Kaiden's thumb clicked the remote, cutting off the laugh track of the comedy show, and the television shifted to live broadcasts. The lighthearted atmosphere in the room evaporated in an instant.

A shaking camera filled the screen first. Smoke and fire clawed toward the sky above what was once a sprawling city. The reporter's voice was breathless and panicked.

"This… this is Manila, ladies and gentlemen! The death toll is climbing by the second! Dungeons have opened in the heart of the city, and there are simply too many monsters for the local forces to handle. We… we're hearing reports of entire districts being wiped off the map. People are being eaten alive in the streets! Military reinforcements are on their way, but they are not expected to arrive in time!"

The feed was cut to another location.

"This is Lagos!" another reporter shouted, his voice nearly drowned out by the roar of distant monsters and the screams of dying civilians. Behind him, colossal beasts trampled through shattered streets. "The government is urging everyone to flee, but highways are blocked with abandoned vehicles! We can't…" The man's voice faltered as the camera caught sight of a creature snatching up three fleeing people in one claw. The screen jolted wildly, then the feed cut to black.

Another network took over immediately. A woman's face filled the screen, pale and drawn. She was trying to maintain composure, but her voice trembled. "New Delhi has lost contact with several districts. Early estimates suggest tens of millions dead or dying. Entire neighborhoods have been swallowed by dungeon breaches. We and our awakened were not prepared for this scale of monster outbreaks..."

The screen switched again. Now it was South America, the Amazon jungle burning as winged abominations blackened the sky. "Brazil is collapsing under the assault! Entire towns are overrun, communications are failing, and the awakened forces are scattered! The president has issued a global call for aid!"

Kaiden's grip on the remote tightened. He could hear the shaking in every reporter's voice, could see the fear in their eyes. These were not calm, professional broadcasts. These were desperate human beings trying to speak to the world while their own cities fell apart around them. While the people they grew up with were being eaten alive in utter agony.

The crawl at the bottom of the screen displayed bold red text:

[Humanity in Crisis: Hundreds of Millions Dead. Entire Nations on the Brink. Global State of Emergency Declared.]

Then the anchor's voice, strained and brittle, returned to unify the chaos. "These horrific scenes match the words spoken by the unknown woman whose voice reached the world earlier today. She called it the end of the grace period… and judging by what we are seeing, this is no mere warning. Humanity is in mourning. Humanity is bleeding. The grace period, whatever it was, seems to be truly over."

The screen filled with montage after montage. Streets littered with censored corpses, people crying over lost family, governments deploying what little forces they could muster. The sheer scope of the disaster left no room for denial.

The world was breaking, and every single person watching knew it.

Aria's hand found Kaiden's and squeezed it tight. Her voice was shaky as she spoke, her heart full of sorrow. "This is a tragedy. Thank God my family lives in the Ashborn mansion now… but all these poor people out there…"

"Yeah…" Luna muttered. There was no bite in her tone this time, no scoff on her lips, only a grim nod.

Nyx's expression was dark. "This is like one of those games of yours, no, Luna? It feels as if we, the people of Earth, have just cleared the tutorial and now entered the real game."

"… I play competitive online games, you damned bimbo. What you're describing are the plots of story-driven ones. But…" Luna trailed off. "Yes, I get that feeling too."

Kaiden and Bastet said nothing. He only tightened his grip on the remote and switched the channel again.

The next broadcast was different. It was not the collapse of cities or the screams of the dying. It was something perhaps even more unsettling.

"The world's faiths are in uproar," the reporter announced with visible strain. "Church bells ring without stopping, mosques overflow with worshippers, and temples across Asia are filled to bursting. Every holy man and woman claims the mysterious voice belongs to a goddess. Some call her the Angel of Judgment. Others say she is the First Mother returned. Others declare she is a false god meant to test humanity."

The screen cut to live footage. Thousands of people crowded outside St. Peter's Basilica while their chants echoed through the Roman streets. A switch to Mecca showed seas of worshippers rushing through the sacred grounds with cries that were desperate and urgent.

