The Artificial Dimension - Sector 1.Simulation Sub-Level: The Ruined Epoc.Day 3 - 01:25 PM.
The entity currently occupying the mutilated, armless physical vessel of Rudeus did not scream. He did not draw a weapon. He simply existed.
The Blindfold Man slowly, casually tilted his head downward, pointing his blindfolded gaze toward the massive crater where the Greater Demon General cowered.
Then, he released his aura.
It was not the localized, focused, murderous killing intent of a veteran Vanguard Captain. It was something entirely, conceptually different. It was the absolute, crushing, cosmological weight of a higher-dimensional entity stepping onto a fragile pane of glass.
The sheer, unadulterated density of the killing intent violently exploded outward, instantly washing over the entire artificial world.
The sky above them—the simulated, azure canvas painted by the Academy's greatest Arcanists—literally, physically began to shatter. Massive, jagged, glowing purple fissures spider-webbed across the heavens as the very fabric of the pocket dimension screamed in agonizing protest, completely unable to contain the sheer mass of his existence. The simulated earth groaned, gravity violently buckling and warping under the pressure.
"!!!"
Dratkthar, standing three miles away, felt the catastrophic surge of killing intent hit him like a physical, planetary impact.
The terrifying, immensely powerful Demon General of Agony, who had just spent the last hour sadistically torturing a human boy to the brink of death, was instantaneously, violently forced down.
His massive knees smashed into the bottom of the crater, shattering the obsidian rock beneath him.
"Kneel..."
The single, softly spoken word echoed from the lips of the Blindfold Man.
Despite the sheer, impossible distance of three miles separating them, the voice reverberated directly, perfectly inside Dratkthar's skull. It wasn't a shout. It was a calm, melodic, beautiful command that completely bypassed the demon's auditory nerves and seized his very soul.
Dratkthar's massive, muscular arms buckled. He was forced to press his face entirely into the dirt, utterly paralyzed by an abyssal terror he had never experienced in his immortal life.
"I will absolutely, never forgive you..." The Blindfold Man whispered, the apocalyptic darkness of the Total Solar Eclipse swirling around him like a cloak.
"...General of Agony."
***
The Imperial Academy.The Grand Courtyard - Central Portal Hub.Real World Timeline.
Meanwhile, in the original world, the sun was shining brightly over the manicured lawns of the Imperial Academy.
The central hub was a scene of organized, frantic chaos. The heavy, humming obsidian obelisks were working in overdrive. Most of the first-year student squads had already successfully, miraculously escaped the simulation grounds through various emergency extraction portals. The courtyard was overflowing with exhausted, bruised, and bleeding students. Elite triage teams of field medics and high-tier healers were rushing between the injured, administering glowing restorative magic and azure mana potions.
Because the simulation had violently, suddenly triggered a mass-anomaly alert minutes prior, the perimeter of the courtyard was heavily cordoned off. Dozens of highly ranked 2nd-year, 3rd-year, and 4th-year senior combat students had been deployed as emergency security. At the very center of the command tent stood the Senior Professors, the Chief Arbiter, and the absolute apex authority of the institution: The Headmaster himself.
Suddenly, a violent pulse of violet energy erupted from the primary Alpha Gate.
Princess Veronica violently tumbled out of the portal, landing hard on the pristine white marble of the courtyard. She was heavily bruised, covered in soot, and desperately clutching the limp, comatose body of Adelina Van Hestianna to her chest.
"Veronica!"
A sharp, terrified scream cut through the ambient noise of the courtyard.
Amanda, the Deathstalker and Head Maid, completely abandoned her stoic, aristocratic disguise. She sprinted across the marble faster than the eye could track, her slate-grey eyes wide with absolute panic. She slid to her knees beside the Princess, throwing her arms around Veronica and hugging her incredibly tightly.
Amanda pulled back slightly, her hands frantically checking the Princess's face, arms, and chest for lethal wounds.
"Are you okay?! Princess, look at me! Is your body alright?! Do you have any internal injuries? Are you bleeding?!" Amanda interrogated her rapidly, her voice cracking with sheer maternal terror.
Veronica didn't reply to the medical questions. Her oceanic blue eyes were wide, bloodshot, and completely dilated with sheer, unadulterated hysteria.
She violently grabbed the lapels of Amanda's pristine maid uniform, clutching the fabric so tightly her knuckles turned bone-white.
"A-Amy! Please..." Veronica sobbed, her voice a raw, agonizing, broken shriek that silenced the immediate vicinity.
"...Please save him! You have to save Rudeus!" Veronica begged, desperately shaking the deadliest assassin on the continent. Tears poured freely down her dirt-streaked face.
