streets, old relics forgotten under collapsed buildings surging back to life. The upgraded defense network began redirecting everything, all of it, toward a single point.

"Relic output," Lily said, watching the numbers climb. "Thirty percent." Another surge. "Fifty." The whole city brightened around them. "Seventy."

Elden’s eyes widened. "It’s still climbing."

Mira gathered the surviving hunters into formation. "This is everything we have." One nervous hunter swallowed hard, gripping his weapon tighter. She raised her own. "So don’t waste it."

"You heard her," Raze said, grinning despite the exhaustion carved into his face.

"Ready?" Sera asked, glancing at Kai.

He gripped the Fractured Blade. "Ready."

"Good."

"Let’s blow that thing out of the sky," Raze said.

Gabriel stepped forward, and the entire Astral Church gathered behind her, power building in a widening pool of white light at her feet. Rainbow color began threading through it, brighter with every passing second.

"...That’s a lot of power," Kai said, watching.

"We’re not holding anything back," Gabriel said.

The Church chanted together, and a massive formation bloomed above them, resolving into a gigantic angel, its body brilliant white, rainbow light running through its wings and armor, a massive twisted sword forming in its hands.

Kai stared. "...Gabriel."

She glanced at him. "Yes?"

"You saved that for now?"

She smiled. "We never had a reason to use it."

He looked back up at the meteor. "Fair."

The mass kept falling, the black water churning, the frost spreading further, crimson lightning lashing through the clouds. The golden swords rotated faster, and deep inside, the six spectral blades began glowing brighter than before. The whole city trembled under the pressure.

"It’s entering the final range," Lily reported.

"How long?" Kai asked.

"Not long."

"Keep charging," he told everyone.

Lily’s voice took hold of the entire network at once. "Everyone. Prepare." The meteor kept descending. "Ten." Mana surged skyward across every district. "Nine." Weapons brightened. "Eight." The relics screamed at full output. "Seven." The angel raised its sword high. "Six." Hunters braced together. "Five." Kai lifted his blade. "Four." Sera settled into her stance. Raze tightened his grip. Mira prepared her final strike. "Three." The whole city lit up like a second sun. "Two." The meteor filled the entire sky. "One."

Lily took a breath.

"FIRE!"

Everything released at once.

The relic network erupted, a gigantic beam of light tearing skyward from the heart of Mythal.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Thousands of hunters unleashed everything they had left, lightning, fire, wind, earth, mana, energy, blades, arrows, spells, class abilities, all of it climbing toward the same target. Kai’s Ashen Seal activated fully, his weapons surging forward alongside his own strike. Sera released everything she had. Mira’s strongest blow tore across the sky. Raze’s weapon erupted with stored force. Lily and Elden forced the network to give everything it had left.

"Now," Gabriel said, and the enormous angel moved, wings spreading wide, twisted sword rising before it became a streak of white and rainbow light, charging straight for the descending mass.

"...Go," Kai murmured.

The angel swung.

Instead of colliding chaotically, every attack began merging, hundreds becoming thousands, thousands folding together into a single unified torrent. The angel flew within it. Kai’s own strike ran straight through its center. Everything Mythal had left became one attack.

It crashed into the meteor.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The sky flashed white. For one unbearable moment, the meteor didn’t move at all, the combined force pressing against it, the beam pushing harder, White Frost burning away at its edges, crimson lightning tearing across the surface of the attack itself, golden swords raining down in scattered arcs. Inside the ice, the six spectral blades swung against the pressure.

"DON’T STOP!" Mira shouted.

"KEEP PUSHING!" Raze roared.

"WE’RE BREAKING IT!" Sera called.

"ASTRAL CHURCH!" Gabriel cried, and the angel pushed harder, its sword driving deeper into the mass.

"Come on..." Kai muttered, gripping his sword with everything he had left.

The meteor held.

Then—

CRACK.

His eyes widened. A crack split across the surface. "...We cracked it."

