Even after Gray Palace issued an urgent evacuation order, most citizens paid it no mind.
Enemies invading?
What a joke.
Who could possibly land on Beaconreach soil armed with guns and cannons—
And then have the gall to invade the capital?
Beaconreach’s capital?
Invade it? Topple the entire nation?
Ha!
That had always been their privilege.
Sounded like something straight out of a fairy tale!
But just as the people were laughing off the warnings—
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Several of the fastest Mist Demons had already pierced into the inner city.
Their feral faces twisted with bloodlust as they crashed headlong into towering buildings, both ancient and modern.
Boom!
Boom!!
BOOM!!!
In an instant, the reinforced concrete walls of the buildings burst apart, collapsing under the impact.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Slabs of concrete, twisted rebar, and choking clouds of dust rained down. Passersby screamed and scrambled to flee, retreating in terror.
Even so—
Many were crushed to death on the spot.
"Oh my god!"
"Holy shit!"
"What the fuck is going on?!"
Before anyone could process what was happening—
Dozens. Hundreds. Thousands...
Tens of thousands of Mist Demons followed like a barrage of cruise missiles, slamming into buildings with terrifying force.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The air shook with thunderous impacts. Structures throughout the district crumbled into twisted ruins.
Streetlamps toppled like saplings with severed roots.
Power lines were torn down, flailing wildly across the streets like dying, electrified serpents—howling, hissing, and spitting sparks.
Then came the second wave.
Mist Demons surged in, morphing into blazing red gales that tore across the pavement with manic force.
Whoosh ~ Whoosh ~ Whoosh ~ Whoosh ~
Dust and debris filled the air. Wails and screeches mingled with howls like a scene out of hell.
People fled in chaos—sobbing, screaming, scattering in all directions.
But time and again, clusters of Mist Demons zipped past, leaving behind nothing but smoldering, charred skeletons.
"Aaaahhhhhh!"
"Lord, save me!"
"God!!"
"HELP MEEEE!!!"
Carnage spread in every direction.
Following Manzang's will, the Mist Demons demolished buildings and infrastructure, slaughtering civilians with cold, mechanical brutality.
The once-lively streets were now a choking mess of panicked crowds and gridlocked traffic.
Horns blared. People screamed. Profanity and desperate cries filled the smoke-clogged air.
At that moment, Beaconreach military forces rolled in from every direction.
Armored vehicles surged onto the streets, and tanks opened fire on the Mist Demons.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Each shell tore through a Mist Demon, reducing it to wisps of flaming smoke.
But a breath later—
Those same wisps reassembled.
The Mist Demon, apparently slain, was resurrected.
It let out a chilling shriek—
And plunged straight at the soldiers who had just been firing at it.
Whoosh —
With a single pass, the entire squad was reduced to heaps of charred black corpses.
Ordinary humans stood no chance against the Mist Demon race.
Swish ~
An anti-air missile struck, obliterating one freshly revived Mist Demon into purplish-red vapor.
Moments later, several tanks zeroed in and unleashed another barrage.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
Brutal vibrations and concussive energy tore through everything in the blast radius.
Whoosh whoosh ~
The mist dispersed—
And that Mist Demon was finally gone for good.
But just then—
From a street corner, a squad of over a hundred Mist Demons suddenly surged forward—like a malevolent tide from the depths of hell—instantly overwhelming the Beaconreach soldiers, tanks, and Humvees stationed at this small battlefield.
Clatter clatter clatter clatter clatter clatter clatter!!!
Bang bang bang bang bang!!!
Whoosh ~~ —— BOOM!!!!
Explosions, flesh being torn apart, bullets ripping through the air—an unending cacophony of chaos.
Minutes later, after losing a handful of their own, the Mist Demon squad had completely wiped out every last Beaconreach soldier in the vicinity with cold-blooded brutality.