"PLEASE! AMY! SAVE HIM NO MATTER WHAT IT TAKES!!!"
Amanda's slate-grey eyes blew wide open in profound shock as she heard the sheer, devastating desperation in the Princess's voice. She looked past Veronica, noticing for the very first time that the massive, green-haired boy who had walked into the portal with her was missing.
Amanda's lethal instincts took over instantly. She released Veronica and snapped her head toward the Senior Proctor who was frantically operating the runic control tablet connected to the Alpha Gate.
"OPEN THE PORTAL BACK UP! RIGHT NOW!" Amanda roared, her voice carrying the terrifying, unmistakable authority of a high-ranking executioner. She stood up, her hand instinctively dropping toward the hidden daggers strapped to her thighs. "I EXPLICITLY ORDER YOU AS THE HEAD MAID AND MOST TRUSTED AIDE OF PRINCESS VERONICA VAN ROSANIA!!!"
The Senior Proctor physically flinched, his hands trembling violently over the glowing runic tablet. He frantically tapped the obsidian glass, sweat pouring down his face.
"I-I can't! I literally cannot open it!" the Proctor stammered, his voice laced with pure, bureaucratic panic. "Look at the tablet! The emergency extraction protocols were unilaterally triggered from the inside! The dimensional coordinates are completely scrambled! The system mandates a mandatory twenty-minute spatial-recalibration cooldown before we can safely open the portal back to that specific sector!"
Veronica heard the words.
Twenty minutes.
In the drastically dilated time-stream of the artificial dimension, twenty real-world minutes was an absolute eternity. It was days. It was weeks.
Rudeus didn't have twenty minutes. He was currently lying in the dirt without arms, being brutally kicked to death by a Demon General. He wouldn't last twenty seconds.
Veronica gasped, a horrifying, suffocating sound. The last remaining shred of her aristocratic sanity completely, violently snapped.
She glared at the Proctor. Her oceanic blue eyes, completely devoid of rationality, burned with a terrifying, homicidal madness.
She scrambled up from the marble floor and lunged directly at him like a feral beast.
"Princess, wait—!" Amanda shouted, reaching out to grab her.
But fueled by hysterical, adrenaline-fueled despair, Veronica slipped past her guardian.
"OPEN THE GODDAMN PORTAL NOW!!" Veronica shrieked, slamming into the Proctor. She violently knocked the runic tablet out of his hands, the glass shattering against the floor.
"I-I can't! I'm so sorry, Princess, I physically can't bypass the cooldown—!" the Proctor cried out, raising his arms to defend himself.
Veronica completely ignored his pleas.
"I ORDER YOU AS THE PRINCESS OF THE ROSANIA EMPIRE TO OPEN THIS PORTAL..." Veronica screamed, her voice tearing her vocal cords.
She lunged forward, bypassing his defending arms, and violently wrapped both of her hands directly around the Senior Proctor's throat.
"....RIGHT NOW!!!"
"I-I'm sor—"
Before the terrified man could even finish his apology, Veronica ruthlessly, sadistically tightened her grip, physically choking the air from his windpipe. She squeezed with every ounce of hysterical strength she possessed, actively trying to murder the man standing between her and her Eternal Star.
"Princess, stop!"
Professor Avalon Pendletree, who had been coordinating the triage of his sister Adelina, saw the horrifying scene unfolding. He abandoned his post and sprinted over, his eyes wide in absolute shock. He grabbed Veronica from behind, wrapping his massive arms around her waist, desperately trying to pull her off the suffocating faculty member.
"Princess, let him go!!" Avalon grunted, straining against her unexpected, terrifying strength.
But Veronica violently resisted. She kicked backward, her boots scraping against the marble, her fingers digging deeper into the Proctor's neck, drawing blood with her nails.
Amanda rushed in from the side, grabbing Veronica's wrists, desperately trying to pry the Princess's fingers open without breaking her bones.
"Princess, stop this instantly!" Amanda commanded, her voice cracking with genuine panic.
"ACHK! AHCK! AHCK!!!" The Proctor's face turned a violent shade of purple. His eyes bulged as he thrashed helplessly, desperately struggling to draw breath as the Princess crushed his throat.
"PRINCESS!" Amanda shouted directly into her ear, trying to snap her out of the murderous, hysterical fugue state. "YOU MUST REGAIN YOUR RATIONALITY! KILLING HIM WILL NOT SAVE RUDEUS!"
"Enough!"
A single, booming, incredibly authoritative voice echoed across the courtyard, instantly silencing the chaos.
Suddenly, an invisible, overwhelming wave of telekinetic force slammed into the group.
