AAARRGHHHHHHH!

The roar shook the void.

When the abominations that had spawned from the Heart of the Root saw Cain flash forward, they answered with hatred and madness. Thousands of them tore themselves free from the world-sized tumor, their screeches merging into a chorus of ruin. Each one pulsed with the power of a Prima Deity.

Though their forms differed, most of them shared the same grotesque archetype, as though sculpted from nightmares that refused to agree on a single shape.

Some resembled an unholy fusion of insect, dragon, and cephalopodtranslucent wings stretched from skeletal frames, while masses of exposed, brain-like tissue throbbed across their spines. From their maws extended writhing clusters of chained tendrils, dripping with psychic bile.

Others towered like demonic titans, their muscular frames wrapped in flayed, diseased flesh. Jagged growths sprouted from their backs, and gaping maws brimmed with spiraling teeth. Leathery wings beat behind them, their tails long and sinuous like serpents of living bone.

And the largest of them were worsebehemoths with uneven limbs swollen to monstrous proportions, ending in claws that gleamed like obsidian blades. Their flesh was a patchwork of muscle, bone, and spines, pulsing with raw, unnatural energy. Their skull-like faces twisted in eternal rage, embodying the essence of predatory chaos.

Even for Cain, the pressure was immense. A Prima Deity was nothing for him, but when their number reached the thousands, things began to change. Their collective presence warped the void itself.

Luckily, he was not fighting alone.

The moment those creatures left the necrotic radiance of the Heart of the Root and entered the domain of the Nine Empyrean Suns Universes Matrix, divine law reacted.

The golden lattice of creation flared, and the abominations screamed as their bodies began to me. Divine order corroded their essence, weakening them, though not enough to stop their advance. Their hatred was endless. Their will, absolute.

Cains aura ignited, his power rising to meet theirs. He was the Scarlet King, and his fury was the fire of collapsing stars.

He raised his hand, and a weapon took shape in his palma lance of gravity. Unlike the weapon forged with the Abyssal Scripture, this one was born of his new Alpha-Omega Overgod Dual Cuivation Technique, a fusion of Star Power and Law.

Tidal Mass Lance! With a roar full of might and power, he hurled it forward.

The lance tore through the void, dragging a torrent of gravitational tides behind it. The first wave of abominations met it head-onand were obliterated. Bodies shredded into molecular mist as oceans of folded time and compressed space swallowed them.

Then, as the weapon reached its limit, it detonated.

A black hole bloomed at its core, devouring everything in reach. The gravitational pulse consumed the battlefield before collapsing in on itself, releasing a cataclysmic shockwave that blasted several more of the creatures apart.

For a heartbeat, the universe went silent.

Those who remained trembled, finally realizing the magnitude of the being they faced. Even through their madness, they understood fear.

But things did not end there.

The moment the destroyed abominations disintegrated, their corrupted bodies were seized by the Matrix. The divine lattice devoured their essence, burning it into pure golden energyand then, with purpose, directed that light toward Cain.

A surge of radiance flooded him.

Cains eyes widened as he fe it, shock and awe flooding his heart. This primal energy is even purer than origin energy that one could find at the heart of a Primary World.

With a throgut, that Primal Origin Energy fused into his body, refining his bones and enhancing his muscles. It was minimal, barely measurable, but it was just the beginning.

If each kill granted such power, this battle could become more than survivalit could be ascension.

Duty still guided him, but now greed and hunger stirred beside it. The eyes of the Scarlet King gleamed with crimson purpose as he accelerated through the swarm.

He appeared among them like a storm given form, his right fist glowing with infinite density.

Anvilfall Strike!

His punch shattered the void.

A black event horizon formed around his arm, expanding for countless kilometers before collapsing inward. Every creature caught within it was crushed into a single point, condensed smaller than a grain of sandthen annihilated in an explosion of decayed flesh and collapsing energy.

The Matrix reacted instantly, absorbing the carnage, purging it, and redirecting the purified Primordial Origin Energy into Cain.

Instead of allowing it to simply strenhen his body, Cain channeled the influx into the Eclipse Monolith Inheritance. He was close to completing the fourth level, and if he achieved it, his physical endurance would ascend beyond comprehension. Something told him he would need it soon.

Even while his mind raced, his awareness never faered. Combat was instinct.

He spread his fingers, shaping his hand into a blade, and swung.

Temporal Oblivion Edge!

A colossal arc of condensed temporal energy tore across the void. Wherever it passed, time ceased to existmoments collapsed into nothingness, erasing existence itself.

Yet this time, the abominations resisted. Their flesh shimmered, their forms stabilizing against the onslaught, making Cain narrow his eyes.

As expected, theyre resistant to the essence of decay and death itself, he muttered, voice calm even amid the storm. Even the Laws of Time struggle to erase them.

But hesitation was not in his nature.

He plunged back into the fray, carving a path through the horde. His every motion birthed destructioncollapsing suns of gravity, tearing waves of spatial distortion, spears of stellar fire. The abominations fought like rabid gods, flinging themselves at him without thought for their own annihilation. Still, nothing could ha his advance.

The Heart of the Root trembled in fury. Its malignant eyes darkened, and new ripples spread through the void. From its depths, fresh horrors emergedlarger, stronger, far more terrible.

Some were serpentine monstrosities with countless necks, each ending in a gaping, fang-filled maw. Their raw, sinewy flesh glistened blood-red, as if freshly flayed. Rows of black spines jutted from their coils, forming natural armor that gleamed like wet obsidian.

Others took on more humanoid shapes, though no mortal would mistake them for anything but demons. Their bodies were carved from living darkness, their obsidian flesh glowing with rivers of rotting blood. Massive wings unfolded behind them, each feather a blade, each motion releasing a wave of decay.

Their forms were disguising, but the one thing that mattered to Cain was their power.

ArchDeities. The voice of the Scarlet King was somber as the individual power of those monsters was dangerous, and they were hundreds marching toward him.