As the real Victor gathered qi into his blade and slashed forward with a powerful Gale strike.

[ Gale Strike Activated ]

The corrupt entity sensed it and swerved towards the side.

However, it was suddenly violently yanked into the path of the attack by an invisible force.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The impact launched the corrupted being like a cannonball. It crashed into a towering ice mountain hundreds of meters away, blowing a hole clean through its center.

Shards of ice rained across the plains like glittering knives.

Victor didn't waste a single second.

He shot into the sky, leaping over two hundred feet with ease as he soared in an arc straight toward the crumbling mountain.

Below, the surviving Kahr'uun gasped and ran after him as fast as their wounded bodies allowed.

Rhozan limped after them with blood dripping down his side and his face slighly pale.

The frozen wasteland shook with each impact as loud detonations rolled across the icy plains like thunder from an angry god.

Victor and the corrupt entity tore through the terrain, leaving deep ravines and shattered cliffs in their wake. A gale of razor-cold wind roared around them, stirred from the sheer violence of their battle.

Victor blinked through shadows, reappearing behind the monstrous being with his legacy sword exploding into a crescent arc of gold-violet radiance. The corrupt entity morphed mid-air, twisting its anatomy to avoid a fatal hit, then countered with a blast of dark mana.

Victor raised a hand.

The blast froze in place.

His Void Emperor qi swept forward, tightening space around the beam like invisible jaws.

[ Void Emperor Bloodline Activated ]

His eyes faintly glowed with streaks of silver as glowing arrow like markings appeared on his wrist.

With the activation of his bloodline, his powers of space-time amplified by many folds.

He flicked his wrist.

BOOM!

The dark beam was hurled to the side and detonated a glacier.

The corrupt entity hissed in frustration, letting out an unnerving, multilayered sound stitched from multiple beasts and humanoid voices all at once.

It charged while morphing into something resembling a six-armed panther with a skull-like face and bone spikes protruding from its shoulders. Its claws, dripping with corrupted mana, slashed toward Victor.

But Victor wasn't there anymore.

He appeared above with his sword raised and Void Emperor Qi spiraling around the blade like a hungry storm.

"Void Shatter Slash!"

The air collapsed inward.

The slash struck the creature head-on.

Its body twisted violently as space around the hit warped, preventing it from dispersing its form into tendrils or shifting its anatomy. Its limb froze mid-morph. The corruption coating its skin flickered as if suffocating.

It staggered back, shrieking.

Victor landed lightly with his boots cracking the ice beneath him.

His eyes narrowed.

"So my Void Emperor bloodline… locks your transformations? That makes sense."

The corrupt entity tried again to shift again in order to heal its injuries but this time its arm melted into an elongated whip of shadow.

Th morph immediately collapsed, leaving the arm hanging in its original mangled form.

It froze in shock, realising who stood before it.

Victor saw the fear and stepped forward.

'Looks like all I needed to do all this time was activated my Void Emperor Bloodline... hmm pretty interesting..."

He blurred, appearing beside it in a flash of black lightning. His sword carved across its torso, sending a spiral of corrupted flesh splattering across the snow. The creature was flung backward, rolling violently until it crashed into a formation of spiky ice spires.

It struggled while bleeding profusely with dark ichor steaming as it hit the ground.

Victor advanced again, releasing his qi in waves that caused the surroundings to tremble intensely.

The corrupt entity snarled and unleashed a barrage of shadow spells, causing dark spears, exploding orbs and slicing crescents of corrupted mana to sweep forward.

But Victor weaved through them effortlessly, phasing through attacks by bending space or simply blinking past them.

"You're done," Victor said calmly while raising his sword for the finishing blow.

But the corrupt being… suddenly spoke.

"Why are you on their side?"

Victor froze mid-strike.

His brows knitted, more in confusion than anything else.

"…You can talk?"

The creature's new humanoid torso rose shakily as its eyes glowed like dying embers.

"Why are you on their side, Iruhun?"

There it was again... that name... Iruhun. But this time, it was coming from the mouth of the enemy. Why was the enemy aware of the same name the Kahr'uun kept calling him? A name he still didn't fully understand.

