Ethan turned his gaze toward the Deacon. The man didn’t even try to reach for a weapon or a talisman. He was a jackal who had spent his life wearing a tiger’s skin, feeding off the authority of the Union’s leader. Now that the tiger was dead and the skin was shredded, only a coward remained.

The Deacon collapsed to his knees, his forehead pressing into the dirt as he began to babble for mercy.

"I’d love to erase you right here, Deacon," Ethan said, his voice smooth and terrifyingly calm. "But there’s someone back at HQ who’s been dreaming of your head. I think I’ll let them have the pleasure. But first..."

In a blur of motion, a series of sickening cracks echoed through the valley. Ethan broke both of the Deacon’s arms, shattered his kneecaps, and finally dislocated his jaw with a precise flick of his thumb. The man couldn’t fight, couldn’t run, and now, he couldn’t even bite his own tongue to commit suicide.

Ethan turned to leave, but a prickle at the base of his neck stopped him. It was a sensation of being watched—not by eyes, but by a current of ancient energy.

[Master] Crul’s voice sharpened. [I am detecting a high-rank array behind the rubble. It appears to be active and drawing power.]

Ethan walked deeper into the ruins of the cave. The Deacon’s eyes widened, frantic sounds muffled by his broken jaw as he tried to protest. He was trying to play dead, hoping Ethan wouldn’t notice the secret they had been guarding for months.

Inside the deepest chamber sat a small, pulsating formation. It was much smaller than the Twin-Headed Devouring Array that had guarded the Worm Queen, but the craftsmanship was far more intricate. Ethan reached out, his amethyst skin glowing as he touched the vibrating symbols.

Crul fell silent for several minutes, her processors humming at maximum capacity.

[Analysis complete,] Crul finally reported. [It is a Pulse Array. It isn’t designed for defense or attack; it’s a beacon. It has been broadcasting a continuous signal to a coordinate far outside this world’s atmospheric dome.]

Ethan stared at the flickering lights. "A signal? To who?"

[The destination is unknown, Master. But it is a one-way transmission. Regarding the array itself, we can certainly dismantle it. Over the last six months, our teams have scavenged dozens of abandoned Union arrays. The materials are being stockpiled at Royal HQ, awaiting your orders on how to utilize the ’spoils’ of war.]

Ethan narrowed his eyes. The luxury of the dome was a lie; he knew it wasn’t a shield, but a cage. If the "hunters" from the outside ever decided to breach it, they would be trapped like rats in a golden box.

"The priority is clear," Ethan commanded. "We need to build a Long-Range Escape Array. If the sky falls or if someone too powerful to fight enters this domain, I want an exit strategy ready. We need to be able to vanish in a heartbeat."

[Building a transport array without a fixed destination is extremely dangerous, Master] Crul warned. [An ’Absolute Random’ jump could drop us into the vacuum of space, the heart of a sun, or a hostile higher realm.]

"If the alternative is certain death at the hands of an invader, I’ll take my chances with the void," Ethan replied coldly. "The Void and I are already well-acquainted anyway."

[Understood, Master. I am transmitting the architectural blueprints to the Royal engineering division. We will begin the construction of the ’Emergency Transit Gate’ immediately.]

Ethan grabbed the mangled Deacon by the back of his robes and began his journey back. He looked up at the sky, feeling the weight of the signal that had already been sent. The world was quiet for now, but the pulse had gone out—and something, somewhere, was surely listening.

Ethan stepped out from the mountain’s remains, leaving a trail of dust in his wake. "Crul, send a team here. Scavenge every last fragment of that array and any useful materials," he commanded, his voice cold and resonant.

[The nearest collection squad is already en route, Master. They will arrive in less than fifteen minutes] Crul replied.

Ethan nodded. Without a shred of delicacy, he grabbed the Deacon by what was left of his robes and hoisted him up as if he weighed nothing. In a heartbeat, he surged into the sky, reactivating his void-walk leap and blasting off at hypersonic speeds.

The Deacon, feeling the sudden G-force and the terrifying velocity warping the landscape around him, couldn’t take it. The man who had once conspired to rule the Union began to scream like a terrified bitch before his body gave out. He vomited all over himself, his mind snapping into a dead faint from the sheer pressure. Ethan let out a vibrant laugh as he felt the man go limp, watching the trail of bile and foam get whipped away by the wind.

"What a pathetic excuse for a leader," Ethan mocked, accelerating even further.

As he neared Royal HQ, Ethan knew the sonic boom from his deceleration would be a problem for the structures. Instead of landing directly, he performed one final vertical leap, soaring as high as possible into the stratosphere before detonating all his accumulated inertia. The resulting sound was like the blast of a mountain-sized cannon, echoing across the entire valley and rattling the windows of every building in the city.

Below, chaos erupted. Royal’s alarms blared, and the Blood Matriarch sprinted into the central courtyard, her crimson eyes glowing with murderous intensity. She could sense the approaching presence was far too powerful; it was something she didn’t believe she could defeat without unleashing her forbidden abilities. She was already biting her finger to activate her blood seal when she saw a figure slowly descending from the clouds.

When he touched the ground, the Matriarch froze in shock. Standing before her wasn’t the rugged warrior she remembered, but a youth of almost divine beauty, with features so delicate and perfect they looked sculpted from crystal. But the most shocking sight was what hung from his hand: the Deacon, the man who had caused her so much pain, now looking like a beaten dog. His robes were soaked in vomit, his eyes were rolled back, and he was foaming at the mouth in a catatonic state.

Ethan raised a hand and waved with a light smile, as if he had just returned from a morning stroll.

"Ethan..." the Matriarch whispered, lowering her guard but unable to hide her bewilderment. "You’ve finally returned. It’s been months... we thought something irreversible had happened to you."

Ethan dropped the Deacon, who hit the floor with a wet, heavy thud.

"Nothing bad is happening anytime soon, Matriarch," Ethan said, his voice now resonating with a deeper, more magnetic tone. "But I brought you a gift I hope you’ll like. Take a good look at this piece of trash."