The atmosphere in the Main City of the Zenith Clan, a towering Elven civilization with elegant Ivory White and Jade Green architecture, instantly came to a halt. Thousands of Elven eyes stared at a single point in the center of the main square, where a pulsating black-purple portal vanished, leaving behind a man floating casually in the air.
"Leave our Clan!"
The shout boomed, not from a common soldier, but from Theron, one of the Ten Rulers of Zenith. His face, adorned with beard and hair as white as snow, looked turbid with burning anger.
"We will not bow to anyone from the outside! We will not bow to something from outside this world! We do not deign to have anyone from a foreign dimension dirty our holy world!" Theron emphasized every word, his voice containing the authority of thousands of years.
The man floating, the intruder, only smiled mockingly.
"Hey hey... c'monnn," he said with a casual tone, a gaze full of boredom. "You guys won't be able to defeat me."
Rhys, another Ruler with an aura that was younger but just as sharp, stepped forward. The glint of his arrows was faintly visible on his back. "What else are you after? You've already gotten everything... Power, Dominion, and Immortality. Are you still thirsty, bastard!"
The man laughed softly, a cold and belittling laugh breaking the silence between the beautiful buildings of Zenith.
"Hmm... well, if you guys don't let me rule this clan, it means I haven't gotten everything yet, right? Hahahaha."
The laughter instantly faded, replaced by a deadly silence. Soldiers on the ground, wearing silver armor, simultaneously raised spears and bows. Magic energy began to accumulate at the fingertips of the Elven mages.
"Hey... c'mon, Elves," he said, letting my body descend slowly until within eye level with the Ten Rulers who were lined up. "Can't we be more relaxed? I really like this clan. Only here, civilization is built so well, advanced, and the characteristic white and green colors on every architectural element are truly interesting to look at. A place like this would be very hard to find in other clans."
"I suspected you would appear right in the middle of the city like this," replied Theron, his wise gaze reading every unseen movement.
"Yeah, what can I do? I indeed intentionally opened the Inter-Clan Portal here, haha."
A high-ranking woman holding a large silver axe, seemingly from the Elven warrior caste, chimed in with a voice full of hatred. "This place is the place of origin for Elves in all Clan dimensions! This place will only be a final resting place for Elves, not a Dirty Demon like you!"
The man tilted his head, my gaze falling upon the female Ruler. "Yeah, what's wrong with it, though? I like it here. Lots of beautiful and sexy women here. I really, truly like it."
"Hey, how insolent your words are, you bastard!" Theron exploded.
BOOM!! BOOM!!
Theron, known as the Supreme Head of Zenith and a skilled close-range combatant, had dashed forward. His body, nearly three meters tall, though slightly hunched due to thousands of years of age, moved with destructive lightning speed. His first punch, wrapped in the Zenith Gauntlet, a legendary glove said to be able to level a clan with a single blow, struck him.
"Hey, your attack won't work on me, oh Old Man," replied the man casually, blocking the massive punch with just one palm. The shockwave alone was enough to topple the pillars around them.
Theron was undaunted. "EVERYONE ATTACK!!!!"
A thousand commands simultaneously shouted the order. Thousands of Zenith Clan soldiers advanced together, supported by the nine other leaders. All weapons, all magic, were unleashed.
However, in front of Theron, that hope collapsed. In a split second, I destroyed the Zenith Gauntlet he was proud of, crushing his wrist with just a quick grip. Theron staggered, but with a spirit that did not extinguish, he readied his left hand.
"You bastard, take this!"
BOOM!! BOOM!! BOOM!! BOOM!!
Theron punched repeatedly with his remaining strength. Deafening booms. Every punch created shockwaves that shook the entire Zenith Clan. The soldiers and the Nine other Rulers just stood transfixed watching them fight. The despair of the soldiers that previously overshadowed was now mixed with grief and a glimmer of hope.
"Come on Daddyyyy! Strengthen yourself, I am sure Dad will be able to defeat him and come homeeee, I am waiting for you Daddyyy!!"
The voice of a little girl, the voice of the internal communicator throughout the fleet, triggered Theron. His punches got faster, stronger, making the Zenith Clan shake violently.
The Nine other Rulers moved as well. Rhys from a distance drew his bow, creating a Nature Arrow glistening with Pure Elven energy. The female Ruler with the large axe dashed behind the man, ready to slash with full power, power rumored to be capable of splitting a floating clan in two. "You've gone too far by insulting me, you Demon!"