Veronica was gently, but firmly, physically ripped away from the Proctor's throat and thrown several feet to the side. She landed safely on the marble, rolling to a halt, panting heavily like a cornered animal.
The man who had thrown her off was slowly walking toward the center of the commotion, the heavy, metallic clack of his enchanted walking cane echoing ominously.
It was none other than the apex authority of the Imperial Academy.
Headmaster William Van Mortifier.
He was a tall, imposing, elderly man with a long, flowing white beard and piercing, entirely silver eyes that seemed to constantly calculate the magical currents of the universe. He was an entity widely recognized across the continent as one of the few living beings who had successfully breached the mythical Transcendent Realm of power.
William let out a long, heavy sigh, looking down at the coughing, gasping Proctor on the floor. He turned his silver gaze toward Amanda.
"I am profoundly sorry for using force against a royal, Lady Amanda," William apologized, his voice a deep, calming rumble. "But I had absolutely no other choice to prevent a murder on my campus."
"It's perfectly alright, Headmaster," Amanda replied breathlessly, immediately kneeling beside the gasping Princess, carefully checking her for injuries from the telekinetic throw. "I should be the one offering my deepest apologies to you. She has completely lost control."
Veronica, on her hands and knees, glared up at the Headmaster. Her face was a mask of tear-streaked, feral fury.
"If you don't manually override the cooldown and open that portal right now, I will—!" Veronica snarled, baring her teeth, preparing to threaten the most powerful man in the Empire.
"Princess, please, cease this madness," William interrupted her gently, raising a hand to stop her threat. His silver eyes softened with genuine pity as he looked at the broken, weeping girl.
"You absolutely shan't worry, Your Highness," William promised, his voice carrying the heavy, magical weight of a binding oath. "I personally guarantee to you, upon my honor as Headmaster, that we will deploy a retrieval squad and save Rudeus, no matter what it takes."
Veronica froze, her breath hitching. She stared at the old man, her eyes wide.
"NO MATTER WHAT?!" Veronica demanded, her voice cracking, desperately needing him to clarify the absolute nature of his promise.
"Yes," William nodded solemnly, leaning slightly on his enchanted cane. "I promise you, we will shatter the dimension and extract him no matter what. After all... despite the unfortunate incidents of the preliminary tournament, he is still an officially enrolled student of this academy under my direct protection."
Veronica continued to glare at him, her chest heaving violently. But she didn't scream. She didn't launch another attack. She didn't argue against a single word that came out of his mouth. She just slowly, agonizingly slumped forward, burying her face in her hands, and let out a long, shuddering sigh of absolute, broken despair, praying they wouldn't be too late.
Professor Avalon, who had rushed back to Adelina's side to ensure the medics had stabilized her, let out a massive sigh of relief.
"Thank you, Headmaster," Avalon said, wiping sweat from his brow.
"You're entirely welcome, Avalon," William replied, his silver eyes shifting to the unconscious, black-haired girl surrounded by healers. "Did the medical triage complete their diagnostic on young Adelina?"
"Yes, sir. But... sadly..."
Avalon's vibrant brown eyes darkened with profound sorrow. He looked down at his little sister's pale, unresponsive face.
"She is locked in a state of deep, magically-induced coma. The healers estimate she completely shattered her own mana core executing a forbidden divine art." Avalon frowned, clenching his fists at his sides.
He turned back to the Headmaster, pure, unadulterated anger boiling in his veins.
"To think that that goddamn, unassuming bastard Vane was actually the Greater Demon General Dratkthar in disguise the entire time!" Avalon snarled, his voice vibrating with rage.
"How absolutely dare he infiltrate my faculty and manipulate us right under our noses!" Avalon shouted, gesturing angrily toward the massive, floating arcane holograms positioned above the command tent.
The holograms had been broadcasting the internal footage of the simulation before the signal had been abruptly, violently jammed. They had all watched, in horrified silence, as Dratkthar's true identity was revealed. The faculty had seen how Amanda's covert intelligence, utilizing the Night Ravens network, had finally successfully connected the dots to Vane. And infinitely worse, the entire gathered student body and faculty had just witnessed the horrifying, brutal feed of Dratkthar sadistically, mercilessly torturing and dismembering Rudeus in the clearing, right before the arcane cameras had inexplicably shattered into static.
"We only uncovered his true nature thanks to the relentless cooperation and the vital intelligence provided by the Night Ravens, led by Lady Amanda," William stated gravely.
The Headmaster turned fully toward the Deathstalker. He didn't offer a polite nod. The apex authority of the Imperial Academy formally, deeply bowed his head to the Head Maid.
