CHAPTER 670: SUBMIT? IN YOUR DREAMS

The chorus of flattery and bootlicking echoed one after another,

making the man feel a little drunk on his own power.

"Launch a full-scale assault—right now. I don’t care where the entrance to this space is. If we can’t find it, then blast one open."

As soon as the order was given,

the army behind him erupted with a thunderous roar,

their battle cries shaking the very air as they surged forward.

BOOM—BOOM—BOOM—BOOM—

No one knew how much time had passed,

but they actually managed to tear open a breach on the outer edge of the valley—

a jagged wound in space itself,

and it looked like they were just about to force open a new dimensional passage.

"You’re asking for death!"

"ROAR!"

But right then—

a violent surge of power exploded from within the breach,

instantly reducing two soldiers who’d gotten too close into nothing but shredded meat.

Seraphina and Sycaron burst out of the rift like twin storms.

The aura radiating from their bodies was overwhelming,

darkening the sky and blotting out the sun.

In a flash, more than a dozen attackers were dead.

"You bastards really have no shame," Sycaron shouted, voice booming like thunder.

"Don’t you know this is Emerald Castle territory?

You think you can just waltz in and start a war?"

As he spoke, a massive golden Celestial Dragon shimmered into view behind him,

its divine form coiling in the air like a god descending to judge.

Back on his throne, the man slowly opened his eyes—

and the moment he did, a crushing wave of dominance rolled out from him,

blanketing Seraphina and Sycaron in its suffocating grip.

The power they’d just unleashed vanished in an instant.

Sycaron collapsed to the ground,

his bones cracking and popping under the pressure.

"This... this can’t be," he gasped.

"How do you have such a dense Dragon God aura?!"

Seraphina was pinned in place too,

completely unable to move a muscle,

her strength sealed away like it had never existed.

Then—

a ripple tore through the air,

a surge of raw, overwhelming power exploding in midair.

It shattered the man’s oppressive aura like glass,

and out of the rift stepped Ethan,

leading the full might of the Emerald Castle army behind him.

The moment Ethan laid eyes on the man, he froze.

His system blared with warning after warning—

this guy’s power level was off the charts.

17th Tier. Peak stage.

Ethan’s breath caught in his throat.

Up until now, the strongest he’d ever encountered was mid-17th Tier.

But this...

this was the first time he’d seen someone at the absolute pinnacle.

"Tharadon!" Ethan suddenly shouted.

"You’re royalty, aren’t you?

How the hell do you have the nerve to come here and try to steal our territory like some damn thug?!"

Tharadon blinked, clearly surprised Ethan knew his name.

"So you’re their leader, huh?" he said with a smirk.

"Well, that makes things easier.

Kneel before me. Swear your loyalty.

Serve me as your master—

and I’ll make sure you rule the Umbral Abyss without fear or rival."

...

Ethan clenched his jaw so hard his teeth ached, veins bulging at his temples.

He had never bowed to anyone—and he sure as hell wasn’t about to start now.

"Submit? In your dreams."

The next second, a violent surge of energy erupted from deep within him.

The entire space trembled.

He crossed his arms in front of him, channeling power into a massive energy sphere.

It swelled rapidly, like a star core on the verge of collapse, swirling with chaotic, unstable energy that looked ready to devour everything in its path.

"Get the hell—OUT!"

With a furious roar, he hurled the energy sphere forward.

BOOOOM—!!

The blast detonated midair, warping the space around it like shattered glass.

Even Tharadon was caught off guard—

the sheer force of that attack... it was on par with his own!

What he didn’t realize was that Ethan had tapped into the energy pulse of the entire spatial world behind the rift—

using the dimensional passage as a conduit, he’d drawn in a torrent of raw power and funneled it through himself in one explosive release.

"Interesting," Tharadon muttered with a cold smirk, a flicker of excitement flashing in his eyes.

His aura surged in response, erupting into a torrent of gold and deep blue energy that shot straight into the heavens.

The two forces collided in midair.

BOOM—BOOM—BOOM—!!

The shockwaves tore through the sky like a divine hammer,

light and flame twisting together in a violent dance,

thunder and storm ripping across the battlefield like the end of days.

Waves of energy crashed outward like a tsunami,

the ground crumbling beneath their feet,

black cracks spiderwebbing through the air itself.

CRACK—CRACK—CRACK—

The very boundaries between the two spatial worlds began to warp and twist.

Ethan’s pupils shrank.

"It’s working!"

Without wasting a second, he grabbed Seraphina and Sycaron, pulling them back as he sealed the spatial passage behind them—

leaving only a translucent window, just enough to observe the battlefield from a safe distance.

The energy, now without a stable outlet, went berserk.

BOOOOM—!!!

The power spiraled out of control.

The sky collapsed.

The earth split open.

Even the air was shredded into ribbons.

Tharadon instinctively retreated,

but his subordinates weren’t so lucky—

they were swallowed whole by the raging energy storm.

Ethan fought to steady his breath,

his hands moving like a master puppeteer, weaving the threads of spatial energy,

reinforcing the barrier again and again.

The roar of destruction went on and on.

When the explosion finally died down,

the sky was left scarred with jagged, twisted rifts—

like lightning had carved open wounds in the heavens.

Ethan exhaled slowly, his face pale, but a faint smile tugged at his lips.

"Got him."

He knew exactly what he’d done.

He’d orchestrated the entire thing—

using the backlash of unstable energy to make Tharadon believe he possessed some kind of uncontrollable, apocalyptic power.

And it worked.

Far off in the distance, Tharadon stood frozen, his face dark with shock and unease.

He was rattled.

He hadn’t expected Ethan to unleash something so devastating...

and clearly, he hadn’t realized it was all a calculated bluff.

In his mind, there was no such thing as energy backlash—

the concept of power spiraling out of control didn’t even exist in his worldview.

"Damn it... I didn’t think these outsiders would be this strong," Tharadon muttered, his voice low and grim.

"Send word to my father—tell him to dispatch more elites. Now."

His aide didn’t dare hesitate and rushed off immediately.

The Obsidian Dynasty—one of the few ruling powers in the Umbral Abyss—was a terrifying force,

controlling vast swaths of the core regions.

Most of the smaller factions around them relied on their protection just to survive.

Tharadon, a spoiled royal brat with a taste for chaos, had set his sights on this new spatial world—

and he wasn’t planning to leave empty-handed.

Meanwhile, Ethan, after summoning more of his forces, quietly moved to the outer edge of the spatial barrier to observe.

Sure enough, Tharadon’s army was still camped outside, showing no signs of retreat.

Ethan didn’t waste time.

He ordered his people to go full throttle—

summoning wave after wave of reinforcements.

No one knew how long it had been,

but the energy within this pocket world was already more than half drained.

The Emerald Castle army now stretched as far as the eye could see.

Sure, most of them weren’t high-tiered individually—

but together, their combined force was nothing short of terrifying...