The other Rulers advanced: the spear bearer, the gear wielder, all with weapons of unreasonable power. Faelar, the shield holder, and Lyriel, the owner of the book The Supreme of Healer, created a perfect formation for a simultaneous attack, a formation that shouldn't have been penetrable.
However...
BOOMMM!!!
A massive explosion far exceeding Theron's booms was heard at the point of battle. The soldiers jolted, falling silent, as if time had stopped. Thick dust and water vapor ignited by massive energy billowed, swallowing the entire view.
"Huh? What just happened? I can't see anything!" exclaimed one of the soldiers in the front row.
"Can we fire the lasers yet, Commander?!" asked a heavy weapon operator from a distant floating island, his voice filled with tension.
"Don't! It's too risky while the leaders are there and there are still residents who haven't been evacuated," replied the Commander of the floating island.
"Wh... wh... what happened? How is it possible!?" Rhys's voice sounded weak, almost like a wail, from amidst the cloud of dust.
Theron's punching had stopped. The booming sounds that were previously a symphony of destruction now vanished completely. In the suffocating silence, soldiers began to cheer faintly. They thought victory had been achieved.
However, the cheering died in their throats.
As the dust fog was slowly blown away by magic wind, the scene presented was the most terrifying silence.
The Rulers had fallen.
Among the ten bodies of the Zenith Clan rulers now lying stiff, only nine were silenced forever.
In the seconds when all the Rulers' attacks reached their peak, when the large axe nearly split the air behind me, when Rhys's arrow was only a split second away from leaving his bow, the man activated Fifty Percent of his power.
It was not speed. It was time manipulation on a micro scale.
He withstood Theron's final barrage of punches, and before the Zenith Gauntlet had time to crack completely, I pierced his heart. Theron the absolute ruler's heart stopped beating even before his consciousness had time to register the pain.
Then, he moved.
Before the female Ruler's axe touched his body, I had teleported in front of Faelar. His shield, the symbol of Zenith Clan's defense said to be impenetrable, shattered into pieces by a touch he couldn't even see. In one fluid motion, he severed the heads of Faelar and Lyriel, the highest Healer, their necks cut clean by an invisible blade of pure energy.
The rest were slaughtered by him with a flash of speed. The nine leaders, whose power was capable of destroying an advanced clan, were incapacitated in less than one Elven breath. Only leaving Rhys, who was now transfixed in his spot, his bow falling to the ground.
A suffocating silence. Thousands of soldiers fell silent in horror, the chaos occurring in their brains turning into undeniable acknowledgment. They realized, before them was not merely a conqueror, but an Absolute Entity far beyond their comprehension.
"Conquering you all was not a difficult thing for me," I said, my voice flat, a resonance of destruction within it making Rhys tremble. He stepped past Theron's body, his feet landing soundlessly. "You were only... obstacles in the path I must finish."
Rhys looked up, his eyes empty. "How can he be this strong?... Even Theron, even our perfect formation..." he whispered, that gaze losing hope now filled with total despair.
The man stopped, staring at the sky. A smirk was carved again, but this time darker and colder.
"I have conquered thousands of clans, Rhys. To reach this point was not an easy thing," I took a deep breath, as if inhaling their despair. The next words I spoke with an emphasis that made every Elven listening feel a primitive fear.
"Do you know? I am the one who will destroy The One!"
Instantly, my words functioned like a destruction spell. Water vapor, clouds of soil, and the entire Zenith Clan shook violently, not because of an explosion, but because of dimensional vibrations transcending physical limits.
In the beautiful Elven sky, a cosmic crack formed, a Dimensional Rift splitting space. The crack was not just a gap, but a gaping wound flowing with eternal darkness.
From that rift, slowly, a massive figure emerged. Not a normal physique, but a shapeless dark mass, a Pitch Black entity radiating an aura of void that drained all color and life around it. Its presence alone made thousands of Elven soldiers fall to their knees, battered by unbearable panic.
"Th... th... that is..." Rhys screamed, his voice breaking, choked by terror.
The man looked at the entity. Amidst the void it radiated, he felt a strange familiarity, an inexplicable nuance, as if he knew it, but with the wrong resonance.
But, the total panic radiating from every remaining Elf was enough to explain everything.
The giant figure that just appeared, the entity splitting the dimension, was the real The One.