“If our people are all dead, then why are you still alive?” Emperor Skrull erupted, flying forward with a snarl. “Did you murder them?”
“Ignis told you—we have nothing to say,” Aurelius barked, flying out to intercept the Emperor and shield the human survivors. “Secret realms are inherently lethal. Did you honestly think you could just walk in and have the inheritance handed to you because you sent more people? The human race suffered heavy losses as well; look how few of us made it out. Can your four races really not handle a loss?”
The four Emperors fell silent, their expressions dark. Aurelius was right—these realms were death traps. They simply hadn't expected it to be this brutal. In the hundreds of previously explored realms they had scouted, most of the danger had already been cleared. Even in the worst cases, they usually lost less than half their people.
They had assud an unopened realm would be similar. They were wrong.
Of course, the idea that the humans had sohow conspired to kill off the elites of the other four races was sothing they couldn't bring themselves to believe. After all, the human population didn't even account for a tenth of their total numbers; they were simply no match for the combined might of the other four races.
The only logical explanation was that they had died because of the secret realm itself.
"Wait... the only reason you were able to co out is because your race claid the inheritance, isn't it?"
Suddenly, Emperor Tartarus's gaze turned icy as he spoke, his voice cutting through the tension.
As soon as the words left his mouth, every eye present snapped toward the human delegation.
It made sense. Only the humans had erged alive. Furthermore, among the human geniuses was Lance, an SS-Rank genius. He was, without a doubt, the most likely candidate among all the participants to have secured the inheritance.
The only explanation was that humanity had seized the prize, allowing their experts to escape while the powerhouses of the other races perished within!
The mont this realization dawned, the experts of the four races glared at the humans with murderous intent.
Boom!!!
Boom!!!
Boom!!
One after another, the four Emperors unleashed their world-ending pressure, instantly enveloping the entire human group.
The sheer, crushing weight caused the faces of every human expert to turn deathly pale.
"Speak. Is Lance's absence because he is currently undergoing the inheritance process?" Emperor Tartarus asked, his voice dripping with cold malice.
"That’s right! Make the brat co out!" Emperor Skrull roared. His terrifying aura bore down on the humans, forcing many of them to struggle just to keep their heads up.
This was an insult—an absolute humiliation.
"Are you trying to force my race into a total war?" Aurelius snapped, his fury finally boiling over. "If pushed, we will drag you all down to hell with us!"
"Hmph. If you’ve truly secured the inheritance, what does it matter if a war starts?" Emperor Xis, who had remained calm until now, spoke with chilling composure. "Should we just wait for your genius to grow powerful enough to exterminate us?
"Besides, once we kill every last one of you and wait for Lance to erge, the inheritance will naturally be ours. Even if we can't wait for him, we’ll simply migrate our entire civilizations. Do you really think The Martial Paragon will be able to find us in the vastness of the cosmos?"
As he spoke, the humans' faces drained of all color. They were currently immobilized, unable to move a finger. The Emperors could kill them with a re thought.
If Lance ca out now, he would be walking straight into his death.
"How is that possible? If our race had truly claid the inheritance, more than just a handful of us would have returned alive!" Ignis finally spoke up, her voice cold.
Anger flickered in her eyes, but she was powerless. With The Martial Paragon absent, they were forced to endure this degradation.
The mbers of the four races exchanged looks and sneered with blatant disdain.
"Perhaps Lance only secured the inheritance after most of you were already dead, and then sent the survivors out? Don't even think about dodging the question. Where is Lance?! If you won't speak, I'll simply search your souls!" Emperor Skrull let out a cruel laugh.
At the ntion of a soul search, the human geniuses turned white as sheets.
They were going to subject them to soul searching?
"I'll talk! I'll talk! It was the human, Lance! He got the inheritance! It's the inheritance of a Star Sea Realm expert! I've told you everything, please, just let go! I’m a spy for the Tartarans! I’ve sent you so much intel this ti!"
