The battlefield had turned into a swirling vortex of fire and blood. The Taoist practitioners under Celestial continued their bombardment, but the Royal forces had adapted. They no longer stared in confusion; they coordinated their fire, using high-frequency laser pulses to intercept the talismans mid-air.

"Crul! The manual line is holding, but we’re losing too many people!" Jason roared over the comms, ducking behind a piece of shrapnel as a spiritual explosion rocked the earth. "Requesting permission to initiate the ’Ghost Fleet’ protocol!"

Within the Soul Sanctuary, Crul turned her gaze toward Ethan. Her eyes, usually cold and analytical, held a flicker of something resembling anticipation.

Ethan watched the logistics workers—the "laborers"—fighting tooth and nail alongside the soldiers. He saw their sacrifice, their loyalty, and their fire. A dark, proud smirk touched his lips.

"They’ve proven they aren’t paper tigers," Ethan said softly. "Don’t let them die for nothing, Crul. Activate the secondary systems."

Crul bowed her head. "Initiating Automatic Protocol: Iron Rain."

In the physical world, the Royal convoy suddenly groaned as hundreds of hidden compartments slid open. Vehicles that had seemed like mere cargo transports suddenly bristled with automated turret arrays. The drones hummed to life, their optical sensors glowing a menacing red as they slaved themselves to Crul’s processing core.

The turrets didn’t just fire; they calculated. They unleashed a relentless, surgical massacre upon the Scavenger beast-men, tracking their erratic movements with machine precision.

"What the hell is this?!" the Scavenger Leader roared, watching as his front line was mowed down by machines that didn’t feel fear or fatigue. "If they had this the whole time, why didn’t they use it from the start?!"

The Leader of Celestial turned his gaze toward the center of the convoy. His eyes landed on Ethan, who still sat atop his transport with his eyes closed, undisturbed by the chaos. A vein throbbed in the Leader’s temple.

"He isn’t even looking at us," he hissed, his voice trembling with humiliated rage. "We aren’t a threat to him... we’re just training fodder for his subordinates! Damn you, Ethan!"

Driven by ego and fury, the Celestial Leader unleashed his full power. He reached into his robes and threw hundreds of golden talismans into the air. They swirled like a cyclone of fire, screaming toward the convoy. But the automated turrets didn’t blink; of the hundreds launched, barely twenty found their mark. The rest were vaporized in a spectacular display of anti-air precision.

The Scavenger Leader spat on the ground, his expression turning feral. "Fine! If the toys won’t break, I’ll break them myself!"

He let out a guttural, bone-chilling scream. His body, previously obese and bloated, began to undergo a horrific transformation. It looked as if his flesh was being sucked inward, his skin clinging to his skeleton until he looked like a dehydrated zombie of pure corded muscle and bone.

He launched himself forward with a speed that defied his massive frame. A 50-ton armored Royal transport tried to intercept him, charging at full speed to crush him under its wheels. The Scavenger Leader didn’t dodge. He planted his feet and struck the grill of the truck with a single, skeletal fist.

CRASH!

The massive vehicle didn’t just stop; it was sent tumbling through the air like a plastic toy, flipping three times before exploding in a ball of fire. The Scavenger Leader stood in the crater, his dead eyes fixed on the heart of the convoy.

"The monsters have arrived, Ethan...!!!" shouted the scavenger leader, charging towards the main line.

The automated turrets and the handheld rifles of the Royal vanguard adjusted in a heartbeat, focusing a concentrated stream of violet laser fire onto the skeletal titan. The beams struck his frame with a sizzle of burning ozone, but they didn’t pierce. They carved deep, cauterized lacerations into his grey, leathery skin and dense bone—only for the wounds to hiss and knit back together instantly. He didn’t even flinch; the pain only seemed to fuel his madness.

"God, I’m so hungry...!!" he shrieked.

With a sudden, explosive burst of speed, he reached the front line. He grabbed a Royal soldier by the throat before she could even raise her bayonet. With a sickening wrench, he tore her head clean off her shoulders. He tilted his head back, letting the warm blood fountain into his maw, before biting down on the skull. The bone splintered with a wet, heavy thud, exploding like a ripe tomato under the pressure of his teeth.

"Delicious!! Hahaha! I’ll devour every last one of you!"

The scene was so gruesome that even deep within his Soul Sanctuary, Ethan felt his skin crawl. The image projected by Crul was one of unadulterated horror. The Scavenger Leader moved like a rabid animal, disemboweling soldiers with his bare claws, ripping out organs and shoving them into his mouth with a maniacal glee.

The impact on the Royal army was devastating. The disciplined, high-tech soldiers who had stood firm against monsters and tanks began to waver. Their hands shook on their triggers. It was one thing to fight a beast, or even to die in battle, but to watch a humanoid creature feast on their comrades in such a bestial manner was a nightmare they weren’t trained to endure.

"Fall back! Fall back!" a sergeant screamed, his voice breaking as he watched his squad leader get torn in half.

The wall of iron was beginning to crumble, not from a lack of firepower, but from the sheer, paralyzing terror of the predator in their midst. The Scavenger Leader looked up, his face smeared with gore, and locked his sight on the transport where Ethan sat.

"Ethan... come out and play! I want to know what a ’King’ tastes like!"

"Master... I can feel their fear. Let me go. Let me rise from the earth and crush these insects for you. I will return to your shadow once I have feasted."

Ethan opened his eyes in the physical world. The violet glow was no longer a flicker; it was a steady, ominous hum of power that made the air around the transport shimmer with heat. He looked at the Scavenger Leader—a gore-stained skeleton posing as a man—and a cold, lethal smile spread across his face.

"No," Ethan whispered, his voice carrying through the Soul Space and the battlefield simultaneously. "You’re too far away, and I’ve kept them waiting long enough. It’s time I show them exactly what happens when they fuck with me."