"Without your organization's tireless efforts to discover the true, abyssal identity of Vane, and without your intervention in revealing and arresting his most trusted aide, Gavin, weeks prior, this disaster would have undoubtedly consumed the entire capital," William said, his voice echoing with profound gratitude. "I thank you for all of your hard work."
Amanda only offered a sharp, terse nod of her head. She was entirely uninterested in praise. She was currently hyper-focused, keeping her slate-grey eyes securely locked onto Veronica, who was still weeping uncontrollably into her hands, having completely lost all of her royal rationality because of the boy bleeding in the dimension.
"We need to go inside immediately, Headmaster!" Avalon urged desperately, drawing his own broadsword. He wanted to rush the portal alongside the Proctor. He genuinely liked the cynical, pragmatic green-haired kid. And infinitely worse, if Rudeus actually died in there, Avalon didn't even want to comprehend the catastrophic, continent-shattering psychological effect it would have on his best friend, Ryekard Blackfyre's, already fragile mental health.
"I-I'm trying, Professor! But I'm sorry, there is still exactly 10 minutes left on the mandatory spatial cooldown before—" the Proctor frantically explained, trying to repair the shattered runic tablet.
Before the terrified Proctor could even finish his sentence...
They felt it.
The entire original world literally, physically held its breath.
It wasn't a sound. It wasn't a magical spell. It was a sudden, apocalyptic, crushing drop in the ambient atmospheric pressure. The very concept of gravity seemed to violently multiply.
The flocks of birds circling the high towers of the Academy instantly dropped from the sky, hitting the courtyards like stones. The wind ceased entirely. Every single human being in the courtyard—from the lowest commoner to the highest noble—was momentarily, terrifyingly stunned, their minds completely blanking out.
-WOOOOOOOMMMM!!!
A soundless, deep, vibrating hum echoed through the very bedrock of the continent.
Then, every single person in the courtyard was violently, forcefully slammed to their knees.
"Wh-what the absolute hell is this?!" Avalon gasped, his broadsword clattering to the marble as he was physically crushed down onto both knees, entirely unable to move a single muscle under the invisible, mountainous weight.
Amanda, the apex assassin capable of moving faster than sound, was forced to her knees, her hands braced flat against the marble, her teeth gritting in agony as she tried to resist the pressure. Even Veronica, paralyzed by grief, was pinned flat against the ground.
But what was infinitely, truly terrifying...
William Van Mortifier, the Headmaster of the Imperial Academy, a man who resided within the legendary Transcendent Realm and possessed the power to level mountains with a thought... was not an exemption.
The Headmaster's enchanted cane snapped in half under the pressure. The apex human authority of the Empire was violently, forcefully forced to kneel, his forehead nearly touching the white marble.
"Loo-look at the sky!" One of the Senior Professors shrieked in absolute, mindless terror, pointing a trembling finger upward. "The-the sun! The sun is physically being devoured!!!"
Everyone who could manage to lift their heads looked up.
In the clear, cloudless afternoon sky of the real world, the bright, burning sun was slowly, inexorably being consumed by a perfect, pitch-black shadow.
The temperature plummeted to near-freezing in seconds.
Then, after an entire, agonizing minute of mounting cosmic horror...
A Total Solar Eclipse occurred. The world was plunged into an eerie, unnatural, apocalyptic twilight.
William's silver eyes widened to their absolute limits as he stared up at the black sun, the corona flaring like a halo of dying light.
"By the Goddess..." William whispered, his voice trembling with a profound, ancient terror he hadn't felt in a century.
"What in the actual, absolute fuck is happening right now?!" Avalon cursed, struggling pointlessly against the invisible aura pinning him down.
Another senior professor, tears of sheer panic streaming down his face, began to shout hysterically into the unnatural twilight.
"I-IS THIS THE DIVINE PUNISHMENT OF THE GODDESS?!" the professor wailed, clutching his head. "IS THIS HER APOCALYPTIC RETRIBUTION BECAUSE WE FOOLISHLY ALLOWED A DEMON GENERAL TO INFILTRATE HER SACRED ACADEMY?!"
As the thousands of gathered students and nobles heard what he said, mass hysteria completely fractured the courtyard. Deep, mindless panic set in. Most of the students began weeping, screaming, and frantically praying, begging the Goddess Zeonhoniah to show them mercy and spare their lives.
Amanda struggled to turn her head, looking at the kneeling Headmaster.
"Wha-what exactly is happening to the world, William?!" Amanda asked, her voice tight with uncharacteristic fear.
William, still staring wide-eyed at the total solar eclipse, didn't look at her. His face had aged twenty years in twenty seconds.
"An Outer God..." William whispered, his voice echoing with the dreadful weight of forbidden, apocalyptic knowledge.
