The eldest brother, Hawke, stood a slight distance away, hands clasped behind his back, aloof and silent.

  Normally, he was well-acquainted with many nobles, always surrounded by courtiers and flattering words.

  But now, only a few scattered nobles lingered near him.

  He had lost his momentum.

  Still, Hawke composed himself faster than the others.

  “Things have come to this. There’s no point in clinging on and making a fool of myself.”

  Lowering his head, Hawke sighed quietly, mourning his lack of imperial fate.

  In the distance, the Fifth Brother Cedric watched with a gaze layered in complexity, yet beneath that surface, a glint of malice and cold calculation stirred.

  “I have cultivated my image for years. My talent is unmatched. So many nobles and officials stand behind me."

  "Father, do you truly not see any of it? You chose to trust the so-called prophecy of a bald, rambling mystic?"

  "And those useless fools, why didn’t they act while there was still time?"

  "Now… it’s too late!”

  Of all the brothers, it was the third, Hestan, whose heart was most fractured.

  He clenched his jaw, teeth grinding in secret rage:

  “Father has been fooled! All of you, fooled!"

  "Since childhood, she’s never surpassed me. I was always the better heir!"

  "Seraphine… don’t get too comfortable. You’re just the heir, not the true ruler."

  "One day… you’ll see what I'm truly capable of.”

  The tension-choked atmosphere even reached the media stationed further away.

  Reporters clutched their cameras, their instincts telling them they were witnessing something far more powerful than a mere ceremony.

  Even viewers watching the livestream could feel it.

  “The royal family really is built different, huh…”

  “Yeah… it’s freezing cold in there, and I’m just watching.”

  “If I were there, I’d just collapse on the spot.”

  “Hey, is it just me or did Sera suddenly get even hotter? She's on a next level now.”

  “Hot? She’s terrifying! Gave me goosebumps.”

  “It’s like when you’re secretly playing on your phone in class and the teacher is suddenly behind you.”

  Just then, the Emperor of Emberlight entered the hall, supported by attendants.

  He cast a glance at Seraphine, then at the hushed, reverent crowd, and smiled with deep satisfaction.

  “Among all the civil and military officials of the realm, none compare to my heir."

  "It seems… the rise of Emberlight has begun.”

  Since the founding of the Emberlight Empire, the appointment of an heir had always been accompanied by rites to the world and the ancestral temple.

  This time was no exception.

  After an intricate sequence of sacrificial rites, four cabinet ministers stepped forward.

  Together, they placed the Golden Book, the Golden Seal, and the Scepter upon the table before the throne in the Imperial Sanctum.

  The Emperor personally approached to inspect each item, then seated himself.

  According to ancient tradition, the assembly was to offer three kneelings and nine bows.

  However, in modern times, the kneeling ceremony had long been abolished.

  A respectful bow of the head now sufficed.

  Once the crowd had bowed, Seraphine stepped forward and solemnly accepted the Golden Book and Golden Seal.

  She turned to the Scepter, bowing three times to honor the will of the heavens.

  The four ministers offered a full ceremonial bow to Seraphine.

  Next, all noble house leaders bowed.

  Then all princes, princesses, and royals followed in kind.

  When all was done, the four ministers retrieved the Scepter, offering it to the Emperor, formally announcing the completion of the rite.

  After a brief pause, Seraphine, accompanied by a eunuch carrying the sacred regalia, reported the completion of the formalities.

  At this point, the process had already passed its midpoint.

  The Emperor would soon issue an official decree to the world.

  From that moment forward, Seraphine would be the recognized imperial heir of the Emberlight Empire.

  In time, following the Emperor's passing, Seraphine would ascend the throne and be crowned sovereign ruler.

  A dedicated Heir Affairs Bureau would be formally established, staffed with civil and military personnel to serve the heir apparent.

  CREAK~

  The massive doors of the Imperial Sanctum closed with a heavy, deliberate sound, sealing Seraphine inside alone.

  She stood with hands folded behind her back, motionless in the vast silence.

  As the doors locked shut, she slowly closed her eyes and waited.

  Waited calmly for time to pass.

  But then,

  “Hmm?”

