SWIF.
Kairo's mud clone aggressively lunged forward, his clay fingers weaving a high-speed counter-matrix mid-air. Having just analyzed the spatial feedback of the King's previous illusion, the clone's optic sensors could finally differentiate between the real physical mass and the false light frequencies. The clone's blade sliced cleanly through the gold-rimmed aura, aiming straight for the King's prime jugular.
The King's majestic eyes widened in brief, genuine awe. "Hmm... you can actually tell what is true and what is wrong? Impressive processing speed for a rogue variable."
With an almost casual, fluid tilt of his waist, the King effortlessly slipped past the edge of the blade. Before the clone could reposition its weight, the King drove his bare, masculine fist straight through the center of the clone's chest cavity.
BOOM.
A massive, gaping hole was blasted entirely through the clay torso. Yet, even with his structural integrity completely shattered, the mud clone didn't collapse. Instead, a distorted, mocking laugh echoed directly out of its hollow chest.
"So... you are nothing but a high-tier clone too, huh?" Kairo's construct rasped, fluid clay bubbling around the edges of the wound.
The handsome King smirked, pulling his fist back without a single speck of dirt staining his skin. "Yeah, I am. But shouldn't you be absolutely terrified of my real parameters? If my mere proxy clone is already this overwhelmingly strong... imagine what my original body will do to you."
The King's prime clone smoothly stepped backward, his majestic form beginning to dissolve into shimmering golden particles. "Well... let us have our true, final fight somewhere good. Somewhere beautiful."
With a soft chime of divine mana, the phantom completely vanished into the wind.
Meanwhile, far across the capital layout, the actual, flesh-and-blood Kairo finally stood directly before the massive, iron-bound outer gates of the land. His pale face was tight with exhaustion, his fingers tapping a restless, logical rhythm against his belt.
"So... I've finally figured it out," Kairo muttered to himself, his analytical mind locking the final pieces of the geopolitical grid together. "All the true elite guards, the high nobles, and the senior ministers are hidden away in a secondary underground network. They knew this entire purification plan from the very beginning, huh?"
Kairo let out a heavy, stressed exhale, rubbing his temples. "Uhh... up until now, I've only systematically killed the young, arrogant heirs and frontline soldiers. The King wanted them dead to trim the population baseline. I need to pull my active clones back and locate that hidden elite bunker immediately. Wait a second..."
Turning on his heel, Kairo slipped back inside the heavy, armored movable cavern structure he had been using as his mobile command post. Inside the dark, geometric room, rows of high-tier LED monitor screens were flickering violently, fed by the blue interface of the system.
Kairo looked directly at the real-time data streaming across the glass. "Hmm... if the King can use illusions to trap the masses, I will use my remaining mud networks to completely crowd-source this search. Let's see how his system handles a circus-level hunt."
Activating his macro-telepathy alongside his remaining clay nodes, Kairo manifested dozens of minor mud clones directly inside the crowded civilian refugee sectors. Standing before the terrified, desperate masses, the clones spoke with absolute authority:
"Farewell, people of the valley. My primary body is heading directly inside the hidden elite bunkers to execute the regime. If you find these hidden coordinates and help me destroy them before they deploy their defense arrays to destroy me... you all will permanently gain a fraction of my supernatural magic powers. Hunt them down!"
The civilian refugees—many of whom had already accidentally absorbed residual emerald mana sparks from Kairo's previous defensive grids—felt a sudden, intoxicating surge of supernatural strength blooming inside their own muscles. Intensely excited and desperate for survival, the crowd violently surged forward, frantically searching every stone wall and alleyway to grab the Kairo mud clones for coordinates even as the clay structures began to cleanly dissolve into dust.
POOF.
Across the city sectors, the Kairo mud clones completely disappeared into the wind, leaving a massive, chaotic civilian riot in their wake.
Inside the bunker, the real Kairo checked his facial reflection in a dark monitor screen, stretching his features. "Well... I used my other, hyper-handsome illusion face for that broadcast, so there's absolutely no need to worry about my true identity being compromised. But... I am genuinely worried about Leonhart's position right now. Hopefully, General Gideon gave him an advanced stealth mask that will blend his profile into a standard soldier's rank. He'll definitely carry it well... but now the core issue is tracking his exact coordinate."
Within minutes, an absolute, circus-level hunt and total structural chaos erupted across the entire capital. Thousands of newly empowered civilians and rebel elements began tearing down marble walls, flipping aristocratic carriages, and ripping up floorboards in a mad, frenzied rush to expose the hidden high-tier nobility.
