It was a Realm-Shattering Talisman.

This was a last resort artifact made by the ancient pillars of the Apex Realm. It was meant to summon his family’s true patriarch across the infinite void of the cosmos.

Arthur Sterling just stood over him.

"You’re dead!" Tristan shrieked. Tears of absolute humiliation and pain ran down his mangled face. "You hear me?! You are fucking dead!"

"CRACK!"

Tristan crushed the talisman.

For a fraction of a second, the entire world went completely and terrifyingly silent. The wind stopped blowing. The fires in the Vanguard Bastion courtyard stopped flickering completely.

Even the blood dripping from the floating golden arena seemed to freeze mid-air.

Then, reality tore open.

"RIIIIIIP!"

It was not a portal. It was a violent jagged wound in the very fabric of The Mortal Domain. The sky above the floating arena physically shredded apart to reveal a cosmic space of swirling nebulae and infinite darkness.

From that terrifying abyss, a presence descended.

It was not a man. It was a colossal cosmic projection of a face formed entirely of shifting starlight and pure divine anger. Patriarch Blackwood.

The sheer scale of the projection eclipsed the sun and cast the entire continent into a suffocating shadow.

The physical laws of the lower realm instantly began to buckle under the weight of his existence.

"BOOM!"

The crust of the earth groaned. Massive fissures tore through the Vanguard Bastion’s courtyard. Mountains miles away began to crumble and the ocean tides violently shifted.

Up on the floating arena, the gravity multiplied by a thousand times.

Sylvia Thorne gasped. Her pristine silver combat uniform suddenly felt like it was made of lead as her knees buckled.

The Arch-Mage had just been freed from centuries of torment but was instantly driven toward the floor by the sheer conceptual weight of an Apex Pillar.

"Ugh!"

Before Sylvia could hit the marble, a shadow wrapped around her. Morwenna threw herself over the Arch-Mage with her fangs bared and her black tattoos glowing with violent violet light.

The Demon Empress used her own body as a physical shield. Her abyssal aura flared desperately to push back against the crushing divine pressure.

It was an instinctive act of absolute solidarity. They were polar opposites but they were both bound to the same Emperor. They protected the company’s assets.

As the two women strained under the agonizing pressure, the system in Arthur’s mind erupted into a frenzy of notifications.

[System Notification]

↳ Bound Target Sylvia Thorne is experiencing extreme physiological and spiritual stress!

↳ Bound Target Morwenna is pushing abyssal bloodline past absolute limits!

↳ Employee Target Caden Cross is facing localized gravitational crushing force!

↳ 10,000x ROI Multiplier Activated!

↳ Host is receiving massive influx of stress-induced Cultivation EXP and Limit-Breaking Insights!

Arthur closed his eyes for a split second and took a deep intoxicating breath. The sheer volume of passive energy flooding into his system from his struggling subordinates was incredible.

His internal core felt like a nuclear reactor running at maximum overdrive.

He did not feel the gravity at all. His Dimensional Breaker Physique completely rejected the Patriarch’s oppressive aura.

"WHO DARES MOCK THE HOUSE OF BLACKWOOD?!"

The Patriarch’s voice was a physical force. The soundwaves shattered the remaining pillars of the golden arena and turned the opulent structure into a hovering field of debris.

Arthur slowly opened his eyes and looked up at the sky-sized projection. He was not intimidated. He was annoyed.

"System," Arthur commanded. "Tap into the hijacked Apex Harvesting Array. Use every drop of energy we just sucked out of those fifty dead guards. Turn it on."

[System Processing]

↳ Accessing hijacked Harvesting Array reserves...

↳ Initiating System Feature: Absolute Negation Zone.

A sphere of pure pitch-black geometric energy expanded outward from Arthur’s chest. It did not explode but simply claimed the space.

The zone completely enveloped the floating arena and expanded downward to cover Sylvia, Morwenna, and the ruined academy below.

Instantly, the crushing gravity vanished. The suffocating divine pressure ceased to exist within the black dome.

