The sky above the royal garden wasn’t really a sky anymore.It looked like a collapsing world made of light and violence. Every few seconds, explosions of divine energy ripped through the air, shaking everything like reality itself was barely holding together.Kaelen Viremont was at the center of it all.And honestly… he didn’t even look like a normal fighter anymore.His body—fully awakened in the fourth stage of the Glazed Battle Body—shone with a crystal-like brilliance. Every movement carried weight. Not just force, but pressure. Like each step could flatten a mountain if he wanted.He wasn’t “fighting” anymore.He was dominating the battlefield.Across from him, the High Priestess was getting pushed back. Again and again. Step by step.Her white robes fluttered wildly under the pressure. That calm, almost divine expression she always had? Gone. Replaced with something sharper… disbelief, maybe even shock.The weapon in her hand trembled. Tiny cracks were forming in it. Not loud,

Silence.A dead, heavy silence.It spread through the royal garden like a tide you couldn’t see, swallowing everything. No sound. No whispers. Not even the smallest breath felt safe anymore.Nobody spoke.Nobody even moved.Everyone just stood there, frozen in the same expression—shock so deep it almost looked like their minds hadn’t caught up with reality yet.Because they had seen it.With their own eyes.The High Priestess… the same figure who once felt untouchable, almost sacred in the eyes of the empire… had fallen.Not in stories.Not in rumors.Right here. In front of them.And what was left of her… wasn’t even something they could properly recognize anymore.Just a broken figure lying in the ruins.A beauty that once felt far beyond reach now looked fragile. Empty. Like something fading away after being pulled too far from the light.Strangely enough, the air wasn’t filled with celebration.It was regret.Not for what she had done.But for what she had become in the end.Above

Outside the royal garden, deep inside the vast hunting grounds, winter had fully settled in.The forest stretched on forever under a fading sky. Ancient trees stood tall and still, like they were watching everything in silence. Only the wind moved—cold, slow, slipping through the branches with a faint, tired sound.Down in those woods, the participants of the winter hunt had no idea what had just happened beyond the royal grounds.And honestly, they didn’t care.Not yet.For them, this was the moment.A rare chance to rise.A chance to stand out, get noticed by the Vermilion Bird Emperor, and maybe—just maybe—change their entire future.So they fought as it mattered.Beasts roared and fell one after another. Steel clashed loudly in the snow. Blood stained the white ground in dark patches that didn’t fade quickly.By the time the sun started sinking, the forest was already turning heavy with darkness.That was the signal.The hunt was ending.One by one, figures began walking out of th

Kaelen Viremont stood in front of the ancient pavilion, his gaze flickering just slightly.Just a little.This was the place he had come for tonight.Zijing Pavilion.Not flashy. Not loud. But in the Vermilion Bird Dynasty, this name carried weight. The kind of quiet reputation that only people at a certain level even understood.The wind rolled across the mountain peak, cold and steady, brushing against his black robe.Then—creak.The vermilion gates opened on their own.No guards. No announcement. Nothing dramatic.Just a calm voice drifting out from inside.“Brother Kaelen Viremont has come from afar. Please enter and enjoy a cup of clear tea.”Kaelen’s eyes sharpened a little.But he didn’t stop.He stepped in.Inside, the pavilion was quieter than expected. Almost too quiet. There was this faint smell of tea mixed with old wood and mountain air. Honestly, it felt… clean. Like the world outside had been left behind.A small hall sat deeper inside.Two people were already there.O

The extraterritorial battlefield was nothing like anything Kaelen Viremont had ever seen—or even imagined.It wasn’t just a war zone. Not even close. It felt more like a world stacked on top of another world, endlessly vast, constantly shifting. One moment calm, the next moment deadly. And hidden everywhere were dangers… and opportunities that could flip someone’s entire fate in an instant.Out here, so-called extraterritorial demons moved freely. They were born from chaos and twisted, corrupted energy. Not normal beasts at all. Every single one carried a violent, destructive instinct, and the stronger ones… they could actually go head-to-head with elite warriors from the great dynasties.Kaelen had learned most of this from Marek Rael during their earlier talk. But the more he understood, the heavier something pressed on his chest.Because one question still didn’t leave his mind.If the Hundred Dynasties War really took place in this extraterritorial battlefield, and tens of thousan