The Cerberus Void-Dragon unleashed its ultimate.

[Annihilation Mechanic Triggered: Void-Blight Seed]

It wasn’t an explosion of fire or concussive force.

It was a completely silent and rapidly expanding pulse of pure and concentrated dark matter.

The pulse washed outward in a perfect sphere. It covered the entire sky above Outpost 404 in a fraction of a second.

It didn’t physically damage the buildings or the players on the ground.

But it hit the Guardians.

The Blade-Saint was caught mid-swing.

The dark matter pulse washed over him.

The brilliant and radiant light of his celestial greatsword instantly flickered and died. It turned back into a heavily rusted and chipped piece of junk.

The glowing white light in his eyes vanished entirely.

Lady Vespera was mid-teleport.

The pulse caught her. It completely severed her connection to the localized magical grid.

Her massive wings of phoenix-fire extinguished instantly. They turned to gray ash that scattered in the wind.

[Status Update: Blade-Saint (Suppressed)]

[Status Update: Lady Vespera (Suppressed)]

The system interface updated violently. It displayed the horrific debuff that the pulse had applied.

[Debuff: Void-Blight Seed]

[Effect: Permanently halves Maximum HP. Completely strips all cosmic defenses and elemental immunities. Disables flight parameters. Duration: Permanent.]

The two god-tier Guardians were instantly reduced to mortals.

Gravity claimed them.

Without their wings or celestial energy, the Blade-Saint and Vespera plummeted from the sky.

They fell hundreds of feet and were completely helpless. They crashed directly into the center of the Outpost 404 merchant district.

The impact shattered the cobblestone streets. Two massive craters formed where they landed.

The Cerberus Void-Dragon let out a victorious and deafening roar.

It slowly unfolded its massive wings and circled lazily over the Outpost.

The executioners were dead. The node was defenseless.

The panic that had momentarily subsided returned with absolute and crushing finality.

"The NPCs are down!" a player screamed from the Outpost gates. "We are dead! The server is wiping!"

Players stopped fighting the horde. Weapons hit the dirt.

Dozens of people simply dropped to their knees. They were completely paralyzed by the realization that they were going to die in a game.

Their VR capsules back home were going to execute them.

Silas stood on his balcony. He stared at the sky in absolute horror.

He had spent millions of credits building his empire. It was about to be deleted on day one.

Up on the rocky ridge, Casanova peeked out from behind the boulder.

"Boss," Casanova whispered. His voice trembled. "It is over. The guardians are dead."

Dante looked down at the two smoking craters in the center of the Outpost.

He checked the system interface. The red text of the Void-Blight Seed debuff was still hovering in his vision.

"They are not dead," Dante said. His voice was terrifyingly calm. "The debuff did not kill them. It halved their maximum health and stripped their immunities."

"They fell from the sky!" Casanova argued and pointed at the craters. "They have to be at one percent HP! And their healing is disabled."

Dante didn’t answer. He turned away from the Outpost and looked at his left shoulder.

A tiny and silver flash of light popped into existence.

Aura materialized.

The little Doom Harbinger floated happily in the air. She was completely unbothered by the Annihilation-Tier dragon currently preparing to wipe the server.

"Aura," Dante said.

The tiny fox tilted her head and let out a soft chime.

"The system says their healing is disabled," Dante said and pointed down at the two craters. "The debuff is absolute."

Aura let out a slightly louder and almost indignant chime.

She puffed out her glowing chest. Her three starlight tails flicked arrogantly.

Dante smiled. It was a cold and predatory smile.

"I completely agree," Dante said. "You are not part of the standard system."

Dante didn’t try to hide his identity anymore. He didn’t care about the leaderboards or Vanguard’s Legacy.

The server was wiping. He needed the Guardians back in the sky so he could finish the job.

He stepped up to the absolute edge of the rocky ridge. He made sure he was perfectly visible to the entire Outpost below.

He activated the Zenith-tier mobility skill.

[Skill Executed: Meteor Stride]

He vanished in a blinding flash of white light.

He didn’t teleport into the Outpost. He teleported directly into the air above the Outpost.

He materialized fifty feet above the center plaza and was completely exposed.

A massive and blazing trail of superheated plasma cut a brilliant and burning line through the violet sky.

It immediately drew the attention of every single terrified player on the ground.

"Look!" someone screamed and pointed up.

Dante didn’t fall.

He activated [Blink Step] rapidly. He chained the short-range teleports to arrest his momentum and hover in place directly over the two smoking craters.

The [Sun-Forged Cuirass] gleamed brightly.

Silas stood on his balcony. He looked up at the figure in the sky.

The eyes of the Guild Master widened in absolute shock.

He recognized the customized and asymmetrical combat stance instantly.

"Vanguard," Silas whispered. His knees actually buckled.

Dante ignored the crowd. He looked down at the two broken Guardians lying in the rubble.

He didn’t use a healing potion. He didn’t cast a spell.

He just pointed his finger down.

Aura zipped down from his shoulder. She moved like a tiny shooting star.

She stopped directly between the two craters.

"Heal them," Dante commanded.

Aura let out a massive and resonant chime that echoed across the entire Outpost. It completely drowned out the roars of the Void-Dragon above.

[Skill Activated: Resurgence Wave]

She didn’t cast a standard healing spell. She cast her innate and percentage-based absolute restore.

A blinding burst of highly concentrated Aether erupted from the tiny fox.

It washed outward in a massive silver wave. It completely engulfed the Blade-Saint and Lady Vespera.

The math of the skill completely ignored the ’healing disabled’ parameter of the Annihilation debuff.

Because [Resurgence Wave] didn’t heal flat numbers, it restored exactly 50% of the maximum HP of the target.

For two god-tier Guardians, 50% of their maximum health pool was a number so large the system interface actually glitched out trying to display it.

Billions of health points were instantly and forcibly shoved back into their digital bodies.

[Resurgence Wave applied.]

[Target HP restored.]

But Aura wasn’t finished.

She pulsed a second time.

[Skill Activated: Harbinger’s Grace]

The twenty-foot aura of pure starlight expanded. It washed over the two Guardians.

The absolute and permanent [Void-Blight Seed] debuff that the Annihilation-Tier dragon had just cast met the passive cleanse of a Grade 7 Doom Harbinger.

It was the ultimate wipe-mechanic curse designed to permanently cripple the defenders.

The debuff didn’t stand a chance.

The red curse icons hovering over the Guardians violently shattered like cheap glass.

[Void-Blight Seed Cleansed.]

Down in the crater, the eyes of the Blade-Saint snapped open.

The glowing white light returned instantly.

He gripped the hilt of his rusted sword. The blade exploded back into a flawless and radiant celestial greatsword.

In the other crater, Lady Vespera stood up.

She let out a laugh that sounded like cracking ice.

The massive and burning wings of phoenix-fire erupted from her back. They were larger and more violent than before.

The two Guardians shot out of the craters. They launched themselves back into the sky.

They were completely restored and entirely immune to the ultimate mechanic of the dragon.

Dante hovered in the air and watched them go.

He didn’t smile.

He just opened his inventory and equipped the [Execute] skillbook he had looted from the Broodmother.

It was time to kill a Calamity.