Boom!!
The realm continued to tremble as the spatial structure began to bend. Space warped violently, creating a disorienting scene where up beca down and left twisted into right. In re seconds, realm reshuffled itself, various ancient structures erupted from the ground as if awakening from a long slumber.
The Tomb of Gluttony.
The final resting place of the forr Ruler of Gluttony lost to ti, hidden even from gods. Even Veinn and Coriel were shocked as recognition struck them. The entire realm pulsed with the verwhelming force, reinforced by countless runes that glowed like hungering eyes.
Esquin frowned and lifted his head.
Ohm!
A colossal hand tore through space itself. Fingers like pillars of raw force gripped both sides of the dinsional rift, prying the secret realm wide open. The energy pouring from the breach was overwhelming, surging out in waves that threatened to swallow everything within its reach.
Bang!!
In the next instant, space was forcefully pried open. The entire realm convulsed, reshaping itself as the scenery shifted wildly, an endless ocean one mont, a sprawling field of towering mountains the next.
Reality flickered like a broken projection, each scene colliding with the last. The rapid transformations strained the realm, pushing its very foundation to the brink.
Boom!!
...
Inside the secret realm, a sudden change occurred.
Every living being felt a wave of dizziness wash over them. Their vision blurred, their senses faltered, and even their energy slipped out of their control.
Ohm!!
The terrain shifted violently. The white fog surged like a living tide, rushing across the land that had previously been untouched.
In the blink of an eye, the entire secret realm, heavens and earth alike, was swallowed by the fog. Nothing escaped its reach.
Vashno, Doranjan, the angels, the fallen angels, and every other living being began to lose consciousness, collapsing one by one from the weakest among them to the strongest.
At that mont, an enormous surge of energy descended from above.
Whoosh!!
After so ti, consciousness began to return to the fallen.
Vashno pushed himself off the ground, clutching his head. A faint dizziness lingered, but he managed to steady himself.
"W-What happened...?"
He grit his teeth and slowly scanned his surroundings. Sothing felt fundantally different.
Then he realized it... The mana, the laws, even the very concepts of existence were far stronger than before.
A chilling thought crossed his mind.
Perhaps... he had returned to the Imperium.
"This really is the Imperium... but..." Vashno muttered as he scanned his surroundings.
The ground was still drenched in dark liquid, and the ruined structures of the empire lay scattered everywhere. Yet mixed among them were terrains that had never belonged to the Imperium—twisted pieces of forests fused with stone formations, buildings partially rged with mountains, and trees jutting out of solid rock.
The secret realm had been forced out—squeezed into the physical world, overlapping with the land of the Imperium and rging into one chaotic landscape.
One by one, the others regained their consciousness. Confusion filled their eyes at first, just like Vashno. But as the truth dawned on them, shock replaced it.
They were back in the Imperium.
Just what in the world had happened within the secret realm to cause this?
Neither the angels, the fallen angels, nor any of the other factions understood the cause. But they all knew one thing:
This had to be connected to the appearance of the Gluttony Army. Only those beings were capable of triggering sothing of this magnitude.
"Vashno!"
A familiar voice cut through the lingering haze.
Vashno snapped his head to the side and saw a tall man approaching, long greenish hair flowing behind him, draconic horns curling from his skull, and faint scales glimring across his skin. The energy radiating from him wasn’t mana but pure beast feram.
"Doranjan?!" Vashno’s eyes widened. He hadn’t expected to see a friend here of all places.
"You’re really here," Doranjan said as he scanned him from head to toe. It had been four months since they last t, and Vashno’s strength had increased far more than he anticipated.
"What are you doing in this place?" Vashno asked.
"We’re here to see you, of course." Doranjan paused, then added, "Eztein is here too. He’s the one who gathered bits of information."
"So Eztein is here as well, huh? Just the two of you? What about the rest? And more importantly, our leader?"
"You have too many questions..." Doranjan shook his head. "I’ll answer all of that later. Right now isn’t the ti."
"Vashno!!"
A voice echoed across the ruined landscape, drawing the attention of both Vashno and Doranjan. They turned to see a beautiful woman with long black hair hurrying toward them, several people following closely behind her.
