It stood colossal, over a kilometer long, its smooth sides gleaming with otherworldly light. From within, ancient consciousnesses began to stir, steeped in the weight of untold millennia.
Their awakening unleashed waves of Mental Power, psychic forces that spilled beyond the crystal sanctuary and trembled across the ocean floor.
BOOM! BOOM!
Violent tremors rippled through the deep. Water reversed in wild spirals across several kilometers. Hundreds of deep-sea creatures caught in the area were torn apart, disintegrated by invisible pressure.
“Why has the royal city emerged from the Spiritual World... into physical space?”
“Wait. Let me sense it…”
“The system alarm was triggered. Vuron… is dead.”
“Killed… by a human.”
“Human? What’s that?”
“You’ve barely awakened. You wouldn't know. After our kind fell into dormancy, Earth gave rise to intelligent primates. They call themselves humans.”
“Are they powerful?”
“No. Incredibly weak. But their flesh tastes pleasant.”
“Vuron really was a disgrace. Yet, before his death, he transmitted data. A rare anomaly has appeared, an unusually evolved human lifeform.”
“So it was the one who killed him?”
“Indeed. For one of an inferior species to defeat even the weakest of our kind... that human may take pride in that.”
“When shall we set foot on the surface again?”
“Not yet. The Ether remains too stagnant. We must wait.”
“What of the King? When will He awaken?”
“When the next Ether tide rises and the planet’s energy swells... then the King shall rise.”
“Excellent. On that day, we will exterminate humanity and cleanse the surface.”
“Agreed.”
“Agreed.”
And just like that, the voices fell silent. The ancient minds retreated, and the crystal city vanished into the folds between worlds.
The deep, cold sea floor returned to silence.
...
Emberlight Ashara, Imperial Palace, Sanctum of Calm.
Within the vast halls, torchlight flickered dimly, casting long shadows. The Emperor of Emberlight, once proud, now appeared withered by time. With effort, he lifted his head toward Seraphine.
“Sera... with your abilities, can you see whether this illness of mine can be cured?”
Seraphine frowned, her expression darkening. She gently shook her head.
“Father... this is not an illness. What you suffer from is a dual calcification of both body and soul, brought on by an external bloodline.”
“Your entire being has been fused with Vuron’s bloodline. But this bloodline is foreign and violently unstable. It draws in Ether to maintain equilibrium, yet behaves like an intelligent parasite, dismantling your physical and spiritual structure.”
She paused, then added coldly:
“It’s as if its only purpose is to kill you.”
The Emperor was stunned. Then, sighing into the depths of time, he spoke softly:
“Ah... karma. Perhaps this is Vuron’s revenge. Is there any way to remove it?”
Seraphine considered this, then slowly shook her head.
“Several forces are maintaining a precarious balance inside you. Even the smallest change could cause it all to collapse.”
The Emperor nodded, smiling with relief.
“Very well. I understand. Perhaps this too is fate.”
But Seraphine felt a slight pang of regret. Have I devoted too much time to techniques of destruction and neglected the Path of Healing? Creation had always been harder than annihilation.
The Emperor finally spoke again, his voice steady:
“The physicians told me I have a month at best. At worst, mere weeks.”
He raised his head, eyes locking onto Seraphine with cold clarity.
“Sera... do you know? The Aurenthal Imperial Family has been stripped of all real power. We can summon, at most, a thousand guards.”
His tone grew colder:
“Hmph... no matter how much the world reveres our name, without power, it’s all just smoke and mirrors. The military, the nobility, the parliament, the conglomerates—they’ve all tangled together. I have nothing left to hope for.”
“I only ask this of you: reclaim the imperial power in this lifetime. Promise me, Sera!”
Seraphine chuckled softly.
“This lifetime? Father, it won't take that long. When I need it, I’ll take it.”
The Emperor nodded slowly, contented. “Very good... very good!”
But then, Seraphine’s voice turned resolute:
“After that, every single person who stands in my way will die. At that time, Father... do not blame me for being ruthless.”
The Emperor waved a hand without hesitation.
“Kill them. Kill them as you please. The bloodier the dragon throne, the firmer it sits. The path of an Emperor is walked in solitude. At least let them keep each other company down below.”
