The ground beneath Zhark detonated upward with a furious roar.
CRACK!
Rings of jagged earth burst around him in a perfect circular formation, like ancient seals rising from the world’s crust.
Thick, spiraling columns of compacted sand shot upward, spinning violently and encasing him in a rising whirlwind of grit and pressure.
The sparks around Zhark’s body vanished. Lightning shorted out. Static fizzled and died.
"What—!?" he managed to say.
Then the final pillar shot up.
BOOM!
A massive earthen coffin slamd shut around him like the jaws of a god, sealing him in a towering sarcophagus of crushing gravity and sand-infused stone.
Runes etched across its surface glowed faintly, pulsing with a deep brown light—Earth Qi suppressing movent, conduction, everything.
Zhark was trapped.
The world went still.
A rumble echoed from within as lightning began slamming against the walls of the coffin.
BOOM! ZAP! CRACK!
Arcs of raw power exploded outward, spraying the surroundings with ionized sparks—but the coffin stood unshaken.
Outside, Elius crossed his arms.
"It’s useless," he said flatly, his voice cold and low. "You are useless against ."
He tilted his head slightly, looking at the glowing fissures appearing across the sand tomb.
"I am your nesis."
Inside the coffin, Zhark began to laugh again—this ti more frenzied, more unhinged. His voice echoed inside the hollow, grating like steel dragged on cent.
"You think this is the first ti I’ve been caught in earth-based shit!?" he roared, voice muffled yet filled with fury. "You think you’re special!?"
The lightning surged harder. BOOM! The coffin glowed faintly under the strain but did not crack.
"I’ve fought dozens—NO—hundreds of F-ranked heroes who thought dirt would stop !"
His voice rose like a man possessed.
"There was Stone Blade Alonzo! He tried to bind with compressed pebbles—BLASTED HIM TO BITS!"
BOOM!
"Iron Boulder Michelle! Covered herself in fifty tons of granite armor—LTED HER WITH PURE CURRENT!"
ZAP!
"Mud Caster Trio—don’t even get started on those three sludge freaks! They thought burying under twenty ters of earth would hold —HAHA! I SHOT THROUGH IT LIKE A RAILGUN!"
The coffin shook violently as waves of blue-white lightning pulsed out from the gaps. But it held firm.
"There was Claymore Guy, Terra Boom, Rock Wrath Randy, Geo-Hamr Twins, Sedint Soldier, even that freak Dirt Banshee Helena! Every last one of ’em! CRUSHED! ELECTROCUTED! ERASED!"
Inside the tomb, the energy was so dense it started to glow from within—like a lantern pulsing with violent light.
"I’ve BURIED EARTH USERS! YOU HEAR !? I’M THE ONE WHO BURNS THE MOUNTAINS DOWN!"
Lightning exploded again.
"EVERY—SINGLE—ONE—THOUGHT THEY COULD HOLD !"
BOOM!
ZAP!
BOOM!
Then silence.
Only a low crackle of static inside the tomb. No thunder. No screams.
Outside, Elius stood unmoved. His arms still crossed. His eyes narrowed in quiet thought.
He didn’t speak aloud. But in his head, words echoed with slow certainty.
They were Superheroes.
I am a Cultivator.
His system screen flickered before his inner mind, quietly providing information. Stats. Attributes. Interactions.
[Lightning Elent Detected: Weakness — Earth Attribute (via Immortal Ga chanics)]
He exhaled quietly, letting the mory of his cultivation ga interface pulse through him.
He’d never imagined his imrsion into this chaotic ga world would be guided by a system ant for gaming—but it had saved his life more than once in this new life .
Lightning lost to Earth. Always had. Always would.
Not to ntion that this wasn’t just Earth.
This was cultivated Earth, shaped by Qi. Superhero energy couldn’t escape it.
And Zhark?
Zhark was just energy in a box now.
From within the tomb ca another unholy scream. One that seed to burn with insanity and frustration.
"RAAAAAARGH!! I’LL BLOW THIS SHIT SKY HIGH!!"
A fresh storm of lightning erupted from within. Glowing veins spread across the sand tomb as Zhark scread louder and louder, voice cracked with rage, desperation, madness.
