The freezing, suffocating atmosphere of the subterranean glacier pressed down on them as they rapidly approached the boundary of the second level. Rayn completely ignored the bone-chilling temperature, his mind entirely focused on the absolute chaos waiting for them above.
"Vespera, make this old bastard invisible, immediately," Rayn commanded, his voice echoing with absolute, tyrannical authority. "We are barely a mile from the exit of this miserable fucking cave, and we have to leave as soon as possible. We need to make him completely undetectable. That backstabbing son of his, Victus, and the rest of those Sterling Town rats are going to be waiting right outside the barrier. We must ensure Victus cannot perceive a single trace of Dawinton's existence."
Vespera, her golden eyes glowing faintly in the pitch-black tunnel, nodded in immediate compliance. "Understood. Rayn, move aside. Given your proximity, the spatial distortion might accidentally render you invisible in the process."
Following her instruction, Rayn aggressively dashed ten steps backward, giving her absolute clearance. Vespera slowly stepped toward the ruined Phase 5 Town Leader. She lifted her pristine right hand and firmly pressed her palm directly against Dawinton's wrinkled cheek. Her golden eyes suddenly flared with terrifying, heaven-defying profound energy.
"Selevazi!" she shouted.
The ancient, forbidden incantation violently ripped through the cavern. Instantly, an impossibly thick, suffocating cloud of pure white, ethereal smoke erupted from Vespera's palm, completely engulfing Dawinton. For a fraction of a second, the smoke just swirled around him like a violent typhoon. Then, with a sickening, vacuum-like shhhhk, the entirety of the dense smoke violently forced its way inside Dawinton's body through his pores, mouth, and eyes.
Dawinton's eyes rolled entirely to the back of his head. He let out a horrifying, breathless gasp, his hands violently clutching his chest directly over his heart. Without another sound, the old man collapsed heavily onto the unforgiving icy floor, completely motionless. His life force seemingly vanished.
"What the actual fuck are you doing, Vespera?!" Rayn roared in absolute panic, his killing intent unintentionally flaring. He hadn't kept the old man alive just to have his own companion accidentally assassinate him.
Vespera didn't even flinch at Rayn's outburst. She calmly lowered her hand and elegantly dusted off her dress. "Do not panic, Rayn. He is simply transitioning into his invisible state."
"Transitioning?! What the fuck are you saying? The old bastard looked like he was having a massive fucking heart attack and dying!" Rayn barked, marching back over to the collapsed body.
"No, Rayn. It is just the brutal nature of my power," Vespera explained, her voice devoid of any emotion. "This spell is highly aggressive. If Victus and Matthew are waiting outside, their senses are sharp. If they suddenly feel the terrifying spiritual pressure of a surviving Phase 7 and 6 powerhouse, they are going to immediately get suspicious and flee. This specific incantation doesn't just bend light to make him visually invisible; it aggressively invades his meridians, completely sealing his profound core, his spiritual power, and his physical aura to prevent him from using them. It simulates absolute death to the outside world."
Rayn's crimson eyes narrowed as he processed the brutal efficiency of her magic. It was the perfect countermeasure against the Sterling Town cultivators. "Okay. I understand the logic. How much time is it going to take for him to completely absorb the seal? And while we are on the subject, exactly how many of these heaven-defying powers are you hiding?"
Vespera offered a rare, cryptic smirk. "One answer at a time, my Lord. It will take exactly one or two minutes for his physical vessel to fully integrate the smoke and stabilize his sealed core. As for your second question... I honestly do not know how many powers I am capable of wielding right now. My memories are still fractured from the seal. For now, what you have seen is what you get."
Rayn scoffed, though a dark, satisfied grin crept onto his face. Between his own Conqueror aura, and her ancient magic, their faction was becoming an absolute nightmare. "Good. I am incredibly fucking lucky to have a ruthless companion like you."
Exactly two minutes later, Dawinton violently gasped for air. His chest heaved as he forced himself up from the icy floor, rubbing his chest where the phantom pain of the seal still lingered.
Rayn stared directly at the old man, completely baffled. He aggressively turned to his companion. "What the fuck is this, Vespera? The spell failed. He didn't turn invisible. I can see the ugly bastard right in front of me!"
Vespera's perfect eyebrows furrowed in absolute shock. "Rayn... he is invisible. The spatial seal is perfectly active. Only the caster—myself—should be able to perceive his existence. I am only just now realizing that you can look right at him! That shouldn't be physically possible!"