“Excellent.”
At those words, Seraphine smiled.
...
Emberlight Ashara.
Inside the Grand Parliament, the meeting room was suffocating with tension. Seated around the obsidian table were the figureheads of the Empire: directors of the Secret Service, Military Intelligence, the Marshal, the Speaker of the Grand Parliament, and the heads of the Chamber of Commerce and Aristocratic Union.
Nearly every pillar of the imperial hierarchy was present, along with top scientific minds from the National Academy of Sciences and the Military Research Academy.
On a massive digital screen, shaky surveillance footage played on loop: a clone of Seraphine in brutal combat with Vuron.
The recording was low-resolution and silent, the footage trembling violently. But no one cared. Their eyes were locked, their brows furrowed in a silence broken only by occasional sharp gasps.
Every face in the room bore the same expressions: astonishment, dread, and disbelief.
“...It’s not just miraculous. It’s horrifying.”
A broad-shouldered general with grey temples slapped his forehead and growled, “A single human being possessing such raw destructive force? It’s beyond comprehension.”
The senior officer beside him adjusted his glasses, shaking his head.
“No. The heir... she’s human, no doubt. But that prehistoric monster? I wouldn’t be so sure.”
The head of Military Intelligence leaned forward, fingers steepled, a deep scowl etched into his features.
“I’m beginning to suspect that our D to SS-class threat level system is outdated.”
“So what now?” someone said dryly. “Do we establish an SSS-Class? Or call it X-Class?”
The military officer wavered. “The combat capabilities displayed here are unprecedented. I’ll need to reconvene with the evaluation board.”
The Secret Service commander spoke in a low voice.
“At this level of power, tanks and fighter jets won’t even scratch them.”
Someone muttered from across the table:
“According to our estimates, conventional chemical or kinetic weapons are effectively useless.”
“Then how do we fight them?”
“...Anyone?”
“Maybe we just... surrender?”
A hush fell across the room.
Another officer spoke, voice tight: “Have we assessed sonic weapons? Microwaves? Directed lasers? Neurotoxic agents?”
A scientist shook his head gravely. “They achieve supersonic velocity instantly. Their baseline physiology is enhanced far beyond any known combat organism. I wouldn’t bet on them fearing anything short of absolute overkill.”
“Then only high-yield nukes remain,” someone murmured.
“Their cruising speed is Mach 15. Peak burst speeds hit Mach 28.”
A military scientist in a crisp white lab coat flipped through a thick folder, looking up somber.
“Let me be blunt: at those speeds, you can’t track them, let alone intercept. Our nuclear delivery systems can’t even reach Mach 5. They’d outrun the warhead before it even arms.”
He closed the folder with a flat BANG!
“...Unless it was a direct hit with an exceptionally high-yield payload, I doubt we’d even scratch them. The molecular density of their bodies... it’s not normal matter anymore.”
An elderly scientist slowly raised his hand.
“I’d like to ask... What exactly happened during that massive explosion on the outskirts of Ashara?”
The official responsible for the display controls turned his gaze toward the old man.
“...Are you sure you want to see it?”
The scientist sharpened his voice.
“Of course. If we don’t look, how are we supposed to make an accurate assessment?”
The operator gave a reluctant nod and pressed a button.
The footage on the screen flickered and shifted.
A desolate wasteland filled the display.
This was the old industrial sector of Ashara, reduced to devastation after the battle between Seraphine’s clone and Vuron.
In the center was a massive crater, hundreds of meters wide, ringed by fragmented terrain.
The drone pulled back. The area of devastation spanned several kilometers. Broken buildings and crumbled infrastructure extended like ripples—dead land consumed by fire.
This was the exact spot where Seraphine’s clone had deployed the technique: Stormlight Devastator.
Silence gripped the room.
This was their first real look at the aftermath.
“If this had landed inside a city...”
A hardened officer broke the silence, his voice low and trembling. Cold sweat beaded on his brow.
He didn't need to finish. Everyone understood.
If that attack had struck an urban center, not even the largest metropolis would survive.
Casualty estimates? One million dead. Perhaps more.