Victor frowned. "Because you're evil. And because you're trying to wipe out an innocent civilization that didn't even do anything to you."

The creature cocked its head in an eerily human gesture.

"Innocent?"

Its voice was layered with a mixture of male, female, beast and child that echoed with a strange distortion.

"You know not what you speak of. I am not their destroyer. I am their retribution... the result of their sin."

Victor blinked.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

The creature's answer was cut short as sudden footsteps echoed across the field.

Rhozan and the remaining Kahr'uun warriors arrived with battered looks.

Rhozan who was limping heavily and clutching his staff, shouted desperately:

"Great Iruhun! Kill it! Kill it now before it regains strength!"

Victor glanced back at him.

Something in Rhozan's voice was… off.

He sounded too panicked... too urgent... like he was in a hurry. Usually, this wouldn't raise any suspicion due to how dangerous the corrupt entity was, but at this moment... it seemed more intense than normal.

It almost felt like he was terrified that the creature would continue speaking.

Victor turned back to the entity as his frown deepened.

"You were saying something. What retribution? What sin?"

The corrupt entity's head twitched, and a slow, unsettling smile stretched across its mismatched features.

"I see they did not tell you the full story…"

Rhozan flung a spell at it instantly but the creature dodged.

More spells were cast, ranging from ice to wind as they used everything they had left.

The creature danced between them, letting the magic scorch the ground where it once laid.

The corrupted being then locked eyes with Victor.

"Their sin… my creation…"

Victor's stomach dropped.

"What sin? What are you—"

But Rhozan yelled again.

"D-don't listen to it! Great Iruhun, destroy it now! Before it corrupts your mind!"

Victor narrowed his eyes.

"Hmm... why don't you tell me what it is you're hiding?"

Rhozan paled as he froze in place.

The corrupt entity seized the opening and sprang backward, dodging another wave of attacks from the Kahr'uun warriors. It raised both hands, conjuring a vortex of dark mana, and a burst of shadow propelled it into the air.

"IT'S ESCAPING!" a warrior shouted.

Victor's blood boiled.

"You're going nowhere—"

He was about to use blink when the creature released a final spell.

A distortion ripple tore its own body into fragments of shadow, scattering it across the air like smoke caught in a storm.

Rhozan sprinted forward, shouting, "Great Iruhun! Do something! It's getting away!"

Victor didn't immediately move.

Instead, he turned slowly to Rhozan.

His voice was dangerously calm.

"What is it talking about? What full story? What did you hide from me?"

Rhozan froze once more.

His eyes darted to the warriors. None of them spoke.

Their silence was louder than any confession.

Then, without answering, Rhozan turned and ran in the direction the corrupt entity had gone.

Victor clicked his tongue as anger simmered beneath his calm exterior.

"Why won't no one say anything…?"

He started to chase, but the creature's magic had already scattered its presence.

Only its fading voice drifted across the icy winds, echoing faintly:

"Learn the full story… before becoming judge, jury, and executioner…"

Victor stopped again as thoughts ran through his mind.

Something was wrong with this entire situation and he needed to find out what it was.

So far the Kahr'uun people had been great and treated him with hospitality but what if all that was just so they could get him to do their bidding?

What if the truth they hide is something that might completely change his entire perspective of them?

What if he was fighting on the wrong side from the beginning?

The last echoes of the corrupt entity's retreat faded into the blizzard winds. The icy plains fell eerily silent, broken only by the uneven breathing of the surviving Kahr'uun warriors. Their armor was cracked, their weapons bent, and the frost around them was stained with the frozen remains of their fallen comrades.

Rhozan was the first to break the silence.

He strode toward Victor with disbelief and panic meshed into his facial features. "Why didn't you finish it, Iruhun?" he demanded. "You had it! You could have saved my innocent people from future suffering!"

Victor didn't flinch. His expression was carved from irritation and suspicion. "Cut the guilt-tripping. What was it talking about?"

Rhozan paused in place the moment he heard that.

Victor took a threatening step closer. "What did it mean by retribution? What haven't you told me?"