Gaia Chronicles: The Integral Saga

Location: Gaia Eastern Perimeter – Mount Nariel Outpost, 4:00 AM

The morning sun never came.

Instead, a deep gray twilight hung over the entire region—unnatural, suffocating, still. Mount Nariel, one of Gaia's strongest eastern strongholds, stood high above the cloudline, guarded by weather towers and Ether Cannons.

But now, all their sensors read zero.

"Sir, visibility is down to seven meters. Solar rays are being completely absorbed."

"This isn't a storm," muttered Irene, watching the sky with narrowed eyes. "It's a curtain."

Worse yet—there was no sound. No birds. No wind. Just silence that pressed like a hand on the chest.

Then the first tremor hit.

And the sun disappeared entirely behind a black eclipse that seemed to bloom like a wound in the sky.

Location: Gaia HQ – War Room

The alarm had already begun to wail.

Hikari Synthesis 26 sat near the back, pale and tense. Her hands trembled over her lap. She hadn't spoken since the rift mission. Since she felt that pull again.

"Sanguira is stirring," she whispered. "Something's waking it."

"Then you need to stay at HQ," Eun-Ha said gently. "You're not ready."

Hikari didn't answer.

Charlotte slammed her tablet shut.

"We're being picked apart while Orion and the Abyss run coordinated strikes. There's a pattern here. Someone's herding us."

"Abyssal hive movement detected," Irene reported. "Hundreds of them converging at Mount Nariel. Rank 6 to Rank 2. Too many."

Cyg was already strapping his gear.

"We're going."

"All of us," Thea confirmed.

Location: Mount Nariel – Front Lines, 6:44 AM

The Octagon arrived on site with seven additional Integral Knights: Raika (8), Diane (4), Lionel (17), Iris (14), Ali (13), Sophia (25), and Gram (21). Soldiers were already being pulled back as tremors grew worse and etheric fog blanketed the battlefield.

"Visibility down. Communication jammed," Diane called. "We're fighting blind."

Cyg took command from the frontline.

"Form loose pairs. Push toward the crater ridge. Prioritize defense and disruption. We hold this ground, or the eastern zone collapses."

The moment he finished speaking—they came.

Abyssal monstrosities burst from the ground. Black serpents with spines of obsidian and molten eyes. Wolf-bodied horrors with five human faces. Swarms of parasitic flesh-crows.

The mountain became a living battlefield.

Location: Mid-Battle – Crater Ridge

Hikari stood on the edge of the ridge, wind howling. Sanguira, her black scythe, pulsed in her grip like a heartbeat.

"I… I can't stop shaking."

Nearby, Sylvia and Elaine fought back-to-back, holding the sky with orbs of wind and sound.

"We've got this, Hikari!" Elaine shouted. "You're not alone!"

"That's not the point," Hikari whispered. "The moment I open the seal… I might not stop."

Flashback – 2 Years Ago, Gaia Trial Chamber

Hikari, then 14, kneeled before the sealed tomb of Sanguira, the Death Scythe. The trial nearly killed her. But what haunted her wasn't the test—it was what the weapon whispered to her.

"I see you," it had said."You are a vessel for the hunger."

And when she touched it… it felt like she'd died and returned. But something had followed her back.

Location: Present – Crater Ridge

An Abyss King dropped from the sky—a winged titan with bone-blades for arms and a mask that bled light. Rank 0.

Even Cyg was thrown back by its impact.

Charlotte shouted, "Hikari! If you're going to do something—now!"

And Hikari… let go.

Divine Assimilation: Hikari Synthesis 26 – Blood Seraph Form

Sanguira erupted in blood-red light, expanding into a massive scythe with living chains and runes. Hikari's hair turned moon-white, her eyes glowing crimson. Her armor became a gothic weave of obsidian metal and crimson silk, adorned with winglike ether ribbons.

The battlefield froze.

Even the Abyss paused.

"I won't be afraid anymore," she whispered, stepping into the air."I won't run."

She vanished—then reappeared above the King.

One slash.

A crimson arc split the sky.

The King's body twisted, howled, then disintegrated into ash and screams.

Below, even the other Knights stopped in awe.

But something was wrong.

Hikari's body trembled.

Her eyes were distant. She hovered there, alone in the air, and smiled—but not at them.

At the Abyss.

Location: Abyss Core – Between Worlds

A voice whispered to her.

"Welcome back, Daughter of Hunger."

And her heart cracked just a little.