The Azure Frost Pavilion did not expect a visitor.
Following the disastrous "Siege of the Falling Star," the sect had retreated behind their Great Glacial Array, a wall of absolute-zero energy that had stood for three centuries. They believed that even if the "Monster" survived, he would be crippled, his cultivation shattered by the interrupted hibernation.
They were wrong.
Cain did not fly to their mountain. He did not send a messenger. He simply appeared at the base of their stairs, Elena walking half a pace behind him. Her violet-veined skin was now covered in robes of charcoal silk, her eyes steady and hollow.
"The array is active," Elena said softly, her new senses picking up the hum of the blue energy above. "It's a Level 80 defensive lattice. It's designed to reflect mana back at the attacker."
Cain looked up at the shimmering dome of ice. "Then it's a good thing I'm not using mana."
He reached out, his hand bare. As his fingers touched the "unbreakable" wall of the Azure Frost, the blue light didn't shatter—it turned black. The energy didn't reflect; it was sucked into Cain's palm as if the entire array were a long-overdue meal.
[Skill Activated: Sovereign's Feast — Absolute Nullification.]
The Great Glacial Array collapsed with a sound like a continent snapping in half.
High above, in the Sect Master's hall, Elder Frost-Bane dropped his tea. The temperature in the room, usually kept at a perfect freezing point, suddenly plummeted. The air didn't just get cold; it became empty.
"He's here," Frost-Bane whispered, his ice-beard trembling.
Cain and Elena didn't hurry. They walked up the ten thousand stairs, passing thousands of disciples who stood frozen in terror. No one drew a sword. To look at Cain was to feel the weight of a dying star pressing against one's chest.
When they reached the summit, the Azure Frost Saint—the Level 85 master Cain had broken days prior—was waiting. He was wrapped in bandages, his aura flickering like a candle in a hurricane.
"You... you should be dead," the Saint gasped, leaning on a staff of spirit-jade. "No one survives an interrupted refinement. The backlash should have turned your soul to ash!"
Cain stopped ten feet from him. The wind on the mountain peak died. The clouds stopped moving.
"I have a very persistent Anchor," Cain said, glancing back at Elena. He then turned his violet gaze back to the Saint. "Three days ago, you came to my home. You threatened my people. You touched the one thing in this world I decided to keep."
Cain took a step forward. The marble beneath his boot didn't crack; it dissolved into dust.
"I am not here to kill your disciples," Cain continued, his voice echoing in the Saint's very marrow. "I am here for the debt. Your sect has three 'Heart-Ice' Treasuries and a Level 90 Spirit Spring. I am taking them."
"You ask for our foundation?" Frost-Bane roared, stepping forward with the remaining Elders. "You would leave us as beggars?"
"No," Elena intervened, her voice cold and clear. "We are leaving you as survivors. It's a better deal than you offered us."
The Saint looked at Cain's eyes—the twin abysses of a True Sovereign—and then at the girl who had mastered the Void as a mortal. He realized then that the power balance of the Three Realms hadn't just shifted; it had been deleted.
"Open the treasuries," the Saint commanded, his voice breaking. "Give him... give him everything."
As the Azure Frost disciples began to haul their ancient treasures out in a desperate bid for mercy, Cain stood at the edge of the peak, looking out over the horizon. He could see the other sects—the Sun-Seekers, the Iron Mountain—their lights flickering in the distance like frightened fireflies.
[Status: Sovereign's Presence — World Fear Level: 88%]
[Cain's Next Objective: The Primordial Gate.]
"This is just the beginning, isn't it?" Elena asked, standing beside him.
Cain didn't look away from the horizon. He reached out, his hand brushing against the violet veins on her arm—the mark of their shared soul.
"The world took everything from us when we were weak, Elena," Cain said. "Now, we take the world."