The Gods of Arcadia feared the worst. A malicious force had infiltered into Earth below their very noses. The many cracks left behind by the Demon King of Miasma's attack had yet to be healed. The largest and most obvious ones were healed, but smaller ones, as little as the head of an ant were not as easy to repair, and there were thousands of them distributed everywhere.
Of course, no normal living being could get through them except extremely small insects which would only be harmless at most. But these small cracks still bean to fill Earth with the Mana of Arcadia with each passing second, slowly yet steadily.
However, certain entities, perhaps those that lack a physical body, could easily get through them… And that's exactly what happened. As the Gods attempted to find a solution, the Demon King of Death, Thanatos, laughed from within the Underworld, celebrating that one of his underlings, one that lacked a physical body, had managed to infilter this "new world".
"A New World ripe for conquest, with so many fresh and delicious souls…" Thanatos celebrated.
In the middle of a city, below the darkness of the night, within an abandoned alleyway, a small ripple emerged.
It was as if the empty air itself was beginning to shatter. The only person there, a homeless man sleeping inside of his make-shift house of carboard and sticks suddenly woke up from the noise.
"Who's shattering bottles now?" He muttered, looking around, only to find an utterly bizarre sight.
The empty air was gaining several cracks, one after the other, constantly. The cracks expanded slowly, until a small hole, as big as the head of a person opened, leading to a completely black void.
"W-Wha…?! What the fuck?! What did I drink tonight!?"
The man woke up and began crawling away in horror, however, he couldn't help but take a peek at what was happening as he ran away, almost instinctively from the dreadful presence that had begun to emerge.
A monstrous, black-colored claw emerged from the cracks, which seemed non corporeal get it had the power to touch things physically.
And then… hundreds of red eyes emerged from within the hole, glancing at the man's very soul.
"W-What is that?! G-G-GHOST?!"
The man didn't dared to look any further, running away and quickly disappearing from the scene. If there was one thing he learned from living in the streets was to never mess around with dangerous people, that included inter-dimensional monsters.
"A cowardly soul…" The voice of the entity whispered, as its entire body finally managed to get into the other world, the Rift it created slowly beginning to repair itself. "Hmph, the Gods work fast…"
The hole closed before he could even hold it further, yet the entity's connection with his master remained as strong as ever.
His formless shadow-like body began moving around, glancing around everywhere. Countless red eyes grew over his phantasmal body, analyzing everything.
"What a strange and bizarre buildings… Yet, so many souls! Millions of souls packed in such a tight area!" He exclaimed. "Yet…"
Suddenly, he noticed how his body was beginning to weaken, even part of it was fading away.
"This world lacks the Mana to maintain my form for longer. I need a host." He sighed, suddenly noticing he was surrounded by dozens of strange, formless monsters similar to him, but with several faces and limbs, made of shadows.
The entity seemed pleased by their visit, however.
"So Hollows form in this world naturally already, huh? Good, you are going to be a nice aperitive.
The Hollows quickly tried to devour the entity, and jumped over his phantasmal body, ripping him apart and absorbing his Mana!
However, as they devoured the entity, they suddenly started squirming and groaning in agony. Their bodies quickly dissolving into black liquid, which began to gather around together into a large mass of darkness.
"Ahhhh! Not so bad! This world's mana really has a unique taste!" The entity laughed. "Now… I would really love to make more mischief and disasters but… It does seems my master has another mission for me."
He slowly heard the voice of Thanatos whispering to his very soul.
"Phantasmos, this is the world where that detestable Yggdrasil's true body resides. Find her and devour her soul! And while you are at it, open the cracks leading to this world. We shall continue where the previous Demon King left at!"
"Yes, Master! It will be a pleasure!"
Phantasmos flew around the city at night, devouring as many Hollows as he could to grow stronger, while directing his gaze into the faraway countryside. His body slowly started to divide into tiny pieces, each tiny fragment flew towards a separate direction of the city, seeking more of these small cracks.
Not only this city was being affected, but his presence quickly spread around the entirety of north America in just a few hours since his arrival. His soul fragments moving at incredibly fast speeds and absorbing Mana to keep themselves alive.
"These Hollows is all I can take easily. I shall need more strength to reap souls, physical bodies. And monsters are excellent sources of physical bodies at that!" Phantasmos began to laugh, his plan was slowly being set in motion.
Each of his soul fragments started to instigate the small portals leading to Arcadia, as the cracks slowly, yet steadily began to grow larger. It might not be instantly, but in a few days or weeks, true chaos will finally engulf the world.
"All of you pitiful humans' souls shall become my Master's dinner…" He laughed, glancing into the faraway wilderness of the countryside. "But first, my master wants his aperitives."
Meanwhile, within Arcadia, the Gods glanced into Earth through the System's interface, quickly detecting the powerful phantasmal presence of Phantasmos within Earth, and he was growing stronger with each passing minute!
"From all of the Generals, it had to be him?!" The God of Creation exclaimed.