“Ah...”
A weathered official took off his glasses in panic.
“Power like this... even in ancient myth it would’ve been called divine. Even now, in this age of hyper-science... it’s still godlike.”
That word—divine—hung in the air.
No matter how advanced their science, none of it could explain what they had witnessed.
Seraphine was still human, but the force she wielded defied comprehension.
It broke their rules. It shattered their limits.
Then, a quiet voice spoke from the corner.
“...Everyone. We’re forgetting something. This wasn’t her true body.”
A hush fell again.
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The official continued, his face pale.
“That was just her clone. How powerful must the real Seraphine be?”
The weight of his words sank in like stone. No one responded for a long time. Finally, a middle-aged nobleman straightened in his seat, his voice deliberate.
“I believe we’re being far too pessimistic. Let’s not forget, this power belongs to our heir. To the future Empress of Emberlight.”
That snapped the tension. Realization spread. This was not a foreign threat or an alien invasion. This was their chosen ruler. So why were they trembling?
A high-ranking intelligence official shook his head with a dry smile. “Occupational hazard. We see a threat to the balance of power and instinctively want to neutralize it. But our future Majesty... she is still our Empress, isn’t she?”
Silence lingered, hiding a darker truth. Would someone wielding such terrifying power be content as a figurehead? None of them were fools. Everyone at this roundtable understood the implications, and dread began to bloom.
The old Marshal at the head of the table broke the silence.
“Some time ago, after Ether began resurging, we held a summit on the rise of Superhumans. I posed a question then: If an individual appears who can rival an entire nation... someone far beyond the realm of normal humans... what will we, the ordinary, do?”
He paused, the room leaning in.
“How will they regard a social order built by their former kin? And more importantly, what will they choose to do with it? Intelligence data shows the number of Superpower users is rising daily. Small, unstable countries have already abandoned management because they simply can’t cope.”
“On the other end are warlord territories. There, Superpower users are hunted and imprisoned. Some are sold for human experimentation to pharmaceutical conglomerates. You can imagine the rest.”
He lit a cigarette, taking a slow drag.
“Some argued that Superhumans are the next step in evolution and should be elevated. Others saw them as dangerous aberrations and demanded total control. I’ve always been a centrist. I believe they should be supported, but also regulated.”
He tapped his ash, leaning forward.
“Our society uses an invisible scoring system. People are judged constantly. High scores bring trust and admiration; society calls them righteous. Low scores bring labels like despicable or insidious. They are shunned and blacklisted until they feel they don't belong. That sense of being disposable is fatal.”
His voice grew firmer.
“Humans are social creatures. Even a Superhuman dictatorship needs system-builders to maintain order. We must ensure that before the new world arrives, we give her as many positive points as possible. We reduce the risk to ourselves by making her feel necessary.”
Someone murmured, “You mean…”
The old Marshal extinguished his cigarette.
“Once physical needs are satisfied, spiritual ones emerge. Admiration. Worship. Yearning. We offer all of these to her. We let her enjoy it. Let her sink into it.”
He lit another cigarette, exhaling a perfect ring of smoke with sharp resolve.
“At that point, the tyrant becomes a Guardian. A Guardian of the people’s justice.”
The meeting room fell into a heavy, drawn-out silence.
Eventually, the old marshal finished his cigarette. He crushed the last ember into the ashtray, glanced around the room, and said slowly:
“Perhaps it’s time we changed the way we’ve been doing things.”
Silence returned.
But this time, everyone’s thoughts surged beneath the surface, tense, shifting, and unspoken.
“You’re right.”
A senior intelligence officer finally broke the silence.
“Numerous foreign powers have been monitoring the heir’s battle with Vuron through satellite surveillance, spectrometrics, and other means. So perhaps now is the time...”
“Exactly,” another official cut in, eyes gleaming.
“The heir might be able to serve as our Emberlight’s 【Power】, a declaration on the global stage.”
“The world’s changing fast. Earth’s geopolitical landscape is chaotic, dangerously so. Better to let them recognize the existence of our heir sooner rather than later.”
“I see it differently.”
It was the old marshal again.
