Chapter 12: ​The hiss of the overhead ventilation system changed pitch, shifting from a clean, sterile hum to a heavy, sluggish rattle. A fine, glittering silver dust began to drift down from the ceiling grills, sparkling under the white-gold lights of the flagship corridor.​The Grand Interstellar Viceroy did not blink. He kept his crimson-armored hand steady on the glowing obsidian data-cube, his smile stretching wide across a scarred face. "Grave-Dust," the Viceroy whispered, his voice vibrating through the heavy plating of his suit. "Harvested from the decay of dead nebulae. It does not suffocate your lungs, mortal. It dissolves the spiritual foundation of your dantian first, turning your millennia of cultivation into gray sludge before your heart even stops. Thirty seconds, Austin. You are already breathing it."​Vespera materialized fully beside him, her ethereal spirit form tightening as the silver particles brushed against her energy field and began to hiss

Chapter 14: ​The sand inside the glowing hourglass did not fall; it floated upward, glowing with a pale, sickly sapphire luminescence that washed over the white-jade tiles of the courtyard. ​TEMPORAL ANOMALY FIELD INITIALIZED. CHRONOLOGICAL DECAY RATE: 100 YEARS PER SECOND. TARGET: HOST'S CELLULAR STRUCTURE AND SYSTEM MATRIX UN-CREATION IN PROGRESS. ​The air around Austin began to shimmer and warp. The pristine jade flagstones beneath his boots turned back into raw, unrefined rock, then into ancient sedimentary dust, rolling backward through the centuries. Across his shoulders, his gray servant robes frayed and turned to cotton fiber, while the dense, crushing weight of his Peak Immortal King aura visibly flickered like a dying candle flame. ​The Right Hand of the True Emperor smiled wider, stepping forward through the receding timeline. His own body was shielded by a golden pocket-watch embedded in his sternum,