The Epic Tale of Chaos vs Order

Chapter 2549: Time to forge my throne

"How much time has passed? How long has it been?"

The questions echoed endlessly within the mind of the Dark Blood King, repeating in a loop that refused to break.

"A century? A millennium? Or just a few seconds?"

"Am I still alive... or did I already die?"

"What is happening?"

"Why is nothing moving?"

"Am I still breathing?"

Those thoughts multiplied without control, branching into thousands of variations, each more desperate than the last. His consciousness remained active, yet everything else had ceased to function in any meaningful way.

The disconnect between perception and response was absolute. Information still reached his senses—somehow—but it never translated into action. His body would not move. His soul could not react. Even his instincts, once razor-sharp, were now useless echoes trapped in a void.

It was not simply fear that consumed him.

It was something far worse.

It was the complete collapse of reality as he understood it.

Terror did not begin to describe it. It was a suffocating, endless horror, where even the concept of time had lost all meaning. Every moment stretched into eternity, yet nothing actually progressed. His thoughts raced, yet he remained frozen, locked inside his own awareness with no escape.

Then, suddenly, something changed.

A presence intruded.

It was faint at first, like a distant ripple disturbing a still ocean, but it grew clearer with each passing instant. The Dark Blood King felt something touch his mind—something invasive, something absolute. It was as though a finger had reached directly into his brain, bypassing all defenses, ignoring all barriers.

A single thought rose above all others.

"Am I going to die?"

Desperation surged.

"Yes... yes! Kill me! End this!"

The silent scream reverberated through his consciousness, though no sound was ever made.

Outside that frozen perception, Cain stood calmly, observing the final flicker of awareness in the Dark Blood King’s eyes. The once-mighty ruler, who had commanded an entire realm, now existed as little more than a trapped consciousness within a paralyzed shell.

Cain watched as that last spark faded.

The mind collapsed.

The struggle ended.

The Dark Blood King did not die.

Instead, his consciousness simply... collapsed.

Cain exhaled slowly, his expression unchanged. There was no satisfaction in his gaze, no cruelty, and no pity. The outcome had been inevitable from the moment the domain manifested. Still, he did not destroy the man.

The Dark Blood King had a purpose, a very important one, just like the Nirvana Crown Prince.

More importantly, removing him from the Ancestor Domain while he retained even a fragment of awareness would have been dangerous. With his reserves drained, Cain preferred certainty.

With the Dark Blood King dealt with, Cain turned his attention to the rest of the battlefield.

The Royal Blutlinie, who had been caught within the domain, were no different from the countless others who had already perished. One by one, Cain harvested their souls and Ancestor Drops, drawing them out with precision and efficiency.

Their bodies, unlike those of weaker beings, still held value, so he preserved them instead of allowing them to disintegrate completely.

Only after every last resource had been secured did Cain allow himself to relax slightly.

The light in his Ancestor Eye dimmed as his domain began to collapse, its immense power returning to his Perfect Ancestor Drop. Even as the domain faded, however, the effects it had imposed on the world did not immediately disappear.

The entire capital remained frozen.

Buildings hung suspended in midair, debris locked in place as if time itself had been halted. The process of disintegration had ceased, but motion had not returned. It was as though reality itself had been forced into submission, unable to resume its natural flow after being dominated by such overwhelming power.

Cain glanced at the scene with a thoughtful expression.

"My power has begun to rewrite the Laws of this place," he muttered quietly. "So this is the true might of a Fourth Realm ability."

There was a hint of acknowledgment in his tone, not admiration, but understanding. The beings of Paradise, especially the Royal Blutlinie, were truly worthy of being considered an Apex Race.

Still, Cain did not linger on the thought.

He descended into the ruins of the capital, heading straight for the vault buried beneath the city. Without hesitation, he stripped it of everything valuable, storing countless treasures within his spatial artifact. Only a single item remained untouched.

When Cain rose back into the sky, that item rested firmly in his grasp—a gauntlet.

The moment it fused with his arm, the reaction was immediate.

A violent surge of power erupted outward, resonating with the rest of his armor. Energy flowed seamlessly through every piece, completing the set at last.

A thunderous explosion echoed across the heavens.

The fully awakened armor manifested in its true form, its design now resembling a draconic entity of immense majesty. From the gauntlet, a massive blade extended, shimmering with a force that seemed capable of severing space itself.

The transformation was not merely visual.

Knowledge flooded Cain’s mind, revealing the name and nature of the artifact he now wielded.

"Sacred Treasure... Omnissiah."

His voice carried across the sky as arcs of destructive energy burst outward in all directions, carving deep scars into both land and air.

Beneath his helmet, Cain smiled.

The power coursing through him was immense, far beyond what he had possessed before. Yet the satisfaction was short-lived.

His eyes soon turned cold.

"I need to prepare," Cain said quietly, his tone sharpening.

His gaze shifted toward the countless strongholds scattered across the Ninth Realm. The Chaos Seal within his chest continued to unravel with each passing moment, but time was not on his side. There was a high chance that the Nightmare Sacred King of Chaos and Order would act before the seal fully dissolved.

If that happened, Cain would be forced into a confrontation he was not yet ready to face.

Surviving such an encounter required more than strength.

It required preparation on an unprecedented scale.

The Dark Blood King had already gathered many of the realm’s elites in one place, but that was not enough. Billions of Blutlinie still existed throughout the Ninth Realm, and Cain needed every advantage he could obtain.

More precisely, he needed their souls and Ancestor Drops.

Cain had committed massacres before, but never on this scale. The thought of wiping out an entire realm might have shaken others, but to him, it was nothing more than a necessary step.

"Well," he said with a faint shrug, "there’s a first time for everything."

And so, the hunt began.

One stronghold after another fell. Entire populations were erased as Cain extracted their essence, storing their remains for future use. Panic spread quickly, and those who understood the danger attempted to hide, using every method at their disposal to evade him.

It made no difference.

Through the Power of Karma, Cain could locate them all.

Even with his overwhelming speed, the Ninth Realm was vast, so he prioritized those at the Third Realm, eliminating them along with anyone connected to them. To him, there was no distinction between targets.

Blutlinie were born killers, devouring their own kin even before birth.

Cain felt no remorse.

If Paradise ever discovered the Nine Empyrean Suns Universe, only one side would survive.

Nine months passed in this relentless slaughter. Billions perished, their existence reduced to resources fueling Cain’s ascent.

At last, he stopped.

Exhaustion showed faintly on his face, though his resolve remained unshaken. There were still many tasks ahead. And the next was one of the most important.

His gaze turned toward the Ocean of the Blood Sun.

"It’s time," he said softly, "to forge my throne."