CHAPTER 385: EX 385. DOWAGER’S FURRY

The descent had grown strangely quiet.

Too quiet.

Leon noticed it first. His boots hit the flawless white steps in steady rhythm as the void stretched endlessly around them, and still nothing stirred.

No shrieks. No claws. No whispers from the dark.

"It’s like the corrupt creatures are avoiding the steps," he finally said.

The Dowager didn’t slow. Her white robes flowed behind her as she answered over her shoulder, voice calm and steady.

"It’s because of how the steps were formed."

Leon’s attention sharpened, as he listened.

"After the First Emperor slew the Beast God, he used its bones to build these steps."

That stole the breath from the squad.

Even Leon blinked, momentarily stunned, before his gaze swept over the wide expanse beneath his feet.

The Steps of Liberation stretched endlessly downward, wide enough to fit ten thousand warships side by side.

His mind churned at the thought.

"So he must’ve been a really big guy," Leon muttered.

The Dowager gave a single nod.

"But even the Beast God’s remains weren’t enough. The First Emperor had already reached a stage close to beyond the peak. With that power, he molded the bones into this path. That is why the steps bear no blemish. To damage them, one must surpass the First Emperor himself."

For a moment, her tone softened.

A faint smile touched her lips.

The first human emperor, Julius, was her ancestor, so imperial blood still ran through her; albeit thinner.

"If he remained in this world, corruption would be nothing but an afterthought. But his power was too great and he had to return to the Light."

Racheal stepped forward at that, curiosity shining in her eyes.

"It’s similar to the True Beast God."

The Dowager looked at her properly this time.

Not surprised, more like confirming an earlier suspicion.

"You carry the scent of blood on you. You must have undergone the Baptism."

"Yes," Racheal replied quietly.

The Dowager nodded confirming the elf’s query.

"The True Beast God also returned to the Light, but unlike the Emperor who was summoned, the True Beast God chose to go back of its own will."

The squad fell into a thoughtful silence.

Leon kept walking, eyes drifting across the pristine surface beneath him. No cracks. No scratches. Not even dust.

The First Emperor had made something that even time itself seemed afraid to touch.

He was about to ask something else when a sound cut through the void.

A sharp, tearing whistle.

Leon’s head snapped upward.

It came out of nowhere, silence one moment, a brutal plummet the next.

Something heavy was falling fast, ripping through the abyss above them.

Then—

BOOM!

A shockwave tore up the steps from far below. Dust exploded upward in a cloud that washed over the group.

Leon raised an arm to shield his eyes as the ground trembled beneath him.

The Dowager froze.

Her pupils contracted sharply as she stared down toward the lower steps, no, not at the monstrous figure now crouched in the crater, but at the crater itself.

A crater.

On the Steps of Liberation.

Her voice cracked with disbelief, the first true fear Leon had ever heard from her.

"Impossible..." she whispered.

Then louder, almost breathless:

"How is this possible?"

****

Compared to the Dowager, the rest of the squad barely noticed the crater at first.

Their attention locked onto the creature itself.

It stood in the settling dust with pale ash-colored skin stretched so tight over its bones that every rib looked like it wanted to pierce through.

Its blood-red eyes glowed with a wild, feral emptiness, and the rough white hair hanging around its face made it look like a lunatic dragged out of some forgotten asylum.

Chains clung to all four limbs, and a heavy iron collar wrapped around its neck, each link rattling faintly as it lifted its head to stare at them.

Leon studied it quietly, the air around him turning heavier as Nikko and Racheal glanced at him, waiting for what he would decide.

But before he could say a word, the Dowager’s aura erupted.

A crushing Rank 9 pressure rolled over the steps like a shockwave.

"You vermin," she said, her voice trembling with fury.

"How dare you desecrate these steps with your presence."

Her anger wasn’t subtle.

Her ears were standing straight, her tail trembling as her features sharpened.

The transformation was already starting, her body shifting toward her wolf form as rage fueled the change.

She didn’t get the chance to finish shifting.

One heartbeat the creature was standing inside the crater.

The next, it blurred through space and appeared in front of her, its chained right hand clenched into a fist, swinging straight for her skull with terrifying speed.

The Dowager’s eyes widened.

"You dare—"

Infinity snapped into place around her like a cloak.

Space stretched, twisted and expanded.

The lunatic’s fist froze inches away, suspended as if caught inside an invisible ocean.

This was her law—Infinity—warping all distance around her into an endless gulf.

No attack could ever reach her.

Not unless she allowed it.

But her own attacks? Those carried no such restriction.

Her wolf form burst fully into being, silver fur bristling and eyes burning with ancestral wrath. In the same instant, she slammed her palm into his chest with enough force to rattle the steps themselves.

The creature shot backward like a meteor, crashing farther down the Steps of Liberation with another thunderous impact.

She didn’t hesitate.

Luna Arman–the Fifth dowager —lunged after him, her fury driving her forward in a blur of fangs and law power.

Behind her, Racheal and Nikko could only stand there, feeling particularly robbed.

They were ready to fight.

But now the Dowager had snatched the battle before they could even breathe.

Neither of them complained aloud.

They both knew better.

Luna’s anger wasn’t simple battlefield aggression.

She was an Arman, born into a family raised on reverence for its ancestors, taught to honor the ones who built the Empire with their blood and sacrifice.

And these steps were crafted by the First Emperor—her own ancestor.

To see a corrupted lunatic tear into the steps without a shred of respect?

That wasn’t something she could tolerate.

She wasn’t just angry.

She was furious. And someone was going to pay for it.

The lunatic, chained and crazed, happened to be the perfect target.

****

-Authors Note-

19-Day Challenge: If we stay Top 50 in the Golden Ticket rankings until the 19th of this month, I will do a mass release on that day.

We weren’t able to reach the Top 60 ranking last month, but I believe we can certainly do it this month! Fighting!