Though the Demon Emperor had been erased, remnants of his horde still drifted through the void, scattered, confused, and directionless.
Those who slipped past the frenzy of the final devouring and the aftermath of Adrian's battle didn't survive long. The combined might of the empires swept across the frontier, hunting down every loose fragment of demonic essence. Formations that had been designed to hold defensive lines pivoted outward, chasing remnants into the deep void. Warriors who had spent months preparing for a siege instead found themselves mopping up stragglers.
Within weeks, the scouring operations concluded.
Soon, the last traces of the Demon Empire vanished from the galaxy.
The Edge sectors once ruled by the Demon Empire were seized and secured. Alice's fleets moved first, establishing anchors in key locations whilst Zerathul's warriors fortified the boundaries. For the first time in recorded history, the galaxy, long split in half, belonged fully to the empires.
Lysandra stood beside Adrian one day, staring at updated star charts. The demon sector, once marked in ominous crimson, now displayed neutral grey.
"Strange, isn't it?" she murmured.
Adrian glanced at her.
"Seeing it empty," she continued, "My entire life, that half of the galaxy was forbidden. Now it's just… space."
And with that, the Milky Way exhaled for the first time in countless eras.
Across ruined sectors, reconstruction began. Overgrown, demon-infested planets were reclaimed, sterilized, terraformed, and prepared to house the expanding population. Worlds long separated by fear were finally reconnected. Frontiers once considered hopeless were reintegrated into the galactic grid.
Adrian approved terraforming proposals from his office aboard the Origin Construct, reviewing planetary surveys that showed former demon worlds slowly turning green under the influence of life essence formations. Refugees who had fled generations ago began returning, their ships carrying descendants who had never seen their ancestral homes.
Years rolled by, peaceful, steady, strangely gentle years.
For beings who lived millennia, a few years were the blink of an eye, but after endless war, they felt like a warm sunrise after centuries of night.
The galaxy slipped into a rare era of peace. Conflicts between small clans still flared occasionally; that was the nature of life out here, territorial disputes over resource-rich asteroids, inheritance squabbles, honour duels that got out of hand.
But there were no wars between empires, no continent-breaking sieges, no existential threats hovering above every being's life. The chaotic rhythm of the galaxy slowed into something survivable.
Countless clans kept voluntarily migrating into the Origin Empire's territory, drawn by its reputation as the one place where peace truly existed. The technological renaissance fueled by Origin Ink only amplified that momentum.
Starships once limited by essence crystals now soared using pure mana. Artificial environments, planetary shields, and even interstellar entertainment networks bloomed like constellations igniting. Adrian received daily reports of innovations he hadn't anticipated, mana-powered agriculture that could feed billions, medical formations that healed injuries once considered permanent, transportation networks that connected worlds in hours instead of weeks.
And throughout all this, the Origin Empire flourished.
The Origin Empire grew, star systems upon star systems, a mosaic stitched from beings who had once scattered across the galaxy in fear. What began as seventy worlds expanded to three hundred, then five hundred, then beyond counting as entire sectors requested integration. Varik worked tirelessly to manage the influx, establishing administrative divisions and training local governance structures.
And finally, for the first time since stepping into the galaxy… Adrian lived.
Not fought, not ran toward disaster or away from annihilation, he lived.
Life… finally became gentle.
...
For the humans of Earth, this was the first time they truly lived.
From birth, every human had known only struggle. Children trained before they could fully speak. Youths saw blood before they saw dreams. Adults carried the weight of survival every minute. The concept of relaxation, of wasting time on frivolous pursuits, had been alien.
But now, the danger was gone.
And Earth, once a desperate bastion of humanity, became the beating heart of the Origin Empire.
Adrian returned to Earth with his parents, moving back into the Blackwood mansion. It stood proudly atop what had now become the central city of Earth, a city woven with galactic infrastructure, shimmering roads, floating platforms, and skyscrapers crowned with mana formations. The old academy district had transformed into a cultural centre where beings from across the galaxy mingled with humans, trading stories and techniques in marketplaces that never slept.
The core members followed suit, establishing their own homes nearby. Within months, the quiet neighborhood of Earth became the residence of some of the strongest beings the galaxy had ever known, trying to act like normal people.
Adrian embraced the peace more than anyone expected.
Adrian would spend entire afternoons sprawled on a couch with Leo, his childhood friend, controllers in hand, engaged in games the revival of Earth's entertainment industry had resurrected.
"Bro, you can't just erase my character when you lose!" Leo complained one day, throwing his hands up as his avatar dissolved into pixels.
Adrian raised a brow, "I didn't erase him. You walked into the portal of doom."
"That only appeared because you got mad!"
Adrian paused, considering, "That… might be true."
Leo stared at him.
"I'll try not to accidentally manifest portals when I'm losing," Adrian offered.
"You're supposed to say you won't, not that you'll try."
Laughter replaced war cries, friendly insults replaced battlefield screams. The galaxy felt distant, the universe even more so.
Adrian also spent time with his parents, cooking with his mother, though she always insisted he stop stirring things, and helping his father manage Earth's revitalized industries. And the normal food was not truly needed for cultivators like them; it was just that they were trying to live like a normal human, and eating just so they could.
"Adrian, the vegetables don't need spatial acceleration," Elara said without looking up from the cutting board.
"I'm just trying to help."
"You turned the broth into a singularity last week."
"That was an accident."
Thomas laughed from the doorway, leaning against the frame, "At least he's trying. Remember when he accidentally compressed an entire warehouse of mana crystals because he got distracted?"
"That was one time," Adrian protested.
Apart from his normal life, Adrian still managed the Origin Empire; he was the Emperor after all, but compared to the endless storms he had weathered, the work felt light. Morning briefings with Varik, afternoon reviews of expansion proposals, evening consultations with the other rulers via the Origin Net. Important, certainly, but no longer life-or-death decisions made in the span of heartbeats.
...
The other core members also rediscovered life.
Max slept more than any human alive, declaring that "sleeping is a luxury item" and refusing to be convinced otherwise. He'd constructed an elaborate hammock network in his residence, each one inscribed with comfort formations.
"You've been asleep for three days," Ilyas pointed out during a visit.
"And I'll sleep three more," Max replied without opening his eyes, "I earned this."
...
Draven developed a dramatic habit of lounging on rooftops, contemplating clouds he could destroy with a flick of his finger. Adrian found him there one evening, stretched across the tiles like a cat.
"Profound thoughts?" Adrian asked.
"Wondering if I could carve my name into that one," Draven gestured at a cumulus formation, "without anyone noticing."
"Please don't."
"You're no fun!"
...
Elliot became obsessed with Earth's films and spent entire days marathoning ancient classics. His residence transformed into a theatre, complete with formations that enhanced audio and created immersive environments.
"You need to watch this," Elliot insisted when Adrian visited, "Pre-awakening action films. They had no idea what real combat looked like, and it's hilarious."
...
Kai played competitive games and terrified the entire player base with impossible reaction speeds. Forums exploded with accusations of cheating until moderators confirmed his account was legitimate.
"Stop making people cry," Seraphina told him after another tournament victory.
"I'm going easy on them," Kai protested.
"You won in four seconds."
"That was going easy."
...
Thomas tried gardening, somehow leveling entire fields by accident until he learned to restrain his strength. Elara found him one afternoon staring at a crater where a vegetable patch used to be.
"What happened?"
"I… sneezed."
...
Not just the core members, but even many cultivators started to rediscover their lives and took a break from cultivation entirely. They were doing it because, for the first time, they could.