Kaelira felt the blow like a fist to the chest.

She'd been gone from Sol'Rakka for less than half a day—and already, the city was unraveling.

The generals were scattered, each fighting their own war with no coordination, no command.

The city was being torn apart, street by street.

The stench of blood hit from every direction, thick and metallic, making Ethan flinch despite himself.

He looked up—

The sky was swarming with strange soldiers, suspended in the air like a storm waiting to break. Then they began to fall.

One after another, they rained down on Sol'Rakka, death pouring from the heavens.

But Kaelira's eyes didn't just burn with fury.

This was deeper. This was the rage of a queen watching her kingdom be gutted before her eyes—a fire that roared up from the marrow of her bones.

"I'll kill them all!"

The words tore from her throat, raw and ragged.

A surge of violet-pink energy exploded from her body, spiraling upward like a cyclone.

In her palm, a sphere of blood-red energy snapped into existence—condensing, pulsing, glowing hotter by the second—

Then—shoom!

The orb shot skyward like a meteor, slicing through the clouds.

It struck a cluster of armored soldiers midair and detonated, shredding them into shards of light.

They didn't even have time to scream.

Kaelira vanished in a blink.

When she reappeared, she was standing face-to-face with the Wolfkin Lord.

Her voice could've frozen fire.

"Who are you? Why are you attacking my city?

This is Sol'Rakka—my kingdom."

The Wolfkin Lord bared his teeth in a cold, predatory grin. "Is that so? Then die with it."

He didn't bother to explain.

Didn't even consider her worth another word.

Dark energy erupted from his body, a vortex of shadow spiraling outward, shrieking as it tore through the air toward her.

Kaelira didn't flinch.

She raised her hand—and summoned a blade.

Violet-pink light coalesced into a longsword, its edge humming, alive and hungry.

She launched herself forward.

The two forces collided midair—

BOOM.

The sky cracked open with the impact, shockwaves ripping through the clouds.

Ethan didn't join the fight.

He stood on the ground below, jaw tight, eyes locked on his system interface as it scanned the enemy forces.

Data streamed across the panel.

—Origin: Kormaldor.

A nation steeped in hyper-advanced tech.

Every soldier born there carried beast-gene enhancements.

In battle, they went feral—bloodthirsty, berserk, fearless to the point of madness.

Ethan looked to the sky again.

Kaelira's opponent—the so-called Wolfkin Lord.

Power Level: Tier 26, early stage.

Ethan narrowed his eyes.

That wasn't enough to threaten Kaelira. She could handle him.

What made his pulse spike wasn't the Wolfkin Lord.

It was the massive, silent shape floating high above them all—the Sky Fortress.

Even from a distance, the energy radiating off it made the power in Ethan's own body coil tight, like a blade drawn halfway from its sheath.

—Too dangerous.

—Too wrong.

He took a breath, then shot upward in a streak of gold.

Only when he got close did he truly see it.

The Sky Fortress was built from some unidentifiable alloy, its surface crawling with runes, massive cannons, and crystal spires. Soldiers lined the deck, weapons ready, eyes sharp.

But the most terrifying part—

Was the colossal launch port at its center.

Energy churned inside it, thick and unstable, like the mouth of a nightmare.

"What the hell is this…?"

His system scanner flickered wildly.

Bzzzt…

Bzzzt-bzzzt—

BZZZT-BZZZT-BZZZT—!!!

The energy readout made Ethan's face go pale.

At the heart of that launch port wasn't just raw destructive force.

There was something else—something twisted, alien, and completely indecipherable.

If that energy sphere fired—

Sol'Rakka would be gone in seconds.

Then—

Fwoosh!

A figure emerged from the blood-red glow.

Hovering in the air was a warrior clad in rune-etched armor, his entire body wreathed in black fire, like a demon torn from the heart of an inferno.

His voice was cold and dripping with contempt.

"You're not from Sol'Rakka…

So why come here just to die?"

He stared at Ethan like he was already a corpse.

Ethan didn't answer.

His eyes were locked on the Sky Fortress's core, his expression grim.

The system peeled back the layers of the fortress's energy structure, one by one.

And when Ethan finally saw the core for what it was, his heart clenched.

If that thing activated, Sol'Rakka would be wiped off the map.

He wasn't going to let that happen.

Just as he moved to act, another figure stepped from the swirling energy mist—a blur of crimson, voice sharp with disdain.

"Did you not hear me the first time, you idiot?"

The next instant—

BOOM!

The red-clad warrior's power exploded outward like a canyon-splitting storm, crashing toward Ethan from all sides.

But fifteen feet out, the force slammed into something invisible.

Thrum…

Thrum…

Thrum…

The air trembled.

From Ethan's body, a tide of killing intent surged up, thick and dark, staining the sky a deep, violent red.

Dozens of Energy Discs unfolded behind him, glowing blades of pure light fanning out like a halo of death.

Then they launched—

Fwish!

Fwish!

Fwish!

A storm of blades rained down on the crimson figure.

The man's smug expression shattered in an instant.

"W-What?!"

He scrambled to throw up layer after layer of energy shields, but the killing force tore through them like acid through paper.

Just two of the discs—

CRACK!!!

—and the figure was shredded into scattered fragments, his body and soul alike erased before he could even scream.

Ethan didn't pause for even a breath.

He streaked past the shattered deck, a blur of motion, diving straight toward the heart of the Sky Fortress.

…

"INTRUDER ALERT!!!"

"INTRUDER ALERT!!!"

The moment his boots hit the core platform, alarms shrieked like banshees. From every corridor, armored soldiers came pouring out.

Their limbs were twisted, unnaturally jointed. Their eyes burned with a chaotic, feral light. Glowing metal veins pulsed across their skin like molten iron, and the sheer weight of their killing intent made the air feel razor-thin.

Ethan's brow furrowed.

That energy… it actually made his body flinch—just for a second.

But—

Not nearly enough to stop him.

He raised his hand.

And the storm came down.

A wave of killing force slammed into the platform like a collapsing sky.

BOOM!!!

Every soldier hit the ground in half a second, crushed flat by the pressure. Not one of them even got the chance to stand.

For a heartbeat, the air held still.

Then—

Fsssh.

A figure appeared silently on the far side of the platform.

Not like the others. No frenzy. No roar.

He was quiet—unnervingly so.

And that silence made him more dangerous than the rest combined.

His eyes were blood-red, pupils pinprick-thin.

In his hand, he held a staff etched with strange, twitching runes—pulsing like a heartbeat, like something alive.

...