Calus furrowed his brows.

Who was that?

Earlier, no one had been at the grave, yet now an unknown voice lingered nearby. Judging by the distance… it was close.

Too close for comfort.

This being was powerful.

Calus became wary as he turned around. A man stood before him, dressed entirely in dark clothing with a hood. His lower facial features were barely visible.

"Who are you?" Calus asked, already beginning to mobilize his power.

"Does it even matter?"

Just as he spoke, the figure seemed to disappear. Calus' body shook as he instantly turned to his right.

There the man was again, only a few meters away.

The man slowly walked forward and spoke.

"Knowing who I am… not knowing who I am…"

He paused before suddenly disappearing once more, only to appear on Calus' left.

"None of that matters. What matters is that I know who you are… and what you have done."

The man vanished again.

Calus felt his heart pounding as his aura gradually began to leak out.

This small display alone made him realize the truth, this man was anything but ordinary.

Worse still…

The brief glimpse of his strength suggested that he might be just as powerful as Calus… if not more.

Finally, Calus sensed the man appear again but this time behind him.

Calus stiffly turned around.

The man's back was now facing him.

"You might not remember… but once…"

The man paused, seemingly gathering his thoughts, but the next thing that came out was only a sigh.

"The past is in the past. You turned your back on me… just like I did today."

Calus appeared shaken.

Even though the incident had happened a long time ago, it still felt fresh in his mind.

That day… that incident…

Fre's tears.

Lisa's lifeless body.

But was that what this man was referring to?

Or something else?

After all, a lot of time had passed, and Calus had offended many people.

So he couldn't be certain.

"We will meet again though… soon enough. The awakening is almost here," the man murmured before vanishing.

Instantly, Calus appeared where the man had once stood and spread out his perception.

Hundreds of kilometers were instantly covered.

Yet the man was nowhere to be found.

Calus' eyes narrowed as he frowned.

The man might be far more powerful than he had initially thought.

---

Some distance away, a man leaned against a tree as he pulled out an apple and took a bite.

Calus' perception spread across hundreds of kilometers.

Mountains.

Rivers.

Beasts.

Storm clouds.

Everything was within his senses.

Except one person.

The man leaning against a tree three steps outside his range

"You are still the same," the man muttered as he chewed the apple, a faint smile on his lips.

---

Back at the graveyard…

"Ah…"

Turning around to look at the graves, Calus' eyes suddenly widened in shock.

His body trembled as overwhelming anger consumed him.

His eyes flared as he stared at the graves that had been destroyed.

The ground had been ravaged so badly that not even a grain of sand from the graves remained. Instead, large holes stretched several meters into the earth.

And it wasn't just his parents' graves.

The entire graveyard had been destroyed.

In this world, destroying someone's parents' graves meant only one thing.

A feud that lasted until death.

Calus slowly floated into the sky as he struggled to keep his emotions under control.

He wanted to catch the hooded man and skin him alive.

He believed the man was responsible.

But a few hundred meters into the air, his expression suddenly changed.

Within seconds he had risen thousands of meters higher, and his face twisted in disbelief.

"What… is this?" Calus whispered.

His eyes were practically shooting flames at this point.

His anger had reached its absolute limit.

This was his hometown.

Yet it had been destroyed this easily.

The children he had seen earlier, full of smiles, playing happily, content with life.

The elders.

The farmers.

The entire community.

Everything was gone.

Destroyed.

Life was cruel.

Calus clenched his fists as his aura exploded outward.

For hundreds of kilometers, the ground sank.

Beasts didn't even have time to scream before turning into clouds of blood mist.

When a King Realm being becomes angry, it feels as if nature itself is enraged.

Violent winds swept across the land. Trees lost their leaves to the raging gale, and some were uprooted entirely.

Suddenly

Calus' anger subsided.

He looked down at the ground in utter shock.

He flew even higher to see everything clearly.

Then he froze.

Sweat slipped down his forehead as he swallowed hard.

Calus' breathing grew heavier as he stared at the ruins below.

Something felt... strange.

This wasn't random destruction.

His eyes narrowed.

The collapsed houses... the shattered streets... the broken walls...

They formed a pattern.

Suddenly, Calus' pupils shrank.

One word was written across the entire city

"Fre."

"You're back… and alive?" Calus muttered as his body swayed in the sky.

---

Din.

An eaten apple core fell to the ground somewhere in the distance.

"Why are you so surprised?" the hooded man said while staring toward Calus' direction.

"I guess you prayed I died all these years."

"This is only the beginning. You will lose far more… not only your parents' graves, but everything."

*****

Far away, in the distance space of existence

"Anything else?" Void asked.

Mark glanced at him and sighed.

"Your clone is already Rank 3, and you have slaves too. You already have your own army," Mark muttered.

Void laughed.

His own army?

Hadn't he had that since he became a Rank 3 being?

Actually, ever since he met Abornim, he and Mark had been traveling for dozens of years.

Not because of anything special…

But because the Fitel was simply too damn large.

Since they were his slaves, he already had a rough idea of their locations, so they wouldn't get lost.

He could have opened a portal directly to them.

But he couldn't.

Ever since that

female angel attacked him and placed that terrifying curse on him, his power had been slowly consumed.

Using a great ability like opening a portal would bring terrifying consequences.

So he had to travel the old-fashioned way.

But hearing Mark's words, Void replied.

"Sure. Actually, having your own army is the simplest thing ever."

He paused.

"But having a high-quality army… that's the difficult part."

Mark nodded.

At their level, once Rank 3 beings learned about them, many would try to serve them.

After all, having a Quasi-Rank 4 protector was one of the greatest advantages in existence.

Many weaker factions craved that protection.

But building a truly powerful army was another matter entirely.

Otherwise, they would only become followers who relied on their strength rather than warriors who could fight beside them.

This was a dilemma many powerful beings faced.

But for Void…

Well, Mark was already the same rank as him and under his command.

And as for Linkir and the others…

Void had a feeling they would surprise him.