The sky stopped being a sky.
It became a battlefield map.
Lines of descending fleets cut through the atmosphere like falling stars except each "star" was a warship, a dragon carrier, or a sect fortress large enough to hold a continent.
And they were all aimed at one point.
Lin Z and Scrappy.
Lin Z looked up.
"…Okay," he said slowly. "That is a lot more than a couple of guys."
Scrappy sat on his shoulder.
Silent.
Watching.
Then
Snee.
A tiny flame popped out.
One of the descending warships tilted slightly mid-air, its targeting system flickering for half a second.
Lin Z narrowed his eyes. "…Did you just jam a fleet with a sneeze?"
Scrappy blinked innocently.
The first impact hit.
Not a missile.
Not magic.
A judgment beam from orbit.
White-gold light erased everything in its path, carving a straight line through the void toward Lin Z.
Kael shouted from below, "MOVE!"
But Lin Z didn't move.
Because Scrappy stepped forward first.
Scrappy inhaled.
Not chaos breath.
Not void flame.
Something cleaner.
Sharper.
Authority response.
Golden-black chains snapped into existence mid-air.
They didn't block the beam.
They redefined its permission to exist.
The beam slowed.
Then stalled.
Then shattered into harmless fragments of light.
Silence.
Even the attacking fleets paused.
Lin Z exhaled.
"…Okay. That was new."
Scrappy nodded slightly.
"…They are using system-approved weapons."
A pause.
"…I am not system-approved."
Lin Z smirked. "Yeah, I noticed."
The sky shifted again.
This time, dozens of portals opened simultaneously.
Not random factions.
Coordinated ones.
Elite strike teams.
Beast tamers riding apex dragons.
Armored execution units.
And at the center
A single floating command platform.
A figure stood on it.
Lin Z's expression tightened immediately.
"…Kael Draven."
Kael stood with his serpent-dragon coiled behind him, now fully restored and glowing with unstable cosmic energy.
But his expression was different.
Not arrogant.
Focused.
He raised his hand.
And the fleets stopped firing.
Lyra whispered from a nearby fractured platform:
"…They're coordinating."
Kael's voice echoed across the battlefield.
"Lin Z."
Lin Z called back, "What now?! Another offer? Join your academy, get kidnapped politely?"
Kael ignored the sarcasm.
"This isn't an Academy operation anymore."
A pause.
"This is a containment war."
Lin Z frowned. "…Containment of what exactly? I'm starting to feel targeted."
Kael's eyes sharpened.
"Not you."
He pointed upward.
"At him."
Scrappy froze slightly.
Silence.
Even the fleets waited.
Kael continued:
"The Sovereign Fragment is destabilizing every known system layer."
"It is not just a beast."
"It is a reset trigger."
Scrappy's voice entered Lin Z's mind.
Quiet.
"…They are lying."
Lin Z blinked. "About what?"
Scrappy hesitated.
Then
"…Not everything."
The sky suddenly darkened again.
A second fleet arrived.
Then a third.
Then hundreds more portals opened across reality.
But this time
They weren't just attacking.
They were locking space itself.
The battlefield shrank.
Containment formation.
A planetary-scale cage forming around them.
Lin Z looked around.
"…Okay, they're boxing us in now."
Scrappy's eyes narrowed.
"…They are trying to isolate the bond."
Lin Z frowned. "Can they do that?"
A pause.
Then
"…Not anymore."
The containment grid activated.
Reality compressed inward.
Entire sections of sky folded into structured geometry.
Escape routes disappeared.
Movement restrictions applied.
SYSTEM-LIKE STRUCTURE BUT OUTSIDE THE SYSTEM.
Lin Z felt it immediately.
Pressure on his body.
On his mind.
On his connection to Scrappy.
"Ugh," Lin Z muttered. "This feels like lag in real life."
Scrappy suddenly stepped off his shoulder.
He floated in front of Lin Z.
Small.
But glowing brighter than ever.
Kael's voice tightened.
"Don't let him complete synchronization."
Lyra shouted, "If he fully aligns again, we lose containment control completely!"
Lin Z looked at Scrappy.
"…What are you doing?"
Scrappy didn't answer immediately.
Instead
He turned toward the entire battlefield.
All fleets.
All armies.
All factions.
And spoke.
Not into minds.
Not through system.
But into reality itself.
"…You are all standing inside something you do not understand."
Silence.
The containment grid flickered.
Scrappy continued:
"…You think I am the threat."
A pause.
"…I am not."
The sky warped.
Fleets hesitated.
Weapons stalled.
Scrappy's golden-black aura expanded slightly.
Not aggressively.
Revealingly.
"…I am what remains when the threat already happened."
For the first time
The entire battlefield went quiet.
Even Kael didn't speak.
Lin Z whispered:
"…Scrappy…"
Inside Lin Z's mind, Scrappy's voice softened.
"…They are afraid of the wrong moment in time."
Then
Everything changed.
The containment grid locked fully.
The entire battlefield collapsed inward into a sealed war zone.
No escape.
No reinforcement.
No retreat.
SYSTEM NOTICE:
WORLD HUNT PHASE: ACTIVE
TARGET CLASS: SOVEREIGN ANOMALY
SURVIVAL RULE: LAST FACTION STANDING
Kael lowered his hand.
"…So it begins."
Lyra tightened her grip on her beast.
"…A war between the entire world."
Lin Z looked at Scrappy.
"…Any bright ideas?"
Scrappy blinked.
Then
Snee.
A massive fleet above them suddenly misfired and crashed into another.
Lin Z sighed.
"…That's not a strategy."
Scrappy tilted his head.
"…It is disruption."
The first faction charged.
Then another.
Then all of them.
The sky exploded into war.
Dragons clashed with warships.
Beasts tore through floating fortresses.
Lightning, void energy, and system-grade weapons collided across dimensions.
And at the center of it all
Lin Z stood with Scrappy.
Back-to-back.
Kael's dragon roared from above.
Lyra's ice beast froze an entire strike squad mid-air.
And Lin Z muttered:
"…We are so getting blamed for this."
Scrappy nodded.
"…Yes."
Then
The first enemy landed in front of them.
A massive execution-class beast tamer.
He raised his weapon.
"You are the source of collapse."
Lin Z cracked his knuckles.
"Yeah?"
He smirked slightly.
"Prove it."
Scrappy's eyes glowed.
The battlefield shook.
And the World Hunt truly began.