Far larger.
Much closer.
Kai immediately felt something was wrong.
Not a prison alarm.
Not an attack.
Something else.
Something familiar.
Then he heard it.
A scream.
Not one.
Hundreds.
Coming from above.
The city.
They rushed outside.
The moment they emerged into the streets, everyone stopped.
A massive pillar of blue light pierced the night sky.
It rose from the lower districts.
Visible from every corner of Yggdrasil.
The citizens were already running.
Soldiers were mobilizing.
Panic spread like wildfire.
"What is that?" Kai asked.
Akshay's expression darkened.
"No idea."
Then they ran.
The closer they got, the worse it became.
Buildings had collapsed.
Streets were destroyed.
People fled in every direction.
And at the center of it all stood a ritual circle larger than a city block.
Dozens of robed cultists surrounded it.
In the center floated a glowing demon core.
The same type recovered from the demon beneath Yggdrasil.
Only this one pulsed with overwhelming energy.
"Stop them!" Akshay shouted.
The group charged forward.
Cultists immediately intercepted them.
Steel clashed.
Magic exploded.
Bodies fell.
Kai fought his way through the chaos.
Andre bulldozed through people like a living battering ram.
Akshay rallied nearby soldiers.
For a moment, it looked possible.
Then the ritual completed.
The demon core shattered.
The sky cracked.
And something emerged.
At first only a hand.
A gigantic blue hand.