Vought International Building, top floor, CEO's office.
The heavy alloy door, like tin foil crumpled by an invisible giant hand, exploded inward and scattered with a grating metallic shriek!
Mark Grayson stepped in, walking over the scattered Sui Xie (Debris), covered in blood, his molten gold eyes like two cold stars sweeping over the luxurious but fear-filled office.
Inside the office, all security personnel had long since collapsed to the ground, either unconscious or cowering in corners, trembling, their weapons discarded, unable to muster any thought of resistance.
This man had fought his way up from the plaza, instantly crushing all who tried to stop him; he wasn't human at all, he was a natural disaster!
Cecil sat behind his expensive desk, his body stiff as a marble statue.
He tried to maintain the dignity of a controller, but his pale face, violently trembling fingertips, and the cold sweat constantly seeping from his forehead and running down his cheeks, completely betrayed his inner terror.
He could even feel waves of uncontrollable spasms in his bladder, only barely holding on with immense willpower.
He stared intently at Mark Grayson, his brain working furiously, guessing at his intentions.
Was he here for the experimental subject in the basement?
Or was he an ultimate weapon sent by a competitor?
No matter which, he was finished.
Mark Grayson's gaze fell on Cecil's face.
This face was eighty to ninety percent similar to the Cecil in his memory, the GDA director who was both a mentor and a friend, who had tirelessly worked to protect Earth, but the greed, ambition, and now undisguised fear in his eyes filled Mark Grayson with a strong sense of disgust and a fleeting touch of pity.
He didn't kill him.
For such people, death is sometimes too cheap.
The real punishment was to make him watch everything he had painstakingly built turn to dust, to let him be judged by the ants he had despised and enslaved.
Mark Grayson walked to the desk, and the solid wood surface, strong enough to withstand rocket fire, silently cracked into countless fine lines as he approached.
He pulled over an equally expensive-looking chair and sat opposite Cecil, his movements as calm as if he were conducting a regular business meeting.
"I only have one question."
Mark Grayson's voice was low, devoid of emotion, yet it held a pressure that seemed to solidify the air.
"Have you ever seen someone who looks like me?"
Cecil's heart nearly leaped out of his chest.
He knew!
He was indeed here for that experimental subject!
Intense fear instantly gripped him, worse than death.
He remembered the yellow-robed entity hidden behind the secret room and its warning about the consequences of revealing its secrets, something more terrifying than being obliterated in body and soul.
"I… I don't know what you're talking about!"
Cecil forced himself to speak, his voice dry and hoarse.
"There are many similar people in the world… perhaps…"
Crack!
A crisp sound of bone breaking interrupted him.
Cecil didn't even see Mark Grayson's movement; he only felt an indescribable sharp pain in his right index finger, which was now bent at a grotesque angle against the back of his hand.
"Ah—!" He couldn't help but let out a short, sharp scream, and cold sweat instantly drenched his shirt.
"Your heartbeat tells me you're lying."
Mark Grayson's tone remained flat, as if he had merely snapped a dry twig.
"You… you can't… kill me… Vought…"
Cecil trembled all over from the pain, his words incoherent.
Crack!
Another finger was broken, the middle finger.
Cecil's eyes bulged, and he made gasping sounds in his throat, almost fainting, but some immense fear forcibly kept him conscious.
"I'll tell… I'll tell…"
Tears and snot streamed down his face, his mind on the verge of collapse.
Just as his mental defenses were about to completely crumble, and he was about to reveal the secret.
"Mark Grayson."
The ancient, cold voice of the Titan Clan rang directly in his mind, with a rare hint of urgency.
"Found it! Three hundred meters underground, high-intensity energy-shielded containment unit, life signs extremely weak, and… powerful anomalous spatial fluctuations detected!"
"It's their aura, a Great Old Ones, nearby!"
Mark Grayson suddenly stood up, his molten gold pupils contracting sharply.
Found it! And… there really is one!
He no longer looked at Cecil, who was slumped in the chair, incontinent from pain and fear, but cast his gaze downward.