Suddenly, a mustache-wearing genius from The Oros Clan began to wail and plead for rcy, his body shaking uncontrollably.
The irony was that this man was supposed to be a top talent from the Vanguard Elite Institute.
"Traitor!!!"
Guardian Aether exploded in rage. He lashed out with a brutal palm strike aid directly at the traitor.
Rumble!
In an instant, the man was reduced to a mist of blood.
But it was too late.
The four races now knew everything they needed to know.
"A Star Sea Realm inheritance... it really is a Star Sea Realm inheritance!"
The four Emperors' expressions shifted drastically as they exchanged looks. They knew that since they had already made their move, there was no turning back.
They weren't fools. They knew such an inheritance would undoubtedly provide the successor with powerful life-saving ans—perhaps high-level starships or similar treasures.
"Kill them all. Leave no one alive," Emperor Tartarus commanded coldly. "Then, each of our races will leave one Stellar Class expert here to keep watch for Lance. Everyone else, initiate the Great Migration protocols imdiately!"
Though it was a desperate move, they knew that if they didn't flee now, they wouldn't stand a chance once The Martial Paragon returned.
The entire race had to be moved.
This was a contingency they had discussed before arriving. After all, the appearance of such a secret realm was a monuntal event. Unless no one claid the inheritance, it was bound to shift the entire balance of power in The Milky Way.
Whichever race secured the inheritance would beco the dominant force; the others would have no choice but to run for their lives.
"Fine!!!"
"It's our only option!"
"Let's move!!"
The remaining three Emperors spoke with grim determination.
With that settled, the four Emperors looked down at the humans with cold, indifferent eyes.
"Array Sovereign, activate the formation!!" Aurelius roared suddenly.
A silver-haired old man hidden within the crowd reacted instantly, hurling a Void Core high into the sky.
Hum—!!
In a flash, a violent surge of energy enveloped Aurelius and the rest of the humans.
The surrounding space began to ripple and fracture.
"Not good! It's an instantaneous teleportation array! Quick, strike the bottom-left corner of the formation!" a Tier 7 Array Master from the Tartarans scread.
Without a second's hesitation, the four Emperors unleashed their attacks simultaneously, slamming their power into the designated weak point.
Rumble!!!
With a world-shaking explosion, the entire formation shuddered violently before shattering into a million fragnts.
Pfft!
The Array Sovereign, his formation forcibly destroyed, spat out a mouthful of blood and collapsed, his aura instantly withering.
"As expected... we failed," Aurelius sighed softly.
Despair washed over the rest of the humans.
"You thought you could run?! Die, you insects!!!"
Emperor Skrull was now in a state of absolute fury. The fact that these ants had even attempted to escape was an affront to his dignity.
With a roar, he slamd a palm down toward the void.
In an instant, a massive hand of cerulean wind energy—a thousand tis larger than Mother Planet Earth—descended toward Aurelius and the others with crushing force.
In that final mont, the humans stared back at the four races with defiant, icy glares. Even in the face of death, they refused to beg for rcy.
The giant hand pressed down, seconds away from obliterating every human present.
"Begone."
Suddenly, from the depths of the starry void, a calm voice drifted into everyone’s ears.
In the next heartbeat, to the utter disbelief of everyone watching, that colossal hand—which spanned hundreds of thousands of kiloters—simply dissolved into nothingness, as if it had never existed.
A collective gasp echoed through the vacuum. This kind of power... it was impossible for a Stellar Class expert to possess.
Everyone frantically turned toward the source of the voice. When the experts of the four races saw the figure, their eyes widened in total shock.
The human experts looked over as well, only to see a youth with his hands behind his back, floating calmly in the void, surveying the scene.
"Lance? How is it him? How did he get out?!"
"Lance, run! Get out of here!"
"It's over... it's completely over!!"
In that mont, the High Guardians of humanity were filled with grief. Their own deaths didn't matter to them; they knew that as long as Lance survived, humanity would eventually rise again.
