Glenn clenched the ledge of the balcony so tightly it shattered under his fingers. A cold pearl of sweat beaded down his forehead, his heart beating madly at the nightmarish sight unraveling before his eyes. His chest that had been pierced by a spear under that same crimson night throbbed—his stomach, once an open buffet for a ghoul, ached too. A purplish tinge was seeping from his arm of the same color.

"A Blood Moon..." Glenn gritted his teeth as he stared at the sky. His friends came out of the mansion, also looking at the moons with mixed emotions.

"Glenn...I'll spoil you slightly and tell you now instead of later. I might be a Fallen One who came from the Moon Rift, but that does not mean I appreciate this shit whatsoever." Diamanes grounded his teeth, his hatred and anger palpable. "I've got a score to settle with it. Tonight's going to be anything but calm."

Mana swirled around Glenn as memories of dead allies, horrible monsters, and despair intruded his mind. The Blood Moon was using his magic against him, influencing and trying to nudge him to fall into Corruption. He grimaced and chased away these thoughts.

"It's a Blood Moon. I wasn't expecting to sleep it off."

Sahro walked up to him and stood at his side, staring at the crimson sky. His hand rested against the hilt of his sword, ready to draw it at any time. "Glenn, this..."

Glenn gritted his teeth. "Yeah, I know."

A shadow suddenly manifested out of thin air, wrapped in bandages and with a hint of unrest in its movements. Sahro's blade was already pressed against the intruder's neck while Glenn's Sun was hovering a hair's breadth from his face. Veil carefully pushed Sahro's blade away as black satin tried to wrap itself around the magic Sun and burned away helplessly.

"Apologies, Fixer Glenn, Fixer Sahro, but the situation should allow me to skip the formalities. Oh, and congratulations on reaching the Fifth Circle, Fixer Glenn."

Sahro sheathed his sword as Glenn dismissed his magic with a snap of his fingers. The Cleaner dusted his clothes off before glancing up at the Blood Moon.

“We need all hands on deck. Our analysts have predicted an absurdly high rate of Rifts on either side of the Dark Wall. The coming wave of monsters will be the largest one to date during a Blood Moon, and it's not even counting whatever is going to come out of the Moon Rift. So..." Veil held his hand forward honestly, "I need your help. Your whole team's help."

Glenn tensely looked at his friends and his sister, hesitating. From the looks of it, this sounded immensely dangerous. It was one thing to head off alone in some mountains to find a lost expedition, it was another to bring his allies into what was possibly the worst place to be if survival was your goal.

"I'll come." Sahro didn't show a once of hesitation, his mechanical arm glowing with crackling red electricity.

"Me too. I need to test my newly formed Fourth Circle on something, after all," Milena stepped in with a tense smile, her fists clenched. Liara silently followed her, nodding at Glenn. Liam and Janica both gulped, tightly clenching each other's hands. They weren't superhumans like the rest of them—they were engineers. Could they survive a literal tsunami of monsters?

"I- I'll come too!" Lina said excitedly. Ary's face drained out of blood and he grabbed her shoulder with an appalled look.

"Please, Lina, I know I am only a stranger to you, but listen to me, and don't throw your life away like that. This...This isn't something you can handle." The boy was missing his usual flirty attitude, his fingers trembling uncontrollably. Lina scoffed and pushed him away, heading for Veil, but she froze in place. She couldn't take another step.

"...No." Glenn's voice was icy cold. "You'll stay here, with Liam and Janica. Ary, I'm sorry, but I'll have to ask you to vacate my home and return to your family."

Lina's eyes widened in anger. "What? Why? I- I can help too! I've learned magic at the University, and trained with Sahro and Liara every day—"

She shut her mouth when she crossed Glenn's cold, purple eyes.

"Lina, this is not up for discussion." He turned away, his fists tightly clenched. "...If you want to fight so badly, first, become half as strong as me. Then, and only then, we will talk about it. But for now, shut up and give up the thought."

Without another glance, he grabbed Veil's hand, who nodded at him. A large, black satin ribbon appeared around Glenn and his team, capturing them. A second later, they were gone. The magic stopping Lina disappeared, and she angrily stormed back inside the house. Ary exhaled a shaky breath before bowing in Liam and Janica's direction.

"I hope to see you after the Blood Moon. Farewell." Ary darted away into the house, leaving Janica and Liam on the balcony.

"Hmm..." Manalok Tuleam scratched the top of his head. "Seems like they forgot about me. Oh well."

***

After a few passages in teleportation gates, Glenn's group arrived at the Dark Wall, the chain of black mountains bathing in a red hue. Thousands and thousands of mercenaries, mages, knights, and even war suppliers had gathered for the occasion. Munirp's army was also there, sporting the proud setting sun flag. The power-armors soldiers had also gathered, closely followed by countless combat automatons.

The entirety of Munirp was looking at the Dark Wall, preparing for the scourge. Veil adjusted his bandages before tipping his head slightly.

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"I apologize, but I need to coordinate with the other Cleaners." He turned away but paused after three steps. "...Thank you for coming, all of you. The Cleaner's Workshop won't forget your bravery."

Milena scoffed tensely. "You're saying that like we're going to die. Just reward us instead of remembering us!"

Glenn and Sahro smiled while Liara pressed Milena's shoulder. Veil smiled under his bandages.

"Certainly. Good luck." He disappeared into the shadows.

"Alright, phew, it's going to be alright..." Milena breathed in deeply while Liara unsheathed her sword and prepared her spear. Sahro sharpened his sword against his mechanical arm with a serious expression, a hint of anticipation lurking amidst the tension. Glenn's Mana raged around him, the Milky Way begging to be used and show the power of Astral Sorcery. Nelg appeared out of Glenn's soul, wearing an anxious face as he hugged his armor.