Deep beneath the royal palace, inside a highly reinforced, luxurious subterranean bunker lined with gold and velvet, the true elite leadership of the land was in a state of absolute, panicked breakdown.
Dozens of elderly high ministers, wealthy merchant lords, and prime vanguard commanders were screaming at each other, their expensive silk robes soaked in nervous sweat.
"What is the meaning of this, Your Majesty?!" an ancient, high-tier minister roared, slamming his jewel-encrusted cane against the golden council table. "Why did your projection willingly reveal the existence of our underground bunker network to that foreign child?! The entire civilian population has turned into a rabid mob! They are tearing the city apart looking for our entrance seals!"
The real, physical King sat at the head of the long table. He didn't look back at them. He simply stared at his own flawlessly smooth, prime hands, his golden divine aura softly illuminating the dark stone.
"I did it because my God explicitly commanded me to do so," the King whispered, his deep, majestic voice cutting through the shouting like an icy blade. "I didn't want to compromise this sector. But the grand architecture requires a final, absolute purging of the old order. If we do not follow his precise operational script... every single one of us in this room will die an agonizing death anyway."
The elite ministers and high lords instantly stopped arguing. The angry shouting vanished into a heavy, suffocating silence.
Looking at the radiant, unholy glow pulsing from their youthful monarch's skin, the faces of the entire ruling elite turned completely pale as they realized they weren't being protected—they were simply the next layer of livestock waiting for the slaughter.
The heavy iron doors of the moving cavern hissed open as General Gideon, Leonhart, and the armored rebel vanguard arrived at the coordinates. Guided directly by Kairo's minor mud node, they stepped into the dim, structural command post.
Sitting on a stone bench in the center of the flashing LED monitors was the real Kairo. His white, luxurious silk robes—once immaculate—were now heavily stained with deep crimson streaks. He leaned forward, clutching his ribcage, and let out a hacking cough that sprayed a fresh splatter of blood across the floorboards.
He looked up at them, a strained, half-amused smirk cutting through his pale face. "Hey there..."
Leonhart immediately stormed toward him, his initial frustration melting into pure shock. "I was furious with you back there for hiding the truth about Seraphina's execution variables! But what the hell happened to you? Why are your vitals crashing like this?"
Kairo opened his mouth to reply, but only a wet wheeze came out.
BOOM.
A massive, ground-shaking explosion suddenly thundered from the upper district, its seismic shockwave rattling the LED screens on the cavern walls.
Leonhart braced his footing, looking between the bleeding strategist and the ceiling. "Okay, what did you just activate? Care to explain the macro-game to me?"
Before the real Kairo could strain his vocal cords, a fully solid Kairo mud clone stepped forward, smoothly taking over the narrative. "My real body is experiencing severe internal mana friction right now, so let his proxy do the talking. While you guys were marching, I successfully located the coordinate matrix for the true elite bunker. The King didn't even realize my tracking parameters were deep enough to bypass his divine wards."
The clone adjusted its cuffs, its clay eyes flashing with cold intellect. "I achieved this by mimicking the specific innate frequency tracking of Seraphina's sister. The system validated the synchronization, and I actually unlocked two hidden abilities, Leonhart, which I didn't disclose until now. The first one was this macro-mana tracking network. The second one? Sorry, I'll reveal that variable later due to the precise pacing of my layout plan."
Leonhart and Gideon exchanged a disciplined nod.
Gideon leaned against a structural pillar, a sharp, tactical grin forming on his handsome face. "Impressive. But tell me—did you also inject imposters into their perimeter? If I were running this siege layout, I would have planted inside threats to break their psychological stability and cause immediate panic."
The real Kairo let out a weak, blood-flecked smile. He gestured with his finger, allowing only General Gideon to step past the primary security partition into the inner control circle.
Gideon stepped forward, but the moment his eyes locked onto the primary strategic display, he let out a horrified, unhinged scream. "What kind of absolute sorcery is this?!"
Outside the partition, the regular rebel soldiers tried to frantically peek over the console to see what was happening. Leonhart merely intercepted them, crossing his arms with a confident smirk. "Sorry, gentlemen. We don't reveal our magic tricks on the first turn."
On the master monitor screen, Gideon saw a crystal-clear, live-broadcast feed from a mud clone that had already breached the structural seals of the luxurious hidden elite bunker.
"No way..." Gideon whispered, his eyes wide. "Is it already starting?"
