Seeing their companions all dead, the last two green-skins completely panicked and boltedâdiving straight into the crowd like they thought the humans around them could act as cover.
Bad move.
If theyâd stood their ground, maybe they couldâve bought a second.
The moment they turned and ran, they handed over their backs.
Sean kicked on his speed boost, caught one instantly, and brought his staff down like a piledriver.
Crunch.
The green-skinâs skull caved in, brain and bone splattering as it dropped.
On the other side, Emily lunged after the other one and drove her sword hard into its back.
A crisp crack rang out as the spiritwood shield split. Her blade punched through and sank deep.
"RAAAHâ!"
The monster howled, whipping its huge club around and slamming it at her.
Emily raised her sword crosswise to block, skidding back two steps under the impactâthen thrust again, sharp and fast.
A fresh green shield flared over the monsterâs body. Green light pulsed, and its wound began knitting itself together at a visible pace.
"Huh." The squad blinked. "It can heal?"
"Emilyâdonât kill this one," Ethan said immediately.
He turned his head. "Skinny Pete. Go. Lock it down."
Honestly, Ethan had never planned on controlling any of these things. They were ugly enough to kill your appetite.
But healing was rare. And it was useful.
If they could keep it, bringing it back to Fallen Star City as an asset wasnât a bad idea.
"On it." Skinny Pete rushed in.
Working with Emily, he had the monster pinned to the ground within moments. Then Pete activated
Beast Control
.
The green-skin struggled... and then its body went slack, resistance draining out of it as the control took hold.
Just like that, the thirteen Void Realm creatures were dealt withâtwelve dead, one captured.
The fight had drawn Seorin people from everywhere. By now, the area was packed shoulder to shoulder, a sea of faces.
All of them stared at Ethanâs group like they were looking at monsters.
How are these people this strong?
Choi Tae-jun forced himself to move. He slapped on a warm smile and walked toward Ethan like nothing had happened.
"Misunderstanding. This was all just a misunderstanding," he said smoothly. "Anyone who can kill those creatures is a friend of the Seorin Republic. Honestly, from the moment I saw you, I felt we were on the same side."
"...."
The Fallen Star Squad just stared at him.
"Holy shit," Chris muttered. "This guy switched sides faster than I switch clothes."
Big Mike looked genuinely shell-shocked. "Five minutes ago, this bastard wanted us dead. Now weâre âon the same sideâ?"
Even Emily, who usually didnât bother commenting on stuff like this, couldnât help herself. "Iâve seen shameless before, but this is a whole new level."
"Gentlemen, please," Choi Tae-jun kept going, smile still nailed to his face. "Thereâs no need for hostility. Seorin Republic has always valued friendship with powerful allies. Today doesnât have to be a conflict. It can be the beginning of cooperation."
Ethan stared at him for two seconds.
"Cooperation my ass."
Then he kicked Choi Tae-jun square in the chest.
BAM.
Choi Tae-jun launched backward like heâd been shot out of a cannon and smashed into the ground.
"Prime Minister!"
The Seorin people around him went white-faced and rushed in.
A second laterâ
"Dead...?"
They stared down at Choi Tae-junâs body, limp and silent, disbelief spreading through the crowd like a sickness.
"Youâ!"
A balding middle-aged official shoved his way forward, shaking with rage. "You killed the Seorin Republicâs prime minister! Arenât you afraid this will start a war between our countries?!"
Ethan looked at him like heâd just heard the dumbest thing in his life.
"Moron."
Then he glanced back at Chris and the others.
"You guys cripple those dozen Awakened and bring them with us. Iâm going inside to loot the place. When Iâm done, weâre leaving. I donât want to stay here one more secondâIâm afraid if I hang around too long, my IQâs gonna drop."
With that, Ethan flashed into motion.
Teleportation.
He vanished and reappeared inside the grand hall, then started walking toward the deepest interior.
This was obviously the compoundâs core. Heâd already spotted a storage room further inâpacked with supplies and valuables, the kind of stash a place like this would protect at all costs.
With Ethan gone, Chris and the others wore matching nasty grins as they walked straight toward the Awakened.
A moment later, screams started ripping through the crowd.
"Thatâs too much!"
All around them, Seorin people watched Chrisâs group brutalize their Awakened. Fists clenched. Faces twisted.
The balding middle-aged official shouted in Seorin, voice cracking with anger as he whipped around to face the crowd.
"In Seorin Republic, they kill our prime ministerâand then they torture our citizens like this. Can you endure that?!"
"No!" countless Seorin people yelled back.
"Then what should we do?!"
"...."
Silence spread.
The officialâs brow twitched.
"As citizens of the Seorin Republic, shouldnât we pick up our weapons and fight these demons to the death?!"
"...."
Still silence.
Talking big was easy. Actually fighting? No, thanks.
They werenât idiots. Those people were terrifying. If they rushed in, it wouldnât be a battleâitâd be a suicide.
"Youâ!" The official trembled, pointing at the crowd, his chest heaving with rage.
Shhkâ!
A
Wind Cutter
flashed past.
His head separated cleanly and rolled off his neck, eyes still wide as if he couldnât believe it was happening.
Skinny Pete clicked his tongue. "Donât think I canât understand your bird language. I wasnât even planning to kill you. You asked for it."
When the officialâs body collapsed, the silence got heavier.
They were furious. They were humiliated. They wanted to resist.
But their brains kept whispering the same thing:
If you resist, you die.
Some of the younger Seorin people had eyes gone bloodshot, shaking with pent-up hate.
Big Mike looked at them and lifted his chin. "What? You wanna swing?"
The Seorin people immediately lowered their heads.
Right then, the sky darkened with shadow.
Two
thousand
âno,
twenty thousand
âFallen Star Guard members rode in on Flamebirds and descended overhead.
Any last trace of defiance in the crowd got crushed flat. Hands unclenched. Shoulders sagged.
It wasnât just nine people.
If they really pissed Ethan off, this entire compound would be gone in minutes.
"Youâre here," Chris said easily. He tossed the dozen-plus Awakened toward the arriving Fallen Star Guard like he was throwing sacks of grain. "These are yours."
He nodded at the Seorin crowd. "Watch them. If anyone feels brave, send him to keep their prime minister company."
"Yes!"
Fallen Star Guard members jumped down from their Flamebirds. The pressure of their presence alone forced the Seorin people to keep backing up, instinctively giving them space.
Inside the storage room, Ethan swept every crystal core into his storage ring.
He turned the place upside down after thatâripped through shelves, checked every hidden corner, every container.
In the end, he still didnât find anything worth getting excited about.
He could only shake his head and walk out.
Outside, everyone was already gathered.
Ethan didnât waste time. "Letâs go. Somewhere else."
Chris glanced back at the Seorin survivors. "What about these Seorin guys?"
"Leave them," Ethan said. "This compoundâs doomed sooner or later. We donât need to be the ones to do it. Let them kill a few more zombies first."
Their goals here had been simple: find any Void Realm creatures, and find Awakened.
Now theyâd done both.
And Seorin Republic only had this one compound left anyway. No other compounds to check, and no sign of more Void Realm creatures.
So Ethan was done here.
A moment later, twenty thousand Flamebirds lifted off again and left Seor City behind, disappearing into the distance.
Below, the Seorin survivors watched them go, faces slack with the expression of people whoâd just survived an execution.
Relief.
Shock.
A shaky kind of gratitude they hated themselves for feeling.
They had no idea that even if Ethan didnât destroy them...
Their ending was already written.