Chapter 30: The Lifting of the Heavenly Lock

The final days passed with an eerie calm.

Nothing unusual happened in Zeta.

The factories never stopped operating.

The army's training never ceased.

And the warships continued moving between the military bases and the celestial ports.

Life proceeded as usual, as though nothing were about to happen.

But behind that tranquility...

Something had reached its end.

Fifty years.

Fifty years since the space above Zeta had been sealed.

Fifty years since humanity had become completely isolated from the rest of Gandalia.

And throughout those years, humanity had not been waiting.

It had been preparing.

Deep within the Sovereign Palace...

Fafnir stood before the ancient black gate.

His body had recovered most of its former strength, and he was no longer the emaciated figure who had awakened decades ago.

His long black hair cascaded down his back. His black eyes possessed an unfathomable depth, while his aura remained terrifyingly still.

Behind him stood the Four Pillars of Humanity.

Thorin.

Valor.

Morgana.

And Eleanor.

None of them spoke.

They knew why they had been summoned.

Today was different.

Fafnir raised his eyes toward the gate.

Then he spoke calmly.

"Fifty years."

No one answered.

He continued.

"Throughout these years, humanity remained behind this lock."

"But that era has come to an end."

Silence descended for several moments.

Then Fafnir turned toward the Four Pillars.

His gaze was calm, yet it carried absolute authority.

"Are you ready?"

The four exchanged brief glances.

Then Thorin stepped forward.

"The army is ready."

Valor said:

"The fleet is ready."

Eleanor said:

"Our resources and supplies are stable."

As for Morgana, she said:

"And humanity is ready."

Fafnir remained silent for several moments.

Then he nodded.

"Good."

He turned around.

And raised his hand.

The instant his hand rose...

Space trembled.

It was not a tremor that ordinary humans could perceive.

It was a profound disturbance within the very fabric of space itself.

Above Zeta, stretching across a vast expanse whose end the human eye could not see...

The Heavenly Lock appeared.

It had existed for fifty years.

An absolute barrier that had separated Zeta from the rest of Gandalia.

It was not merely a barrier.

It was a law imposed upon space.

No entry.

No exit.

No spatial travel.

No passage through spatial pathways.

Not even the ability to truly sense what lay beyond it.

But now...

That law began to change.

Fafnir raised his hand higher.

Then he uttered a single command:

"Lift the lock."

In the next instant...

The heavens shook.

轰!

A tremendous sound spread throughout Zeta.

Countless people stopped what they were doing.

Workers raised their heads.

Soldiers halted their training.

People emerged from their homes.

And in the great cities, millions gathered in streets and plazas, staring toward the heavens.

Most of them did not know what was happening.

But they felt it.

Something that had existed above them for fifty years...

Was changing.

Vast layers of celestial energy began to emerge across the sky.

They stretched from horizon to horizon.

Then they began to crack.

Enormous luminous fissures appeared throughout space.

One after another.

Then...

The Heavenly Lock began to collapse.

It did not explode.

It did not shatter violently.

Instead, it began to fade.

Layer by layer.

Law by law.

Barrier by barrier.

Until the heavens gradually began to return to their natural state.

For the first time in fifty years...

The people of Zeta felt the true space surrounding them.

They felt the vastness of Gandalia.

The boundless expanse of the cosmos.

And the existence of the outside world once again.

Then something else happened.

The spiritual energy within Zeta changed.

The spatial pathways that had been sealed returned to existence.

Space, which had been frozen under the influence of the lock, began moving once more.

And high above the heavens...

Distant spatial portals began to appear.

One.

Then another.

Then dozens.

These portals had not been created by humanity.

They were the natural pathways that had existed throughout Gandalia before Zeta had been sealed away.

And now...

They had returned.

Silence descended.

A strange silence.

Millions stared at the heavens.

Some of them had not even been born when the lock was first established.

For the new generation...

This was the first time they had ever seen the true Gandalia.

They did not know what life had been like before the isolation.

They did not know what an open sky looked like.

They did not know what the outside world was like.

But now...

They saw it.

For the first time.

In one of the cities...

A small child looked toward the sky and asked:

"Is this Gandalia?"

No one answered him.

Because everyone was staring at the same sight.

