Roaring flames engulfed Lyon, the searing Divine Flame relentlessly scorching their bodies. The excruciating pain, tearing through both flesh and soul, forced Lyon to open his mouth wide, unleashing harrowing screams of agony.
“Ahhh! Kill me! Just kill me already!” Golden flames spewed uncontrollably from his mouth as father and son wailed in turn, their anguished cries weaving together into a macabre and terrifying symphony in the sky.
Oddly enough, under Luca’s deliberate control, a bizarre sense of rhythm and dark humor underpinned the scene.
Streaks of radiant light pierced through the clouds as one powerful figure after another made their appearance.
The arriving crowd was vast and formidable, including the likes of the War God Winston, the President of the Mages’ Association Augustine.
The Headmaster of the Stellar Academy Selin, the Duke of the Western Territory Evelyn, and the Duke of the Southern Territory Mond Stein.
Even the Crown Prince Leonie, the Second Prince Runne, the Third Princess Raphael, and Lucia were among them.
“That’s Luca?” The crowd raised their heads, gazing at the figure surrounded by Divine Flame in the sky. Their expressions ranged from astonishment to complex emotions, all overwhelmed by the sheer impact of the scene.
A magnificent sun hung high in the heavens as the vast sea of clouds transformed into an inferno.
Amidst the radiant divine light stood a tall, imposing figure atop the clouds. Mystical laws flowed ceaselessly over his regal robes, shimmering with an ethereal brilliance.
The Divine Flame danced around him, its radiance so brilliant that even the sun’s light seemed dim in comparison.
With a mere wave of his hand, boundless divine power engulfed the heavens and the earth. Across the Eternal Continent, countless seas of fire surged and roared, majestic and awe-inspiring.
After ten thousand years of silence, a new Solar Deity had descended upon the Eternal Continent!
Yet no one could have imagined that the one to ascend to godhood would be this young man!
Winston, observing intently, furrowed his brows. “Something feels off. His aura is unstable—it’s not the true Divine Realm.”
The others quickly noticed the same. While Luca’s aura was undeniably formidable, it fell short of the power recorded in legends of true gods.
This realization brought a collective sigh of relief to many.
If this youth had genuinely reached the fabled realm of gods, it would leave them questioning the worth of their own lives.
Stepping forward, Lucia spoke gently, attempting to calm him. “Luca, if there’s something troubling you, we can discuss it. Don’t act impulsively.”
Crown Prince Leonie and the others also wore tense expressions as they watched him intently. Whether or not Luca had truly entered the Divine Realm, none of them stood a chance against him. If he lost control, it would spell certain disaster.
Below them lay Dawn City. Should Luca’s emotions spiral, the city, along with its eight floating isles and nearly ten million inhabitants, would face annihilation.
Few, if any, would survive. Such devastation could bring about the collapse of the entire Clinton Empire.
Sophia looked into Luca’s eyes and said, “Finn deserves to die a thousand times over, but the people of Dawn City are innocent.”
Luca met her gaze and replied calmly, “Don’t worry. I’m not as depraved as those two.”
Sophia nodded slightly, reassured that Luca hadn’t lost his rationality.
The others, overhearing their exchange, also felt a measure of relief. At the very least, he was still willing to communicate and wasn’t some deranged lunatic.
Of course, Lyon and Finn wouldn’t share this sentiment.
The two of them were being tortured by Luca to the point of wishing for death, their agonized pleas for mercy echoing over Dawn City.
The crowd, however, turned a blind eye.
Most people were well aware of the vile deeds committed by the Phillips family. In the past, constrained by Lyon’s influence and the noble faction’s power, they could only endure in silence. Now that Luca had stepped forward to punish the father and son, many felt a deep sense of vindication and satisfaction.
Naturally, not everyone shared this view, particularly those in the Second Prince’s noble faction. They had recently succeeded in aligning themselves with the Phillips family and were on the verge of securing the Crown Prince’s position. But now, all of their efforts had been shattered like fragile glass in the face of Luca’s overwhelming might. Their hearts burned with indignation.
Yet at this moment, who among them dared to voice their outrage at Luca?
Gods are called gods because they possess the power to overturn empires with a wave of their hand, to bring entire continents to their knees.
A youthful god had appeared in the world, the first true deity to emerge in ten thousand years on the Eternal Continent!
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The fact that Luca hadn’t killed anyone yet was almost merciful. Even if he were to annihilate the entire Phillips family with a single motion, who would dare speak against him?
Before divine power, all mortals are but ants, and even the Transcendent are no different.
Luca’s gaze swept over the gathered crowd, taking in their every expression. His eyes remained cold and unchanging. In both his past and present lives, the law of the world had always been survival of the fittest. Power dictated truth, and whoever had the strongest fist dictated the rules.
Finn and his father had committed heinous crimes yet roamed free, indulging in exquisite feasts and unparalleled luxury. Mountains of corpses had been left in their wake, met only with a few token words of condemnation from the world.
Now, the tables had turned. They were the ones on the chopping block, and he was the one holding the blade.
Staring at the brilliant Divine Flame in his hand and feeling its overwhelming, world-shattering power, Luca lowered his eyes and murmured to himself, “As expected, fists are the best way to reason.”
