The silvery glow of the Echelon system pulsed inside Ezra's chest, steady and alive. Its presence was a warmth against the crushing cold, an anchor in the storm of madness. For the first time since Dagon's arrival, he could think. He could move. He could fight.Ezra's lips curved tighter into that smile, blood staining his teeth as he straightened his battered frame. His aura flared, whipping the air around him. With a sharp breath, he called upon his techniques.Ethereal Step!The cobblestones cracked beneath his step as he vanished in a blur. His body became a flicker of light and shadow, flashing across the battlefield. At the same time, his hands clenched, pulling on the unseen threads of the world itself.Shifting Paths!The air rippled as walls groaned and streets twisted, buildings bending like reeds before a storm, all to ensnare the monstrous figure before him."I'm going to show you that I won't go down easily!" Ezra roared on top of his voice, amplifying it with Qi. "I'm go

The Lord of Bravehearts Town could no longer remain still. Watching his people slaughtered, his walls crumbling, and his street drowned in fire and terror—he felt an overwhelming weight heavier than betrayal crush his chest. He had once collaborated with the Horrendous sect, once agreed to their twisted ritual sacrifices, only because Dagon had promised that it was the only way to stave off complete annihilation. But now the truth was laid bare—Dagon's intention had never been preservation. It had always been slaughter. Always been massacre and bloodshed.The Lord rose, his cloak torn, eyes burning with fury. His command bellowed across the collapsing town."Summon every soldier! Bravehearts will not die cowering! We will fight till our last breath!"From the barracks, from the walls, from the streets, they came—hundreds of intermediate cultivators, armoured in steel and desperation. Dozens of advanced soldiers joined, their Qi flaring like miniature suns against the darkness. And amo

The battlefield froze.For a heartbeat, even the screams of the dying seemed to falter, drowned beneath the weight of what was unfolding.Dagon's monstrous form loomed in the heart of Bravehearts Town, his tentacles dripping with the blood of countless soldiers, his aura a suffocating tide of madness. His voice rolled like thunder as his burning gaze fell upon the masters of the Horrendous sect."Traitors..." the word rumbled through the air, heavy enough to make the cobblestones quake. "You dare raise your hands against me? Your weak and fragile hands?"He had never expected to be betrayed before. Much less by the puny humans who called themselves cultivators. They were all a bunch of weaklings, yet they dared to rebel against him. To betray him.His fury ripped outward. The ground cracked. Buildings crumbled. Men screamed as invisible pressure crushed their bodies into the dirt. A dozen soldiers' bones shattered at once, reduced to mangled heaps of blood and flesh.And yet—those who