Even if they fell here today, the future of their race would have remained secure.
But it was all too late now. How could Lance, standing alone, possibly hope to match the gathered powerhouses of the four great races?
"Hahaha! So you’re Lance? I’ll be the one to end you!"
One of the Stellar Class powerhouses closest to Lance let out a manic laugh. In the next heartbeat, a cataclysmic aura erupted from his body, threatening to tear the very heavens apart.
The man lunged, hurtling directly toward Lance.
"Shit!"
"Get away from him, you bastard!"
"Damn it, stop!"
The human High Guardians roared in fury at the sight.
They tried to move, but the experts of the four races held them in a stifling grip, pinning them in place. They wanted Aurelius and the other High Guardians to watch Lance be slaughtered with their own eyes, forcing them to suffer through his final, agonizing monts.
"A Rank 1 Stellar Class? You're really looking down on , aren't you?"
Lance watched the charging powerhouse with a smirk of pure disdain.
Whirrrr!
In the next heartbeat, he moved. A brilliant radiance burst from his body, illuminating the void.
Flash!
Lance vanished from where he stood. The sheer, terrifying speed caused the four Emperors watching from a distance to pale in shock. It was too fast—none of them could track even a glimr of his movent.
The next mont, the streak of light that was Lance slamd into the Stellar Class expert.
BOOM!
The Stellar Class expert didn't just die; he detonated in the middle of the starry sky, his body reduced to a mist of blood that scattered across the vacuum. This sudden reversal left everyone from the five races deathly pale.
"He’s even stronger! Lance is even more powerful than when he slaughtered those thousands of Void-kin!" Raya Kincaid cried out, her voice trembling with excitent.
Her words sent a shockwave through Aurelius and the other High Guardians. He had killed thousands of Void-kin before entering the Inheritance Continent?
Did that an Lance already possessed the terrifying power of a Planetary Class before he even set foot in the secret realm? To be that strong at fifteen... what kind of talent was that? Could it be a grade beyond the legendary SSS-Rank?
A collective chill ran down the spines of the High Guardians. If that was the case, Lance’s current strength might be his own, rather than so borrowed power from the inheritance.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Before they could recover from their shock, a series of thunderous explosions jolted them back to reality. A streak of dazzling light wove through the ranks of the four races.
Wherever it passed, Stellar Class experts were instantly turned into clouds of crimson gore. It didn't matter if they were Rank 0 or Rank 7; they were all annihilated in a single strike.
Watching this slaughter, the four Emperors retreated in sheer terror.
"This is impossible! How can he be this strong?!"
"He’s only fifteen! What the hell is going on?!"
"Damn it! It must be so powerful weapon he found in the secret realm! That has to be it! If we had that inheritance, we wouldn't be in this ss!"
The four Emperors were truly terrified now. Even Rank 7 Stellar Class powerhouses were being one-shotted!
They were only Rank 8—it wasn't like they would fare much better.
Hum!
Finally, after wiping out every last Stellar and Planetary Class enemy, Lance’s figure reappeared directly in front of the four Emperors.
His sudden appearance sent them stumbling back in a panic.
However, Lance couldn't be bothered with them. He was busy sensing the surge of power within himself, and even he was a bit surprised.
"Holy sht," he thought. "I thought the System ant my combat limit when using the power of Destruction. I didn't expect it to refer to the power of Holy Light!"
Lance was genuinely shocked by his own performance.
Aside from using a burst of Destruction to shatter Emperor Skrull’s giant handprint earlier because he was in a hurry, he hadn't touched that power since. Yet, he found that slaughtering these Stellar Class "experts" was as easy as dicing vegetables.
Just the speed granted by his Holy Light was enough to easily kill a Rank 7 Stellar Class. He estimated that even a Rank 10 would probably only require him to put a bit more effort into his Holy Light. He wouldn't even need to touch the far more potent power of Destruction.
"I'm this strong without even touching the power of Destruction... if I actually used it, just how far would it go?"
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