"...An Outer God has entirely, physically descended to this world."
Amanda and Avalon's eyes widened in absolute, paralyzing shock. Since William was an entity in the Transcendent Realm, he possessed access to the most ancient, highly classified, and esoteric knowledge in the cosmos. If a man of his legendary stature claimed this was the truth... then they were truly looking at the end of days.
"I-is this... is this literally the end of the world?" Avalon asked, his voice cracking, staring at the black sun.
Amidst the mass panic, the wailing, and the cosmic horror, Veronica remained pinned flat against the cold marble.
She didn't look up at the eclipsed sun. She didn't care about the Outer God. She didn't care if the world was ending.
She just stared blankly at the deactivated obsidian portal, tears continuing to pool beneath her on the white stone.
"Rudeus...." Veronica whispered, completely ignoring the apocalypse unfolding above her.
"....My Eternal Star."
***
Deep Within the Primordial Void.The Sealed Realm.
Far beyond the boundaries of the physical universe, in a dimension composed entirely of suffocating, conceptual nothingness, massive, planet-sized chains of divine, glowing ethereal light hung suspended in the void.
The chains bound something colossal. Something ancient.
Suddenly, the massive, continent-thick links of the chains violently rattled. The sound was like tectonic plates grinding together.
The entity bound within the chains felt the microscopic, yet infinitely profound, ripple in the fabric of the cosmos. A terrifying, unimaginably powerful being from beyond the known universe had just violently, unceremoniously invaded the mortal world without adhering to any dimensional restrictions or divine laws.
The entity slowly opened its massive, singular eye.
The eye was the size of a mountain range. The pupil was a vertically slit, glowing crimson void that gleamed with a sudden, overwhelming, fanatical glare.
It was none other than the Chaotic Dragon God. The primordial apocalypse that had been sealed away millennia ago by the combined might of the first Blood Dragon King—the ancient ancestor of the current King of the Clovius Kingdom, King Dracarys—and his allies.
Her massive, pristine, white-reddish dragon scales, each larger than a city, flared outward in a sudden, violent spasm of pure, unadulterated excitement.
"....AAHHHHHHHH," The Chaotic Dragon God purred. The sound was a telepathic shockwave that rippled through the void.
She smiled. It was a horrific, fanatical, galaxy-spanning expression of pure, obsessive joy.
"YOU HAVE FINALLY RETURNED..."
Her massive voice echoed in the emptiness, vibrating with a manic devotion.
"HAAAAAHHH...."
"AFTER A MILLENNIA OF SUFFOCATING AGONY AND ENDLESS DESPAIR, ROTTING AWAY BOUND IN THIS MISERABLE REALM...."
"THE ABSOLUTE ONLY TIME I EVER FELT A SHRED OF GENUINE EXCITEMENT WAS BEING TEMPORARILY DEFEATED BY THE FIRST BLOOD DRAGON KING, THANKS ONLY TO THE COWARDLY HELP OF THAT GODDAMN BLACK DREAD DRAGON....."
"AND NOW....."
The massive crimson eye dilated, burning with the heat of a supernova.
"....NOW!!!!"
"YOU HAVE FINALLY, TRULY RETURNED....."
"...MY BEAUTIFUL, ABOMINABLE GOD...."
The Chaotic Dragon God threw her massive head back and laughed. It was a terrifying, booming sound of pure euphoria and manic excitement that shook the very foundations of her prison. She writhed against the divine chains, completely uncaring of the pain as the holy light burned her scales. She couldn't wait. She absolutely could not wait to finally shatter these seals, tear her way back into the mortal universe, and gaze upon the magnificent, terrifying visage of the Abominable God once again.
***
The Eastern Continent.The Clovius Kingdom - The Royal Palace.
High above the sprawling, majestic spires of the Clovius Kingdom, the skies were usually filled with a breathtaking, peaceful sight. Massive, ancient dragons of varying colors flew lazily through the clouds, playfully soaring alongside the powerful, broom-riding Witches who coexisted in harmony with the great beasts.
But the moment the crushing, invisible aura of the Outer God washed over the continent, the peaceful tableau violently shattered.
The majestic dragons suddenly shrieked in unison, a sound of profound, instinctual terror. Completely paralyzed by the sheer, cosmological weight of the killing intent, the massive beasts literally dropped from the sky like stones, crashing heavily into the forests, mountains, and courtyards below, entirely unable to sustain their magical flight.
Inside the highest tower of the Royal Palace, massive, gilded oak double doors were forcefully, violently thrown open.
It was none other than the current Queen of the Clovius Kingdom.
Jennisa Van Clovius.
