The city they had spent countless hours and so much effort building had been destroyed just like that.
Kanzaki Rin suppressed her heartache and quickly flew toward where she lived.
Below, countless monsters moved through the ruins, gathering into a vast tide and heading in the same direction.
A vague sense of dread crept over Kanzaki Rin. She picked up speed and reached her home.
The beautiful garden apartment complex had vanished, replaced by mountains of monsters packed tightly together, their purpose unclear.
A chill swept through Kanzaki Rin. She transformed into a Fire Phoenix once more and plunged toward the monsters below.
The mountain of monsters exploded apart. Scorching flames swallowed everything, reducing all the monsters caught within to ash.
Once every monster had been cleared away, Kanzaki Rin saw a sight that stole her breath.
Everyone she knew lay in the middle, their bodies battered and covered in wounds.
Kamikawa Takumi, Asaka Akie, Ye Yuqing, Takeda Masumi... and the monsters from Iron-Cast Palace.
Kanzaki Rin froze for a moment, then suddenly rushed down like a madwoman. She pulled aside all the bodies, then stopped cold.
Fang Cheng lay right in the middle, his eyes closed and his face ashen. He looked exactly like a corpse that had been dead for days.
"No... This can't be real... It's a nightmare... or an illusion..."
Kanzaki Rin tried to force herself to calm down, but her feet wouldn't obey. Step by step, she walked toward him.
The closer she got, the more terrified she became, because everything felt so real.
So real that she couldn't find a single flaw in the illusion.
Rumble!
The earth suddenly began to shake.
The ground in the distance split open, forming a gigantic Rift that looked like an abyss. Countless monsters tumbled into it.
The