The next moment, he stomped his foot!
Boom!!!
The entire top-floor office's floor collapsed with a roar; reinforced concrete, alloy frameworks, and various wiring and pipes shattered like paper.
Mark Grayson, like a falling meteor, plunged directly into the depths of the earth with an unstoppable momentum.
As he went, he reached out and grabbed the screaming Cecil by the collar, dragging him into the abyss he had created, like carrying a bag of trash.
After crashing through dozens of reinforced floors and various secret laboratories, the space suddenly opened up!
It was a huge, cold, underground space filled with various precise and cruel instruments, the air permeated with a mixed smell of disinfectant and blood.
And in the center of the space, a person was confined in a cylindrical container made of special reinforced glass and an energy field.
He was emaciated, skin and bones, curled up at the bottom of the cold container like an abandoned cub, dozens of tubes inserted into his shriveled body, constantly drawing blood and vital substances.
His hair was dry and yellow, his eyes hollow and vacant, his face showing only numbness and faint pain.
But his face… bore a striking resemblance to Mark Grayson's!
Seeing himself from Universe 1 tortured into such an inhuman state, an indescribable emotion, a mix of towering rage and deep sorrow, instantly overwhelmed Mark Grayson.
Almost at the same time.
In an auxiliary secret room in the underground space, the previously obscure runes on the wall suddenly glowed with a dim light.
A figure in an old, dark yellow robe stood silently there, its hood pulled low, as if it had been there for eons.
It seemed to tilt its head slightly, looking in a certain direction.
Hum—!
The space beside it rippled like water, and three blurry but terrifyingly powerful humanoid figures suddenly appeared.
The Titan Avatar had descended!
"Ancient defilement…"
The leading Titan Avatar emitted a cold mental wave.
The yellow-robed figure seemed unsurprised; a deep, hoarse voice, as if from a deep-sea vortex, echoed in the secret room.
"…Titan… projecting Avatars from such a vast distance, aren't you afraid of shaking your foundations? Perhaps… we can talk… about these worlds…"
"Negotiate? With you old parasites?"
The Titan's response was undisguised disgust and killing intent.
"Only purification is the right path!"
Without any warning, a destructive attack erupted instantly!
It was not an energy beam, but a more fundamental clash of forces; space itself wailed, twisted, and compressed, as the Titan Clan attempted to crush the Lord of the Yellow Robe's Avatar directly with spatial power.
The yellow-robed figure moved; it merely raised a non-human limb hidden beneath its robe and gently pointed.
Bang!!!
An indescribable colossal roar erupted from deep underground.
The entire Vought International Building, starting from its foundations, heaved upwards as if filled with billions of tons of explosives, then, under an unimaginable colossal force, exploded and disintegrated with a thunderous roar!
Countless reinforced concrete, metal components, and human remains were flung thousands of meters into the sky, and a mushroom cloud, mixed with dust and destructive flames, slowly rose.
Just an instant before the massive explosion, Mark Grayson, holding the emaciated Mark Grayson from Universe 1 and dragging Cecil, burst out of the ground at a speed surpassing the explosion's shockwave, appearing as if by teleportation on a distant street crowded with terrified and angry citizens.
He threw the nearly insane Cecil, who was scared out of his wits, like a dead dog in front of the crowd.
"He's yours."
Mark Grayson's voice was not loud, yet it clearly cut through all the chaos and clamor.
The crowd paused for a second, then, years of accumulated resentment, anger, and pain erupted like a volcano.
People screamed and cried, surging like a tide towards the ruler who had once been so high above them!
Cecil let out a desperate shriek, instantly swallowed by the human wave; in his last moments, he would witness his constructed kingdom turn to ruins and flames before his eyes.
Mark Grayson didn't spare another glance.
He gently held the frail other version of himself in his arms and looked up at the sky.
High in the sky, the smoke and dust from the explosion were forcefully dispersed by an even more powerful force, and four figures hovered in the air, confronting each other from a distance.
The space around the three Titan Avatars was severely distorted, clearly indicating they had suffered greatly in the instant clash.