"S- So that's a Blood Moon, huh?" he muttered in awe. Glenn nodded slowly, straining himself to relax his muscles.

"Curse this thing...At least we will get to fight our fill," grumbled Diamanes. Glenn flew up using Gravity Manipulation and watched as more and more fighters joined in preparation for the disaster, Nelg closely following him using whatever means were at his disposition. Campfires were lit across the plain preceding the Dark Wall, thousands of red lights rising against the Blood Moon.

"I thought those were once-in-a-century rarities, but I already saw two in my life here..." Glenn clicked his tongue. Giselle also mentioned witnessing a Blood Moon back when she still lived in the Ink Dunes. Pebble suddenly phased into reality, appearing on top of Glenn's head. The one-eyed dragon silently stared at the Blood Moon, his tail still and his wings tensed up. Even the small stone beast wasn't comfortable under the night's crimson hue.

Glenn absentmindedly patted Pebble, preparing himself. He shook his head and returned to his group. Sahro opened his mouth to say something to him, but the ground suddenly trembled, interrupting him. Their gazes turned to the Dark Wall, grave.

"It's starting..." Milena muttered tensely as she pulled a dagger out and readied a spell in her other hand. Glenn nodded slowly.

Indeed, it was starting.

The Dark Wall shook heavily, large chunks of stone breaking off the mountains, crashing down with thundering noise. The shaking ground grew to become an earthquake, the floor shattering open. The red light from the Blood Moon seemed to become more intense, and the dimensional slit announcing the opening of the Moon Rift appeared. Glenn's eyes widened as he stared at the opening hole in the sky.

The Moon Rift wasn't opening naturally like when he first witnessed it. No...something was prying it open. Two massive, dreadful fingers were opening the Moon Rift, each large enough to crush King's Rise like a bug.

"What the fuck...?" whispered Glenn, his heart racing madly as he looked at the two fingers. He took an involuntary step backward, his entire being screaming at him to run away. These fingers belonged to something so dangerous, so horrible that even the sight of Diamanes back in his fleshy lair wasn't as terrifying. Glenn knew one thing for sure: if the fingers crossed over to this world, the Limbo would be done for. Nothing can possibly stop that.

More parts of the Dark Wall fell, crumbling little by little. And suddenly, it rose.

Glenn forgot to breathe, enraptured in the sight.

The longest chain of mountains on the continent, separating Munirp from the threats of the Celestial Gods and other threats from Beyond The Wall, was rising. The mountain peaks pierced through the sky, rising like a dark blanket over the world. The Blood Moon disappeared, obscured by the Dark Wall. The dark stone that had given its name to the chain of mountains kept on crumbling away, revealing the truth hidden beneath—a dark blue material that seemed to swallow light itself. An absurd quantity of Blumar had been buried under the dark stone and was now revealed to the world.

The Dark Wall kept on rising, mountains shattering as four massive legs pushed up. Two, dark blue wings stretched out, spanning over the world. The Dark Wall raised a triangle-shaped head and opened its world-shattering jaws. A black flame shot out in the sky, a pillar of light that rose against the Moon Rift and the Fingers.

After thousands of years of slumber, hidden under everyone's nose, the ancient Dragon rose. A Dragon who was originally a human earthling, who created Blumar and replaced every part of his body with the god-slaying material. The world-ending disaster, Sevirox, the friend of the First King D, announced his awakening with a majestic roar. The world trembled, vibrating at the sound of Sevirox's roar, threatening to shatter into millions of pieces.

Glenn laughed nervously. He couldn't help it. After all, he spent almost a month inside the Dark Wall, in a place called 'The Core', where a certain Dragon had once been working on creating a weapon to destroy even Gods. Glenn had even assisted Gundam in a process called the Initialization. He had never understood what this Initialization was, but now...Now that he was watching an ancient, millennium-old dragon rise from the grave, defying all myths and logic, he suddenly got an inkling.

He was the one who woke The Dragon.

Sevirox's wings flapped as he rose from the ground. The air pressure crashed against Munirp, but a wide magic shield suddenly appeared that protected the ground from complete destruction. It stretched further than Glenn could see, and his Mana Sight indicated that it was magic too complicated for him to understand. It was a spell at a stage so far beyond his own level, that he couldn't even fathom the amount of Mana that went into it.

Sevirox flew in the Moon Rift's direction, roaring madly as he did so. The Blumar Dragon rose so high in the sky, that he appeared like a third celestial object, defying the moons in size. Glenn knew that it was only a question of perspective, but still. This sight was breathtaking. He could imagine that even King's Rise inhabitants could see the majestic Dragon rise from the grave, facing off against the one threat nobody ever understood or figured out how to fight.

The Moon Rift. The Fingers stopped stretching open the hole, and a third one entered the world, aiming to press against Sevirox. The Dragon roared and pushed back with his entire body, the Blumar colliding with the Finger and destroying it. The third Finger pulled back suddenly, followed by the other two Fingers. The Moon Rift started closing, but Sevirox wasn't done. With a world-defying roar, he followed the Fingers into the Moon Rift and entered the dimensional hole.

The Moon Rift closed after him, and the Blood Moon disappeared, replaced by the mundane, pristine white moons.

And then, only then... Right where Sevirox was previously lying...

Countless Rifts opened up, spitting out all sorts of monsters without stopping. The Mana in the area surged up, empowering every fighter on the battlefield.

Finally...

Hell itself was unleashed upon the world.

End of Book 4, Black Sand