The portal flared as Goku, Luffy, and Yuji reentered the physical realm. They emerged in a high cliff temple overlooking the scarred cityscape of Civitas Prime. Energy rippled from them like aftershocks. Each step they took left faint echoes, not of sound, but of time itself trying to recalibrate.
"Feels… heavier," Luffy said, stretching. "Like the world's holding its breath."
"It is," Yuji replied, clutching his chest. "The Null tried to follow us. Something's still watching."
Goku stood silently at the edge of the cliff, eyes fixed on the sky. The Sword of Suns was gone, but its impression remained in his mind—a weight pressing against his thoughts.
From below, Naruto, Sasuke, Gojo, and Saitama rushed up the steps, expressions torn between relief and urgency.
"You're alive," Naruto said, breathless.
"Barely," Goku replied. "But something else woke up in there. A memory... or a warning."
Before they could speak further, the sky trembled. A pillar of light descended miles away—pure, golden, divine. The ground quaked.
"Another throne just activated," Sasuke said. "That's the third this week."
"But this one's different," Gojo added. "This one didn't choose an avatar. It fell."
They raced to the location. What they found was devastation: a smoking crater in the middle of a desert, and at its center—an armored being with fractured wings, kneeling in the dust.
It looked like a god. But it was broken.
"I thought the gods were myths," Yuji said quietly.
Saitama shrugged. "Looks more like a fallen angel."
The being stirred. Its eyes glowed dimly. Its voice rasped like static through broken stone.
"I am Aetherion… last of the Thronebound."
Goku stepped forward. "Did the Source send you?"
Aetherion coughed, metallic and wet. "No. I fled it."
Naruto knelt. "What are the Thronebound?"
Aetherion looked up, tears of liquid light tracing his cheeks. "We were not rulers. We were prisoners. Bound to maintain balance. Now the balance is broken. The Source reclaims everything."
Luffy blinked. "So you're not the enemy?"
Aetherion laughed, short and bitter. "No. But it is coming. And soon it won't matter who's enemy or ally."
Thunder roared overhead. The skies split again—but this time, not into light.
A storm of black fire surged through the atmosphere.
From it descended a figure in chains of energy and shadow—Blackbeard reborn, now wielding a new core of Energia stolen from the fallen throne.
"Miss me?" he cackled.
Gojo raised a barrier. "He shouldn't have this kind of power—!"
"Should, shouldn't," Blackbeard sneered. "I do. And I'm not alone."
Behind him, a rift opened—and four more figures emerged. Each draped in remnants of the lost gods. Their eyes were hollow. Their presence was war.
"The Pantheon rises," Blackbeard roared. "And we are its vengeance!"
Goku stepped forward. "Then this is where the fall begins."
The sky shattered above them as the battle began.
Godfall had come.