The reporter's voice became even more disturbed as he tried to keep up. "Beyond the old religions, new movements are forming already. Cults have risen in the chaos, claiming the woman as the herald of the world's end. They demand offerings, sacrifices, anything that might appease her and spare those who submit. Some call her the Bringer of Dawn. Others are saying the Final Judge. All agree on one thing… that she is no ordinary being."

The images kept changing. Mad-eyed preachers screamed into microphones while throngs of people wept and prayed. Marches of candlelight stretched for miles. In some cities, riots broke out as believers clashed with skeptics. The world was not only bleeding from monsters but now burning with fear of the divine.

Kaiden sat motionless. His thumb hovered over the remote, but he did not change the channel. He stared in silence as humanity clung desperately to faith, old and new, in the face of a nightmare they could not understand.

A knock echoed through the room.

"Come in," Kaiden called.

The door creaked open, and Sarah stepped inside with eyes that were sparkling like diamonds. "Thank you… Thank you so much for allowing me into such a fancy facility!" she blurted in quick succession.

Sarah, the ever-loyal fangirl and main moderator of their streams, had almost been sent with the other civilians they saved to a regular hospital. That was the plan until Luna stepped forward and told the awakened escorting them that Sarah and her mother would come along with the group instead. Nobody had argued against her, and the matter had been settled just like that.

Now Sarah's appreciative gaze slid toward Luna, warm and glistening. "My mother is being treated as we speak. Though, honestly, I think the wrinkly hag is just in shock."

"Don't worry about it," Luna replied. "You've been watching me long before Valhalla's Sinners was even a thing. Back when I had only a handful of viewers, you were one of the few. This is the least I could do for you."

Sarah's face lit up into a radiant beam, brighter than ever before. Yet she quickly caught herself. "Ah! I almost forgot! She's here!"

From behind Sarah stepped a shorter figure. A teenage girl with chestnut hair and nervous eyes. Elara.

The dungeon aid who had carried their packs through the desert dungeon and even saved some lives while doing so. She had been out of sight since then. Their deal with her, that she would clean their home and manage their treasury, had fallen apart once they moved into the government-funded bunker. The place was meant to be off radar, so having the teenager come and go was a risk they didn't want to take, and beyond that, they had far fewer riches for her to organize than Kaiden would've liked. Her services had become unnecessary, but they had not forgotten her.

The moment she saw them, Elara dropped to her knees and broke into sobs that shook her whole body. "I… I don't know what to say…" she cried.

Kaiden and the others smiled warmly at the girl, even as her dramatic display filled the room with raw emotion. They knew why.

They had not only asked the faculty to bring Elara here, fearing that her home might be endangered by whatever was going on in the outside world. It was best for her to stay here until things became clear.

But even more than that, they had asked the faculty to accept her ill, cancer-ridden brother into the facility as well. He was now receiving the best care in the world, treatment that no amount of money could normally buy. The awakened hospitals did not treat non-awakened, no matter how deep their pockets were. But when Kaiden asked, the rules were bent.

Kaiden rose to his feet, walked over, and lowered himself to her level. His hand came down gently on her trembling shoulder. "You owe us nothing. In fact, I want you to forget all about this. Your brother will be cared for, and he will need his big sister. So stop being so down and be the steady one he can rely on during these trying times."

Elara looked up, though instead of stopping, her tears were streaming in rivers. "But you even paid my contract off… You made me free…"

Kaiden smiled faintly while brushing a tear from his own eye. "But nothing. Helping you costs us nearly nothing. We've made plenty of money, and moving your brother here only took me ten seconds and a few uses of my vocal cords. Don't worry about it."

Elara sobbed harder, nodding frantically, her gratitude overflowing beyond words.

From the side, Sarah covered her mouth, her own eyes glistening as tears welled up. To see such a young girl freed and her brother saved, it was almost too much to take in. The fact that she was having a first-row seat to her internet crush doing all this made the woman extra emotional.

The tender moment was full of raw humanity.

…Until the television blared.

The image shifted.

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