For a second, a mere instant, nothing happened; then, in the lunar sky, space warped and time seemed to stand still. A great dark sphere appeared, an immense void that devoured even the light of the Sun.

A black hole had just appeared in the lunar sky.

In an instant, the Moon's gravity disappeared. Sobek felt himself being pulled towards the dark sphere as everything around him began to rise and fall towards the black hole. The spinosaurus knew he had to act quickly, or he would be sucked up.

[Selected Mutation: Gamma Mutation]

[Selected Mutation: Atomic Mutation]

[Selected Mutation: Supreme Mutation]

His body swelled again, his muscles swelled and his veins glowed green. Using all of his strength to keep himself on the ground, he began to run. As he ran, he spat an atomic beam at the black hole.

The only way to overcome a black hole's gravity was to counter it with speed. By running parallel to it using the more powerful muscles provided by [Gamma Mutation], itself boosted tenfold by [Supreme Mutation], Sobek could move fast enough to remain 'in orbit' around the black hole. To better balance his position, he used [Atomic Mutation]'s Atomic Radius to counter the attraction force a bit more.

Even so, his position was precarious. The black hole was too strong and would sooner or later capture him. In addition, he was short on time. His mind shook slightly as the description came back to him…

[Black Hole: This is the ultimate move, to be used only in the event of an absolute emergency. It allows you to bend spacetime so much that it temporarily generates a black hole. Warning: this black hole will devour everything in its surroundings, so it is recommended to use it only in case you have an escape route. The black hole will remain stable for exactly ten minutes, then it will dissolve and the matter that composes it will be converted into energy, generating an explosion of unimaginable light. Also for this reason, its use is recommended only if escape routes are possible]

Sobek at that moment had no escape route. All he could do was keep running parallel to the black hole and hope his gravitational pull was strong enough to destroy the transporter block.

The lunar soil cracked and Sobek had to almost jump to keep running, while bigger and bigger boulders flew towards the black hole attracted by the monstrous gravitational force. The metal sphere containing the teleportation device plummeted towards it and the countdown ended an instant before it engulfed it; but even if the explosion did occur, it was completely absorbed by the black hole. The solar fireball, which should have been tens of kilometers wide, didn't even have time to form before being devoured by the dark pit. Even the light rushed into it in an instant.

"Come on, come on, come on!" Sobek screamed in his mind, trying desperately to steady herself around the black hole, but the distance between them was getting smaller and smaller. Moondust and debris kept getting in his way. Anything within several kilometers was flying towards the black hole, hitting it multiple times along the way.

The lunar dust began to swirl around the black hole forming an accretion disk, heating up and brightening. Anything closer than a meter was instantly reduced to crumbs and plunged into the dark sphere. Sobek seriously began to fear the worst.

But then, it finally happened. The various devices scattered around him split apart under the immense gravitational force and flew towards the black hole. Sobek finally sensed that the transporter lock had vanished.

"Go! Now!" he yelled in his mind, activating [Teleportation] as fast as possible and thinking of the first destination that came to mind. His body disappeared from the lunar surface.

Just in time! Just twenty-eight seconds after he was gone, time ran out and the black hole collapsed. The matter of which it was composed was transformed into energy and released in the form of a flash of light so immense that it made the Sun pale. The light was so strong and intense that half of the bright side of the Moon melted; as soon as the lightning struck, the rock liquefied into red lava. When the light faded, an ocean of molten lava had appeared in the center of the bright side of the Moon.

********

On Eden, a lot had happened in the last half hour. First, several flashes of light had come from the Moon. Then, suddenly, something started to change.

For the first moments no one noticed, then it was as if someone had started decreasing the gravity; first very little, then getting louder and louder. The creatures on the opposite side of the planet, on the other hand, had felt the opposite effect, as if someone was pushing them further down. It hadn't taken long to figure out that what was actually happening was that everything was being pulled towards the Moon.

Looking at the satellite, astronomers could very clearly see a dark halo on it, so dark that it devoured even light. Panic immediately spread: it was undoubtedly a black hole, it was devouring the Moon and then most likely it would have devoured Eden too!

But fortunately, the whole thing had only lasted ten minutes. When time ran out, the black hole had disappeared in a flash of light, and gravity had returned to normal all over the planet.

For a brief instant, the night sky was lit up so much that it seemed like it was day, actually more so. Not even on the clearest days the sun could emit so much light. Then, as quickly as it had come, the light faded.

The show that the whole world was part of was a tortured Moon: the center of the side visible from Eden was now red as blood and boiling, while the rest looked like it had just been scalded. Many took it as an apocalyptic signal and feared that the world was about to end. Some even brought up aliens.

This happened all over the world. However, something else also happened somewhere in the world. In a bend of a river inside the Maakanar forest, something gigantic fell into the water just before the immense light illuminated the sky as day.

"Pfff… it's done" Sobek thought as he immediately canceled all his mutations and dragged himself out of the water. This time it was really bad.

He looked around, trying to figure out where it was. "Uh? This is the place where my father took me fishing for the first time' he realized recognizing the river. 'I assume my subconscious chose it as a destination because it thought it was a safe place… well, who cares. The important part is that I managed to get out of that alive"

He tried to get to his feet, but found he couldn't. He was tired, as he had never been in his entire life. The prolonged and continuous use of mutations, the struggle, the mental effort to control the water while he was fighting, the fear of dying, the adrenaline, the mad rush around a black hole… it was too much even for him to bear.

