Beyond the Apocalypse-Chapter 1074: Vlad’s full speed

The Third Layer of Hell was vast—gargantuan beyond any meaningful measure. Its scale defied comprehension, stretching endlessly in all directions, a nightmarish metropolis forged from infernal stone, screaming metal, and corrupted laws of reality. Towering structures pierced the crimson sky, while labyrinthine streets coiled like serpents beneath them. Chaos and order existed side by side, twisted into something uniquely hellish.

And now, every inch of it was under surveillance.

The Devil Lords had prepared thoroughly. Countless scanning devices, infernal formations, and detection arrays were spread across the massive city that formed the heart of the realm, as well as its chaotic surrounding sectors. These constructs were layered atop one another, blending technology, magic, and corrupted laws into a web so dense that even fluctuations in space-time could not escape notice.

That was not all.

The Devil Lords had also tampered with the Infernal Monoliths—the ancient structures responsible for distributing Origin Power throughout the layer. Through rituals and precise manipulation, they had redirected all of that power into the top five Sectors. No matter how many regions the Six Sun Alliance conquered, they would gain not even a single iota of Origin Power from them.

It was a deliberate move.

A calculated denial strategy meant to starve the invaders while empowering the defenders.

Across the city, the Devil Lords lay hidden, concealed within sealed sanctums, folded dimensions, and living fortresses disguised as mere buildings. They waited patiently for the Six Sun Alliance to arrive.

Their plan required patience.

And even more cunning.

For they were not facing ordinary conquerors. They were facing the greatest strategic mind the alliance possessed—Overlord himself. His scheming nature surpassed even that of the Devil Lords, and they knew that a single misstep could doom them all.

In one of the countless hidden corners of the city, Nebolex and Alioth concealed together.

The air around them was thick with malice.

Nebolex’s many eyes burned with barely restrained hatred, his monstrous spider-like form coiled in tense anticipation. The rage within him was so intense it bordered on madness, his killing intent churning violently beneath the surface. Alioth, standing beside him, radiated cold hostility, but even he could feel the instability within his companion.

Nebolex had lost too much.

The Xaos Kingdom had used him—manipulated him—to gain access to the Primordial God’s Tomb. When they exited the tomb, they had turned on him with overwhelming ferocity, leaving him grievously wounded. Later, when he attempted to march into Terra to exact revenge, they crippled him even further, severing limbs and leaving him broken.

Humiliated.

Forced to beg the other high-ranking Devil Lords of the Third Layer for aid so he could even heal.

The shame burned hotter than any flame.

His rage had been so intense that he had planned another invasion into Terra, driven purely by vengeance. But when news reached him of the genocide of the Vorometallicae Race, fear finally outweighed hatred. The Xaos King had grown stronger—far stronger than before. Stronger than Nebolex himself.

And no Devil Lord was willing to accompany him.

Now, finally, this was his chance.

"First," Nebolex hissed, his voice dripping with venom, "I will butcher the ants that accompany them. My poisons will grant those Sages and Legends agonizing deaths. I want to see the expression on his face as they all die screaming."

As that thought crossed his mind, Nebolex suddenly stiffened.

His eyes narrowed.

A disturbance rippled through the Law of Space.

They had fortified the city completely. Teleportation inside the Wall of Torment was impossible. Any invasion force would be forced to appear outside its perimeter.

All the hidden Devil Lords turned their attention toward the outer boundary, expecting to witness a massive army—multiple Sovereigns, thousands of Legends, and hundreds of thousands of Sages advancing as one.

What appeared instead made their blood run cold.

It was a single man.

"He... is alone?" one Devil Lord whispered in disbelief.

The figure standing beyond the Wall of Torment was unmistakable.

The Xaos King.

Vlad stood calmly, a wide, radiant smile spread across his face. Three eyes glowed brightly on his forehead—green, yellow, and violet—each radiating a different aspect of absolute power.

He inhaled deeply.

Then his energy exploded outward.

A dark red pillar of wrath erupted first, violent and oppressive, shaking the sky. Next came a towering green pillar, overflowing with gluttonous life force that pulsed as if it were alive. A moment later, a deep purple surge followed, radiating envy and unnatural invulnerability.