Clang clang clang clang clang ——
Elsewhere, on another street, a dozen tanks rumbled forward in tight columns, unflinchingly crushing the screaming, fleeing Beaconreach civilians beneath their treads. Their cannons swung toward a handful of Mist Demons gathered in the middle of the road.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Each deafening blast shattered the creatures into crimson mist and smoking fragments.
But at the same time, the deadly shrapnel and superheated debris from the explosions tore indiscriminately through the surrounding civilians who hadn’t managed to escape in time.
Blood sprayed. Severed limbs flew.
It was a slaughter.
For the Beaconreach military, however, their orders were clear: eliminate these unidentified, highly dangerous entities at any cost.
Nothing else mattered.
Just then—
Hum ——
The besieged Mist Demons began to vibrate.
They circled, twisted, and suddenly fused together—coalescing into a towering figure, half-phantom, half-solid, radiating crimson light from glowing veins.
Its face was blurred and featureless, but curling, blade-like horns jutted from its skull. Standing nearly three meters tall, its body glowed red-hot, tiny embers erupting constantly from its skin.
It resembled a Flamedemon straight out of hell.
The evolved Mist Demon opened its blazing crimson eyes, spread its arms wide, and floated into the air, letting out a soul-shaking roar:
"ROAR!!!!"
Then, lowering its gaze, it locked onto a tank that had already locked onto it—and grinned.
"HOWL!!!!"
Whoosh ——
With a wave of heat trailing behind, the creature twisted its body and shot forth like a burning, spear-shaped stream of incandescent light, slamming directly into the tank’s armored top.
Sizzle sizzle sizzle sizzle...!!!
With a teeth-grinding screech of metal being torn apart, the red-hot beam punched through the tank’s hull. Inside, the driver had barely widened his eyes in horror before being reduced to a pile of dry ash.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The remaining tanks, panicking, turned their cannons toward the breached vehicle and opened fire at once.
But this evolved Mist Demon could no longer be felled by ordinary firepower.
Surrounded by shell blasts, it simply turned to its next target.
The slaughter resumed.
Swish ——
Swish ——
Swish ——
In no time at all, even while enduring shrapnel and warped metal, the creature charged toward the last remaining tank still attempting to flee.
Within just a few short hours, the capital of Beaconreach was consumed by flames and choking smoke, its streets saturated with fear and death.
Gunfire and explosions echoed relentlessly from alleys, high-rises, shopping districts, and parks.
Beaconreach soldiers fell one after another. Tanks and APCs were blown apart. Helicopters and fighter jets were shot down, one by one.
At the same time, countless Mist Demons were annihilated—shredded into nothingness.
But as the war escalated...
Even stronger Mist Demons were being born—
And evolving.
These powerful Mist Demons loyally carried out the Aurora Clan’s command: whether facing unarmed civilians or Beaconreach military, whether the enemy fought back or tried to flee—
They killed them all.
The frontlines of the battle continued to spread outward, locked in a deadlocked advance.
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The trail of destruction left by both sides grew wider by the minute, and the damage to Beaconreach—economic, military, structural—climbed higher and higher.
At this very moment…
This capital—symbol of Beaconreach’s supreme authority and military dominance—finally had its gleaming fa?ade shattered by a stronger force, exposing its vulnerable core beneath.
Its magnificent skyline lay in ruins beneath clouds of ash and dust. Everything that had once been protected within—noble or corrupt, beautiful or grotesque—was reduced to wreckage.
Among the debris lay the shattered remains of Beaconreach’s global authority—still largely intact on Earth despite cracks in its foundation.
Now, other nations around the world watched with bated breath, closely tracking the minute-by-minute changes in this escalating war.
None of them needed to act. They all knew:
This war—whatever its origin—would cripple Beaconreach.
But how much blood Beaconreach would shed remained to be seen.
If this two-hundred-year-old empire managed to survive, then in its desperation to recover from the bleeding, it would strike back with ravenous fury—devouring anything in its path without hesitation. It would lash out blindly, tearing massive chunks from the world like a starving beast.
And if Beaconreach did manage to crawl out alive…
Earth would burn.