  A strange warmth touched her cheek.

  Seraphine opened her eyes slightly, head tilting up in quiet curiosity.

  There was a circular opening in the ceiling of the palace, and from that aperture, a single shaft of searing sunlight poured down.

  It pierced the dimness like a divine thread of gold.

  That beam of sunlight fell directly across her face, illuminating her features with quiet brilliance.

  Seraphine looked up at the light, her voice a soft murmur:

  “The sun ~”

  Bathed in golden light within the shadowed chamber, Seraphine’s expression turned transcendent.

  Some unseen opportunity, some unspeakable resonance, had drawn her into a state beyond mortal clarity.

  A vast, boundless stillness. A profound emptiness. A quiet enlightenment.

  Time seemed to lose meaning.

  ...

  At that very moment,

  Far above Emberlight Ashara, in the outermost edge of the stratosphere,

  A blood-soaked figure tore through the sky at incomprehensible speed, trailing a long wake of crimson vapor.

  BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

  Inside Ashara’s anti-aircraft radar station, a deafening barrage of alarms suddenly erupted.

  BEEP—BEEP—BEEP—BEEP—BEEP—!!

  Red emergency lights flared in rhythmic panic.

  The radar chief, who had just been dozing off, jerked upright in alarm.

  He bolted through the hallway, nearly tripping over himself as he sprinted into the monitoring hall.

  "What’s happening?!" He barked, eyes already darting to the glowing green radar display.

  There, on the screen, a blazing point of light hurtled directly toward Ashara at a staggering speed.

  The duty supervisor stood to respond, sweat forming at his temples:

  “Sir, radar just picked up an unidentified object from the northeast quadrant. It’s inbound toward Ashara… at Mach twelve.”

  The chief’s eyes widened.

  “Mach twelve...? That’s impossible! Could it be an ICBM?”

  In his mind, only an intercontinental ballistic missile could travel that fast.

  The deputy chief frowned in disbelief.

  “If it’s from outside our borders, how did every early-warning radar in the region fail? That’s absurd!”

  The duty supervisor hesitated, his voice dropping:

  “It’s not that simple. Based on the size... this object is smaller than an ICBM. According to return data... it appears to be—” He swallowed hard. “—humanoid.”

  “That’s nonsense!” the chief snapped.

  “A human body can’t survive Mach twelve. That’s not even physically—”

  “Utter bullshit!” the deputy chief cut in.

  The chief fell silent for a beat. Then—

  “Doesn’t matter. Scramble interceptors immediately. Report everything.”

  Within minutes, more than ten of Emberlight’s top-tier hypersonic fighter jets lifted off.

  They streaked across the sky, converging on the fast-approaching object.

  WHOOSH—

  WHOOSH—

  WHOOSH—

  The fighters reached a position just three kilometers from the target.

  In the lead jet, the pilot opened comms:

  “Command, visual contact established. Wait—it's—"

  "It’s a person! No—! Not a person—it's—it's—!”

  FWOOOOM!!!

  The red figure abruptly surged forward like a beam of pure violence.

  In the blink of an eye, it closed the distance.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  Then—obliteration.

  All ten hypersonic fighters detonated mid-air, their sleek fuselages torn apart in bursts of fire and molten steel.

  Pilots were instantly vaporized or shredded into ribbons of flesh and bone.

  Smoldering wreckage rained down from the sky like a storm of twisted metal and gore.

  A red mist lingered in the air.

  ...

  Imperial Palace.

  Within the sealed Imperial Sanctum.

  Seraphine was struck by a sudden surge of enlightenment, fueled by her profound martial foundation.

  The truth of her martial path was finally born.

  BOOM!!!

  Between existence and non-existence, the world before Seraphine’s eyes crumbled.

  Everything dissolved into a vast, endless wasteland of yellow-brown earth.

  A radiant Great Sun rose abruptly into the sky.

  It unleashed a relentless brilliance, scorching the land without mercy.

  Seraphine felt weightless.

  She sensed that she had become a three-legged divine bird, slumbering deep within that Great Sun.

  After billions of years of stillness, it was now slowly awakening.