"I mustn't waste time" he thought, and immediately summoned his most suitable subordinate for what he had to say. "Old Li! I need you!"

The voice of the ankylosaurus reached him promptly thanks to the [Contract]: "Pack leader? You look fine! Where were you? We've been looking for you since…"

"There's no time! Hold this!" Sobek yelled, and in an instant he transmitted everything that had happened in the last half hour, including the dialogue between him and Wafner, into the ankylosaurus' mind. "Notify the Eden Union immediately! Tell RE/SYST to lock the missiles now, warn the colony about Ares, tell Buck and Carnopus to start the attack, order Snock to track down the bastards and kill them, everything! Do it now!"

"Pack leader, are you…!"

Sobek heard no more: his head fell to the ground and he collapsed from exhaustion.

**********

Old Li couldn't remember ever hearing so much apprehension in his pack leader's voice. He wanted to ask for more information, but the conversation was suddenly cut short. His pack leader was probably passed out.

Under normal circumstances he would have worried about him, and probably any other of Sobek's loyalists would have worried about him right now; but Old Li was smart enough to understand that there were more important things to do. Maybe that was why Sobek had contacted him.

The ankylosaurus knew there wasn't a minute to lose. The situation was terribly delicate and if they hadn't acted quickly they could have faced an unprecedented catastrophe.

He immediately used [Teleportation] and he appeared in front of Buck. The tyrannosaurus was surprised to see this. "Old Li? What…"

"Go immediately to the place where the pack leader gathered us after the naval battle! I'll call the others, then see you there! It's an emergency!" the ankylosaurus exclaimed, then used [Teleportation] again and appeared in front of Carnopo, repeating the same scene.

One by one, Old Li contacted all of Sobek's generals. He even teleported to the Ares colony to pick up Blue. The velociraptor was more surprised than the others to see him, but followed without objection.

Less than a minute later, all of Sobek's loyalists were gathered on the same beach where the spinosaurus had long ago asked them if he could give them a gift to thank them for their service. "Well, you are all here" Old Li said.

"Yes. Now would you like to explain to us what is happening?" Apache asked peevishly, and the others nodded at his words.

"I received a message from the pack leader" the ankylosaurus replied. "The situation is more serious than we thought. Listen…"

Old Li described to them in detail everything that had happened between Wafner and Sobek, including everything they had said to each other. By the time he was done, the other eleven generals were clearly distraught.

"But it's absurd!" Buck roared. "Destroy the planet? It is absurd!"

"No, it's not absurd. It's evil" Monica corrected. "It makes perfect sense, but only an evil and twisted mind would choose to implement such a plan. The Imperials are really crazy…"

Snock let out a snort. "Where is the pack leader now?" he asked in an apprehensive voice.

Old Li shook his head. "I don't know. He's fine, but I think he passed out. I haven't received any more communications from him"

"In that case, we have to look for him!" Mazu exclaimed, and the thought of him seemed shared by the others.

But Old Li wasn't of the same opinion. "No! You do not understand? The leader of the pack contacted me precisely because there is no time! We must act now!"

The other generals looked conflicted. Evidently, all of them would have preferred to go find Sobek, but they could understand the urgency of the situation. There really wasn't a second to lose. "So, what do we do?" Carnopus asked.

"Let's act!" Old Li replied. "Here's what we'll do. Al, you go to the top management of the Eden Union and tell them everything. Tell them to contact RE/SYST and block as many missiles as possible, and give us all the support they can. Buck and Carnopo, you lead the army and wipe out the imperial army. Apache, you provide them with air cover. Mazu, you instead attack from the sea, conquer the coast, place missiles and bombard the Empire without respite. Snock, you and your subordinates immediately destroy all the military bases that we have discovered, and Rambo, you try to find out where the others are. Monica, you help Rambo, and in the meantime send some of your subordinates to find the pack leader. Blue, you return to Ares and prepare to defend the colony. Eema, go with her and help her build an efficient defense. Pierce, you establish a defense perimeter around the Empire using any means, ours or the Eden Union: anything that tries to cross the border, you incinerate it or send it back, see?"

"All clear" the stegosaurus replied. "And you?"

"I will be the spokesperson between us. Without the pack leader, someone has to keep us in touch. I will teleport to each of you every twelve minutes. That way, if anyone is in trouble, I'll find out and warn the others, and we can then go and help them" Old Li explained. "Do we all agree?"

The eleven generals looked at each other. Old Li's plan seemed well thought out and, honestly, none of them could have done better. "And what about the emperor?" Snock asked.

"For now, the emperor is not important" Old Li replied. "But as soon as you destroy all the military bases, then you can go and kill him"

The giganotosaurus seemed satisfied with the answer. After finding out what that bastard had tried to do to the pack leader he just wanted to sink his teeth into his flesh.

"No objection? Perfect!" Old Li exclaimed, then glared at them: "Still here? GO!"

The ankylosaurus' scream was so unexpected that the others jumped. None of them even thought for a moment to object: without hesitation, they activated [Teleportation] and ran to implement the plan.