"I’M NOT DONE YET!! I’LL BREAK THIS DAMN COFFIN! I’LL FRY YOU, I’LL—RAAARGHHH—SEE THIS!?? SEE THIS?!?"
More lightning surged, brighter than before. The tomb began to glow dangerously, like it might overload. But the runes held. The layers deepened. Every strike of power only dug him deeper into the spiritual matrix of containnt.
ZAP!
BOOM!
CRASH!
SNAP!
CRACK-BOOM!
ZZZZZAAAAPP!
Screams upon screams.
He shouted nonsense nas of other heroes.
"GRAVEL FIST! BRICK BUSTER! CONCRETE KING! EARTH QUEEN! DIRT GOD!"
Each one a na etched into his soul by trauma and madness. Each one defeated.
Each one aningless now.
Elius waited.
Waited until the energy flickered, just slightly, until the tomb’s glow stabilized and Zhark’s voice began to tremble with exhaustion.
And then... he spoke again.
Calm. Cold.
Like a mountain speaking to a pebble.
"...It’s useless."
He turned slightly, glancing back at the tomb without care.
"Just give up, weakling."
While lightning surged uselessly within the earthen tomb, Elius remained still, arms crossed, eyes half-lidded with indifference.
Zhark’s voice had quieted slightly, though occasional curses and electric pulses still rattled the tomb like muffled fireworks inside a sandbag.
Elius knew it was only a matter of ti before the rage burned itself out.
Then, he felt it—two new presences descending from above.
Wind shifted.
He looked up.
Two figures descended from the sky, their silhouettes cutting through the thick clouds like diving hawks.
One of them hovered with arms crossed, eyes burning with arrogance.
The other, taller and with windswept silver hair, had an unsettling calm to him.
Their capes fluttered, one a deep shade of blood red, the other the darker blue of dusk.
They landed beside Shania with practiced ease.
Elius’s eyes narrowed.
Fraven.
And... Keith.
Neither of them knew who he was.
At least, not yet.
Elius didn’t turn.
He rely let his gaze slide from the corner of his eye, watching as the three villains stood in conference beside the quiet Shania. Her eyes briefly t his, but she said nothing.
Still expressionless, still unreadable.
"What’s going on?" Keith asked, cracking his neck and surveying the battlefield like a bored king glancing over a conquered town.
Shania’s voice was flat. "Zhark is fighting a hero."
Fraven raised an eyebrow and turned his head toward the pulsing sand coffin, which still sparked with occasional lightning bolts.
"Looks like Zhark is losing," he remarked.
Then, as if on cue, Fraven took a step forward and cupped his hands around his mouth theatrically.
"Zhaaark!" he shouted, drawing out the na like a drunken uncle calling from a rooftop. "You need help down there, big guy?"
There was silence for a beat.
Then—
"SHUT UP!" ca a muffled roar from inside the coffin. "DON’T YOU DARE INTERFERE!"
Fraven grinned.
"Ohhh, co on! I’m just checking in! You’re not looking so hot in there, buddy!"
ZAP!
CRACK!
THUD!
The tomb rattled slightly with another futile blast of lightning.
"I SAID I GOT THIS!" Zhark scread, voice unhinged. "YOU INTERFERE, I’LL FRY YOU NEXT!"
Fraven leaned back, mock-clutching his heart. "Ouch! Threatening your own teammates now? That’s not very friendly!"
"GET OUTTA HERE!" Zhark roared. "I SWEAR I’VE BEATEN HUNDREDS OF EARTH USERS! THIS GUY’S JUST LUCKY!"
Fraven snorted and leaned casually against a hovering piece of broken asphalt, floating beside him like a lazy stool. "Sure, sure... But if he’s so ’just lucky,’ why are you still stuck in a dirt box, hmm?"
"STAY OUT OF THIS! I’M SERIOUS! DON’T INTERFERE!"
"Absolutely, absolutely," Fraven said, grinning wider. "I wouldn’t dream of stealing your thunder. Or, you know, watching you get buried under a sandbox by a no-na hero..."
Elius finally spoke, voice as calm as a blade just before the swing.
"Why don’t you all join the party?"
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