I stood still, my hands behind my back, eyes half-lidded as my perception expanded outward like a web of invisible threads. Hundreds of signatures now filled the area. Masters, nearly two hundred of them, had gathered again, drawn to the ruins and the crater where their comrades had died.
So were cautious, so burning with rage, others barely holding their fear in check.
But all of them... watched.
Their eyes flicked between the broken statue, the cracked earth, the blood-soaked soil and .
A small smile played on my face after watching Knight in action.
Then my gaze landed on one figure among them. My eyes narrowed.
King Holt.
He was trying to stay hidden, near the third row, cloaked in a common robe, his presence deliberately suppressed.
But no amount of masking could hide his stench from . The sa stench he carried back in the prison room—the one of arrogance, entitlent, and cruelty.
I slowly raised my right hand.
Essence swirled at my fingertips. The air distorted. A subtle pulse passed through the crowd.
Before anyone could react, a sudden invisible force yanked King Holt into the air. His body tore through the crowd like a ragdoll, limbs flailing as he scread. Dust kicked up from his path, heads turned in shock and then he was there.
His neck slamd into my waiting grip.
He thrashed, gasping.
"W-what? How...?!" he stamred, his voice cracking in disbelief. "How are you doing this? I—"
I leaned closer, letting my words cut through the silence.
"This is the end for the Holts."
His eyes widened. He squird harder now, panic overtaking pride. "Wait! Wait! I can help you! I know many things about the labs, the experints, the grandmasters, just let live!"
I stared into him like he was nothing.
"Pathetic."
With a simple twist, I snapped his neck. The sound echoed through the clearing.
His body went limp in my hand.
I tossed it aside like garbage. It hit the dirt with a dull thud, and the ripple of horror that passed through the Masters was almost audible.
Then I stepped forward.
One step. Another. The crowd tensed.
"Since none of you are willing to take action," I said, my voice calm and cold, "allow to do so."
Gasps and shouts rippled through the crowd as King Holt’s body hit the dirt with a thud.
Still, no one moved.
Their hesitation clung to the air like a fog, thick with dread. I could feel the way their instincts scread at them to run, to flee, but the weight of what they had just witnessed kept them frozen in place.
I raised my right hand again, slowly this ti.
"[Fractured Unity]."
The sky darkened slightly as natural Essence began to swirl in vast, sweeping waves. The air thickened, humming with invisible tension.
At the sa ti, the Essence generated within surged through my channels, pulsing like a second heartbeat.
It billowed outward in waves, violet and vibrant, mixing seamlessly with the green hue of the natural Essence around .
The fusion wasn’t gentle, it was violent, like two rivers crashing into each other, twisting into spirals of chaotic power. The very ground beneath my feet trembled from the interaction. Trees groaned. Leaves scattered. The sky roared.
The fusion began.
Violet and green spiraled around each other, the sky shimring above like an inverted vortex. The air turned dense, electric. Leaves tore from trees, the ground cracked beneath the weight of gathering power.
A sharp wind swept outward, making cloaks flap and hair whip about. Fear finally settled on their faces from the pressure.
They could feel it. The end was coming.
A deep brown light began to take shape above them—first a blur, then an outline, and finally, form.
A massive palm.
Brown, earthen, and impossibly huge, spanning the sky above the entire clearing. Its fingers stretched wide, each one thicker than multiple tree trunks together, and it hovered like judgnt given form.
I lowered my hand slowly.
The palm responded.
It dropped.
The mont it moved, the air scread. A thunderous shockwave tore through the sky as the palm descended with terrifying speed. The forest beneath quaked—roots snapping, trees bending away from the sheer pressure. Shouts of panic erupted.
"RUN!"
"ATTACK!"
"BARRIER—CAST A SHIELD—!"
The brown palm crashed into the earth like a teor. The sound was deafening—a crushing, world-splitting impact that shook the place. Dust and debris exploded outward in every direction. The shockwave flattened trees for hundreds of ters. The air quivered, thick with Essence and violence.
And beneath that hand?
Silence.
Where once stood nearly two hundred Masters....barely a dozen were left.
Along with a deep crater, the earth sunken and scorched, bodies turned to pulp or buried beneath fractured stone and twisted roots. Their weapons, their armor, their defenses—none of it had mattered.
I stood at the edge of the crater.
The sky above still trembled from the aftershocks, the green and violet strands of Essence drifting apart once more.
High above, a shadow fell over us.
Silver.
He let out a shrill, piercing screech as he dove from the sky, his massive wings tucked inward.
Crimson mist trailed behind him like a blazing cot. The mont he reached the survivors, his wings flared open. Feathers, sharp and glowing with wind, lashed out like scythes. Wind blades scread through the air, slicing through defenses like paper.
Screams rang out and then silent.
By the ti Silver rose again, only corpses remained. Shredded, torn, unrecognizable.
I let out a slow breath and looked up at the sky.
It was churning.
The dark green clouds that had lood ominously above were no longer still. Multiple vortexes had begun to form within them, swirling faster with each passing second. Lightning flickered silently across the sky.
A clash between two Grandmasters.
The pressure alone was enough to raise the hair on my arms.
Dante and Hugh.
The two strongest beings in this realm were finally unleashing their strength. I could feel the distortions in space itself, ripples crashing outward in waves.
And the sky...
The sky looked like it might split.
Silver circled above again, a low, thunderous growl rolling from his chest. His instincts were sharp. He knew what was coming. We both did.
I stood silently, letting the wind whip through my clothes, my eyes fixed on the vortexes above.
With my last attack, I had cleared an even larger area, flattening the trees and carving the forest into a scarred battlefield. More enemies were rushing in from all directions, drawn by the chaos. I sent a quick ntal command to Silver, telling him to let them co. Let them all gather.
I shifted my focus and checked on Knight.
He was... enjoying himself.
Hidden within the shadows of the portal chamber, he waited in silence. The mont soone stepped in, he struck—swift and rciless. One slash, one kill. The once-intense battle had turned into a slaughter, and Knight moved like a ghost, a predator reveling in the hunt.
While Knight was having an easy ti, the fight underground was far more intense.
Lyrate, North, and Steve were locked in a fierce battle.
Per my instructions, Lyrate was holding back, providing support. I had told her to let Steve and North take the lead, it was their fight to prove themselves. And they were holding their ground well.
But it wasn’t just Holts they were facing now.
Soone had released the Abominations.
And not just any Abominations, these were different. Savage, unstable, more brutal than the ones I had seen before. Worse, they were all level 199.
Each one radiated bloodlust and hunger for human flesh. I could feel from Lyrate’s emotion that she wanted to tear through them all but was holding back and knowing her nature, I knew she was going to enjoy it as well.
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