Chapter 396: Battle

Ethan Hunt stepped out into the void of the trial ground, his boots touching the invisible floor of reality.

Immediately, the air felt like liquid lead.

A massive golden net, shimmering with the power of seven supreme laws, descended upon him.

This was the Seven Heavens Sealing Array.

It was designed to lock the pores of a god and freeze the blood of a titan.

Ethan paused.

He looked up at the golden geometry pressing down on him.

"Ah! What is this!" Ethan cried out, his voice cracking with a perfect pitch of terror.

"I... I can’t feel my strength! My supreme power is being restrained! What is going on?"

He stumbled back, his knees knocking together.

He even let a little sweat bead on his forehead.

But inside, he was now watching something entertaining.

He was checking his internal worlds, watching a small civilization of "Frost Demons" discover fire. They were trying kill this nemesis of them.

High above, hidden in the folds of space, twenty-one figures began to emerge.

They were the generals of the Axiom Dominion.

They were dressed in armor made of dragon bone and starlight.

"Hahaha! The fish is caught in the net!" one of them laughed, his voice booming like thunder.

Ethan looked around wildly, his eyes wide.

"Who is there? Come out! Or else... or else I’ll use my ultimate treasure ray on you!"

His voice was still shaking.

If there had been a camera nearby, Ethan would have surely won an award for his acting.

He looked exactly like a lucky brat who had found a weapon he didn’t understand and was now realizing he was out of his league.

"Oh my! The little anomaly is angry. I am so afraid," the Kizuki general said, stepping forward.

He was the leader, a man with eyes that burned like cold blue suns.

His mockery didn’t last long.

His face turned into a mask of pure hatred.

"How dare you hurt our Supreme Elder? How dare you kill our heir? You are a stain on the fabric of the reality. Even a hundred deaths would not be enough to pay for your crimes. Now, die!"

The other twenty generals stepped forward.

Their auras combined into a crushing weight.

The space around Ethan began to crack under the pressure of twenty-one Axiom-level beings.

"Wait! Let’s talk! Shall we?" Ethan pleaded, waving his hands frantically like a cornered villain in a cheap book.

"Don’t you want to know the secret of my treasure? The one that hurt your Supreme Elder? Think about it! If you have it, you could seize power! You could rule your families! Why kill me and give the treasure back to the Elders?"

The generals paused for a second.

Greed flickered in their eyes.

But the Kizuki general spat on the ground.

"Do you think you can persuade us with your pathetic excuses? Once you are dead, the treasure will be ours anyway. Now, die!"

Ethan stopped shaking.

He stood up straight and let out a long, bored sigh.

The "terror" vanished from his face, replaced by a mild, polite smile.

"Well," Ethan said, his voice now deep and steady.

"I tried to be the ’protagonist in distress.’ It’s not as fun as I thought."

He waved his hand casually.

In a flash of light, a man appeared in front of him.

The newcomer was wearing a bright orange martial arts outfit.

He was muscular, with spiky black hair that defied gravity.

He looked around, blinking in confusion.

"Huh? Where am I?" the man asked.

He patted his stomach and looked at Ethan.

"Hey, friend. Can you tell me where this place is? I was just about to have lunch with my friends."

"I summoned you here," Ethan said with a small smile.

"See those twenty-one people up there? They are very strong. Do you want to fight them?"

The man’s eyes instantly sharpened.

A massive, toothy grin spread across his face.

"Did you just say strong? Hell yeah! I’m going to fight!"

This was Ethan’s creation—a perfect copy of the legendary warrior from the "Dragon Ball Cluster."

He had all the memories, the personality, and the hunger for battle of the original.

The warrior, whom Ethan called "Goku" for the sake of the narrative, turned his head to look at the generals.

Goku looked toward the 21 generals.

Pop.

Suddenly, Goku’s head exploded into a mist of red energy.

His body collapsed.

Ethan blinked.

"Oops! I forgot. He’s just a third-dimensional being right now. It’s blasphemy for a mortal to gaze upon an Axiom God without protection."