But if it failed—
Earth would burn even worse.
And so, leaders of other nations—knowing Beaconreach’s true nature—feared one thing more than anything else:
If Beaconreach were ever cornered… if it truly lost its status as a global superpower…
It would start a world war.
Under this looming threat, many countries rushed to establish new channels of communication, trade, and alliances.
All except one.
Emberlight.
Right now, Emberlight was preoccupied with two solemn priorities:
First, the funeral of its old emperor.
Second, the preparations for Seraphine’s ascension ceremony.
Amidst this chaos, Earth’s geopolitical landscape became more volatile and unpredictable than ever.
Even the most seasoned experts in international affairs found themselves unable to forecast what would come next.
...
Across Beaconreach’s twisted, crumbling streets, wrecked vehicles were piled in every direction, completely clogging the roads.
The air reeked of scorched flesh.
Whoosh ——
Hot winds swept through the ruins, picking up dry branches, shredded paper, burnt leaves, and clouds of black dust—all of it swirling together like smoke from a funeral pyre.
At one abandoned position, behind a half-melted, charred cargo truck, a handful of soldiers crouched low, huddled together in silence.
Their breath came in shallow, shaking gasps.
"Hoo ~ Hoo ~ Hoo ~"
Bathed in the fading crimson light, their sweat-soaked faces were pale, hollowed, and stunned with fear.
The heavy stench of blood and charred bodies soaked the air, gnawing at their nerves.
From nearby came wailing cries—sometimes mournful, sometimes angry—rising and falling without pattern, near and far, high and low.
It felt like madness whispering in their ears.
Then—suddenly—a soldier turned his head.
At the far end of the street, a thin layer of mist was pulsing.
Something… was about to emerge.
His face turned ghost-white.
“…Oh my God…”
He gritted his teeth and jerked his weapon up, firing blindly into the fog.
Clatter clatter clatter!!
The others, jolted by the noise, quickly joined in, unleashing a barrage of gunfire into the mist.
Clatter clatter clatter clatter clatter clatter!!
Then—
Several Mist Demons, their bodies ablaze, burst from the haze—grinning—charging straight at them.
"Aaaaahhhhhh!!"
"Oh my GOD!!"
"FUCK!!"
The soldiers, trembling from head to toe, gripped their machine guns tight and opened fire with everything they had. Bullets, grenades, rockets—whatever they could grab.
Clatter clatter clatter clatter clatter clatter clatter!!
Gunfire and explosions lit up the ruins with deafening force.
But bullets alone could do nothing.
These Mist Demons dove from mid-air like screaming meteors, slamming into the ground just meters from the soldiers’ position.
RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE!!!
The shattered road exploded in a blast of rock and flame.
Chunks of debris ripped through the air. The soldiers were torn apart mid-scream, their bodies thrown high before crashing lifelessly to the bloodied ground.
Whoosh ——
After the strike, thick gusts of scalding mist twisted and surged, reforming once again into multiple Mist Demons. They cackled madly, their distorted laughter echoing through the air as they scattered, flying toward other targets.
Meanwhile, elsewhere—
Boom—rumble rumble rumble!!!
Every artillery shell tore through the skies with a shriek, crashing into swarms of rapidly advancing Mist Demons.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!!!
The artillery roared, lighting the air with explosions as smoke and fire billowed into the sky.
With each thunderous blast, waves of shock rippled across the battlefield.
Over a dozen Mist Demons, caught mid-flight and unable to evade, were struck and obliterated—shredded into smoke, their shrieks cut short.
The remaining ones howled in unison, roaring with fury as they surged forward through the flames.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Churned-up dirt and mangled soldiers’ bodies were blasted skyward, crashing down like discarded waste.
Buildings and homes erupted into infernos as they were hit, the battlefield choking on dark smoke. The air was thick with the acrid stench of gunpowder—and the far more pungent reek of scorched flesh.
It stung the eyes. Clawed at the mind.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!!!