Rayn froze. His mind violently spun, diving back into the fragmented memories of his time in the inner mind realm. He remembered the arrogant voice of his past-life soul, Silas.
"The Conqueror power is not something your limited brain can fully comprehend. It has an infinite number of abilities, and you haven't even unlocked one percent of its true potential. It naturally adapts to the user's absolute needs, and this power possesses its own sovereign mind, actively alerting and enhancing the user's perception to bypass worldly laws."
Rayn's crimson eyes violently flared with realization. It wasn't that Vespera's spell had failed; it was that his supreme Conqueror Dao simply refused to be blinded by any worldly illusions or spatial seals. To a true Conqueror, the absolute truth of reality could never be hidden.
If my perception can casually bypass supreme spatial seals without me even trying, Rayn thought, a deeply sinister, apocalyptic thrill washing over his soul, this power is going to be the ultimate weapon when I finally decide to butcher those arrogant Town Leaders and completely destroy this miserable country.
"Hey, you two psycho lovebirds," Dawinton's raspy voice interrupted his dark thoughts. "If you have finally figured out whether I am invisible or not, shall we get the fuck out of this freezing hellhole?"
Rayn and Vespera exchanged a dark look and let out a cold, synchronized laugh. "Okay, old man. Let's move and completely escape this domain," Rayn said.
They resumed their grueling trek through the icy abyss. As they walked, Rayn's mind shifted purely to military logistics. He needed a flawless strategy to infiltrate the country without alerting the rival domains. He had to securely transport Dawinton all the way back to Ashburg, Rayn's own sovereign territory, and have Vespera permanently alter the old man's physical disguise. Only then could Dawinton walk the streets of Ashburg as Rayn's "new ally" without the Sterling spies recognizing their former Town Leader.
Rayn abruptly stopped, holding up a hand. "Listen up. Here is the absolute plan. When we completely exit this glacier, we are heading straight for our home. Vespera, you are going to physically disguise Dawinton. We will alter his face and his aura so perfectly that even if he drinks in a tavern in the middle of our town, no one in Ashburg is going to know who he was".
Dawinton nodded grimly, accepting his new role as a ghost.
"We have to be violently quick about this," Rayn continued, his voice dripping with killing intent. "The Grand Ceremony between the domains is going to be held soon. But before we even think about marching on Sterling or attending that political circus, we have to completely butcher the coalition of bandits currently besieging Ashburg. I want every single one of those bandit fuckers slaughtered to send a message."
Dawinton and Vespera both smiled with genuine, bloodthirsty approval.
Within minutes, they reached the massive, multi-ton wall of profound rocks that Rayn had previously collapsed to trap Victus, Matthew, and Chandler on the upper level. Rayn didn't even draw his sword. He just coated his fist in a dense layer of crimson Conqueror Qi and punched the barrier with the force of a collapsing mountain.
BOOOOOOM!
The massive rock wall violently exploded outward, sending thousands of lethal stone shrapnel flying into the upper tunnel. The deafening, heaven-shaking sound immediately jolted Victus, Freddy, and Chandler awake from their meditative states. They scrambled to their feet, drawing their weapons as the dust settled.
Rayn stepped through the smoke, his aura utterly terrifying. He glared at the three cultivators. "What the fuck are you idiots still doing here? Didn't I explicitly order you to leave the area after Vespera and I entered the second level?"
Rayn's cold eyes locked onto Freddy. "Freddy. I specifically thought you were going to retreat. Yet, you are still loitering around like a useless stray dog."
Freddy nervously bowed his head. "Yes, Rayn. But I stayed behind because I knew the second level was a complete death trap. If anything catastrophic happened down there, someone had to be ready to pull you and Lady Vespera out."
Victus immediately stepped forward, trying to claim the moral high ground with a sickeningly fake smile. "How could you say that, Rayn? We are your loyal allies! We stayed right here in the freezing cold so we could fiercely protect your backs when you emerged!"
Rayn's crimson eyes scanned the group, his absolute perception immediately noticing the missing rat. He stepped aggressively into Victus's personal space. "Save the absolute bullshit, Victus. Where the fuck is Matthew?"
Victus didn't flinch, expertly maintaining his facade. "Matthew left shortly after you entered the second level. He said he had to urgently return and take care of the town. With both the Town Leader and the Vice Leader entirely absent, the surrounding rival domains would immediately sense our weakness and launch a brutal attack. He went back to reinforce the defenses."
Rayn sneered, internally calculating the absolute lies and political maneuvering happening in the shadows of Sterling and Ashburg. "Okay. Fine. Then let's go. We have already wasted too much fucking time in this grave. We need to get back and plan exactly how we are going to violently massacre the bandit coalition."