He rapped his knuckles lightly on the table and said:
“We don’t know how the heir will feel about being used as a symbol of 【Power】. She might not appreciate it. Best to keep things a bit more subtle, at least for now.”
“Subtle?” someone asked, incredulous.
“Even if we keep things under wraps domestically, the footage has already leaked internationally. How are we supposed to contain that?”
The old marshal chuckled. “Ah, perhaps you’re unaware. I’ve got someone.”
He leaned back slightly, his voice almost amused.
“A superpower user capable of long-range interference: photoelectric sensing, optical feeds, wireless transmission. After the Ether resurgence, his capabilities have evolved again. He can now intercept and subtly rewrite complex data streams in real time, modifying or distorting them on a quantum level.”
He paused, then continued:
“So before the battle even began, I anticipated this very outcome. I dispatched another operative with teleportation abilities to get him in place, stationed near the edge of the old industrial zone. His job? Quietly hijack and edit every signal, every transmission, every communication, coming in and out of that entire region.”
The old marshal smirked.
“We didn’t delete anything. In fact, we added details. Let the foreign powers detect something. Let them piece together videos via satellite scans, or use high-resolution optics to try and get raw footage. That’s fine.”
“But the more meticulous they are, the more suspicious they’ll become.”
“Eventually, they’ll start doubting their own intel. Because those videos and images, they’ll all look just a little too perfect, a little off, as if they’ve been tampered with.”
HOOO~
A soft sigh escaped several officials, followed by light applause.
One of them chuckled. “Marshal, you sure you don’t want to transfer to our department? I think you'd fit right in.”
“Hah, no thanks.”
The old marshal waved the suggestion away with a tired grin.
“At my age? Besides, because of that 【Immor... well, let’s just say my body’s not exactly reliable anymore.”
“But if I can help extend Emberlight’s national fate, just a little longer, then I’ve already done enough.”
Cough, cough...
The old marshal bent forward with a harsh cough before forcing out his words:
“Emberlight truly can’t afford another upheaval.”
The coughing fit had taken its toll. His face looked even more haggard, his figure more sunken into his uniform.
“Understood.”
The director of intelligence nodded solemnly. “I’ll convene a meeting the moment I return. We’ll begin refining the 【Concealment】 protocols.”
“All related documents, personnel logs, surveillance footage, and audio recordings within Emberlight territory must be comprehensively revised.”
“As for the foreign agents already embedded within our borders...”
He narrowed his eyes.
“We can make use of them: leak carefully curated false intel, stir up the smoke and mirrors.”
Around the table, the other high-level officials silently agreed, each deep in their own calculations.
After prolonged discussion and meticulous planning, the emergency meeting finally adjourned.
...
The following day, the government of Emberlight issued an official statement regarding the incident near Ashara.
They formally classified the destruction of several buildings in the old industrial district and parts of the urban zone as an industrial accident.
Simultaneously, the highest-tier state media released a public report:
Yesterday, a significant explosion occurred in the industrial outskirts of Ashara, resulting in the collapse of multiple warehouses and nearby residential buildings. At nearly the same time, along XX Street, XX Avenue, and XX Square within the city, aging and poorly maintained infrastructure, including water systems and gas pipelines, led to methane buildup and several breaches in natural gas lines.
When shockwaves from the outskirts explosion rippled through the city, the gas lines ignited, triggering a secondary series of explosions. This cascade effect resulted in widespread structural damage. Thankfully, the affected areas were sparsely populated, and civilian casualties remain low.
After thorough investigation, the primary cause has been identified as catastrophic negligence in warehouse operations. Specifically, warehouse No. 127, owned by the Third Chemical Division of XX Industrial Company, was storing 8,500 tons of ammonium nitrate. Improper handling led to a runaway combustion event.
The resulting fire spread rapidly, igniting nearby warehouse No. 124 (2,000 tons of Trinitrotoluene), warehouse No. 120 (9,300 tons of potassium chlorate), and warehouse No. 85 (12,000 tons of dichromate). The chain reaction culminated in a massive compound explosion that devastated the entire zone...
...
In the vast silence of the cosmos, Seraphine stood still, her eyes fixed upon the distant sun.
Slowly, she began to inhale Ether.