Finally, a yellow glow spread outward—so intense that the very particles forming reality began to tremble, accelerate, and distort.

The Devil Lords watching from hiding felt their hearts seize.

Five auras.

Five distinct Lord-level presences.

All emanating from a single body.

And behind them all, a soul force so vast it made the sky itself shudder.

It was not Paragon Tier.

But it was terrifyingly close.

And then—something else happened.

The center of Vlad’s forehead began to tremble.

Space warped.

A Quantum Eye manifested.

"That eye—!"

"He was only supposed to access it after fusing with all the Depravitas, including the woman!"

"What is happening!?"

The Quantum Eye had become infamous throughout the universe. Its power allowed the user to become intangible, phasing through even the most devastating attacks in existence. It was one of the most terrifying abilities ever recorded.

Yet Vlad had never displayed it during his battles in the First and Second Layers. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Until now.

Vlad smiled wider.

Thanks to Ouroboros ascending to the Lord Tier, their combined soul force was finally sufficient to awaken the Quantum Eye. It was not yet at full strength, the duration of Quantum Form was short, and the cooldown was severe.

"It will be enough," Vlad murmured.

The smile of the True Depravita of Wrath faded, replaced by razor-sharp focus. His gaze locked onto the Wall of Torment and the vast infernal city beyond.

He could feel the Devil Lords watching him.

He could not see them.

That alone proved how well they were hidden.

But it no longer mattered.

Vlad lowered his stance into a sprinting position. He inhaled repeatedly, filling his lungs with air and energy as lightning began to dance across his body. His cells vibrated faster and faster, resonating violently as he channeled the power of the True Depravita of Greed.

Overlord had not given him the Devil Lords merely to evolve.

They had been fuel.

Pure, concentrated vitality meant to push his physical speed beyond all limits.

And Vlad used it all.

The sky and earth trembled violently. Space screamed as speed accumulated within his body, compressing until it reached a breaking point.

Then—

"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!"

The ground shattered.

A catastrophic shockwave erupted outward as Vlad burst forward with all his power. The Wall of Torment stood for less than a heartbeat before another thunderous explosion followed.

Vlad smashed straight through it.

The moment Vlad crossed the shattered Wall of Torment, Hell responded.

The city did not wait.

Runes flared to life across entire districts in perfect synchronization, chains of symbols igniting like veins of molten blood beneath the streets. Towers rotated on hidden axes. Streets split apart and reassembled themselves into killing corridors. The very laws governing distance, direction, and momentum twisted violently, turning the city into a colossal execution engine.

Welcome rituals activated.

From the spires overhead, infernal artillery roared. Beams of compressed Origin Power lanced downward, each one capable of erasing battalions full of Legends. From beneath the streets, spear-like pylons erupted, their tips coated in soul-corroding toxins designed to bypass regeneration.

They all were fire as they True Depravita crossed into the city, yet by the time they arrived...

Vlad was already gone.

The air detonated where he had been standing as his body vanished in a thunderclap. He reappeared hundreds of meters ahead, boots skimming the edge of a collapsing street as space folded obediently beneath his feet. Another step—and he was gone again, leaving behind nothing but a warped afterimage as an entire city block imploded under delayed fire.

His speed was no longer mere movement.

By combining his overwhelming speed and domain over space, he achieved displacement.

Lightning crawled across his body as he ran, his form flickering in and out of existence as the Law of Space bent around him.

Distance lost meaning. Angles ceased to apply. Traps that should have activated the moment he crossed their threshold detonated seconds too late, tearing apart empty streets and phantom echoes.

A corridor of execution gates slammed shut ahead of him—walls of annihilating energy sealing every escape route.

Adaptive turrets recalibrated, predictive arrays calculating endless possibilities—only to fail as Vlad’s trajectory refused to exist until the instant he arrived.

All those traps were supposed to gradually activate one at a time, but since Vlad flashed through the city like lightning, they were triggered simultaneously, generating a overload in the process.

That delayed the traps’ activation, which made a wide smile appear in the True Depravita of Wrath as he pushed deeper and deeper.