Meanwhile, the figure in the yellow robe still stood silently, its robe sleeves seemingly undamaged.
"...Weak."
The Lord of the Yellow Robe's voice carried a hint of mockery, echoing directly in the void.
"Is this what you so-called new gods are?"
The next moment, it moved, its speed surpassing physical limits, and it punched the leading Titan Avatar.
The Titan Avatar crossed its arms to block!
Boom!!!!
Like two small planets colliding.
A terrifying spherical shockwave spread out, and large sections of the city's buildings below were instantly pulverized as if wiped away by an invisible giant hand.
The shockwave even reached the coastline thousands of kilometers away, raising a hundred-meter-high destructive tsunami!
Mark Grayson's pupils contracted. He carefully protected his other self, who was in his arms, with a bio-force field behind a relatively intact building ruin, then shot into the sky like a cannonball, punching the Lord of the Yellow Robe's flank.
The Lord of the Yellow Robe seemed slightly surprised, and its other inhuman limb slapped back.
Boom!!!!
Fists collided!
The sound of this explosion was even more terrifying!
At the point where their fists met, space visibly collapsed and fractured, revealing the chaotic, colorful dimensions behind it!
The immense force made both of them retreat simultaneously, their feet treading on air. Each step caused the ground below to tremble violently, and the tectonic plates groaned under the unbearable strain.
"Interfering? Mark Grayson, I thought you would be more... noble."
The Lord of the Yellow Robe's voice carried a hint of playfulness; it seemed capable of sensing emotions.
"However, two against one, you still have no chance of winning."
Mark Grayson remained silent, charging forward again.
The Titan Avatar also endured its injuries, attacking from the other side!
A true cosmic-level war erupted.
There were no dazzling energy blasts, only the most primitive, savage, and extreme collision of physical strength. Every punch and kick they threw contained enough power to shatter continents and alter the Earth's axis!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Each clash was like a billion thunderclaps exploding simultaneously.
Sound could not travel in a vacuum, but the terrifying vibrations were transmitted through space itself.
They fought from within the atmosphere to near orbit. Occasionally, a stray punch or a heavy kick would land on the planet's surface, instantly creating impact craters hundreds of kilometers in diameter, triggering global earthquakes and volcanic eruptions!
The Lord of the Yellow Robe was extremely cunning. It never left the planet's range, always keeping the battlefield within the atmosphere, using Mark Grayson's concern for the countless beings on the planet below to force him to hold back. Most of the time, he could only passively defend, and even his occasional counterattacks were restrained, making the fight extremely frustrating.
Their absolute strength might have been evenly matched, but tactically, Mark Grayson was completely at a disadvantage.
"Mark Grayson!"
The Titan Avatar's voice roared in his mind, filled with urgency.
"What are you still hesitating for?! This plane has been found, and the core is in your hand!"
"As long as this filth is expelled or destroyed, even if the planet or even the universe collapses, everything will restart, and all the dead will be resurrected. This is the optimal solution! Destruction is creation!"
Mark Grayson gritted his teeth, parrying a whip kick from the Lord of the Yellow Robe that could have shattered the moon. Looking at the ravaged land below and the tiny lives desperately fleeing the disaster, he found it difficult to make a decision.
Restart?
Easier said than done!
Who could guarantee a successful restart?
Were the feelings of these billions of beings at this moment false?!
In the instant he hesitated.
The three Titan Avatars seemed to reach a consensus. They suddenly abandoned their siege of the Lord of the Yellow Robe and instead concentrated all their power, transforming it into three invisible yet terrifying fluctuations capable of shaking the very essence of a star, and fiercely slammed them into the planet's core!
"No!!!"
Mark Grayson's eyes were splitting with rage; he wanted to stop them but it was too late.
The Lord of the Yellow Robe also paused slightly, seemingly not expecting the Titan Clan to be so decisive.
The next second.
The entire planet suddenly went still.
Then, an indescribable, extreme white light erupted from within!
The planet's oceans, mantle, crust... all matter was instantly vaporized and disintegrated by unimaginable heat and power.