Leonhart moved his head inside the partition line, his jaw dropping as he took in the feed. "No way..."
Inside the lavish subterranean bunker, an aristocratic minister had just stumbled upon the cold, stiffened body of an elite inner guard draped over a velvet sofa. Pinning a heavy iron dagger to the corpse's chest armor was a small white parchment note. Written on it in bold ink were five simple words:
FIND ME IF YOU CAN.
The psychological trigger hit instantly. A wealthy noblewoman standing nearby gasped, her eyes rolling into the back of her head as she violently vomited dark blood and collapsed dead onto the marble floor from sheer, stress-induced cardiovascular failure.
Absolute panic violently ripped through the luxurious hall. High-tier nobles and senior ministers began running frantically in every direction, screaming as they looked at their own shadows.
The prime King stepped through the panicked crowd, his majestic face tightening as he looked down at the guard's corpse. "Calm down, you fools! It's nothing but a standard tracking anchor for that boy's mud magic! Everyone, go to the central grand hall immediately! Bath yourselves entirely in the purified water reserves so his earthly sediment cannot find your individual mana signatures!"
The elites nodded frantically. Within minutes, every single remaining soldier, high-ranking noble, and court official gathered inside the grand hall. Massive golden vats of clear liquid were rolled out. Desperate to cleanse themselves of Kairo's tracking anchor, every individual systematically drenched themselves from head to toe, thoroughly bathing their skin and armor.
Back in the moving cavern, Gideon watched the screen, his brow furrowing with deep concern. "Wait a second, Kairo... if they thoroughly wash themselves, won't they completely nullify your mud magic parameters? Your entire offensive skill will be a total waste if they find out it's just a material trick!"
On the monitor, an elite illusionist wizard approached the guard's corpse, casting a high-tier water cleansing spell over it. The outer skin instantly dissolved, exposing a basic, raw clay core.
The wizard gasped, turning to the crowd. "Wait... it was nothing but a fake mud clone construct!"
The tense atmosphere in the grand hall instantly shattered into arrogant, booming laughter. The nobles wiped the liquid from their handsome faces, mocking the unseen adversary. "We were panicking over a mere clone proxy?! No wonder! There is absolutely no way those rats will ever breach these highly secured palace walls!"
The King nodded smoothly, his prime features radiating absolute arrogance. "Exactly. My elite illusion magicians are fully deployed here—even they have taken a bath to secure their parameters. The boy has run out of cards."
Suddenly, on the broadcast screen, a tiny, camouflaged Kairo mud node perched high on a golden chandelier detached itself. As it fell through the air toward the massive, drenched crowd below, it casually tossed a single, flickering wax candle into the wet courtyard floor.
Instead of the flame sizzling out against the wet stones, the moment the spark touched the liquid-soaked clothes and armor of the nobles, the entire grand hall violently erupted into a roaring, apocalyptic wall of white-hot fire.
WHOOSH!!!
The real Kairo, sitting in his cavern, burst into a raspy, triumphant laugh, wiping blood from his chin as he spoke through his clone. "What a collection of absolute idiots! I utilized the system parameters to cast a high-tier sensory illusion over the reservoir layout! The illusion completely altered their perception metrics—making them see, smell, and taste pure water, when in reality, every single vat was filled to the brim with highly refined Kerosene! The density and fluid dynamics matched perfectly!"
Gideon and Leonhart stared at the monitor for three seconds before completely losing their composure, breaking into wild, ecstatic laughter.
"Wait, what?!" Gideon roared, slapping his knee as he watched the monitor. "You should have turned them into roasted camel meat—and the best part is, they were the ones who manually did it to themselves inside their own elite halls!"
The chemical fire spread like a savage wind across the dry grand hall. Every single corrupt soldier, hidden noble, and inner guard was instantly engulfed in an inescapable, roaring inferno, their high-tier armor melting straight into their flesh.
The only person left untouched was the prime King. His divine aura shielded his skin from the heat, but he looked around at his completely obliterated backup forces, his entire military foundation turned to ash in a matter of seconds.
His majestic ego completely shattered, the King dropped heavily to his knees in the center of the burning plaza, staring up at the smoking rafters. "Gods... why?! Why did you betray my lineage?!"
FLUTTER.
From the high, burning hands of a marble angel statue directly above his head, a single, unburned piece of parchment slipped loose, drifting slowly down through the smoke before landing right in front of the King's knees.
The King frantically grabbed it, looking for a divine message from his cosmic master. Written on the paper was a single phrase:
MEOWWWW.