Thirty days passed in a blur of ruthless and bloody efficiency. The hostile takeover was complete.

The Mortal Domain was no longer a fractured landscape of squabbling kingdoms. It was a singular hyper-focused corporate entity and Arthur Sterling was the sole shareholder.

Caden Cross acted as the Vanguard’s lead enforcer. He had scoured the continent and wiped out every hidden demonic sect and rogue beast horde.

Every swing of Caden’s sword and every drop of sweat he shed fed directly into Arthur’s 10,000x multiplier.

Arthur hadn’t lifted a finger in a month. Yet his internal energy had grown so dense it felt like he was harboring a dying star in his chest.

His aura was entirely internalized now and completely undetectable. To the naked eye, he looked like a perfectly ordinary but incredibly imposing mortal man.

He sat on a massive throne of black iron that had been erected in the center of the Vanguard Bastion’s rebuilt courtyard.

He was staring at a holographic schematic projected from his system interface. It was the blueprint for the Apex Tournament.

Days ago, Lyra had intercepted a transmission from the Upper Realms. She was a rogue thief he had preemptively recruited through a rather violent corporate acquisition.

The Apex Gods weren’t just coming down to host a martial arts tournament for their amusement.

"Look at this garbage," Arthur muttered as he swiped his finger through the glowing blue runes. "It’s a siphon array. A massive planetary-scale vacuum."

Sylvia stood to his right and her silver eyes scanned the magical mathematics.

"They intend to use the arena as a focal point," she realized with a voice laced with disgust. "The moment the tournament begins, the array will activate. It will drain the life force of every mortal on this continent to fuel the Apex Realm’s leylines."

Morwenna was lounging lazily against the armrest of Arthur’s throne. She let out a dark and mocking laugh.

"A harvest ritual. How unoriginal. The cowardly little gods want to glass the farm."

Arthur smiled with a cold and predatory expression that promised absolute ruin.

"They want to drain the planet?" Arthur asked rhetorically as his fingers danced across the system interface. "Let’s reverse the polarity. It was time to show these fake gods a real corporate buyout."

[Ding!]

[Target: Apex Harvesting Array detected.]

[Initiating System Override...]

↳ Array hijacked. Polarity reversed.

↳ Harvesting focal point rerouted to Host’s 10,000x Multiplier Core.

Arthur dismissed the screen just as the sky above the academy began to tremble.

It wasn’t a tear. It was an absolute majestic parting of the clouds.

A blinding golden light poured down upon the Mortal Domain. It was accompanied by the blaring sound of celestial trumpets that rattled the teeth of every mortal within a hundred miles.

Slowly descending from the heavens came a massive floating arena forged entirely of white marble and solid gold.

The sheer atmospheric pressure of the structure was suffocating. Hundreds of Vanguard students fell to their knees and gasped for air as the gravity in the courtyard multiplied exponentially.

Even a heavily scarred Caden Cross struggled to remain standing.

Arthur remained comfortably seated on his throne and entirely unaffected. Sylvia and Morwenna flanked him looking like twin goddesses of death.

At the center of the floating arena sat the Sun-God Palanquin. It was a lavish floating chariot pulled by four chained celestial beasts.

Lounging on the cushions and surrounded by dozens of elite golden-armored Apex Guards was Tristan Blackwood.

The Young Master had descended.

Tristan looked down at the ruined academy. His aristocratic face twisted into a sneer of absolute superiority. He held a crystal goblet of wine and looked at the struggling mortals like they were insects squirming in the dirt.

"Filthy squalid little mud-ball," Tristan’s voice echoed and amplified by divine magic to boom across the entire city. "I am Tristan of House Blackwood! I have come to collect the toll for your miserable existence!"

His golden eyes swept over the courtyard and instantly locked onto the high podium where Arthur sat.

Tristan’s sneer widened into an ugly lustful grin as his gaze fell upon Sylvia and Morwenna. Even from a distance, the sheer undeniable beauty and power of the two women eclipsed everything in the mortal realm.

"Well well," Tristan mocked and stood up from his palanquin. "The runaway cauldron has found herself a little friend. And you brought me an Abyssal toy to play with as well. How generous."

Tristan finally looked at Arthur and his eyes were dismissive. He couldn’t sense a single drop of mana on the man.

"And you must be the arrogant little peasant who broke my communication stone. You hide your aura well trash. But parlor tricks won’t save you today."

Arthur leaned his chin on his knuckles and looked intensely bored. "Are you going to monologue all day kid or are we doing this?"

Tristan’s face flushed with immediate rage.

"Insolent dog! The rules of the Apex Tournament are absolute! Your mortals will face my divine guards in single combat! For every loss, a million of your citizens will be incinerated!"

Tristan pointed a glowing finger at Sylvia and Morwenna.

"And when you fail, I will take those two women as my personal cauldrons and turn the rest of your academy into brainwashed hounds!" 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

The golden-armored Apex Guards stepped forward and drew massive humming broadswords. The weakest among them possessed an aura that eclipsed the absolute peak of the Mortal Domain. To a normal man, they were literal Gods.

"I’ll go," a gritty and determined voice growled.

Caden Cross forced himself to his feet. His joints popped as he fought against the divine gravity.

He drew his heavily chipped runic longsword and glared up at the floating arena with sheer protagonist defiance.

Arthur watched his employee step up to the plate. He didn’t stop him.

"Show them what a minimum-wage worker can do kid," Arthur murmured and leaned back into his throne as the first match of the cosmic slaughter began.