One tank after another was swarmed by Mist Demons, torn apart under their relentless assault.
As seconds passed, their counterattacks dwindled into silence, each tank exploding into a twisted wreck of burning metal.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
A number of clearly evolved, more powerful Mist Demons roared and hurled massive crimson fireballs, trailing flickers of light as they arced out in all directions.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Wherever those fireballs landed—ground, buildings, machinery—everything was annihilated. Nothing remained but shrapnel and suffocating smoke.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The detonations rolled across the city.
Whoosh ~ Whoosh ~ Whoosh ~
Dust and debris fell like grim rain.
Shattered buildings, collapsed overpasses, and cratered streets were littered with Beaconreach soldiers' mangled remains.
Their uniforms had melted into their flesh; their bodies shriveled and blackened into charcoal husks.
Distant bunkers had also been reduced to rubble, their commanding officers buried alive beneath the weight of their own fortifications.
This section of the inner city, now a temporary war zone, showed no signs of life.
Tanks, helicopters, IFVs—under the onslaught of the Mist Demon legion—had all been reduced to twisted, useless heaps of blackened steel, scattered across crumbling avenues.
Fallen towers slumped like corpses, clogging the ruined streets.
Even trees and forest groves, sheared away by bombardment, now burned on the ground, trailing thin streams of eerie green smoke into the sky.
And all of this—
Was just one small corner of the Beaconreach capital’s battlefield.
Elsewhere, tens of thousands—hundreds of thousands—millions, perhaps even more Mist Demons, engulfed in flame, were pouring out of the capital, soaring outward like a plague, racing toward every last inch of Beaconreach.
“Screech!!!”
Amid the choking fog, a White-Headed Eagle, an escapee from the capital’s zoo, dodged between searing streams of flame, its trembling wings scattering feathers as it desperately ascended into the sky.
It looked down—panic-stricken.
In a flash, the entirety of Beaconreach’s capital sprawled out beneath its shattered golden eyes.
Far below, the vast battlefield raged.
Countless Mist Demons, like swarming fire ants, were converging and clashing with Beaconreach’s military.
A seething red ocean of smoke and fire, burning across the earth.
The eagle’s fevered body trembled. It flapped harder, fleeing upward to safety.
And just like that eagle, countless Beaconreach officials and key figures—Commander Tom among them—had long since evacuated, retreating to secure locations.
As for the city’s grand landmarks—Beaconreach’s towers, the Gray Palace, Abraham Memorial Hall, Thomas Memorial Hall—symbols of pride, liberty, and the Beaconreach spirit…
Most had already collapsed into dust.
Reduced to ruin.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three giants descended from the sky, crashing down into the mostly ruined memorial hall with thunderous impact.
Fengao slowly straightened, lifting his gaze toward the towering gray-white statue before him—a slender figure with a long beard—and let out a derisive cackle.
"This generation of intelligent lifeforms is truly pathetic. They can’t even handle trash like Mist Demons. How utterly meaningless!"
With a sneer, he raised his clawed right hand.
Whoosh ——
A vortex spun violently to life, spiraling around his palm with enough force to shear through steel.
He pressed two fingers together and casually pointed them at the statue.
Swoosh!!
The swirling vortex surged forward with a howl.
Bang! Bang! Bang!!
In an instant, it obliterated the statue and the entire wall behind it—pulverized into dust. And it didn’t stop there. The force continued, tearing through everything in its path—structures, trees, even drifting clouds within a radius of over a thousand meters—shredded into fine powder.
Suddenly, Cengmu, the one among them with the sharpest senses, snapped his head upward. His gaze locked onto something at the very edge of the sky.
Manzang, standing beside him, turned curiously. “Did you sense something?”
Cengmu replied slowly, his voice low and firm: “There’s a surge of highly destructive malice… approaching.”
Fengao walked over, eyes narrowing. “Destructive malice?”
Still staring skyward, Cengmu spoke again, his tone darkening:
“Most likely… humanity’s counterattack.”
