The blood-whips retracted into Anne’s fingertips with a wet, slithering sound. As soon as the connection was severed, Su Ni collapsed. He didn’t scream, he didn’t twitch; he hit the metal floor like a puppet with its strings cut, his eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. He was dead before his head hit the ground.

Ethan blinked, momentarily taken back by the cold efficiency. "I didn’t expect you to finish him so abruptly, Anne."

"He was a spent vessel," the Matriarch replied, wiping her hands with a silk cloth. His gaze was distant, troubled. "I have a vague idea of ​​the situation now, although I don’t like the sound of it one bit."

"Explain," Ethan commanded, leaning against a stack of Cold Steel crates.

"It seems there are multiple matrices leading to this place scattered across the world," Anne said, her voice echoing in the vast vault. "The Soaring Dragon Kingdom is not unknown to me... however, it should be impossibly far from where I entered this dome."

Ethan’s interest sharpened. "What do you mean? You’ve mentioned your past before, but you’ve never been this specific."

"I come from the Crimson Heaven Kingdom," she said, her eyes flickering with a momentary flash of regal pride. "My family is part of the royal bloodline there. But the Soaring Dragon Kingdom and the Crimson Heaven Kingdom are separated by distances you cannot yet understand. We don’t share borders. We don’t share oceans. There is no logical reason why portals from both regions would lead to this same tiny island."

"Could we be in the middle?" Ethan suggested. "A neutral ground between the two?"

Anne shook her head slowly. "No. The distance is too vast. I only know the names of the Soaring Dragon and their rival families because of a single ancient text in my father’s private library. We aren’t even sure where they are located on the Main Continent. They are essentially legends to my people."

"How can that be possible?" Ethan asked, his brow furrowing. "If this world—this ’dome’—is as small as you say, how can it be connected to two ends of a continent?"

Anne turned to look at the massive, crude portal Ethan was building. She looked at it with a mix of pity and fear.

"Ethan, you must understand something," she said, her voice dropping to a whisper. "What you consider to be the ’whole world’—this planet, this cage—is nothing more than a small, discarded island to the people outside. My former kingdom ruled over a territory more than a thousand times the size of this entire piece of land. And we were not the strongest kingdom in our region... nor the most extensive."

She walked toward him, her crimson eyes locking onto his. "If both the Crimson Heaven and the Soaring Dragon have access to this place, it means this ’island’ isn’t just a piece of land. It’s a focal point. A crossroads. And if word gets out about what you are—a Void Nightmare in human form—the people who come through those doors next won’t be spoiled ’Silk Pants’ like Su Ni. They will be the monsters that even my father feared."

Ethan stared at the glowing portal, the hum of the machinery feeling more like a heartbeat than ever. The world hadn’t just gotten bigger; it had become an abyss.

"A thousand times larger..." Ethan whispered, a dark, predatory thrill running down his spine. "Good. I was worried I’d run out of things to conquer too quickly."

Anne stepped closer, her expression hardening until it was a mask of cold marble. "Did you not hear a word I said, Ethan? They won’t come to conquer you—they will come to harvest you. You have no idea how valuable you are. I don’t know how you became this way, and frankly, I don’t care, but you must understand that you are a unique existence. In all of recorded history, there has only been one being who was not born of the Void yet carried its lineage."

She paused, the flickering lights of the laboratory casting deep shadows across her face. "He was the Void King of his era. A being so terrifying that nothing in the heavens could stand against him. In the end, his power drove him to madness. He offended too many powers, but before he fell, he left behind a trail of destruction so absolute it buried entire civilizations with him."

"If he was so hated, why would they want me?" Ethan asked, his voice low.

"It isn’t about hate or taboos, Ethan. It’s about greed," Anne hissed. "Everyone wants the power of the Void. It is the ultimate authority over reality, yet no one has ever managed to replicate it. Only that old monster succeeded, and now, somehow, you possess that same ability. If the great powers find out, they wouldn’t just send an army—they would go to war against the entire world just to possess you. You must never, under any circumstances, let it be known that you wield the power of the Void."

Ethan remained silent for a long moment, the weight of her words sinking into the Cold Steel floor. "Thank you," he finally said, his gaze shifting back to her. "I assumed you would be the first in line to try and take it for yourself."

"I don’t care about having that power if it means murdering you to get it," Anne replied flatly.

Ethan froze. He was a man who lived in a world of shadows, lies, and calculated betrayals, but his new eyes—the eyes that saw through the fabric of space and intent—could not be deceived. He looked deep into her sanguine pupils and realized, with a jolt of genuine shock, that she was telling the truth.

He took a step toward her, closing the distance until he could smell the faint, metallic scent of her blood-magic. "Then why?" he asked, his voice a low vibration. "Why do you protect me this much? At the end of the day, we aren’t anything to each other. I’m just a man who climbed out of the dirt, and you’re a fallen princess. Why do you care if I live or die?"

--------------------

From this moment forward, to avoid confusion regarding cultivation ranks, I will include this footer with the current established levels.

Note: These are only the ranks mentioned so far to avoid spoilers.

Body Refinement Realm

Skin Refinement / Bone Refinement / Organ Refinement

Spiritual Gathering Realm

Spiritual Perception / Spiritual Mist / Spiritual Condensation

Spiritual Core Realm

Core Solidification / Core Awakening / Spiritual Collapse (Half-step Spiritual Core)

Spiritual Soul Realm

Spiritual Soul Awakening / [Locked] / [Locked]