"Everyone!" Lily shouted, watching it spread.

CRACK!

Black water spilled through the fracture. White Frost shattered outward. Crimson lightning bled from the widening gaps. The golden swords began flickering out one by one.

"It’s destabilizing!" Elden reported.

"Keep going!" Kai shouted.

More cracks spread.

CRACK!

CRACK!

CRACK!

The black water evaporated where it touched the light. The frost broke apart into drifting shards. The lightning grew erratic, tearing itself apart. The golden swords vanished in bursts. Inside, the six spectral blades began fragmenting.

Kai spotted the exposed core. "There!"

"Push," Tiamat said.

He raised his weapon. "EVERYONE!"

Every last reserve poured out at once, the relic network screaming at maximum output, the city glowing brighter than it ever had. Hunters screamed with the effort of it. Gabriel’s angel drove its sword home. Kai’s weapons surged forward as one. Sera, Mira, and Raze struck together. Lily and Elden forced the last of the network’s power through the beam.

The light became blinding.

The meteor split apart.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Black water exploded into harmless particles. White Frost shattered into glittering dust. Crimson lightning flickered out entirely. Golden swords dissolved into scattered light. The six spectral blades broke apart, one after another, until nothing of the massive combined object remained.

The fragments scattered across the sky.

Then they vanished.

The attack faded. The angel dissolved back into light. The beam from the city’s core died down slowly, the relics dimming one after another until the sky settled into quiet.

Nobody spoke.

Weapons lowered across the city. Some hunters collapsed where they stood. Others simply stared upward, unable to process what had just happened.

Raze dropped to one knee. "...Is it over?"

"...I think so," Mira said, looking at the empty sky.

"I don’t see anything," Sera said, lowering her weapon.

Kai looked up. Nothing remained at all.

He turned slowly, taking in Mythal, damaged, cracked, several districts flattened outright, buildings collapsed across the skyline.

Still standing. Still full of people who were still breathing.

He exhaled. "...We actually did it."

"We did," Sera said, smiling.

"I can’t believe that worked," Raze laughed.

"Don’t question it," Mira said.

Gabriel looked out across the surviving hunters, then the city, then finally at Kai. "Mythal survived."

"Everyone did their part," he said.

"That’s why it survived."

He didn’t argue.

Lily checked her interface. Nothing appeared for several long seconds.

Then—

[Final Calamity — Passed.]

Silence held. Kai stared at it.

[Second Disaster — Passed.]

Nobody moved. Then Raze laughed, disbelieving. "...It’s actually over."

More notifications bloomed across the sky, visible to everyone at once.

[Six Calamities — Completed.]

[City Survival Condition — Achieved.]

[City Leader Survival Condition — Achieved.]

Kai read the last line twice, something in his chest finally loosening. "...We made it."

Mira smiled. Sera let out a long, shaking breath. Lily laughed, half from relief, half from exhaustion. Elden leaned heavily against the control console. Gabriel closed her eyes, lips moving silently.

Across the whole of Mythal, the surviving hunters began to cheer.

The tension that had gripped the city for days finally broke all at once. Some laughed. Some shouted. Some simply sat down where they stood because their legs refused to hold them any longer. People began emerging from the shelters they’d been packed into, looking up at a sky with nothing left in it.

No Calamity. No meteor. No spectral warrior. No crimson storm. No black flood. No golden weapons.

Just sky.

"...The Second Disaster is over," Kai said quietly.

"Yes," Tiamat answered.

He smiled. For once, there was nothing else coming.

He looked around at everyone who’d made it through. Sera. Mira. Raze. Lily. Elden. Gabriel. The hunters scattered across the ruined streets. The people of Mythal, alive.

Everyone exhausted. Everyone hurt in one way or another.

All of them still standing.

He looked up at the sky one final time.

"We survived all six." He lowered his sword slowly. "Together."

The System bloomed one last time.

[Second Disaster — COMPLETED.]

The notification faded.

Kai closed his eyes and exhaled.