She was a breathtakingly beautiful, terrifyingly powerful entity, and the mother of Eula Van Clovius—the girl canonically destined to become the primary villainess and the apocalyptic Final Boss of Act 4.
Jennisa was wearing a stunning, flowing crimson dress and a classic, wide-brimmed red witch's hat. Her vibrant, piercing green eyes were wide with genuine panic, and her long, flowing white hair was physically flaring upward, reacting to the massive, emergency spike in ambient magical tension.
"Dracarys!" Jennisa shouted, rushing into the royal solar.
She immediately spotted her husband. Like her, the Blood Dragon King and his Queen were entities of such immense, legendary power that they were not physically forced to their knees by the sheer, ambient aura pressure affecting the lesser beings of the world. But even they were deeply, profoundly shaken by the cosmological emergency currently unfolding.
King Dracarys stood on the balcony, staring out at the sky. He possessed long, brilliant blond hair and eyes the color of fresh, arterial blood.
He was looking up at the darkened heavens. The sun over the Clovius Kingdom, thousands of miles away from the Imperial Academy, was also completely, entirely devoured by the terrifying, impossible eclipse.
Hearing his wife's panicked shout, Dracarys slowly ran a hand backward through his blond hair, letting out a long, heavy sigh. He turned away from the apocalyptic sky, his crimson eyes focusing entirely onto his terrified wife. He walked calmly across the solar and pulled her into a tight, comforting hug.
"You shan't worry your beautiful heart, my love..." Dracarys murmured smoothly, his deep voice a soothing rumble against her ear as he gently stroked her flaring white hair.
"It is absolutely nothing to concern ourselves with..." Dracarys reassured her, placing a gentle kiss on her temple.
Jennisa pulled back slightly, her green eyes searching his face, looking for any sign of deception.
"How can you possibly be so entirely, confidently sure that whatever entity just arrived won't violently affect us or our kingdom?" Jennisa asked, her voice trembling slightly.
"Because..." Dracarys replied, his crimson eyes narrowing slightly as he analyzed the terrifying frequencies of the aura permeating the air. "That specific, world-ending killing intent... it is absolutely not directed at us. It is highly concentrated, aimed entirely at a singular, localized point far to the center region."
"Really...?" Jennisa whispered, the panic slowly receding from her chest.
Dracarys nodded his head firmly. "Yes..."
"Though... I must admit, it is incredibly, profoundly alarming that...."
Dracarys paused. He gently released her and turned back toward the balcony.
He slowly clenched his hands into tight fists at his sides. As his combat instincts flared in response to the universal threat, sharp, razor-like obsidian claws smoothly extended from his fingertips. Thick, armored, crimson-red dragon scales began to rapidly, instinctively manifest along the sides of his neck and jawline, preparing his body for war.
"An Outer God...." Dracarys stated, his voice dropping to a low, incredibly grim whisper.
"...Has completely, physically descended into this fragile world."
Jennisa's green eyes widened to their absolute limits in profound shock.
"What?!" Jennisa gasped, covering her mouth with her hands.
Dracarys didn't reply to her shock. He simply stood on the balcony, ignoring the crashed dragons in the courtyard below, keeping his glowing crimson eyes entirely, intensely focused on the darkened, eclipsed skies above.
"By the Primordial Dragons of old..." Dracarys whispered into the unnatural twilight, a heavy, ancient dread settling over his immortal soul.
"What in the vast cosmos has this world finally come to be?"
***
Unknown Location.The Abyssal Labyrinth - Subterranean Depths.
Meanwhile, buried incredibly deep inside a massive, continent-spanning subterranean cave dungeon, an entity of pure, primal terror stirred.
A massive, impossibly colossal Black Dragon, easily the size of a small mountain range, had been sleeping in a state of deep, undisturbed hibernation for centuries.
Suddenly, the massive beast violently jolted awake. It snapped open its massive, vertical slit, crimson-red eyes, glowing like twin suns in the pitch-black cavern.
"GRRRRRR...." The Massive Black Dragon let out a low, terrifying growl that caused the tectonic plates above its lair to physically shift and tremble.
"NO...." The dragon's voice was ancient, echoing with a telepathic force that shattered the stalactites hanging from the ceiling.
"THIS ABSOLUTELY CANNOT BE TRUE...."
The massive beast slowly raised its heavily armored, spike-covered head.
"HE HAS DESCENDED INTO THE MORTAL PLANE ENTIRELY TOO EARLY..."
The dragon narrowed its glowing crimson eyes, recognizing the exact, specific frequency of the apocalyptic aura currently crushing the surface world.
"YOU..."
"...HAVE FINALLY RETURNED TO US, HAVEN'T YOU?"
"...ABOMINABLE GOD..."
