Magic City, outside Apex Guild headquarters.
The broad plaza, usually bustling with traffic, was now swallowed by a silent sea.
People. Nothing but people.
From one end of the plaza to the other, players from across the Yan Country War Zone stood shoulder to shoulder.
They carried no banners and chanted no slogans. They simply stood there, their silence gathering into a pressure that bore down on the Sky-Piercing Tower.
Every head was raised, every gaze fixed on the upper reaches of the tower, where the Main God Qin Chuan resided.
Fervor, hope, confusion, unease...
Countless emotions mingled and simmered through the crowd, finally settling into an almost solid silence.
Apex Guild's internal channel was already in chaos.
"What's going on? Where did all these people come from? There must be at least a million!"
"What do they want? Are they going to attack our headquarters?"
"Don't panic! They aren't carrying weapons, and none of them have turned hostile. They don't look like they're here to cause trouble."
"The forum's blowing up! Go look! They're here to... petition!"
Petition?
The word struck every Apex Guild member as absurd.
Petition whom? Their guild leader? The Main God?
On the top floor of the tower, inside a quiet chamber.
Qin Chuan sat cross-legged, surrounded by threads of law invisible to the naked eye. He seemed cut off from the space around him, immersed in profound contemplation.
Outside the chamber, a figure stood by the window, looking down over the dark mass of people.
Night Cherry Tangle's expression was calm, as though the sight before him were nothing out of the ordinary.
His armor shone with divinity. Tall and slender, with a gentle bearing, he wore the ancient Sin and Punishment: End Judgment at his waist. In the room's dim light, its edge