Beyond Zeta...

The world was different.

And the instant the Heavenly Lock disappeared...

The ancient beings felt it.

Within a distant sacred palace...

One of the Four Archangels opened his eyes.

The sacred aura surrounding him came to a halt.

He then looked in the direction of Zeta.

"The lock..."

Silence followed.

It was gone.

After fifty years of isolation...

Zeta was open once again.

The angel spoke calmly:

"Watch it."

Elsewhere...

Within an ancient demonic palace...

One of the Seven Demon Kings opened his eyes.

A faint smile appeared upon his face.

"So... it has ended."

He did not know what had happened within Zeta.

Nor did he know how much power had accumulated there.

But he knew one thing.

The barrier that had separated humanity from the world...

Was no longer there.

He said:

"Continue watching."

Deep within an immense mountain range...

The Beast Emperor opened his eyes.

He gazed toward the heavens for several moments.

Then he said:

"They have lifted the lock."

He said nothing more.

He simply continued staring toward Zeta.

Within the Elven Kingdom...

The Elf Queen stood before her living palace.

She could clearly sense the change in space.

She spoke in a calm voice:

"Then... it is time for their return."

Far away, within the lands of the Werewolves...

The Werewolf King stood atop a mountain peak.

He gazed toward the horizon.

Then he said:

"Fifty years..."

He fell silent for a moment.

"What did you do during them?"

And upon the Dark Continent...

The news reached the palace of the Vampire King.

He stood before the window.

He remained silent for a long time.

Then he said:

"Do not interfere."

The entire world had sensed Zeta's return to open space.

But...

No one knew what awaited them there.

They did not know how many humans there were.

They did not know the size of the army.

They did not know the size of the fleet.

They did not know how many warships humanity possessed.

They did not know how many resources humanity had accumulated.

And they did not know what had happened during those fifty years.

But within Zeta...

The truth was beginning to reveal itself.

At one of the great celestial ports...

An order was issued.

The enormous gates began to open.

Then the first warship moved.

It was massive.

Armored.

Majestic.

Dense energy surrounded its colossal frame.

It slowly emerged from the port.

Then rose into the sky.

Behind it...

Another ship emerged.

Then another.

Then dozens.

Then hundreds.

These were not merely ships.

They were the product of fifty years of labor.

Fifty years of development.

Fifty years of preparation.

The ships moved in organized formations.

Heavy warships at the front.

Fast ships behind them.

Reconnaissance vessels spread throughout the formations.

And supply ships at the rear.

At other military bases...

The army began to move out.

Trained soldiers.

Organized units.

Commanders who knew their positions.

Formations that had been tested countless times.

There was no chaos.

There were no shouts.

Everything was orderly.

Calm.

As though this very moment had been practiced throughout their entire lives.

And throughout the cities...

The banners of humanity began to rise.

One after another.

Until the skies and roads were filled with a single symbol.

The symbol of humanity.

This was not a declaration of war.

Nor was it an attack.

Humanity fired no weapons.

It declared war on no race.

It challenged no one.

It had done something far simpler.

It had returned.

Within the Sovereign Palace...

Fafnir stood before one of the windows.

He gazed at the open sky.

For the first time in fifty years...

There was no barrier separating humanity from the world.

There was nothing preventing the vastness of space from reaching Zeta.

Fafnir raised his eyes.

A faint smile appeared upon his face.

"The isolation is over."

The Four Pillars stood behind him.

None of them spoke.

They knew that this moment was not the end.

It was the beginning.

Humanity had spent fifty years building its strength far from the eyes of the world.

And now...

The world would see it.

But the world would see only the result.

It would not see the fifty years.

It would not see the suffering.

It would not see the labor.

It would not see the preparation.

And it would never know how profoundly humanity had changed.

Fafnir slowly lowered his hand.

Then he said:

"From this day onward..."

His words paused for a moment.

Then he gazed toward the distant horizon.

"Humanity returns to Gandalia."

Silence descended.

But deep within Gandalia...

A new era had begun.

An era in which humanity was no longer imprisoned behind the Heavenly Lock.

An era in which Zeta was no longer merely humanity's last remaining homeland.

The door had been opened.

And now...

The world would have to see what humanity had forged during fifty years of isolation.