If he had possessed this kind of power in his past life, even the Ancient Gods wouldn’t have been able to subjugate him. He wouldn’t have been forced to watch helplessly as his parents and friends became food for monsters, or as countless members of the Human Race were slaughtered like cattle.
This world decides birth, old age, sickness, and death, but it never grants fairness or justice. Every scrap of justice Luca had witnessed across both his lives had been forged through strength.
That was why he firmly believed: fists are truth.
Calming his emotions and steadying his thoughts, Luca turned his gaze toward Lyon and Finn, still trapped within the Burning Sun, and asked in an even voice, “Where is Fratis?”
He had already used his spiritual power to sweep through the entirety of Dawn City, yet he still hadn’t found a trace of Fratis. Either she had been hidden using a top-tier secret technique, or she had been smuggled out of Dawn City.
Neither possibility was good news.
Within the Divine Flame, Finn was already tortured beyond recognition.
He pleaded desperately, “I… I haven’t seen the princess… please! Please, I’m begging you! Let me go! I know I was wrong…”
Hearing Luca’s words, everyone froze for a moment. The Third Princess Raphael asked in surprise, “Isn’t Fratis in the princess’s bedchamber? I visited her just yesterday.”
“Yes, exactly,” others chimed in, looking equally puzzled. Fratis’s wedding was scheduled for tomorrow. Over the past few days, she had been staying in her chambers without stepping out. No one could understand why Luca was asking about her whereabouts.
“Fratis is not in the royal palace,” Luca said calmly. “I can’t sense her presence. She’s not anywhere in Dawn City.”
“How is that possible?” The crowd was shocked. If Fratis were still in Dawn City, with the level of power Luca now wielded, it would be impossible for him not to sense her.
Regardless of the circumstances, one thing was clear: something had happened to the Sixth Princess.
“I’ll ask again. Where is Fratis?” Luca’s cold gaze bore into Finn and Lyon.
The moment he finished speaking, the Divine Flame within the blazing sun surged violently!
The screams of the father and son instantly grew louder, piercing the skies.
“Ahhh!!! I… I swear, I haven’t seen the princess!”
“I can’t take it anymore! Kill me… just kill me already!”
Lyon and Finn rolled helplessly within the sea of fire, their flesh melting and regenerating under the scorching Divine Flame, a horrifying cycle that made onlookers’ skin crawl.
But no one was paying attention to the two anymore. Their fate was already sealed.
The crowd exchanged glances and immediately extended their spiritual senses toward the princess’s chambers.
Moments later, their faces turned grim.
“The Sixth Princess is missing,” said Augustine, his bushy white eyebrows furrowing as he failed to detect Fratis’s presence.
“How could the princess suddenly disappear?” Lucia asked, stunned. Fratis’s wedding preparations had been ongoing, and many people had seen her in recent days. She had been perfectly fine before—how could she simply vanish without a trace?
Grand Duke Evelyn speculated, “Could the princess have been abducted?”
“Highly unlikely,” Headmaster Selin replied, shaking his head slightly. “Though the royal palace’s security isn’t particularly stringent, it’s still the royal palace. Smuggling a living person out from there would be nearly impossible—like trying to climb to the heavens.”
“Damn it!” Crown Prince Leonie and Second Prince Runne both looked grim. For the Sixth Princess to vanish on the eve of her wedding was a colossal scandal for the royal family.
It was especially humiliating with so many foreign envoys and prominent nobles currently gathered in Dawn City. Within days, this embarrassing incident would undoubtedly become the talk of the entire Eternal Continent.
“Deploy every city guard in Dawn City immediately! We must find the princess!” they ordered without hesitation. Since the Third Princess had seen her yesterday, there was a strong possibility she was still somewhere in Dawn City.
Regardless of whether it was to preserve the royal family’s dignity or to appease Luca, finding Fratis was the top priority.
As for Finn, Lyon, and the Phillips family… they’d have to survive the night before anyone could deal with their fate.
The others quickly realized the urgency as well. One after another, streaks of light cut across the sky as various factions mobilized their forces to search every corner of Dawn City for Fratis.
Luca frowned, his gaze returning to the father and son writhing in the inferno.
He could tell whether they were lying. If Fratis’s disappearance wasn’t their doing, then who could it have been?
With so many factions pouring into Dawn City—nobles from across the empire as well as representatives from the other two nations—the city was teeming with a mix of shady characters and interwoven interests. Under these chaotic circumstances, finding solid leads would be far from easy.
On top of that, the time for the Gods’ Revelation was drawing near. If this dragged on, there was no telling what dangers Fratis might face.
“You two, just enjoy yourselves.” Glancing at Finn and Lyon, who were begging for death under the relentless torment of the Divine Flame, Luca wasted no further time on them. With a flash, he disappeared from the sky.
When he reappeared, he was inside Fratis’s bedchamber. The protective enchantments, capable of withstanding even Superclass and Transcendent power levels, were no obstacle to him.
He surveyed the room. The lavishly decorated chamber was brightly lit. White lace garlands hung over the bed, which was neatly adorned with downy feathered bedding. The atmosphere was steeped in wedding preparation, exuding a strong celebratory aura.