The sky vanished behind black smoke and a searing dark-purple glow. Falling debris punched countless enormous holes in the sea, and water rushed back to fill them, forming twisted whirlpools that churned like boiling water.
The entire Sabaody Archipelago had become a living hell.
For the first few seconds, those enveloped in crimson-gold membranes did not realize they were unharmed.
At the first deafening crash, the young mother holding an infant instinctively clutched her child to her chest. She curled into a ball, closed her eyes, and waited for pain and darkness to come.
But nothing happened, no matter how long she waited.
She cautiously opened her eyes. She and the baby were still kneeling where they had been. The street around them had been smashed beyond recognition, but the crimson-gold membrane around them had not budged.
A chunk of debris dozens of meters across struck less than three meters away. The shock wave swept toward her, only to break quietly against the membrane like a wave against a reef. It dissipated without sending even the slightest tremor inside.
Stunned, she reached out and touched the membrane. It was warm and soft, like a layer of air heated by the sun.
Outside, the world was collapsing, burning, and screaming. Inside the membrane, it was as quiet as another world.
A flying stone struck the old craftsman crouched on the shop's threshold. But the instant it touched the crimson-gold membrane, it crumbled to powder. None of its force reached him.
He raised a trembling hand to touch his shoulder, then the membrane. Complex emotions surged through his clouded eyes.
The young apprentice beside him knelt shaking with fear, yet the pale-gold light around him glowed steadily, a preposterous contrast to the sea of fire outside.
Deep inside a hollow in the