The Azure Frost Pavilion was no longer a place of ice and meditation; it was a silent warehouse. Under the watchful, emerald eyes of Malakor, disciples who had once carried themselves with the arrogance of immortals were now reduced to porters, hauling heavy iron-bound chests from the depths of their mountain to the feet of the Sovereign.
Cain stood in the center of the Azure Frost's Great Hall. The temperature here had dropped so low that the moisture in the air had crystallized into floating silver needles, yet Cain felt nothing. His new skin, a flawless obsidian marble, seemed to absorb the cold rather than be bothered by it.
Behind him, Elena stood with her arms crossed. The violet veins on her neck pulsed slowly. She wasn't just watching; she was filtering. With every chest that was opened—spilling out Rank-A Spirit Stones, Frozen Heart Lotuses, and ancient scrolls—she felt the resonance of the mana.
"This is not enough," Cain said. His voice didn't carry, yet every disciple in the room flinched as if he had screamed into their ears.
The Azure Frost Saint, pale and trembling, stepped forward. "Sovereign... those are the riches of three centuries. Our disciples will starve of mana without these foundations."
"Then let them learn to breathe air instead of spirit," Cain replied coldly. He looked at a massive, pulsing blue crystal being wheeled in by four men—the [Heart of the Glacial Spring].
Cain raised his hand. Instead of devouring the crystal, he gestured toward Elena. "This is for the Anchor."
Elena stepped forward. She didn't use a technique. She simply placed her hand on the massive blue diamond. The "Empty Vessel" within her opened. The disciples gasped as the deep, ancient blue of the crystal began to fade, the light flowing into Elena's palm like water down a drain.
[Elena's Status: Essence Weaving — Stage 2.]
[Synthesizing 'Glacial Heart' into 'Void-Static'...]
As she absorbed the core of the sect's power, the very mountain groaned. The snow outside stopped falling. The internal heating of the palace died. Elena's skin turned a more solid, opaque white, and her eyes settled into a permanent, chilling grey.
"The debt is half-paid," Elena said, her voice now carrying the same hollow echo as Cain's. She looked at the Saint. "We are not here to leave you with nothing. We are here to give you a choice. Your sect has a Level 90 Spirit Spring at the peak. We are taking the water, but we will leave the source."
"In exchange for what?" the Saint asked, his voice broken.
"In exchange for the lives of your disciples," Cain said, stepping closer. "The Eye of the Heavens is blinking. The Outer Void has found the breach I left behind. When the next scout comes—and it will be a Commander, not a Scout—your 'Glacial Array' will be nothing but a glass window to them."
Cain pointed his finger at the floor. A spike of pure, black violet energy shot into the marble, spreading like a virus. "I have placed a Sovereign's Mark on this mountain. It will drain 10% of your sect's generated mana every day. In return, the Void-entities will perceive this mountain as part of my territory. They will not touch you."
The Saint's eyes widened. It was a protection racket on a celestial scale. Cain wasn't just looting them; he was annexing them. He was turning the great sects of the world into his personal mana-farms.
"You... you are making us your vassals," the Saint whispered.
"I am making you survivors," Cain corrected.
He turned to Elena. "Are we finished here?"
"The scrolls have been digitized by Elder Yun's team," she replied, gesturing to the 'Hollow-Walkers' who had been quietly stripping the library in the background. "The Heart is consumed. We have enough to begin the construction."
"Construction of what?" the Saint dared to ask.
Cain paused at the exit, looking back over his shoulder. The violet gravity in his eyes made the Saint fall to his knees.
"A throne," Cain said. "One high enough that even the Eye of the Heavens has to look up to see it."
With a flick of his wrist, the space around Cain and his followers folded. In a blink, they were gone, leaving the Azure Frost Pavilion in a state of silent, frozen poverty.
They reappeared at the peak of the Sun-Eater Fortress. But it was no longer a ruin. Under the direction of the Hollow-Walkers and the tireless labor of the Shadow Generals, the shattered marble had been fused with obsidian. A massive, black spire now rose from the center of the Pavilion, reaching toward the clouds.
At the very top, overlooking the entire Ancient Realm, stood a seat made of fused starmetal and Void-crystal.
Cain didn't sit on it. He walked to the edge of the spire and looked down at the world. He could feel the eyes of the other sects on him. He could feel the "Eye of the Heavens" gathering golden lightning in the upper atmosphere, preparing a "Judgment Bolt" for the anomaly he had become.
"They're going to strike tonight," Elena said, standing beside him. She could feel the static in the air. "The world's logic cannot allow a Level 80 Sovereign to exist without a Core."
"Then let them strike," Cain said, his black scales shimmering in the moonlight. "I've been hungry for a long time, Elena. Let's see how Heaven tastes."
[Warning: Heavenly Tribulation — 'The Nine-Fold Execution' — Imminent.]
[Time to Strike: 3:00 Minutes.]