The war was over.
The skies, once torn open by screams and fire, now fell into a strained silence. Craters smoldered where titanic weapons had struck. Twisted tal littered the land. Skadi warships, once proud behemoths of the stars, now lay broken and scrapped like fallen leviathans.
Igaris stood at the center of it all, his cloak fluttering amidst the ash-filled wind. Blood dripped from the edge of his sword, steam rising where it touched the scorched earth. His body bore wounds, so still knitting together through sheer will and regenerative force, but his eyes... his eyes were calm.
Cold.
Unforgiving.
The last of the Annihilation Red Team lay dead, their mythic presences erased from existence. No resurrection. No second chances.
A group of battered Skadi soldiers fell to their knees before him, trembling, their weapons discarded in a desperate plea for rcy.
But Igaris did not speak.
He did not forgive.
Because even now, even with their empire’s vanguard in ruin, even with their myths shattered, the sight of those blue-skinned faces made his heart twist with hatred.
He rembered the pain.
The tornt placed upon him.
The sound of his family’s screams, still echoing in his dreams.
The Skadis had taken everything from him.
And he would give them nothing in return.
With a wave of his hand, black flas of nuclear fire erupted across the battlefield, swallowing the surrendered soldiers in an instant. Their cries were brief, silenced by annihilation. The very laws of rcy burned to ash alongside their bones.
He turned away, his voice low.
"No rcy To The Skadis."
Evernight did not question him.
Neither did Shirley.
The war was not just about territory.
It was retribution.
And while his brother’s body had never been found, Igaris had claid sothing from the Empire. Two gifts carved from the corpses of legends.
• Ancient Titan Transformation.
A forbidden trait drawn from the colossus of the Red Team. The mont Igaris absorbed it, a burning energy had fused into his soul. It granted him the ability to shift into a towering titan, its size and power scaling with his current Rank. At full release, his body could grow to blot out the sun, each step enough to crush mountains.
• Limitless Doppelgangers.
Stolen from the fastest twin assassins of the Red Team, this power allowed him to create infinite clones. Each doppelganger carried a fragnt of his power, perfect for overwhelming or disorienting his enemies. The more he summoned, the thinner the power spread, but the sheer numbers made it a strategic nightmare for any opponent.
With those abilities now in his arsenal, the path ahead had changed.
This was no longer just a war.
It will be a conquest.
And he, Igaris Vance, would reshape the balance of power across the Skadi Empire.
Behind him, the battlefield cleanup had already begun.
His elite soldiers—survivors hardened by hell—moved across the broken ground, salvaging the enemy’s fallen war machines. Skadi alloys, infused with interdinsional materials, were carefully stripped and sorted. Engineers and artificers among them were already debating how to lt, forge, and repurpose these rare tals for weapons and armor.
"This plating alone could withstand a solar barrage," muttered one.
"We can use the core from this cruiser to power the new teleportation gates," said another.
Nothing would go to waste.
Victory, for Igaris, was not just about dominance.
It was about preparation.
The Skadi Empire would co again. This was only a spearpoint, a probing attack ant to crush resistance before it spread.
But now they would feel true fear.
For the first ti in millennia, Earth had risen from its chains.
And at its helm stood a man who no longer followed the rules of reality.
---
That night, for the first ti in what felt like eons, Igaris allowed himself to rest.
The fires of war had dimd. The skies were no longer streaked with death. The blood on his hands had dried, and the hatred in his chest had settled. t least for the mont.
He lay upon the grand bed of the marble chamber, its silken sheets bathed in moonlight. And beside him, curled close against his chest like a child seeking warmth beneath the heavens, was Evernight.
Her darj hair spilled across his torso. Her breath rose and fell softly, in perfect rhythm with his. Her hand, delicate and small, rested just above his heart. She didn’t wear armor tonight. Just a simple nightgown and a serenity on her face that no one—not even she—had seen before.
A small, vulnerable smile played on her lips.
To the world, she was the Storm of Twilight. The cold executioner who walked through heaven and hell.
But here... she was just a woman.
And he, a man who had found sothing worth protecting again.
This chamber was not just a room of stone and light. It was a glimpse into the heaven Igaris had always longed for. A world where battles didn’t rage endlessly, where swords could sleep in their sheaths, and where love could bloom without the shadow of war looming over it.
In his past life, he had nearly reached this heaven.
A family.
Wives who had chosen him not for his strength, but for his soul.
Children who laughed in golden adows.
But they had all been taken from him. Completely erased from existence.
So in his final act of defiance, he had sacrificed himself. To restore balance fo creation. To beg the Wheel of Ti for another chance.
He still rembered the voice of that ancient entity.
"You shall be reborn, Igaris Vance. But your mories of the future shall not remain."
But sohow, they did.
Not all at once. Not like a flood. But like flickering stars, lighting one after another in the depths of his mind, guiding him back to those he had once lost.
Why he retained those mories, he still did not understand. Perhaps fate, perhaps rebellion against it. Perhaps a scar deep enough to echo through lifetis.
But he was grateful.
Because without them, he would have wandered blindly.
And the won he loved, his soulmates scattered across the galaxies, might have ended up in another man’s arms. The re thought clawed at his chest like poison.
No. He would not allow that.
He would find them again.
One by one.
Steal their hearts, their bodies, their trust... just like he did in his previous life. Only this ti, he would hold them even tighter. Never let the world tear them away again.
But before he could dream of love, of a future filled with laughter and starlight, there was still a shadow that needed to be destroyed.
The Skadi Empire.
He would not make the mistake of rcy again. He could not live knowing that his enemies still breathed, still sched, still waited for the next opening.
Their bloodline had to be severed.
From the nobles to the foot soldiers.
From the admirals to the ancient beasts they rode.
He would scour their colonies. Break their fleets. Burn their archives. Tear down their sanctuaries until even the idea of Skadi was erased from the Orca.
Only then would his legacy be safe.
Only then could peace be more than a fleeting night beside soone he loved.
---
The morning sun bled gold through the crystal windows.
Igaris stirred, then leaned in to place a gentle kiss on Evernight’s forehead. Her eyelids fluttered, a soft hum escaping her lips.
Yes.
This was the beginning of the world he would build.
A world of love.
And vengeance.
Both burning in equal asure.
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