As Victus turned to lead the way, Dawinton—completely invisible to everyone except Rayn and Vespera—stepped up right behind his treacherous son. Driven by pure, spiteful parental rage, the old man aggressively raised his hand and delivered a violently hard, echoing smack directly to the back of Victus's head.
SMACK!
Victus violently stumbled forward, completely disoriented by the sudden, heavy physical impact. He grabbed the back of his head in extreme pain and furiously spun around, his killing intent flaring. But there was absolutely no one there. Only empty air. Victus's face paled, entirely convinced the traumatic, heavy yin energy of the glacier was causing him to hallucinate phantom assaults. He nervously turned back around and began speed-walking out of the cave.
It took them two grueling hours to finally navigate the upper labyrinth and completely exit the glacier. Following that, it was a brutal, exhausting week-long journey across the freezing, desolate northern plains.
When the heavy storm clouds finally broke, allowing them to see the true sun rays for the first time in days, they had arrived at the outer borders of Ashburg.
But as Rayn crested the final hill and looked down into his sovereign domain, his heart violently stopped. The absolute, demonic rage in his soul instantly boiled over.
Ashburg was utterly destroyed.
The gates were violently shattered. Thick, black smoke choked the sky, rising from hundreds of burning buildings. But the most horrifying sight was the absolute ocean of blood. The streets were literally paved with the mutilated, butchered corpses of Ashburg's citizens. Entire families were piled in the town square, their bodies violently ripped apart, their intestines explicitly hanging from the ruined architecture like grotesque decorations. Crows and wild dogs were already tearing at the festering flesh.
"What the absolute, motherfucking hell happened here?!" Rayn roared, violently grabbing Victus by the collar of his armor and lifting him entirely off the ground.
Victus was genuinely trembling, his face completely pale as he stared at the apocalyptic massacre. "How the fuck should I know?! I was trapped in that miserable cave with you for days! We had absolutely no contact with the outside world!"
Rayn aggressively threw Victus into the dirt. He dashed forward, moving like a crimson blur, directly into the blood-soaked streets of Ashburg. Vespera, Dawinton, and the others sprinted closely behind him.
The stench of rotting human meat and profound blood was absolutely suffocating. As they navigated through the mountains of corpses, Rayn spotted a single, trembling survivor.
It was a woman, her clothes violently torn and soaked in dark, drying blood. She was sitting in the middle of the street, completely catatonic. Cradled in her arms was a small, brutally mutilated child. The kid's head had been violently hacked off, the jagged, bloody stump of its neck still slowly leaking thick, coagulated blood onto the mother's lap.
Rayn rushed over, dropping to his knees in the puddles of gore. "My lady! Look at me! What the fuck happened here?!"
The traumatized woman slowly lifted her dead, hollow eyes. When she recognized Rayn—the supposed new Leader of Ashburg who had completely abandoned them when they needed him most—an absolute, profound hatred violently overtook her grief.
She leaned forward and viciously spat a thick glob of bloody saliva directly onto Rayn's face.
The air instantly dropped to absolute zero. Vespera's killing intent violently exploded. To her, Rayn was a supreme sovereign. For a pathetic, mortal worm to spit on him was an absolute sin that demanded the extermination of her entire bloodline. Vespera immediately raised her hand, a terrifying sphere of golden destruction condensing in her palm, fully intending to violently vaporize the grieving mother into ash.
"STOP!" Rayn roared, his voice hitting Vespera like a physical wall, completely shattering her spell.
Rayn didn't even wipe the bloody spit from his cheek. He slowly reached out, his hands trembling with a terrifying, unadulterated rage, and gently took the headless body of the child from the mother's arms. He cradled the ruined corpse against his chest, completely ignoring the thick blood staining his own clothes.
He looked back at the woman. The absolute, human empathy in his eyes had completely vanished. In its place was a terrifying, apocalyptic crimson glow. His pupils dilated, radiating the pure, unfiltered killing intent of a sovereign demon who was about to drag the entire world into the deepest pits of hell. It wasn't the look of a human leader; it was the absolute gaze of an apex monster demanding blood.
The sheer, terrifying weight of Rayn's demonic eyes completely crushed the woman's anger, replacing it with an instinctual, soul-deep terror. She violently trembled, entirely submitted to the monster kneeling before her.
"Tell me," Rayn whispered, his voice vibrating with an absolute promise of apocalyptic revenge. "Exactly who did this."