The arena was in ruins. Cracks split across the foundation, and buildings in the city beyond were crumbling under the pressure of chaotic aether.
The sky was streaked with angry crimson, and the emergency shields struggled to hold back the growing explosion at the center of the disturbance.
Champion Stelle's voice rang out across the arena, sharp and commanding despite the panic.
"This is an emergency! All citizens of Verizon—evacuate immediately! Soldiers, guide them to the nearest off-world transport sites! Go, now!"
She shouted.
Her voice cut through the chaos like a blade. People moved. Fear still gripped them, but obedience took over.
Nova stood in the center of the ruined arena, staring into the horizon, where black, oily smoke began to creep up from the underground prison.
It pulsed with unstable energy—a twisted remnant of something ancient. Something wrong.
Anna rushed to his side, breathing hard.
"Nova! What are you going to do?"
He didn't answer right away. His gaze remained locked on the growing fracture of light in the sky above Verizon, like a wound tearing through reality. Finally, he asked.
[Nyx. What are our options?]
Nyx's voice echoed in his mind.
[Not good, Nova. You don't have access to the Ship of Balance, which means you can't stabilize the aether flow directly. We're short on anchors, and without planetary harmonizers—]
"Then give me what I can do."
Nyx hesitated for a beat before answering.
[We can initiate a tethered stabilization through your world-building system. It's crude, inefficient, and temporary—but if you override manually with your aether and connect directly, you might buy this planet a few hours.]
"That's enough. Prepare the protocol."
Nova muttered.
[Nova. This isn't your responsibility. This planet is already dying. The residual essence of the god of destruction will render it uninhabitable. You can't save it. You'll just delay the inevitable.]
Nyx warned.
"I know. But maybe I can save the people. That's enough."
Nova said. His voice was quiet, but certain.
Anna looked at him, shocked.
"You're going to use your system here? You don't even know if it'll work!"
"I'm not letting this world die without trying, Princess."
Nova replied, then turned toward Stelle.
Stelle was already issuing orders to her remaining soldiers. She turned, face drawn but proud, as Nova approached.
"What is it?"
"I can buy you some time. A few hours. Long enough for you to evacuate the civilians. After that, I can't promise anything."
Nova said. "
She stared at him, stunned.
"You… what do you mean?"
"I'm going to connect my aether to the core of this world and delay the collapse. I won't be able to do it for long. Use that time. Get your people out."
His tone remained steady.
Stelle's eyes darted to the sky, where the crack widened. She clenched her fists, torn between duty and desperation.
"Even if we evacuate, this world will be cursed. The essence of that god will poison everything. It's over."
"Then think of this as a chance to regroup. You're not saving a planet. You're saving your people."
Nova said.
She stared at him a second longer… then nodded, her voice low but firm.
"All remaining forces—focus on evacuation. I want every ship in the air before the next wave hits. No exceptions!"
Nova looked to the distance, feeling the system within him begin to stir.
The tether lines glowed faintly beneath his skin, the roots of his world-building power responding to the call.
[System override authorization complete. Initiating Dominion Anchor Protocol. Tether points forming.]
Nyx said.
The air around Nova shimmered. Aether gathered in thick, glowing strands, forming lines of energy that burrowed into the planet beneath him.
The sky above darkened, as if reacting to the conflict between destruction and resistance.
"Anna, take the aetherite and go back. Make sure to give it to Nyx. I might need some time here."
Nova informed Anna and it looked like she wanted to protest. But then she thought better and decided to trust him.
Her instincts told her that Nova would make it back to the mothership alive somehow.
The moment the protocol began, Nova felt it. The pain.
Like every nerve in his body had been snapped and rewired into the planet's nervous system.
His heart pounded with the rhythm of collapsing tectonic plates, and the pressure nearly buckled his knees.
Anna moved forward, but Nova raised a hand to stop her.
"Don't. This system reacts to interference."
She froze, watching him as the light around him brightened.
A dome of translucent blue aether expanded outward from Nova's position.
As it spread, the ground stabilized, the buildings ceased trembling, and the crimson light in the sky dimmed slightly. Just slightly—but it was enough.
Citizens who had been running in terror began to slow. The rumble of the earth lessened. The aether shockwaves stopped shattering the streets.
Stelle stood near the edge of the arena, breath caught in her throat.
"He's really doing it…"
From the control tower, Nyx monitored the pressure points across the planet.
[Stabilization at 36%. Crude, inefficient… but functional. We've got three hours at best.]
Nova exhaled shakily, sweat rolling down his brow.
"That'll have to do."
The sky cracked again, and the black smoke pulsed once more from the underground prison. Far away, alarms echoed across the capital as the explosion continued to build.
Anna looked at the glow surrounding Nova and then at the soldiers preparing the last transport ships.
"We need to hurry."
Stelle turned toward her troops and shouted.
"Double the speed! Load up every child, every elder—everyone! Get them off this planet!"
As chaos turned to coordinated movement, Nova stood in the middle of the storm, bound to a planet that was not his, holding together a world that should already be dead.
And in the dark, something watched.
Something old.
Something that remembered him.
And waited.
The sky thundered again, this time louder. Somewhere beneath the crust, another ripple of destruction surged, but it didn't break through.
Nova grit his teeth as the strain doubled. His vision blurred at the edges, and every breath felt like inhaling fire. The planet was pushing back against him.
[Aether balance at 42%. But the god's residual energy is trying to override your system. I'm deploying emergency counter-loops to hold it off.]
Nyx reported quickly.
"Don't hold back. Drain the system if you need to. Just keep it stable long enough."
Nova murmured.
A moment of silence passed.
[Copy that. Engaging full protocol.]
Anna stood just outside the radius of the stabilization dome, biting her lip.
The light made her feel like she was staring at a star—beautiful but blinding, fierce and sacred.
She took a shaky breath, then looked at Stelle, who was organizing the last evacuation wave.
"You've never seen anything like this either, have you?"
Anna asked quietly.
Stelle shook her head, eyes locked on Nova.
"No. I've fought warlords, rebels, beasts from beneath the crust… But I've never seen someone try to hold back a dying world with their bare will."
Anna smiled faintly.
"It's my first time as well. But that's just how Nova is."
And still, at the eye of the storm, Nova stood unwavering. Aether coiled around him like a second skin, defying collapse, time, and death. Not to win. Not for glory.
Just to buy everyone else a chance.