This colossal beast was none other than the legendary Black Dread Dragon, Fatalis.
He was one of the original, mythical Primordial Dragons who had actively, desperately fought alongside the First Blood Dragon King to seal the insane Chaos Dragon God away in the void millennia ago.
Fatalis slowly, heavily unfurled his massive, leathery black wings, the sheer wingspan brushing against the walls of the impossibly large cavern. He lowered his massive head, his brow furrowing in deep, ancient concern.
"ABOMINABLE GOD..." Fatalis rumbled, his voice laced with profound apprehension.
"DID YOU FINALLY, TRULY RETURN TO THIS UNIVERSE SIMPLY TO EXECUTE AND PERMANENTLY KILL THE CHAOS DRAGON GOD?"
He questioned the empty darkness of his lair. He slowly lifted his gaze, his magical senses piercing through millions of tons of solid rock, looking directly at the darkened, eclipsed skies of the surface world.
He let out a massive, scorching sigh that incinerated the surrounding rocks into molten slag. He didn't know the exact reasoning behind the entity's early arrival, but he knew exactly what that level of power entailed.
"SIGH...."
"I JUST PROFOUNDLY, DESPERATELY HOPE THAT YOUR SUDDEN, UNPLANNED DESCENDING INTO THIS FRAGILE UNIVERSE..."
"...WILL NOT COMPLETELY, CATASTROPHICALLY SHATTER THE DELICATE BALANCE OF EXISTENCE WE HAVE BLED TO MAINTAIN HERE..."
***
The Infernal Dimension.The Demon Realm - The Obsidian Capital.
Meanwhile, far beyond the mortal plane, in the nightmarish, burning landscapes of the Demon Realm, absolute, unprecedented chaos had erupted.
The entire demonic hierarchy was in a state of absolute, shrieking emergency.
They felt it. Despite being separated by impenetrable dimensional barriers, the highest echelons of the demonic nobility felt the sudden, crushing, conceptual weight of the aura pressure mixed with an absolutely unfathomable killing intent bleeding through the dimensional fabric.
In the heart of the Obsidian Capital, the current supreme ruler of the Infernal Dimension was holding court.
Demon King Satanael Luciferos.
He was an entity of supreme, terrifying power, currently sitting arrogantly upon his massive throne forged from the screaming souls of the damned.
Suddenly, the invisible, cosmological wave hit the throne room.
"Wha-what the absolute hell is happening?!" Satanael roared, his demonic eyes widening in deep, unadulterated shock.
The supreme ruler of the demons was violently, physically ripped from his throne. The sheer, conceptual weight of the aura crushed down upon him, forcing the Demon King to crash heavily onto his knees on the obsidian floor, entirely unable to stand in the presence of a vastly superior predator.
"Haah... haah... haah!" Satanael gasped for air, humiliated and terrified as his royal guards collapsed around him.
"Just who the absolute, flying hell managed to completely bypass the cosmic laws and descend into the human realm?!"
***
The Artificial Dimension - Sector 1.Simulation Sub-Level: The Ruined Epoc.Day 3 - 01:28 PM.
Getting back onto the scene of the execution.
Dratkthar, the Greater Demon General of Agony, was still violently, forcefully pinned to the dirt. He was kneeling, his massive, horned head pressed entirely flat against the pulverized stone floor. He couldn't lift a single finger.
The terrifying, arrogant confidence he had possessed just minutes ago was entirely, utterly eradicated.
He realized, with absolute, bowel-loosening clarity, that he had just profoundly, fatally messed with someone—or something—he absolutely, fundamentally shouldn't have. He was deeply, irrevocably screwed. He knew for an absolute, undeniable fact that he was really, truly going to die today.
The Blindfold Man, standing thirty feet away, didn't walk.
He simply took a single, leisurely step forward, and reality folded around him.
-BLINK!
He instantaneously, flawlessly teleported, bypassing the concept of physical distance entirely.
He appeared directly in front of the kneeling demon.
Dratkthar's glowing amber eyes widened in absolute shock, staring at the pristine black boots of the entity standing before him.
'He's impossibly quick!' Dratkthar screamed inwardly, his mind unable to even track the movement.
The Blindfold Man didn't speak. He simply focused his attention downward toward the massive, kneeling beast.
He casually raised his right leg.
-KICK!
The Blindfold Man delivered a simple, utterly casual, upward front kick directly into Dratkthar's chin.
The impact was cataclysmic. There was no explosion, only the pure, terrifying transfer of kinetic energy.