To these generals, they were the peak of existence.

A mortal looking at them was like an ant trying to stare at the sun—it simply burned them out of reality.

Ethan snapped his fingers.

Goku was restored instantly, but this time, a thin veil of Origin energy protected him.

Goku gasped, clutching his head.

"Whoa! What kind of beings are they? I didn’t even see them move and I... I died?"

"They are even stronger than the Gods of Destruction. I can’t even sense their power, but my sixth sense is screaming about mortal danger!"

He looked at Ethan, his excitement now mixed with a healthy dose of awe.

"They are awesome!"

"They are gods," Ethan explained.

"They are even more powerful than the angels you know. Do you want to fight them? I can give you the power to stand on their level if you want."

"Can you really? Please! I want to fight them!" Goku shouted, ignoring the fact that he was talking to a being who could recreate his life with a thought.

"Great. Then be prepared. You can go all out," Ethan said.

Ethan snapped his fingers again.

A golden pillar of light erupted from Goku.

His power began to skyrocket at a speed that defied logic.

He broke through the Primordial level in a millisecond.

Then the Genesis realm.

Finally, his aura stabilized at the Axiom Dominion realm.

His hair flickered, turning a deep, shimmering silver.

His eyes became like polished mirrors.

"What is... this power?" Goku whispered, clenching his fists.

The mere act of him closing his hand caused the space around him to shatter.

"Go all out," Ethan commanded.

Ethan then activated his Ultimate Domain.

In an instant, the trial ground was replaced.

The grey void was gone.

In its place was a massive, infinite arena floating in a sea of white light.

This space was separated from the rest of reality.

No one could see in, and no one could leave.

Ethan manifested a throne made of swirling black and white energy—the colors of Energy and Entropy.

He sat down, propping his chin on his hand.

The twenty-one generals were forcefully pulled into the arena.

They landed hard, their golden array shattered like cheap glass.

"Where is this? What happened to the trial ground?" the Kizuki general yelled, looking around in a panic.

"Welcome to my world, little generals," Ethan’s voice echoed from the throne.

"Now, I am giving you an opportunity. Defeat my champion, and you will get a chance to survive."

As he spoke, Ethan stopped hiding.

A horrendous, apocalyptic Origin Paragon level aura burst out from him.

It wasn’t just power; it was the weight of a googolplex of universes pressing down on their souls.

The generals fell to their knees.

Their armor cracked.

Their pride turned to ash.

"We are... we are dead," one general whispered, his eyes leaking blood.

"He is on the same level as the Supreme Elder. Who the fuck said he used a treasure to hurt the Elder? He is the treasure!"

"Why didn’t the will stop him?" another wailed.

"If he’s this strong, he shouldn’t be allowed in here! It’s not fair!"

They were in total despair.

They had come to hunt a rabbit and found a Primordial Dragon waiting for them.

"Fight him, and you might go out," Ethan said, his voice cold.

Inside Ethan’s inner dimension, the World Tree rustled its leaves impatiently.

"But Master... I want to eat them now. They look so tasty."

"Be patient," Ethan whispered back.

"They won’t be a match for him anyway. Let’s watch the show first. I need to see how the ’narrative’ handles a god-level battle."

The generals looked at Goku.

Goku was standing there, bouncing on the balls of his feet, shadow-boxing the air.

He looked foolish, simple, and eager.

"Alright," the Kizuki general said, standing up and drawing his sword.

He felt a tiny spark of hope.

"We will fight. He might have the power, but he looks like a child. We have millions of years of combat experience."

"One rule," Ethan added, his eyes twinkling.

"One at a time. I want to see every technique you have."

The Kizuki general stepped forward.

"I will go first. I am the head of the Kizuki family’s martial arm. I will show this ’champion’ what a true Axiom being can do!"

Goku took a fighting stance, his silver hair glowing.

"Wow! You look really strong! Don’t hold back, okay?"

Ethan leaned back on his throne.

"Begin."