  Shaking off the divine fire, it was ready to rise.

  At that instant, Seraphine understood—

  “This is... the Golden Crow Truth.”

  The Martial Arts Truth is the innate will that emerges when one’s spirit is honed to its pinnacle—returning to the primordial.

  It is the embodiment of a martialist’s truest comprehension of self and the boundless cosmos.

  The strong align their hearts with the heavens.

  Grasping the essence of the Golden Crow, Seraphine realized: She no longer needed to draw solely on internal power.

  Her will alone could annihilate the souls of others.

  Furthermore, according to the Eye of True Revelation:

  When Ether is elevated and merged with the Martial Truth, a cultivator can begin bending reality within a limited radius.

  Seraphine took a single, half-step forward.

  She crossed into a higher martial plane.

  Her physical and soul attributes underwent a tremendous qualitative leap.

  The surge felt nearly endless.

  Simultaneously, the Ether within her began to stir.

  Something sacred was awakening deep within it.

  She had a premonition.

  Once this transformation concluded, the Ether inside her would evolve into a new form of power.

  She would truly ascend into the next grand realm of 【Mystic Aperture】: 【Divine Flesh】.

  Her stats and combat capabilities would erupt like a tidal storm.

  BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ ~

  Moments later, the surge began to taper off. Her realm steadied.

  She focused her mind and looked to her interface.

  【Host: Seraphine】

  【Physical Strength: 301 million】

  【Soul: 308 million】

  Her attributes had multiplied sixfold, shattering the hundred-million mark in one leap.

  At her thought, Ether poured outward from her body.

  It gathered at her side, coalescing into a half-solid clone.

  Seraphine turned to the clone, imbuing it with a sliver of her Truth.

  Its capacity for bearing power skyrocketed.

  The Ether clone’s strength surged from barely a thousand tons to a monstrous 30,000.

  This clone was no mere hollow construct; it replicated core physiological functions of Seraphine’s main body.

  It truly possessed tens of thousands of tons in raw physical force.

  Now that her Truth inhabited it, her range of control multiplied.

  From a few miles, it now extended well beyond a thousand miles.

  “Looks like a lot more will be possible from now on.”

  ...

  Outside the Imperial Sanctum.

  “It’s done.”

  The grand courtyard stood still.

  The Cabinet Ministers, Army Marshal, and other high-ranking dignitaries bore expressions of profound complexity.

  Joy... unease... hesitation...

  They were watching the final embers of one era die.

  Standing silently at the edge of the crowd—Hawke, Hestan, and Cedric remained motionless.

  Their eyes dimmed with defeat.

  Just as the final incense burned low, the crowd waited for Seraphine to emerge.

  Suddenly—!

  A monstrous mental force surged down from the sky.

  Dark, vicious, and vast as the abyss—it crashed down over the Imperial Sanctum.

  BOOM!!!!!

  In an instant, everyone present was paralyzed.

  From soul to skin, they dared not breathe.

  The ceremonial cameras—hundreds of them—all short-circuited violently, as if struck by a massive EMP.

  They sparked, smoked, and died.

  The global broadcast feed went dead.

  Hawke, his body stiff, managed to painfully wrench his head toward the sky.

  "Wh—what... the hell... is happening..."

  He never finished.

  Because the next instant, a killing intent so savage, so ancient, and so suffocating descended.

  It carried the scent of true predation.

  The entire plaza fell silent. Even the Emperor and the empire’s elite felt their blood run cold.

  Through the skies, splitting clouds and piercing the atmosphere, a hulking figure fell like a meteor.

  WHAM!!!

  With explosive force, it stomped directly onto the lower back of the eldest brother, Hawke.

  There was no scream. No cry for help.

  Only a sudden, gory detonation as Hawke burst apart like a bloated sack of flesh, his body instantly shredded into viscera and chunks of meat.

  Blood sprayed outward. Nearby onlookers shrieked in horror as they were struck by flying gore, limbs torn and bones shattered.

  The monstrous figure turned slowly.

  Eyes dark and cruel, lips pulling back into a jagged grin, exposing rows of yellowed, fang-like teeth.