Beaconreach, Elasa.
Anchorage Military Base — Military Command Center.
Commander Tom stood at the head of the war table, arms crossed, eyes sweeping over the assembled high-ranking officers. He chuckled coldly:
“If conventional means don’t work, then let’s use the final option.”
“Deploy the hydrogen bombs. Bomb the capital.”
Bomb his own capital?
Despite the shocking nature of the order, not a single officer in the room spoke up in protest.
In fact, if an outsider had been present, they would’ve noticed something deeply unsettling: the eyes of every officer in the command center gleamed with a strange, fervent loyalty.
Loyalty not to the nation—but to Commander Tom.
These men had long since fallen under Tom’s control.
So naturally, no one objected.
Nuking the capital? If Tom ordered mass suicide, they’d obey just the same—without hesitation, without question.
Just then, a tall, burly white man in military uniform and beret stepped into the room, carrying a heavy black leather briefcase.
Tom’s eyes lit up with glee. He laughed heartily, rubbing his hands together with manic excitement.
“Nuclear bombs… ah, nuclear bombs! Humanity’s greatest invention. Just drop all that heat, that fire, that glorious radiation—Bang! Millions, gone in an instant. Heh heh!”
He threw his hands up in an exploding gesture, eyes wide with fevered joy.
“Damn! What a beautiful opium blossom… truly divine!”
Over the past few days, Tom had come to fully understand the terrifying might of nuclear weaponry.
In his mind, nothing on Earth could possibly withstand that kind of force.
Not even those beings—those monsters—whose burning bodies cut paths of destruction across the land, feeding his power with every life taken.
“Whether they die or not…”
“It doesn’t matter.”
Tom grinned, voice low and venomous.
“I just want to watch this world burn.”
Because of their immense destructive power, nuclear weapons were governed by the strictest protocols across all nations. Launch procedures were layered, precise, and tightly controlled—from initial threat recognition to final command authorization.
Beaconreach's launch protocol was no exception.
In theory, the supreme commander had the authority to initiate a nuclear strike from anywhere in the world—provided they verified their identity via personal codes using a nuclear briefcase, confirmed chain of command, and followed a strict three-step process:
-
Convene for operational planning.
-
Report and verify identity through the Hexagonal Building.
-
Authorize the strategic command center to launch.
Normally, Commander Tom would be required to enter the secure War Room inside Gray Palace, convene with both military and civilian advisors, then formally issue the nuclear strike order.
Qualified participants included chief strategic aides, senior military personnel, and the acting commander of the strategic division.
Only after multi-level confirmation and encryption would the order be considered valid.
But that was in theory.
In reality, with nearly all senior government, military, and legal personnel of Beaconreach already under Tom’s control—
Every barrier had been erased.
So now, after only a short delay——
A single command passed through various levels of clearance, verified by multiple high-ranking Beaconreach officials, and was finally transmitted to a secluded military base deep within the mountains.
Clang ——
Under the harsh sunlight, the heavy circular hatch of the nuclear missile silo groaned open.
Bwoop!
Bwoop!
Bwoop!
Piercing sirens echoed across the base.
"Warning: Nuclear missile has been launched!"
"Warning: Nuclear missile has been launched!"
"Warning: Nuclear missile has been launched!"
Hum hum hum ~~~
A subtle vibration rose from beneath the earth, causing the entire launch facility to tremble.
The tremors grew in intensity.
Then ——
CRACK!!!
A thick rocket blasted from the silo, accelerating at incredible speed. It left behind a blazing white contrail, shooting high into the firmament and disappearing beyond the clouds.
Whoosh ——
Beaconreach Capital – City Center.
Cengmu stared skyward.
Though his senses were flooded with escalating waves of destructive malice, he could see nothing yet.
At a distance, atop the Hexagonal Building, Fengao stood with arms crossed, smirking.
“Hah! Humanity’s counterattack? Don’t make me laugh. They’re nothing but feeble insects.”
