Ethan stood high in the sky.
Through the commander unit, he controlled the entire battlefield.
He could feel it—
authority.
Control.
And... power on the level of an advanced civilization.
The scales of war had tipped completely.
Ethan led a vanguard of dozens of chanoids he’d taken over, charging at the very front.
Their movents were perfectly synchronized.
Not because of programming—
but because their consciousness had been linked to Ethan.
He wasn’t just giving orders anymore.
He was the command system.
He lifted a hand.
Every chanoid lifted a hand with him.
Energy gathered in their palms.
Then—
it released.
Dozens of destructive beams slamd into the heart of the Nexaris formation.
But the truly lethal part wasn’t the firepower.
It was the chaos.
The remaining chanoids stalled.
Their cores flickered like they were going to burn out, because the orders they were receiving contradicted each other.
Attack.
Stop.
Defend.
Obey.
Their logic began to collapse.
Their network structure was tearing itself apart.
It was sothing Nexaris had never anticipated.
They were trapped by their own perfect coordination.
The next second, Ethan issued the final command.
"Override."
Every chanoid under his control turned in unison—
and opened fire on their forr comrades.
BOOM!!!
The first chanoid’s core was pierced clean through.
Then the second.
The third.
Explosions blossod across the sky, one after another.
Blue cores fell like dying stars, dropping from the heavens into the Nether Sea below.
In less than five minutes, the invasion fleet—
more than ten thousand chanoids strong—
collapsed completely.
The sky fell quiet again.
Only a dozen or so wrecked units remained, hovering in place.
Their cores flashed weakly.
Like dying creatures.
Then—
they went dark.
The war was over.
Ethan’s body re-ford in midair.
Black particles drifted together.
First a silhouette.
Then flesh.
Then a whole, complete body.
But the mont he fully returned, his legs almost gave out.
A weakness hit him like nothing he’d ever felt before.
Like his soul had been torn open.
Genetic Digitization hadn’t just consud energy.
It had consud his consciousness itself.
Inside him, the Darkness Rune and Light Rune rotated slowly, bringing a vicious backlash.
His breathing turned heavy.
His vision even blurred for a mont.
He knew it.
If the battle had ended even a little later...
he might not have been able to co back at all.
Ethan slowly raised a hand.
From his storage space, he took out a Worldheart Crystal.
The crystal gave off a gentle but profound glow, like a miniature universe sealed inside.
He didn’t hesitate.
He swallowed it whole.
The instant it entered his body, the crystal lted—
not physically, but converting into pure energy.
A warm, vast power spread through him.
First his chest.
Then his limbs.
Then his consciousness itself.
He could feel it clearly.
Damaged energy circuits were stitching themselves back together.
His depleted Primordial Force started flowing again.
Even the Powered Combat Armor let out a faint hum, automatically absorbing the overflow.
The runes on the armor’s surface lit back up—
more stable than before.
More complete.
Ethan let out a slow breath.
The weakness drained away fast, replaced by that familiar feeling of having his strength back in hand.
Just then, Thalorien appeared beside him.
His gaze was complicated.
Awe.
And a trace of shock he couldn’t quite hide.
He’d never seen an ability like that.
A living being seizing control of a chanical civilization’s command authority—
that was power on a civilization tier.
Thalorien didn’t waste words.
He pulled out a larger white crystal and held it out to Ethan.
"From now on, we’re allies."
His voice was low and steady.
"The Thalaryn’s resources will be shared with you."
He paused, looking Ethan in the eye.
"Including Worldheart Crystals."
Ethan’s heartbeat quickened slightly.
This was what he’d actually wanted all along.
But his expression stayed calm—if anything, it carried a tired, almost helpless resignation.
"Nexaris won’t stop here," he said.
"They’ll send a stronger fleet."
"My Sky Fortress and War Machines need stronger cores."
His eyes flicked to the crystal in Thalorien’s hand.
"Worldheart Crystals are the only choice."
Thalorien didn’t hesitate.
He nodded once.
"Large-scale supply," he said.
"Unlimited."
Then he extended a hand.
"Co with ."
"You should see it for yourself."
"The Thalaryn’s true world."
They headed toward the deepest part of the Nether Sea.
The farther they descended, the quieter the water beca.
Heavier, too.
Like the whole ocean was watching them.
Soon, Ethan saw it.
A barrier.
A massive energy barrier.
It hung in the deep sea, linked with others, forming a defensive structure that covered the entire region.
Blue energy flowed through it slowly—
breathing, almost alive.
Just getting close, Ethan could feel the destructive force packed inside.
This wasn’t only a defense system.
It was a weapon.
Compared to it, Erald Castle’s barrier tech looked primitive and fragile.
Thalorien lifted a hand and lightly touched the barrier’s surface.
Hummm—
the energy responded to his will.
The barrier slowly parted, forming a doorway.
And in that mont, Ethan suddenly felt sothing.
Not a sound.
Not light.
Existence itself.
The water in the distance started to move.
Not like a current—
like it was making way.
As if sothing...
was waking up.
The next second, a gigantic silhouette surfaced from the darkness.
It didn’t fully reveal itself.
But just the outline was enough to make the space itself feel heavy.
Terrifying energy seeped out from within it, spreading in slow waves.
It resonated with the entire Nether Sea—
as if it didn’t exist in the ocean...
but was a part of the ocean itself.
Ethan’s pupils snapped tight.
This wasn’t "seeing" in the normal sense.
It was instinctive alarm—like a hunter suddenly realizing a stronger predator had been watching him the whole ti.
In the distance, the seawater warped.
Not flowing—
more like it was being forcibly pushed aside by sothing impossibly huge.
The next second...
the "giant" revealed itself completely.
It stood nearly twenty ters tall. Dark blue-green scales covered its body, each plate reflecting a cold sheen like polished tal.
Its lower body was coiled like a serpent.
But its upper body had the torso and muscle structure of a shark—powerful, brutal, built to kill.
It carried no weapon.
Because it was the weapon.
And worse—
a killing intent so dense it was almost tangible kept rolling off it in waves.
Under that pressure, even the seawater seed to turn heavy.
Ethan realized sothing imdiately.
This wasn’t Thalaryn.
Thalorien’s reaction was even more direct.
"All units—Level One combat readiness!"
His voice lost its usual elegance, pulled tight with strain.
At the sa ti, he yanked a snow-white gemstone from his chest.
The gem lit with a soft glow. Around him, the Thalaryn warriors imdiately scattered, snapping into a defensive formation.
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