On a half-destroyed rooftop, an old woman looked up at the sky filled with shadows and whispered, "He has saved earth before… he'll save us again… right…?" There was no answer. In a burning forest, a group of children huddled around a shattered hologram device showing Gustav's image. "Mom… isn't he coming?" a little girl asked, tears streaming. Her mother bit her trembling lip until it bled. "He… he always comes…" "He… always…" But he did not. He would not. The sky remained empty of him. As the final days unfolded, Earth became a graveyard draped in cosmic darkness. Humanity fought tooth and nail. They resisted with technology, with powers, with desperation. But nothing mattered. For the first time in the history of all their struggles… There was no miracle. No last-second arrival. No Outworldly sweeping in with transcendent power. Just death. Hopeless, quiet, and absolute. Even the deities themselves acknowledged it. "His people cry for him," one deity voiced while floating above the broken world. "They worshipped a being who did not return." "Foolish mortals," another replied. "They put their faith in a corpse." And so Earth fell with a whisper of despair. By the end of the third week, Earth was unrecognizable. Its surface cracked into drifting megaplates... Its seas vaporized... Its cities, burned into stone... Its people were either gone or enslaved... Its skies drowned in deity-born darkness. The homeworld that once birthed humanity… …was now a hollow sphere of ruin drifting among its own debris. But earth wasn't the only planet suffering such cruelty. Although cities had been reduced to drifting dust, nations erased, Mixedblood legacies shattered in a single week, some places fared even worse. The alliance which had once a gathering of the universe strongest defenders, had been nothing more than glass before the storm that the deities unleashed upon galaxies. They didn't stand a chance. A silence filled with the memories of those who had tried to stand tall against beings far older than the concept of defiance itself. Even the most powerful Mixedbloods who were Titans in their own right, had fallen like sparks flicked aside by the fingers of uncaring gods. And in the midst of that suffocating ruin, three figures ran desperately across a shattered valley that no longer obeyed the laws of the natural world. E.E grit his teeth as he held up Angy, who staggered with every step. Her breathing was heavy and her hair was stained with blood and dust. Aildris stumbled beside them, pale and coughing, every few moments creating small gravitational ripples to help propel them forward. But even he was fading. Falco was shielding the group with everything he had left. He was the reason they weren't dead. Shadows flickered like black flames behind his footsteps. His eyes, usually bright with mischief or determination, now had a sunken, haunted look. Every breath was pain. Every step nearly collapsed his legs. Yet he remained in front, protecting them. Protecting Angy, E.E, Aildris... his last remaining friends. The air trembled with the arrival of something unspeakably old. A voice boomed across the cracked plains, deep enough to rattle the bones of the world: "RUNNING IS FUTILE." The head of an ancient Executioner appeared above them like a tear in space opening to reveal a nightmare. His colossal form dripped with silver fire with his armor crafted from the first metals ever forged in the universe. In his hand was an axe shaped from collapsed stars... a swing was capable of erasing continents. E.E choked on his breath, Aildris stumbled... Angy whimpered softly... but Falco didn't slow down. The Executioner's presence alone made the fabric of reality buckle. They had been running for days, hiding in broken corners of space, slipping into cracks of collapsing dimensions—yet the Executioner always found them. It was hopeless. "Falco… you need to rest…" Aildris coughed, blood streaking down his chin. Falco didn't answer. His voice had long since been shredded by exhaustion. Every step burned his lungs. Every breath felt like inhaling molten metal. Still… he kept going. Angy eyes widened as the Executioner lifted the axe. "Your father sends his regards... once your friends perish here... you will be forced to return to his side," the ancient Executioner's voice boomed loudly. "F-Falco…" Angy whispered while breaking into sobs, "We're not going to make it—!" The Executioner swung and space warped on itself as Falco thrust his hand outward, summoning the last remnant of his dark essence. A dome of darkness erupted around them, absorbing the cosmic blow, but it shattered instantly. Falco's entire body convulsed as he coughed violently, collapsing to one knee. The shadow barrier fizzled out like ash in the wind. He was done... completely out of energy. Angy's screams echoed through the rubble-filled valley. E.E held her tighter, shaking. Aildris trembled, unable to summon even a spark of his energy. The Executioner descended slowly, like a god delivering a verdict. His eyes glowed with cold, merciless judgment. "You were amusing to chase," he rumbled, "but this ends here. Your friends deaths will be… efficient." Falco lifted his head, but only barely. He couldn't even raise an arm anymore. The Executioner lifted the star-axe and cleaved down but before the attack met them... Twwhoom~ They vanished. Just like that, they were gone. As if the universe blinked and forgot they existed. The Executioner froze mid-swing as his eyes narrowed. "No…" Cosmic flames burned off the edges of his armor in irritation. "My Lord will not be pleased by this…" Falco's father was an entity even the ancient Executioner feared disappointing. He looked at the fading sparks of their disappearance, then grunted. "Clever rat… your son inherited more of your tricks than I thought." With a frustrated snarl, the ancient Executioner sank back into the folds of space, leaving nothing but lingering dread in his wake. --- Falco, Angy, E.E, and Aildris reappeared with a violent lurch, as though spat out of existence. They collapsed onto smooth white stone that was cool to the touch, radiating serenity. Above them was a sky they didn't recognize.