And she did not stop.
Time passed.
Minute by minute.
An eternity, it seemed.
Then, Seraphine opened her eyes.
And divine radiance exploded in all directions.
After the battle with Vuron, her reserves had reached their peak.
Her deductions into higher martial paths had also matured to a flawless state.
Now, finally, this moment had come.
She was ready to break through the Mystic Aperture and ascend to a higher plane of existence.
A new realm: 【Divine Flesh】
Also known among the ancients as 【Martial Saint】.
To cross into this exalted state, Seraphine had mapped out a three-layered barrier.
Each one more grueling than the last.
The First Layer: Solidification.
A sudden pulse.
Seraphine’s soul flared with divine brilliance.
BZZZZZ ~
Her spirit expanded violently.
Countless chaotic mental currents surged outward, distorting the void around her in wild, unpredictable ripples.
These chaotic waves, murky and unstable, were remnants, fragments of impure mental energy cast off during her soul’s refinement.
To others, these "impurities" could grant tremendous power.
If someone recklessly absorbed even a fraction of them, they might instantly awaken as a high-tier Mental System superpower wielder.
But they would pay a price.
Their minds would twist. Their hearts would rot.
They would descend into madness.
The Second Layer: Forging the Saint Body.
BZZZ ~
All one hundred and eight of Seraphine’s primary acupoints ignited with celestial light.
Her flesh began to tremble.
Skin, sinew, organs, bone, and marrow, all throbbed as if under a forge.
Then even deeper.
The trillions upon trillions of cells composing this divine body stirred.
Each one shimmered with a transcendent glow, illusory, yet divine.
As if every cell was being cut, polished, and ground like a raw diamond, refined beneath the relentless crash of Ether tides.
They flickered, danced, and cried out in triumph, evolving wildly.
BANG! BANG! BANG!!
From the surface of her body, blood erupted.
Gouts of it, hurling outward at blinding speeds, sizzling, sparking, combusting mid-flight.
The discarded blood blazed through the vacuum like arrows of wrath.
Each drop was saturated with terrifying force, comparable in destructive power to a cruise missile.
These were the impurities of the body: rejected, ejected.
This was no longer a mortal form.
This was the forging of the Saint Body.
The Third Layer: Incubation of the Divine Aura.
BZZZ ~
Without warning, the Great Sun energy field around her body surged into life.
It roared to full bloom, expanding to a radius of exactly 333 meters.
Then, abruptly, it began to collapse.
Compressing violently.
Light poured from it, brilliant and divine, seeking to become something more… Something transcendent.
Soon, the collapsing field had shrunk to just 10 meters across.
And then:
SCREEEEECH!!!
A sharp cry split the quiet stars.
From within the field, a hazy phantom emerged.
A Three-legged Golden Crow, ancient and radiant, burst into view.
Its wings blazed like solar flares as it circled the meditating Seraphine.
Then, like a spark returning to its flame, it dove into the compressed Aether Domain.
WHOOSH ~
And in that moment, fusion.
The domain flared gold, expanding like a newborn star.
Golden light erupted outward, rippling across the dim void.
The golden light gradually faded.
The Aether Domain reshaped itself. With Seraphine at its heart, it transformed into a phantom realm stretching nearly ten kilometers across.
From a distance, one could make out the barren landscape within that hazy world, a vast, desolate earth beneath a blazing Great Sun.
High above, a Golden Crow flying within the sun’s core.
From the divine body of this celestial beast, torrents of Great Sun Fire erupted, surging down like molten rivers and engulfing the entire illusionary domain.
From that moment on, the Aether vanished.
No energy field remained.
Only one thing filled the void:
Divine Aura.
This Divine Aura was a realization Seraphine had grasped in her fierce battle against Vuron, drawn from observing his life magnetic field, his biological force signature.
Technically speaking, every living entity in nature carries what is known as a life magnetic field, or more precisely, a Biological Force Field.
Seraphine, with her monstrous Mental Power, had long since become aware of this.
Surrounding any lifeform is a subtle, invisible “field,” intricately structured, delicate yet resilient. It carries sensory information, energetic exchanges, and even psychic impressions, linking one creature to others, and to the world itself.
