The Vice-Captain didn’t stop at breaking Ethan’s body. From a black wooden chest, he withdrew a jagged piece of dark, cursed metal: the Iron Mask of Suppression. It was an artifact designed for the most dangerous criminals of the higher realms, those above the Spiritual Core stage.

Without a word, he slammed the mask onto Ethan’s face.

Internal spikes, thin as needles and coated in a paralyzing, spirit-sealing venom, drove deep into Ethan’s flesh. They pierced strategic acupuncture points, not only causing excruciating pain but severing his connection to the world. His sight, his hearing, and his spiritual perception were plunged into a void of absolute sensory deprivation and agony.

The disciples watched, expecting at least a whimper, a twitch of agony. But the man beneath the iron remained a statue. Ethan’s jaw was locked, his mind retreating into a cold, dark corner of his soul where the Lightning Seed lay hidden. Even through the poison and the needles, he didn’t give them a single sound.

"Is he even alive?" one disciple whispered, disturbed by the silence.

"He’s alive," the Vice-Captain spat, wiping blood from his knuckles. "He’s just too stubborn to die."

Elder Xuan Ni landed near the wreckage of the Invictus, his gaze sweeping over the charred remains of his ambition. "It is finished. Open Sky, report. We need to leave this cursed rock immediately. The ’vultures’ of the neighboring sects will smell the blood and the spatial disturbance soon. We cannot be here when they arrive."

Venerable Open Sky looked up from a glowing array of runes at the ship’s base, his face weary. "The Invictus has suffered catastrophic structural failure, Elder. The lightning strike from that... thing... nearly split the keel. I need at least three days for minimal repairs to ensure we don’t disintegrate in the void."

"We don’t have three days!" Xuan Ni roared, his aura flaring. "We leave today. Do whatever you have to do. Burn the secondary cores, sacrifice the lower-grade spirit stones—anything!"

Open Sky sighed, his eyes reflecting the flickering fires. "Fine, Old Xuan. But you owe me a massive favor for this. I’ll have her airworthy in six hours, but she’ll be screaming the whole way home."

Xuan Ni turned his back on the scientist and looked out over the horizon of the world he had just broken. A cold, genocidal light entered his eyes. He had lost too much to leave anything behind.

"Vice-Captain," Xuan Ni commanded, his voice cold as a winter grave. "Order the remaining escort vessels to launch. I want this continent purged. Not a single blade of grass, not a single breathing soul is to be left behind. Erase this place from history."

The 500-meter ships, which had been docked within the Invictus for protection, swarmed out like locusts. For twenty-four hours, the sky didn’t turn blue or violet—it turned the color of blood.

Fire rained from the heavens in a systematic, heartless grid. Cities that had survived the initial domes and the tsunamis were turned into glowing ash. Forests were vaporized. The 99.9% of the population that hadn’t made it to Ethan’s portal were liquidated in a day of fire. Only the luckiest of the lucky, buried deep in concrete bunkers or mountain caves, remained to witness the end of their world.

High above the slaughter, suspended in a gravity cage within the Invictus, the man in the iron mask felt the vibrations of the world’s death through the floorboards.

I’m coming back, Ethan thought through the haze of poison. I will burn your world just like you burned mine.

On the other side of the spatial rift, the air was still and smelled of ancient pine and damp earth. The massive landing platform at the base of a colossal, jagged mountain was a scene of despair.

Lena, her face pale and her eyes burning with a mixture of fear and fury, marched toward Jason. Behind her, Cassandra and the other women of Ethan’s inner circle followed, their presence a suffocating weight.

"Why?" Lena demanded, her voice trembling. "Why did you close it, Jason? He was still there! We could have waited! We could have fought!"

Jason stood his ground, though his hands were shaking as he gripped the detonator casing. "He gave the order, Lena. If Ethan told me to burn that bridge, it’s because something was coming through that would have killed every one of us. I didn’t have a choice. I follow the King."

The atmosphere turned somber, a heavy shroud of grief and uncertainty settling over the 100,000 survivors. They were in a new world, a place of towering peaks and gravity that made their bones ache, and their leader was gone. Worse, the central servers for Crul had been left behind in the chaos of the Citadel; they were effectively blind and leaderless.

Suddenly, every soldier’s wrist-link and every civilian’s handheld device chimed in a synchronized, haunting melody.

[Genesis Code: Activated]

Text began to scroll across their screens, assigning specific coordinates and labor tasks to every individual. It was a logistical miracle, but it was impossible—there was no network here.

In the center of the clearing, the silver probe that had served as the first "Ave Maria" began to pulse with a steady, rhythmic blue light. Small LED panels flickered to life on its surface, and a speaker crackled.

"Master Ethan is currently offline," a voice spoke. It was Crul’s voice, but it lacked the usual depth, sounding more like a cold, streamlined playback. "However, I am a semi-independent Survival Unit. My current mission is to prevent the destruction of this group. Pre-loaded contingency plans will remain in effect without delay."

"Crul?" Lena rushed forward, falling to her knees beside the probe. "Is that you? Tell us—where is he? What happened to Ethan?"

"I apologize, Miss Lena," the unit responded flatly. "I am an isolated sub-routine. I have no link to the primary server or the Master’s neural imprint. But hear me: My existence is tied to the Master’s vital spark. If I am still active, it means Master Ethan is alive. You may have complete certainty in that fact."

A collective sigh of relief rippled through the camp, though Jason remained wary. He knew how close the "Invictus" had been.

"You heard the machine!" Jason roared, his voice booming across the mountainside to rally the dazed survivors. "The Boss is alive, and he’s counting on us to have a kingdom ready for him when he finds his way back! We are at the base of this mountain—our new home starts here!"

The silence of the wilderness was replaced by the sounds of industry. Under the direction of the Genesis Code, the first camp began to take shape. Soldiers used their thermal blades to clear the dense, alien brush, while engineers deployed portable shelters.

Groups were sent to scout for water, while others set up defensive perimeters with the remaining heavy weaponry. The 100,000 weren’t just refugees; they were a well-oiled machine, built by a man who had planned for the end of the world. Even in his absence, Ethan’s ghost was everywhere—in the protocols they followed, the coffee they brewed, and the grim determination in their eyes.

They worked until their hands bled, looking up at the strange stars of this new sky, waiting for the day the King of the Void would fall from them once again.

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

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 / Soul Nourishing / Soul-Core Fusion

Golden Core Realm

Prime Fusion / Core Perfection / Core Destruction

Spiritual Sea Realm

Stage 1 ?? / Stage 2 ?? / Stage 3 ??

Dao Manifestation Realm

Stage 1 ?? / Stage 2 ?? / Stage 3 ??

Spiritual Transcendence

Stage 1 ?? / Stage 2 ?? / Stage 3 ??