Dratkthar's massive, titan-sized body was instantly, violently launched upward. He was kicked so incredibly, impossibly hard that his body became a living railgun projectile. He violently smashed upward, completely obliterating the reinforced, artificial ceiling of the first floor. He crashed through the bedrock, shattering the spatial boundary of the second floor, tearing through the third, obliterating the fourth, and finally, violently crashing to a halt in the molten obsidian depths of the 5th Floor—the absolute, deepest, most heavily reinforced level of the artificial dungeon.
The Blindfold Man simply tilted his head, letting reality fold again.
-BLINK!
He materialized in the center of the 5th Floor, hovering inches above a lake of churning magma, completely untouched by the apocalyptic heat.
Dratkthar, covered in molten rock and pulverized stone, miraculously managed to successfully stand up from the crater. It seemed the Blindfold Man had deliberately, sadistically disabled the crushing aura pressure, specifically allowing the demon to stand.
Dratkthar immediately saw the opening. He saw a chance to fight back.
Driven by the pure, suicidal arrogance of his massive ego, Dratkthar roared. He frantically cast dozens of massive, highly complex, high-tier abyssal magic circles simultaneously. He unleashed a devastating, apocalyptic barrage of concentrated hellfire, void spheres, and anti-matter lances directly toward the Blindfold Man.
The entire cavern was instantly consumed in a blinding storm of destructive magic.
The Blindfold Man didn't raise a shield. He didn't counter-attack.
He only slightly, elegantly tilted his head.
With absolutely effortless, insulting grace, the Blindfold Man continuously, casually dodged every single projectile in the apocalyptic barrage by simply blinking out of existence for a microsecond before impact.
-BLINK!
-BLINK!
-BLINK!
-BLINK!
He appeared to the left, to the right, above, and behind the magical blasts, moving with the casual boredom of a man strolling through a light drizzle.
Dratkthar gasped, his abyssal core burning with exhaustion. Instead of turning around and running away from an entity he clearly couldn't even begin to understand or comprehend, the Demon General was stupidly, pointlessly fighting back, blinded entirely by his massive, fragile ego.
The Blindfold Man stopped dodging. He hovered in the center of the cavern, the chaotic magic dissipating harmlessly around his pristine black silk garments.
He slowly, dramatically opened his arms wide.
"7 minutes..." The Blindfold Man announced, his voice echoing perfectly over the roar of the magma.
Dratkthar's amber eyes widened.
"7 minutes is all i can spare to ever play with you."
The Blindfold Man lowered his arms, a cold, terrifying smirk touching his lips beneath the black blindfold.
"Here I am, offering you my precious time... and you're wasting it by running around..."
Dratkthar's massive, crimson body finally, uncontrollably began to violently tremble. The sheer, hopeless futility of his situation finally crushed his ego.
"Ohhh..." The Blindfold Man sighed, his voice dropping into a dark, lethal register.
"...Playtime is over."
He disappeared again.
He reappeared directly in front of the trembling Dratkthar, floating at eye level with the towering demon.
-KICK!
The Blindfold Man drove a devastating, impossibly fast knee strike directly into the center of Dratkthar's face, shattering his demonic nose and fracturing his cheekbones. It was exact, poetic payback for the knee strike the demon had delivered to Rudeus's stomach.
-KICK!
Another brutal knee to the jaw, snapping the demon's head back.
-KICK!
-KICK!
-KICK!
He repeatedly, mercilessly drove his knee into the demon's face, moving faster than sound, pulverizing Dratkthar's skull with casual, terrifying precision. He was extracting the exact measure of physical agony the demon had inflicted on the boy's body.
Finally, satisfied with repeatedly kicking him, the Blindfold Man stopped. He floated backward, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Haah... haah... haaah!" Dratkthar gasped pathetically, his face a ruined, unrecognizable mess of shattered bone and black blood, swaying unsteadily on his feet.
The Blindfold Man slowly, elegantly tilted his head again, looking at the broken creature.
"It is time to end this."
The atmosphere in the cavern changed.
The Blindfold Man's long, pristine white hair suddenly, violently rose, floating upwards as if submerged in water, completely defying gravity.
The entire cavern began to tear itself apart. Massive boulders, chunks of obsidian, and entire stalactites broke free from the earth and began to slowly, ominously float upward into the air, caught in the localized gravitational collapse.
Even miles above them on the surface, the terrifying, apocalyptic darkness of the Total Solar Eclipse violently flared, the corona expanding outward like the eye of an angry god.
The Blindfold Man raised his black-manicured hand.
He then spoke a phrase that caused the very foundation of the world, and reality itself, to violently bend and crack before his absolute authority.
It was the true, perfected, cosmic origin of the aura Rudeus had so desperately tried to wield.
"VOID DIVINE ART:"
The Blindfold Man snapped his fingers.
"...BLACK DEATH."