The sky was bleeding black.
Nomu dropped like a rain of death, each one more grotesque than the last—claws like rusted steel, fused tech protruding from ribs, eyes glowing with manufactured madness. They shrieked as they landed, coordinated like soldiers, no longer mindless but precise.
I was already mid-air, bones aching, cloak scorched, my fists a blur of motion.
A Nomu lunged for me with a spiked chain fused to its spine. I caught the chain mid-whip, twisted it, and dragged the creature down. My boot shattered its throat on impact.
They weren't stopping.
"Phantom," River's voice crackled in my ear, strained but focused, "Shadow just confirmed another breach in northern Tokyo—Sector 7. Civilians trapped in sublevels. Kyu's team is moving but they're short. Reaper's down."
"Dead?"
"Unconscious. Maybe worse."
Damn it.
Before I could respond, three Nomu with acidic tongues dove at me in sync. I flew upward, dodging two, grabbed the third by its jaw and ripped it off mid-scream. Its body dropped like meat.
Below me, I spotted movement—Class 1-A and my childhood friends, forming defensive lines. Eliza stood near a crumbling parking structure, body shielded in stone. Ryan unleashed a frost storm. Shinsou forced a Nomu to turn on its own.
They were still fighting.
Still alive.
Still had no idea who I was.
I forced myself not to look too long. Not to get pulled back into their orbit. They couldn't know. Not yet. Not ever—if I failed.
"Phantom!" Kyu's voice hissed next. "We've got rogue tech Nomu heading to the hospital ruins. They're dragging something—people. Alive. Maybe bait."
"Orders?" River asked over the comm.
My eyes narrowed. Below, in the center of Sector 3, Joker spun with arms wide—dancing through smoke like a conductor leading a massacre. Nomu circled him like hounds.
"We split," I said.
"Say again?"
"River, take Thorn and Echo. Secure the hospital site. Save who you can. Kyu's team holds Sector 7. The rest of us…"
I looked at Joker.
"We end the conductor."
Silence answered for a beat. Then:
"Copy that," River replied grimly. "Try not to die, boss."
No promises.
I dropped like a meteor, fists blazing red with stored solar heat. Joker saw me coming, smiled wider, and laughed like he'd won.
Then he opened his hand.
The ground cracked. Not from a quake—no, this was deeper. Older. Something tore open in reality itself.
From it crawled the worst of them yet.
Not Nomu.
Not human.
Twisted fusions of both—ancient beings that looked like they'd been built in rituals, not labs. They had runes etched into their bones. Horns made from machines. Screaming voices that echoed in frequencies I couldn't even register.
One looked at me.
And spoke.
"Phantom. Reaper of the new age. The child of war… you bleed the same as them."
I didn't hesitate.
I broke its face with a punch hard enough to crack space.
"Boss!" Thorn's voice burst in. "Ghost's alive—he's at the evac line. Says one of the Ancient Nomu tore his comm out, but he made it. He saw something—something underground."
"Where?"
"Beneath Joker. There's a facility… sealed. Shielded. Old world tech."
"Tell Ghost to mark the coordinates. We'll breach it after this."
Another flash of movement—Joker lunged at me, blades dancing in each hand. We clashed mid-air, his knives ringing off my gauntlets, my heat beams scorching across his coat. He was fast. Slippery.
"You're late, Phantom," he hissed in my ear. "The world's already dying. This is just the encore."
I slammed a fist into his ribs, cracked at least four.
"Then I'll end the show."
His face twisted—delight and pain, all at once. "You can't kill a joke."
"No," I said quietly.
"But I can silence one."
Behind me, the comms lit up again—Shira's voice this time, grim:
"We've lost all contact with China. The Nomu stormed through Hong Kong and haven't stopped. We're hearing… rumors. A second Joker."
My heart clenched.
A clone? A successor?
No. Worse.
A family.
I didn't get a chance to ask. Because Joker—
The one in front of me—
Dropped a bomb.
Not a traditional one.
A psychic one.
I felt it in my skull first—a scream that wasn't mine. Then pain. Then silence.
When I opened my eyes—
I was on the ground.
Time skipped. I wasn't sure how long I'd blacked out.
Blood in my mouth. Smoke in my lungs. Joker was gone.
The city?
Worse than before.
"Status," I choked out.
"Thorn's down," River replied. "Ghost's barely breathing. Obsidian just reported from Cairo—their base was leveled. All but Avis and one other confirmed dead."
My throat closed.
I looked to the side.
Sero… unconscious. Burned.
Shinsou… dragged away by med bots.
And Diamond—
Lightning still flickering, even as she collapsed behind a fallen wall. Unaware I watched. Unaware I was even there.
"Phantom," River said. "What now?"
My hand trembled as I gripped my comm.
Then I said—
"Now we burn their gods."