GLOBAL AWAKENING: My 10,000x Exp Multiplier-Chapter 68: []The Death of a Herald, A Galactic Notice

The ruined street was dead silent save for the pathetic mechanical whining of the Vultun Herald’s failing armor.

Zarek lay on the ash-covered asphalt. His left leg was completely pulverized and his once-pristine silver suit was coated in the grime of a world he had dared to call a primitive resource node.

Behind Vahn, Aria let out a long shuddering breath. Her hands trembled as she lowered her wooden staff.

She had fully expected to watch the man she loved be vaporized by the alien’s overwhelming barrage. Instead she had witnessed a display of dominance so absolute it defied human comprehension.

"Are you taking notes, Sister-in-Law?" Hana’s cheerful voice broke the tension.

The younger girl was leaning casually against a shattered concrete pillar. Her Sun-Silk Aegis shimmered flawlessly.

"Because I’m pretty sure my brother just styled on an alien invader without even taking his hands out of his pockets."

"Hana, please," Aria said, her face going pink. She aggressively adjusted the collar of her Crimson-Lotus Vestments. "I am simply keeping watch! The alien is still active!"

She was right. The alien wasn’t finished.

"You think you have won, primitive?" Zarek hissed.

His synthesized voice distorted as his suit’s internal speakers sparked and popped. He dragged himself backward while his floating gauntlets violently trembled as they tried to re-engage their targeting matrices.

"I am a Herald of the Vultun Empire! I do not surrender to glitches in the system!"

"A poor tactical decision," Vahn sighed and shook his head. He didn’t look angry. He looked disappointed.

The alien reached up and his trembling hand slammed against the side of his silver helmet. He wasn’t trying to fix his comms. He was overriding his suit’s safety protocols.

"If I cannot harvest this sector, I will glass it!" Kaelen roared. Pure fanaticism bled through his mechanical filter.

"Initiating Sub-Atomic Rupture! I will drag this entire city into the void with me!"

The cracked blue core at the alien’s neck flared with blinding unstable energy. The ambient air temperature skyrocketed.

The physical concrete around the Herald began to dissolve into pure white light as the suit prepared to detonate in a localized nuclear explosion.

"Vahn!" Aria screamed. She instantly lunged forward with her hands glowing with desperate restorative magic. She was prepared to throw her own body between the blast and the Architect.

"Snacks!" a tiny telepathic voice suddenly demanded.

Before the alien’s core could reach critical mass, Kora dropped from the sky. The crimson-haired dragon-girl landed squarely on the Herald’s chest. Her heavy boots cracked the remaining nano-armor.

She didn’t look terrified of the impending nuclear blast at all. Her gold slit-pupil eyes were wide with gluttonous joy!

"Get off me, you feral beast!" Zarek panicked and tried to swat the tiny girl away.

Kora ignored him completely. She unhinged her jaw to reveal rows of razor-sharp obsidian teeth. She didn’t bite the alien’s armor. She simply inhaled.

A violent localized vacuum formed inches from the alien’s chest. The blinding unstable energy radiating from the ruptured core was forcefully stripped from the suit.

The nuclear fire didn’t explode outward. It was sucked directly into Kora’s mouth like water spiraling down a drain.

The alien shrieked in sheer terror as his ultimate weapon and his final trump card was literally eaten by a toddler!

Kora closed her mouth and chewed thoughtfully for a second. She swallowed hard and blinked her glowing eyes.

She let out a massive rumbling burp and released a small puff of blue plasma into the air.

"Spicy," Kora announced as she patted her stomach. She looked down at the terrified alien. "Do you have any more? That was very crunchy."

Vahn chuckled. He walked forward and gently lifted Kora off the Herald by the collar of her tunic. He set the dragon-girl down beside him and patted her wild crimson hair.

"Good girl, Kora. But leave the main course to me."

He looked down at Zarek. The alien was completely defenseless now. His core was drained and his armor was shattered. His grand invasion had been entirely dismantled in less than two minutes.

"You... you cannot do this," the Herald stammered. His voice was reduced to a pathetic static-laced whisper.

"I am a Tier-2 entity. If you eliminate me, the Starmark System will register the anomaly. The Galactic Overlords will turn their eyes to this world. They will send the armada."

"Let them send the armada," Vahn replied softly. His voice was devoid of any hesitation.

He drew the Soul-Bound Shadow Blade from his hip. The dark metal eagerly drank in the ambient light and hummed with a violent hungry resonance.

"Tell the Overlords that Earth now belongs to its people. Tell them to find another planet."

Vahn paused and looked down at the helpless alien. "Actually, you will not be telling anyone anything."

Vahn reversed his grip and drove the dagger directly through the alien’s visor.

He didn’t just pierce the helmet. He activated his Administrator privileges and channeled the strike to target the alien’s foundational code.

The Soul Siphoning protocol engaged instantly.

The Herald went completely rigid. He didn’t have time to scream as his entire digital and physical existence was violently unwritten.

The advanced suit, the alien biology, and the arrogant programming all dissolved into a torrential geyser of glowing blue pixels that were rapidly inhaled by the pitch-black blade.

Vahn stood up and casually flicked his wrist to sheathe the dagger. He looked at his interface. The experience payout for a Tier-2 extraterrestrial entity was astronomical but that wasn’t what held his attention.

High above the ruined city, the sky flickered. The chaotic bleeding red clouds of the Convergence suddenly parted.

A deafening resonant chime echoed across the entire planet. It wasn’t a localized announcement. It was a broadcast that bypassed the physical world and vibrated directly into the neural links of every surviving human on Earth.

[Global Announcement][Hostile Foreign Protagonist Zarek of Vultun has been successfully eradicated by Player Vahn Ryker]

The sky turned a terrifying brilliant shade of gold.[Warning. You have altered the timeline. You have broken the natural progression of the Spire]

[You have gained the attention of the Galactic Overlords]

Vahn stared up at the glowing golden sky and his expression was perfectly composed. The entire world was likely panicking but he just felt a cold calculating resolve settle into his chest.

"Commander," Sia Vance said quietly as she stepped up to his side. Her silver-grey eyes were fixed on the heavens. "They know we are here."

"I know," Vahn smiled faintly while his purple eyes flashed with azure light.