Building My SSS-Rank Universal Empire: From Trash to Cosmic Overlord-Chapter 203: Dead?

The Flagbearers found them later, Tiber and Slya. They found them unconscious, surrounded by ashes and monster bodies in the hundreds.

When Steelclaw attacked them, he didn’t kill them because Takoda was able to use his crown to boost himself and get out of the place, carrying Pomora with him. They were heavily wounded but not dead.

Steelclaw did not chase them because they were effectively out of the fight, and more importantly, he was after Vale. Besides, he could take care of them later when he was done with the matters of the Rift.

"Are they dead?" Takoda asked. He was limping, and part of his chest seemed to have been burned away, the flesh squirming as it healed.

Pomora shook her head. "No. They’re still breathing."

They stared around them silently. The Rift was not dead, but it was dying for all they could see and feel. And besides themselves and the two unconscious on the ground, they couldn’t sense any other people in the vicinity.

"What do you think happened here?" Takoda asked, his heart beating fast. They had heard a series of explosions that seemed to go on and on. At some point, everything had turned gray before it was overtaken by reddish light and the Crimson Moon.

Takoda’s body had healed the fastest then. It was as if the Crimson Lord had awoken and personally stepped foot into the Rift.

’.... what exactly went down there...’

As if thinking the same thing, they looked toward where the palace should be, but it was as if it had been personally plucked from the ground.

Pomora shook her head, her face tight. She was using all her power to fight Bloodrust, the artifact that Steelclaw had used on her. With her control over water, she had been able to slow her blood flow, making it difficult for the small spear to reach her heart.

"I don’t know. Things were worse than we thought, but it looks like the Rift was cleared after all," she said, but she didn’t sound particularly victorious about it.

Steelclaw’s betrayal had stung, but not as much, because they were never really close to the man.

Tense silence followed as they placed Tiber and Slya on a platform of rock that floated alongside them as they walked cautiously toward where the palace had been.

Both of them were avoiding the question hovering in their minds.

Finally, Pomora took a deep breath. "What happened to the Commander?"

Takoda shook his head. "Something must have gone down there, something strange and powerful. Did you see the gray world and Crimson Moon earlier? He must be involved."

They said nothing else as they continued toward the space previously occupied by the palace. They saw the monsters littering the ground, heaps of them. Takoda had to shift the stones beneath them to create space for them.

But what surprised them wasn’t the monsters, they knew armies of them had overrun the city and the smaller towns, it was the fact that all of them were now undead creatures.

"They weren’t like this when we saw them," Pomora muttered. She pointed to one monster. It was made entirely of crystals, but those crystals were now black and dull, tainted with the essence of undeath.

"A Necro Knight?" Takoda said, referring to the Dark Order Knights who used necromancy essence.

"Maybe, but I’ve never heard of one this powerful. Not here in the Hinterlands, at least. Do you see the number of undead monsters here? And not all of them are weak. We’ve seen Riftborn Titans.

"No. I think something strange happened here. Even Vorgaelor couldn’t wield this much power,"she said.

Takoda grunted and didn’t point out that another kind of power was also present, the red moon.

The heaps of monsters ended, and now the path ahead was filled with ashes on a ground that had turned to igneous rock.

Massive craters and cracks lined the way. The palace was gone, and in its stead was a hollowed pit. It looked as if the ground had been dug out and scooped away by an inhuman giant hand.

But the inside of the pit was black, rough, and shiny, melted and solidified.

They paused and studied it. They didn’t say anything, just watching the aftermath of the destruction in silence.

Suddenly, the two of them were glad they had not been there to witness it.

To cross the pit, Takoda made a bigger stone platform so three of them could fit as they flew over. The pit was bigger than they expected, ending in darkness as if something massive had dug a tunnel downward.

They crossed to the other side, where they saw more ashes. And in the middle of it all stood an isolated wall, with the image of a head covered in a cloak.

And in front of the wall, an altar stood, cracked and broken, but still standing.

Takoda and Pomora stiffened because they felt signs of life apart from themselves.

Between the wall and the altar was Vale. He was curled between the split body of Vorgaelor, his eyes closed. He was breathing evenly, but his face was pulled together in a frown.

"What’s going on here?" Pomora said. She limped closer, warily looking around, and then, with a slight frown, crouched.

"He’s still alive. The two of them," she called.

Immediately, Takoda made a stone rip free from the ground and shaped it into a spike, bringing it over. "Vorgaelor is still alive? Let’s....."

"No!" Pomora said sharply. She pointed. "Watch closely. Watch the flow of essence. Vorgaelor is dying, and Vale...." 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

"....He’s trying to advance," Takoda said in horror. He remembered the question Vale had asked him a while ago about how a Knight advances to an Errant Knight, but he never thought he would attempt it using a monster like the Rift Lord.

"The Rift Lord is more powerful than a Master Knight. He won’t be able to absorb the core," he said and moved closer to Vale, but he didn’t touch him for fear of triggering something.

Then he frowned and looked at Pomora. "The Rift Lord is dead, but Vale remains unharmed."

Pomora sighed and leaned back against the altar. "I can’t wait to hear about what happened here."