Chapter 612: What the hell is that?

BOOOOM!

Ethan’s strike hit like a mountain-shattering force, detonating in an instant.

The massive earthen wall ahead—towering like a mountain range—crumbled under the impact. Boulders tumbled down, only to be pulverized into dust under the crushing weight of the Domain of the Dead.

Even the high-tier Earth ability,

Terra Bulwark

, couldn’t hold up. The colossal wall it conjured was completely obliterated.

And that was just the shockwave.

The sheer force of the aftermath rippled outward in a perfect circle, flattening everything in its path like the end of the world.

The fifth-generation Cyborg body that LORN had possessed—his sleek metal frame—was caught in the storm like a paper boat in a hurricane, flung backward uncontrollably.

His synthetic human skin was torn open in strips, revealing gleaming silver metal underneath—gruesome and jarring to look at.

He was blasted nearly a thousand feet before he finally managed to stop himself mid-air.

Through the swirling chaos ahead, he saw Ethan emerge from the storm of energy, his white fur-lined coat fluttering around him like a war god stepping out of hell.

"Clearly, you’re not as powerful as you think you are."

"You—" LORN’s half-destroyed face twisted in fury.

But beneath the rage, there was something else—shock.

Because in Ethan’s hand... were two

Star Map

slabs, glowing with radiant light, pulsing with strange, otherworldly energy.

"You’ve got the other pieces too?" LORN’s voice cracked.

"What’s wrong? Want to hand yours over while you’re at it?" Ethan raised an eyebrow, his tone casual, almost mocking.

From the way the slabs fit together, there were four in total. According to intel from

The Undying

, LORN had already acquired part of the

Spatial Key

—which meant...

The final piece had to be in his possession.

LORN’s expression shifted from shock to greed.

He had indeed collected one slab and a

Radiant Crystal

earlier. Both were currently secured at the

Genesis Biotech Global Headquarters

. His plan had been to use a

Ritual Array

to compensate for the missing pieces, tear open the dimensional barrier, and summon his true form into this world.

But the Ritual Array method had serious flaws—unstable, dangerous, with a high risk of getting lost in the void.

And even if it worked, it could only bring through a limited presence—nowhere near enough to support a higher-tier entity.

But if he could gather all four slabs...

He could open the

Stellar Gate

.

Not just to Earth—but to the entire starfield.

The Celestials would have free passage across the cosmos. No matter how powerful the being, the gate could handle it.

For their entire race, this was monumental. No more worrying about depleted resources. No more evolutionary stagnation. They could keep advancing—forever.

And there was an even older legend about the Star Map slabs.

They were said to lead to the very heart of the universe.

To the ultimate truth behind everything.

"Give them... to me!" LORN’s voice trembled with excitement.

Ethan could feel the shift in his energy—this wasn’t just about power. This was obsession.

But to Ethan, the slabs were just more convenient than his katana when it came to smashing up this fifth-gen tin can.

"You want ’em? Come and get ’em."

As he spoke, LORN’s body lit up with a surge of multicolored energy—five distinct hues flaring across his frame. The power of five

Crystal Cores

ignited at once.

And most of them... had been ripped from the bodies of powerful humans listed in

The Awakened Files

.

It was clear what LORN had been doing since arriving on Earth.

Earlier Cyborg generations could handle two, maybe three cores. But LORN, as a fifth-gen model, had five embedded in his body—and not just any cores. These were top-tier.

He also had the fourth-gen’s liquid metal tech integrated into his system.

He was the pinnacle of Cyborg evolution—Earth’s ultimate weapon.

"You really think I’m scared of you? I was just conserving energy earlier!"

LORN’s expression hardened.

Fifth-gen Cyborgs were powerful, but they had a fatal flaw—they couldn’t recharge during combat. They needed external methods to refuel.

But now that Ethan had revealed the slabs, LORN didn’t care.

He abandoned all thoughts of retreat or survival.

He was going all in.

This fight... would end with one of them dead.

LORN’s figure flickered—and in the blink of an eye, he was gone.

He shot forward at a speed so fast it blurred, moving beyond what the naked eye could track.

Ethan didn’t flinch. He stepped up, calm and deliberate, swinging one of the Star Map slabs like a sledgehammer straight at him.

The clash of two titans had reached its boiling point.

"Trying to box with a shadow?" LORN sneered.

He knew damn well how dangerous those slabs were—he wasn’t about to take a direct hit. Instead, he activated his spatial ability, vanishing in a shimmer and reappearing behind Ethan in a flash, fist already cocked back.

Flames surged around his knuckles, heat distorting the air as he drove his punch forward.

"Cheap trick..."

Ethan’s psychic energy surged. In an instant, he conjured a decoy in his place, while his real body sidestepped the attack with fluid precision.

Every exchange between them sent shockwaves through the battlefield. The air screamed. The ground cracked and buckled beneath their feet.

And the powers they unleashed—twisting space, bending light, igniting fire—were dazzling, chaotic, and terrifying.

High above, aboard a hovering aircraft, Malcolm and Sophia watched the chaos unfold.

"Is he gonna pull it off or not?" Malcolm muttered, brows furrowed. "Can that Cyborg actually take down America’s strongest Zombie King?"

He was still holding out hope for a miracle. After all, the U.S. Zombie Horde’s

tank battalion

was a nightmare to deal with.

Sophia shook her head. "That fifth-gen Cyborg from Genesis Biotech? No way. Don’t count on them taking each other out either. If this drags on, we’re the ones who’ll lose."

"What? Why? We’ve still got a shot," Malcolm said, confused, clearly doubting her take.

Sophia just replied coolly, "Because I’ve been through this before."

"Uh..." Malcolm blinked. Damn. Honesty really

was

a killer move—he had no comeback for that.

"So, based on your experience," he asked, "how do we turn this around?"

"Don’t count on anyone else. We do it ourselves," Sophia said firmly. "We take out the other Zombie Kings and those mounted freaks. That’s how we shift the tide."

"Alright..." Malcolm nodded, though he knew what that meant—throwing themselves into the thick of it.

But as one of the Crimson Count’s adopted sons, Malcolm wasn’t just some rookie. He was SS-rank, way stronger than Sophia, who’d joined later. Of course, he still wasn’t on the same level as Ethan or that fifth-gen Cyborg—but he was no pushover.

"Let’s move!" he barked.

With a sharp

click

, the aircraft’s side doors slid open.

Malcolm and Sophia leapt out without hesitation, diving straight into the warzone below.

The wind howled around them, tearing at Malcolm’s black cloak, making it whip and snap like wings. He looked like a massive black bat plummeting from the sky.

His pale face twisted into a snarl, veins bulging, fangs bared. His eyes glowed blood-red—he was fully in combat mode now.

His first target? The hulking brute known as

Bulldozer

.

A wave of killing intent rolled off him like a tsunami, crashing over the battlefield.

"Huh?"

"What the hell is that?"

Bulldozer felt it instantly. He turned just in time to see a black blur hurtling toward him—fist raised, aimed straight at his face.

As a power-type Zombie King, Bulldozer wasn’t about to back down.

He roared and swung his massive fist to meet the attack head-on.

BOOM!

It was like two mountains colliding. The impact echoed like thunder, shockwaves rippling out in all directions.

The Vampire Race didn’t have flashy powers—but their physical strength was off the charts. And right now, that raw power was on full display.

To everyone’s surprise, Bulldozer actually lost ground. The punch sent him skidding back over thirty feet, boots gouging trenches in the dirt.

"This guy’s... stronger than I thought..."

...