It’s more than just biology.
It’s the extension of life force itself.
A magnetic resonance of existence, in real, physical form.
In simpler terms:
An Absolute Domain.
For most lifeforms, this domain remains passive, an invisible halo.
But beings like the Aurora Clan, whose life force is abnormally powerful, can cause their Biological Fields to partially materialize, forming what people commonly call a life magnetic field.
But Seraphine?
Her Divine Aura went far beyond that.
Unlike the purely offensive and defensive enhancements used by her enemies, her aura was something transcendent, a fusion of Aether and Martial Truth, shaped into a psychic-energetic force with a Biological Field like structure, yet wholly divine.
It could grasp weapons like telekinesis.
It could manifest physical shapes: cloaks, armor, boots, gauntlets, swords, polearms, even highly complex constructs of war and utility.
More importantly, when activated for battle, Divine Aura could instantly reshape itself into apocalyptic forms, storms of blades, roaring infernos, floods of lightning and flame.
It could raze cities and obliterate entire battlefields in seconds.
Seraphine’s Martial Truth was aligned with the Great Sun Golden Crow.
Her core concept: to awaken the Great Sun Divine Flame through the essence of the Golden Crow.
The resulting heat could reach a staggering 1,500,000℃:
That’s 272 times hotter than the Sun’s surface.
At that temperature, nearly all matter is reduced to vapor, regardless of its composition.
Now, Seraphine…
With merely the thought of killing, she could become a phantom Great Sun, descending upon a modern city with a hundred-mile radius and turning it into a scorched wasteland within moments.
But her Divine Aura was not mindless destruction.
It was refined, precise, capable of retracting its fire at will, leaving untouched what she chose not to harm.
In the process of mastering Divine Aura, she discovered another secret:
She could now use it to replace Aether entirely:
To construct what she called a Divine Clone.
This clone, composed purely of Divine Aura, would be over one hundred times stronger than any Aether based version.
Preliminary calculations estimated its attribute values in the millions.
Even more astonishing: the main body could project and control the clone from tens of thousands of miles away.
In other words:
Nearly the entire Emberlight Empire would fall within the clone’s operational range.
“From this point on,” Seraphine mused, “I can walk the world without needing to leave my seat.”
The practical applications of this Divine Clone would be tested soon.
But for now, she refocused her mind and entered a meditative state.
...
Time passed.
BOOM!
A vast, silent shockwave pulsed outward, distorting the space around her.
Seraphine had done it.
She had completed the three breakthrough stages:
And stepped into the realm of the Martial Saint.
These three steps, corresponding to Soul → Body → Energy, were known respectively as:
1. Solidification
2. Forging the Saint Body
3. Incubation of Divine Aura
Not a single misstep was allowed; failure meant death or total collapse.
Yet Seraphine’s foundation was so deep, so unshakable, that she completed all three stages in a single breakthrough, reaching the Martial Saint Realm in one leap.
Ordinary martial artists would never survive such an attempt. For them, even one step would take years. To take all three at once would be suicide.
Seraphine ran a quick mental diagnostic.
After the breakthrough, her base attributes had risen over sevenfold.
And right on cue, as dawn approached, the system’s daily attribute doubling arrived.
The combined effect?
A staggering fifteenfold increase across the board.
【Host: Seraphine】
【Physical Strength: 4.515 billion】
【Soul: 4.618 billion】
...
Returning from the edge of the cosmos to Earth, Seraphine was greeted by her ever-loyal disciple, Vale, who brought excellent news.
He had already secured a fully equipped scientific research facility.
And he did it in just one day.
An impossible task under normal conditions. Typically, even selecting a suitable facility would take ten days to two weeks.
But Seraphine?
Now crowned as the Imperial Heir and firmly entrenched in the Emberlight elite: money, technology, political backing... she had access to all of it with the flick of a wrist.
Of course, it wasn’t just her title.
The real reason was her terrifying performance during the Battle of Ashara.
Her rise to imperial status made people revere her.
But her overwhelming power?
That made them afraid.
And so, from now on:
Whenever Seraphine gave an order, someone would carry it out.
Without hesitation.