  He locked eyes with the pale-faced Emperor and growled:

  "Muren Aurenthal... it's been a while."

  The Emperor froze. His lips trembled as he whispered:

  "G—God’s... remains..."

  This humanoid beast, radiating raw, primal pressure, was none other than the entity long believed sealed: the God’s Remains, who had escaped the snowy mountain research facility.

  Several other high-ranking officials turned ashen. They too knew this nightmare.

  "No ~ no ~ no ~"

  The creature raised one massive hand and chuckled, his voice like iron scraping bone:

  "This god has a name. The divine name is Vuron."

  The Emperor spoke through gritted teeth, face twisted with dread: “You… How could you so easily breach Ashara’s anti-air defenses…?”

  “You mean those flying iron boxes?” Vuron burst into manic laughter. “How could mere toys like that hinder a god’s advance?!”

  The Emperor’s complexion drained completely. Emberlight is finished.

  Just then, a thunderous roar erupted.

  Over a hundred martial artists in mechanized heavy armor surged from the shadows. Their auras blazed. Each was at least in the Roaring Vitalis realm, many at Indestructible Furnace or Evershield Body level.

  These were the elite Royal Guard. They moved in unison to encircle Vuron.

  Vuron let out a guttural cackle. His eyes ignited, burning bright red.

  In the next instant, twin beams of glowing crimson light burst from his eyes.

  WHOOSH— WHOOSH—

  With a single glance, he swept the beams across the encircling fighters.

  In a flash, over a hundred armored martial artists were vaporized, their bodies reduced to writhing clouds of boiling flesh and misted blood.

  Evershield Body? Indestructible Furnace? Meaningless. To Vuron, they were no more than ash.

  The twin beams kept going, cutting through another hundred meters of space. They obliterated dozens of Imperial dignitaries, leaving behind only charred skeletons.

  Behind them, journalists and media techs were caught in the heat. Jade walls and polished stone structures melted and vaporized in an instant.

  Farther still, towers of the imperial skyline disintegrated into steam. In the span of a breath, over 300 lives were lost.

  The crowd stood stunned. Then they saw it.

  A scorched, crimson path stretching straight from where Vuron stood, extending far beyond sight. The air warped with heat.

  Screams broke out. Panic erupted. People fled in every direction.

  Especially those officials tied to the mysterious 【Ascension】 Project. They knew the truth of what this ancient horror had suffered.

  Decades of cold experiments. Years of dissection and inhumane study. They knew just how deep its hatred ran.

  “Excellent.”

  Vuron floated upward, hovering in the smoke-choked sky. He gazed down at the humans scattering in chaos.

  A twisted smile crept across his face, dark markings writhing across his skin like cursed veins.

  "Only a few million years... and this tiny planet has managed to evolve a fresh batch of intelligent life. Remarkable."

  His grin widened. "When the 【King】 awakens, when the tribes return, you will be the most delightful feast."

  But then, his savage smile abruptly faded. Vuron’s voice grew cold and eerily calm.

  "Tell me—do you understand? Food... should possess the awareness that it is food."

  "To dare desecrate the divine flesh of a god is a sin that cannot be forgiven."

  As the last word fell, he raised his left hand, his index finger barely twitching.

  WHOOSH!!!

  A dozen nobles fleeing a hundred meters away didn’t even have time to scream. Their bodies detonated mid-stride, shredded into pulverized gore.

  The blood hung in the air, spiraling. In a heartbeat, the gore congealed into a single, serpentine stream of red.

  The blood-lance ripped through the air, curving gracefully into Vuron’s open mouth.

  He drank.

  "Not bad," he muttered, the crunch of bone echoing from his throat. Then he tilted his head back—and inhaled.

  HISSSS—HISSSSS—HISS—

  The air vibrated with a lethal frequency.

  Then came the screams.

  "AAAAAHHH!!"

  "No!!"

  "Stop—AAHHH—!"

  Dozens of humans within a few hundred meters collapsed instantly, their bodies shrivelling as if aged by centuries in seconds.

  Muscles dried. Skin clung to bone.

  Thick crimson streams burst from their flesh—veins rupturing outward—rivers of blood flowing directly into Vuron’s maw.