The planet was like a supernova igniting, burning and expanding wildly in the dark universe!
Mark Grayson could only watch, watching the dazzling white light consume everything, watching the world beneath his feet turn into nothingness.
All he could do in the end was fully extend his bio-force field, enveloping his other self.
The light dissipated.
Cold, silent, void of space.
Where the planet once was, only sparse interstellar dust and scattered floating fragments of lava remained.
Mark Grayson, three Titan Avatars whose glow was much dimmer and forms more ethereal, and Universe 1 Mark Grayson, still unconscious and carefully protected, floated in the void.
And the figure in the yellow robe.
It also seemed to have been affected somewhat, its robe sleeves were slightly damaged, but it still exuded an unsettling aura.
"...What a...brutal solution."
The Lord of the Yellow Robe's voice seemed to carry a hint of solemnity.
It hadn't expected the Titan Clan to directly destroy the chessboard just to force Mark Grayson to go all out.
Mark Grayson slowly raised his head. In his molten-gold pupils, the last trace of hesitation and pity completely vanished, leaving only absolute cold anger and killing intent.
His home had been destroyed before his eyes again. Although it might restart, the process itself was the greatest cruelty.
"Now."
Mark Grayson's voice, for the first time, clearly echoed in the vacuum, carrying a chill that made the stars tremble.
"There are no more restrictions."
He vanished.
The next second, he appeared before the Lord of the Yellow Robe, delivering a straightforward, unadorned punch that landed squarely on its chest!
Boom!!!!
The power of this punch far exceeded the previous ones.
The Lord of the Yellow Robe's yellow robe violently billowed backward, its body let out a muffled grunt, and it flew backward uncontrollably, smashing through several floating asteroids along the way.
Mark Grayson followed like a shadow, instantly catching up, and slammed another punch towards its face!
The Lord of the Yellow Robe blocked with its arm!
Boom!!
The terrifying force transmitted through its arm startled it. Mark Grayson, freed from the planet's constraints, could finally unleash his full power.
Every one of his punches condensed the power to shatter stars, moving faster than light, landing with bone-jarring impact, and emitting dull roars like colliding stars!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The two furiously attacked each other in the void of space. Each collision erupted with an invisible shockwave powerful enough to illuminate a galaxy, stirring the surrounding space-time fabric.
The Lord of the Yellow Robe began to be suppressed. Its inhuman limbs were cracked, its robe sleeves torn, revealing its indescribable, bizarre true form beneath.
It tried to create distance, to employ more insidious methods, but Mark Grayson gave it no chance, pressing his attack in close quarters, pushing pure violence to its extreme!
Finally, after a heavy exchange of blows, the Lord of the Yellow Robe used the force to rapidly retreat, its form appearing somewhat unstable.
"...Boring."
Its voice carried a hint of imperceptible breathlessness and annoyance.
"So many interesting universes... Mark Grayson, we'll play... next time."
Before its words finished, the space behind it suddenly tore open into a rift filled with mad colors and whispers. It plunged into it without hesitation, and the rift instantly closed as if it had never appeared.
The universe returned to silence once more.
Only Mark Grayson remained hovering in place, his clenched fists slowly relaxing, his chest rising and falling slightly.
The three Titan Avatars floated over, their glow extremely dim.
"...It escaped. But it is injured..."
The Titan Clan's voice carried weakness and unwillingness.
Mark Grayson did not respond. He turned and looked at the empty starfield, where once a planet, though distorted, had still harbored countless lives.
He would wait for the restart.
But he didn't know if he could truly forgive the Titan Clan's decisiveness today, and... his own hesitation in that moment.
And a more serious threat from the Great Old Ones had already descended upon multiple universes.
----------------------------------------
If you'd like to follow the story earlier than the public release, come join my Patreon:
👉 patreon.com/TripleCrown07
There, you can read up to 40 chapters in advance, enjoy exclusive content, and help support me to keep releasing chapters more regularly.
Thank you so much for your support and for being part of this journey! ❤️