Sylvia sucked in a massive breath of air. Her hands trembled as she pushed herself up from the marble. Morwenna rolled her shoulders and locked her liquid gold eyes onto Arthur’s back with a mix of awe and predatory lust.

"What is this heresy?!" the Patriarch’s projection boomed.

His massive starlight eyes narrowed as his aura slammed against the outside of Arthur’s Absolute Negation Zone. It utterly failed to penetrate the barrier.

Arthur stepped forward and dragged the tip of the Ebonheart Sword along the gold-laced marble floor. Sparks flew in his wake.

"It is a firewall," Arthur said calmly. His voice was amplified by his own dense mana to reach directly into the cosmos. "And you are unauthorized traffic."

"MORTAL INSECT! KNEEL!"

The Patriarch’s colossal hand reached through the tear in reality. It was formed of solid burning cosmic energy. It moved with the sluggishness of immense mass but carried the inevitable weight of a dying star.

The hand pressed against the top of the Absolute Negation Zone. It tried to physically crush the dome and everyone inside it.

"CRACK!"

The black barrier groaned. Geometric runes flashed violently across its surface as it fought to maintain the laws of physics that Arthur had dictated.

"You really do not know how to negotiate, do you?" Arthur sighed.

He did not brace himself nor did he enter a defensive stance. He just raised the Ebonheart Sword and pointed the pitch-black blade directly at the descending cosmic hand.

He channeled the overflowing stress-induced EXP he had just leeced from his harem. He combined it with the absolute peak of his Domain-Level Sword Intent. The blade began to hum with an absence of light.

[System Combat]

↳ Initiating Ultimate Spell: Cataclysmic Annihilation Ray.

"You want me to kneel?" Arthur sneered. His eyes flashed with lethal intent. "I am going to cut off your hand and beat you to death with your own fingers."

"SWOOSH!"

A beam of pure concentrated abyssal destruction erupted from the tip of the Ebonheart Sword. It was a razor-thin line of absolute erasure. It shot upward at the speed of light and pierced effortlessly through the top of the Absolute Negation Zone.

The black beam struck the Patriarch’s descending palm.

For a moment, nothing happened. The colossal hand continued to press down.

Then, reality glitched.

"Squelch."

It was not an explosion. It was an amputation. The Cataclysmic Annihilation Ray sliced perfectly through the conceptual makeup of the Patriarch’s projection. A massive clean line appeared across the wrist of the cosmic entity.

"AARRRGGGHHH!"

The Patriarch roared. The sound of genuine pain shook the very foundations of the multiverse. The severed city-sized hand of starlight simply detached. It lost its divine cohesion and violently dissolved into a torrential rain of glowing ash over the academy.

Down below amidst the rubble of the Vanguard Bastion, Caden Cross wiped blood from his eyes. The young protagonist stared up at the sky in absolute disbelief. He had read legends of ancient sages and mythical heroes.

None of them compared to the man in the dark coat who had just amputated a God’s hand with a casual flick of his wrist.

Up in the void, the Patriarch’s starlight face contorted in shock. He pulled his remaining arm back into the safety of the Apex Realm. His massive eyes locked onto Arthur’s unbothered posture.

"That is not mortal magic," the Patriarch hissed. His voice trembled with a sudden realization. He scanned Arthur and his divine senses recoiled from the utter lack of absolute limits within the man’s physique. "An impossible vessel... A dimension-breaker."

"You finally did your market research," Arthur mocked and rested the sword back on his shoulder.

The Patriarch’s gaze snapped down to the bleeding and broken form of his heir. Tristan was crawling desperately toward the edge of the arena.

"Tristan!" the Ancestor commanded with urgent panic. "Flee! Enter the portal immediately! This is a multiversal threat! We must mobilize the Apex Council!"

Tristan scrambled to his feet while crying and coughing up golden blood. He looked at Arthur with pure terror before turning to break into a desperate sprint toward the glowing spatial tear above them.

Arthur watched him run. A dark and merciless smile stretched across his face.

"Tournament is not over, kid."