  He devoured it all.

  The courtyard of the Imperial Sanctum turned into a scene from hell. Bodies twitched in the dirt, blood flooded the marble tiles, and the stench of death spread like thick smoke.

  "Help!"

  "Save me, someone—save me!!"

  "It's a demon—a demon!"

  Panic swallowed all decorum. The dignified nobles of Emberlight—their grace and imperial elegance—were gone. They trampled one another, clawing at backs just to escape the slaughter.

  "Protect the Emperor! PROTECT THE EMPEROR!"

  A voice cracked through the madness, shrill and desperate.

  Then, thunder erupted.

  Over a thousand soldiers in armored exosuits, their weapons glowing hot, stormed in from all directions.

  With the heavily armored troops covering their retreat, the Emperor and his officials were swiftly escorted away. At the same time, several hundred elite troops raised their oversized mechanical rifles and opened fire.

  BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!!

  A hailstorm of gunfire erupted.

  Heavy, high-caliber rounds struck Vuron one after another—but each bullet slid harmlessly off his skin, clattering to the ground without leaving a scratch.

  To a being like Vuron, the force of these human firearms was laughable.

  "Meaningless."

  He spoke with derision, a cruel smirk tugging at his lips.

  Then, without moving his body, the wild black hair atop his head suddenly writhed and expanded.

  HISS—HISS—HISS—

  Tens of thousands of strands unfurled like a living storm—dark as shadow, fast as lightning.

  They surged out like a black tidal wave, blanketing the sky and sweeping over the guards like a suffocating shroud. Each strand was tougher than refined steel, splitting endlessly mid-flight like hydra heads.

  Sunlight vanished. The world dimmed to a false night.

  "Alright. Time to eat."

  Vuron bared his fangs.

  Thousands of strands shot downward at once.

  HISS HISS HISS—

  Each thread pierced through armor and military alloy as if it were cloth.

  The black hair burrowed inward, expanding within each soldier’s body—splitting open bone, tearing organs, and shredding flesh from the inside out.

  Agonized screams tore through the courtyard as soldiers were transformed into a mist of blood and shredded meat.

  The rain of gore didn't go to waste. The pulsing black strands absorbed the raw life energy, drawing it back into Vuron’s body. Weapons twisted and exosuits were crushed like paper.

  "HAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHA!!"

  Vuron threw his head back in laughter, reveling in the massacre.

  "Too weak! So utterly, disgustingly weak!"

  "Pathetic humans—you’re destined to be nothing more than livestock for my kind!"

  CREAK—

  Just as his voice echoed across the blood-drenched courtyard, the gate to the Imperial Sanctum opened with a low groan.

  There was no wind. It simply... opened.

  Vuron's laughter halted. His eyes narrowed as his instincts flared.

  For the first time, he felt a cold, creeping dread.

  "Who’s there?"

  His voice lost its arrogance, replaced by something sharper. Through the darkness of the palace interior, his gaze pierced like a blade.

  Then, he saw her.

  Standing in the deepest part of the sanctum, hands clasped behind her back, was a lone figure.

  A woman.

  But the aura radiating from her wasn’t human.

  It was absolute. Crushing. Divine.

  Vuron’s vertical pupils shrank. This being’s presence shook the air itself.

  "Such... an overwhelming aura..."

  Far in the distance, someone among the fleeing officials noticed Vuron’s hesitation and murmured:

  “Is it because of the Heir…? Seraphine?”

  They had thought the Heir’s power was within the realm of mortal martial artists. But now, they weren't so sure.

  "Has the Heir already stepped beyond the human threshold...?"

  A calm voice broke the silence.

  “You… are of the Aurora Clan, aren’t you?”

  It was not a question. It was a revelation.

  The words struck Vuron like thunder.

  "Who are you—how do you know that?"

  His voice was tinged with alarm. Seraphine merely nodded, satisfied.

  “As I suspected. It seems my caution was justified.”

  Vuron clenched his fists.

  "What the hell are you talking about?! What are you?!"

  Humans were supposed to be fragile, weak-willed things. But this "Heir" radiated the power of something that should not exist.