Doranjan raised a brow at Vashno, silently questioning him. Since these people called out to Vashno, he must have known this group.
Ravel stopped in front of them, slightly out of breath.
"It’s good that you’re alright," she said with relief before her gaze shifted to Doranjan.
It was her first ti seeing him. The mont her eyes t his, she froze for a heartbeat, the aura he radiated was unmistakable.
A fifth-stage monster...
"Raven." Vashno nodded toward his friend.
He quickly introduced Raven and the mbers of Lion’s Fang to Doranjan, and in turn introduced Doranjan to the group. The introductions were brief as everyone knew there were far more pressing matters at hand.
Vashno, Doranjan, Raven, and the rest of Lion’s Fang turned their gazes toward the distant area where the two Ninth Shackle Realm experts had previously clashed with the ssenger of Gluttony. The mory alone sent chills down their spines. Two Ninth Shackle Realm experts, monsters in their own right, had died there.
And none of them truly understood how it had happened.
"The Gluttony Army is here," Doranjan said grimly.
"Yeah," Vashno replied with a nod. "The leaders of both the angels and the fallen angels just died."
In the distance, a massive patch of dark and white energy churned violently. It stretched upward into the sky, forming a strange, disc-like structure. Countless runes flickered across its surface, and the surrounding spatial layers twisted and warped as if struggling to hold themselves together.
A suffocating aura radiated from it, an aura that promised instant death to any lifeform that dared approach.
Ohm!!
A wave of energy rippled outward.
The dark liquid on the ground trembled... then began to move.
Vashno, Raven, Doranjan, and everyone on the battlefield snapped their heads toward the phenonon. The sa ominous scene they witnessed monts before losing consciousness was unfolding once more.
Red lights burst into existence in the sky, flickering like demonic stars and releasing an aura far more dangerous than before.
"Again?!"
"What are those people from the Gluttony Army planning this ti?!"
"Stay back!!"
Their voices echoed across the battlefield, tense and wary, as they stared at the terrifying scene unfolding before them.
The wave of energy continued to surge, growing stronger by the second.
Slowly, countless figures erged from the dark liquid covering the ground, their forms shrouded in black robes. So descended from the sky, upside down, defying gravity. Every figure looked identical, save for the faint differences in the energy each radiated, subtle hints of power levels and intent.
The crimson lights in the sky bathed the battlefield in a bloody glow, casting long, nacing shadows over everyone present.
A wave of dread swept through the crowd and many turned pale at the sight before them. They already knew what these figures were.
"The... ssenger of Gluttony!!"
"And... there’s hundreds of them...?"
Every single figure that had erged was indeed a ssenger of Gluttony, without exception. The battlefield fell into a stunned silence, for everyone present knew the catastrophic power these beings wielded and the destruction they left in their wake.
The angels and fallen angels from the Holy Lands and people from smaller factions could barely comprehend what they were seeing. This was far beyond anything they had imagined.
One terrifying truth beca clear: the Gluttony Army was plotting sothing massive, sothing so devastating that it required the presence of all these ssengers of Gluttony at once.
"I know it!!"
"What?!"
"Those... those things in the sky, shining with red light!! They’re the Blood Stones!!"
"Blood Stones?!"
So of the more knowledgeable onlookers imdiately recognized the truth. The countless crimson lights scattered across the sky were indeed Blood Stones and there were far too many to take in at once, leaving them staring in disbelief.
A Blood Stone was a concentrated source of energy, cultivated by the blood-sucking demis.
It was the signature creation of the vampires.
"This is very bad," Raven, leader of Lion’s Fang, muttered under his breath.
Vashno and Doranjan remained silent, their eyes fixed on the unfolding chaos.
"Backing down?" A familiar voice called from behind.
The three of them turned to see a man with striking white hair approaching. At the sight of him, both Vashno and Doranjan’s eyes lit up.
"Eztein!"
"You’re here!"
It was Eztein.
He chuckled lightly as he fell in step beside them, his gaze fixed on the countless ssengers of Gluttony. Confidence radiated from him, mingled with a steely determination that seed to push back the chaos around them.
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