Nearby, Manzang cackled. “I’m more curious about the one who killed Vuron. Let’s see if he’s as terrifying as they claim.”
Fengao sneered sideways. “Low-level lifeform. Once we finish this nation, we’ll move on to other parts of the planet. There seem to be more toys elsewhere.”
Cengmu licked his fangs, chuckling darkly. “More people means more fun. This time, let’s not kill them too fast—we should savor it.”
They laughed.
Then, suddenly—
A searing flash tore through the edge of the sky.
The next second—
A blinding white light engulfed the heavens.
BOOM!!!
A shockwave erupted like a sky-wide rupture—a second sun born in midair.
The fusion burst rained apocalyptic light and heat down upon the Earth.
All three paused mid-laughter, eyes widening in disbelief.
“This is... the power of atomic fusion?!”
Beneath their feet, the city and every structure in sight—
Instantly vaporized.
BOOM!!!
From ground zero, the explosion expanded outward.
A white light so bright it blinded all creation, blasting across the landscape.
The capital city collapsed into hellish chaos.
Everything ignited.
Everything perished.
A tidal wave of pure heat swept across the land, consuming everything in its path.
The surface of the Earth shimmered like molten glass—fluid and formless, churning outward like a burning flood.
Residential blocks, hotels, libraries, theaters, parks, shopping malls—
All erased, like sandcastles crushed beneath a tidal wave of death.
The entire city twisted and screamed as it fractured, cracked, and imploded under the pressure.
BOOM!!!
A monstrous mushroom cloud rose from the city’s heart—colossal, towering like a glowing pyramid.
Within seconds, the entire urban center—survivors, soldiers, Mist Demons alike—
All vanished.
Atomized by a hydrogen bomb with a yield surpassing tens of millions of tons.
The explosion rocked the entire planet.
Far away—
Amidst a range of endless mountains...
Kael and Vale sat in midair, suspended high above a shattered Frankenstein Corporation base. Having already destroyed five or six such facilities, they now meditated calmly, absorbing the surging Ether and rapidly breaking through their martial realms.
Below them, Frankenstein Corp’s forces continued launching missiles—but all in vain.
Kael’s glowing, solidified Aether field shielded him completely, thick and impenetrable.
Vale, shifting like a spectral mirage, drifted through the attacks as though they weren’t even there.
Explosions rumbled. Flames roared. But the two cultivators remained untouched.
Suddenly—
Kael opened his eyes. A flash of divine brilliance surged within them.
“Excellent... I’ve finally broken through to the ninth layer of the Aether Domain!”
With fierce determination, he grabbed his long saber and dove toward the battlefield.
“Have they fing exploded enough yet?!
Heaven’s Will Severance—One hundred twenty-eight stacks!!”
Hum ——
Thousands of blazing saber arcs condensed into a singular strike—
And then—
BOOM!!!!
The earth detonated.
Stone and dirt surged upward like waves, dozens of meters high, engulfing everything within a kilometer-wide radius.
Air was expelled in all directions, forming a raging dust storm that smothered the surroundings.
When the smoke finally cleared...
At the center of the blast, the Frankenstein base had been annihilated. The ground was torn open with jagged scars.
But Vale wouldn’t be outdone.
His form flickered—splitting into hundreds of afterimages that whistled toward the fleeing soldiers.
Within a single minute—
Not one was left alive.
At the same time, on the Moon...
Deep within a massive impact crater—over 100 kilometers wide and more than 7,000 meters deep—Seraphine sat in silence.
Though the landscape was desolate and dead, not a shadow remained.
Because Seraphine herself was the light.
She radiated brilliance—a humanoid sun, her presence overwhelming and divine.
The moon’s soil and boulders around her had long melted into a seething sea of lava.
Even space-time itself churned around her—twisting, boiling, bending.
Reality fractured.
Matter and energy warped into phenomena that defied any known laws of physics.
The very fabric of existence in Seraphine’s presence—
Was hers to manipulate.