"When daylight hunts us with crowns of flame,
And the Sun calls strength by a tyrant’s name,
We lower our eyes, not in defeat,
But to the stars beneath our feet."
Immediately their voices rose powerfully as thousands sang the chorus together, their words echoing with defiant hope:
"Hail the Stellar Night!
Veil of endless sight!
Stars our oath, the Moon our shield,
In silver rise, our fates are sealed.
Hail the Stellar Night!"
Then they continued with the second verse, voices growing stronger:
"The Sun may burn, may blind, may roar,
May scorch the worlds and demand for more,
Yet every dawn is doomed to fall,
At dusk’s first breath, we stand tall."
The chorus rang out again with even more passion:
"Hail the Stellar Night!
Guardian of the fight!
Even blazing suns must bow,
When Moon ascends and Stars allow.
Hail the Stellar Night!"
The third verse was loud and synchronized, making it seem as though the entire stadium was trembling.
"Moon above, cold and wise,
Watcher of truths the Sun denies,
Push him down from heaven’s throne,
Let night reclaim what’s always its own."
They chanted the bridge with building intensity:
"Stars do not burn...
They endure.
Stars do not chase...
They wait."
Immediately, their voices grew even louder as they roared the final chorus with all of their might, pouring every ounce of emotion into the words:
"Hail the Stellar Night!
Our path, our rite!
Sun be damned, we fear no light,
For Moon shall rise and Stars ignite!
Hail the Stellar Night!"
Then abruptly, their roaring voices reduced to whispers as they spoke the closing line all together, the sudden quiet somehow more powerful than the shouting:
"In night, we evolve."
In that exact moment, the holographic timer above clicked to 00:00:00, and the sun in the sky began turning blood red.
-----
"ROOOOOOOOAAAR!"
The entire Third Ring trembled violently as a massive, earth-shaking roar resounded from outside the protective walls of Terragrave Megacity.
The entire city was suddenly dyed crimson red by the four blood-colored suns now shining from above, bathing the entire world in what looked like rivers of blood. The temperature immediately spiked by several degrees.
The gaze of the crimson phoenix constellation visible in the red sky was cold and filled with pure murder, as though the celestial bird wanted to wash this entire world in blood and flames.
At that moment, various shrieks, bone-chilling roars, and mournful wails of sun-ghouls could be heard throughout the massive defensive wall surrounding Terragrave Megacity from all directions.
"Thump!" "Thump!" "Thump!"
Several loud, rhythmic thumping sounds could be heard steadily closing in on the city from the wasteland beyond, like war drums announcing an approaching army.
At this critical moment, countless Radiants, Sun-fiends, Sun-ghouls, and Solar Abominations could be seen swarming in from all corners of the wasteland. They rushed forward like a living tsunami of twisted flesh and radiation, circling around the Third Ring’s wall of defense. They scratched at the reinforced metal with claws, bit with jaws, and collided against it with tremendous force that created booming sounds.
At this moment, a tiny figure could be seen standing alone atop the massive Third Ring city wall on the western section. When one looked closely, they would notice the figure was actually an elderly human woman, looking small against the vast wall.
The person appeared to be in her late fifties, though her actual age was much older. She wore a pure white combat robe that somehow remained white that not even the crimson rays of light from the blood suns above could dampen its brilliant white color.
As she stood there motionless, powerful energy radiated from her body like a raging tide of visible force.
The air around her warped and bent in accordance with her breathing pattern, creating heat waves. She glanced down coldly at the thousands of Radiants climbing over each other in a pile, desperately trying to reach the top of the city wall.
Her gaze was completely indifferent even with the deafening roars and agonized wails of the various corrupted beasts surrounding the city on all sides.
Suddenly her face showed a slight change in expression as she stared into the far distance. There, a massive titanic sun fiend approximately 200 meters tall could be seen charging through the wasteland with insane speed that seemed ridiculous for its size.
"A Blightfire Tyrannus," she muttered calmly, using her middle finger to adjust her reading glasses as she spoke with narrowed eyes. "Middle Luminous Grade. Troublesome."
At the same time, on the southern part of the defensive wall, stood a battle-scarred man in his late sixties.
He was the living ancestor of the powerful Wynter family.
In the sky approaching his position, a massive winged Sun-fiend could be seen flying toward him with tremendous speed, its wings blocking out sections of the red sky. It was also a Luminous Grade beast, a tier above Savage Grade!
The same situation was developing on the eastern part of the wall. The ancestor of the Sterling family, a woman with silver hair tied in a warrior’s braid, was calmly guarding this critical location. Flashing toward her position was a Sun-ghoul, the mosr difficult to deal with out of all the categories of corrupted radiants!
The siege had begun.
-----
Vogue opened his eyes slowly, stretching his arms and yawning at the surprisingly satisfying sleep he had just experienced. His body felt strangely relaxed and comfortable.
He blinked several times, and he was immediately stunned when he fully realized where he was.
The familiar one-bedroom apartment. The walls painted matte black just how he liked them. The collection of movie posters he’d carefully hung: GTA VI, Ready Player 2, Alita Battle Angel 2, Inception 2, and Mr & Mrs Smith 2.
"This..." Vogue’s breath caught in his throat.
Vogue was completely stunned when he saw these exact posters on the wall in their original positions.
This was his old room back on Earth. This was the exact layout of his bedroom from before a malfunctioning cargo plane had crashed directly onto this room, killing only him while he slept. The cruelest possible death—never even knowing it was coming.