Under the crushing force of Ethan's strike, the Mountain God stumbled back a full step before finally managing to steady itself.

The ground groaned beneath its weight, sending up a thick cloud of dust and debris.

The scene was nothing short of jaw-dropping.

"The Mountain God... actually got knocked back?!"

The Xenobeasts' savage eyes went wide, stunned disbelief etched across their faces. That towering figure wasn't just a creature to them—it was a symbol of divine power. Their faith, their god.

And now, it had been forced to retreat.

The Mountain God itself was clearly pissed. To it, Ethan was no more than an insect—something to be squashed without effort.

Yet that "insect" had just landed a blow strong enough to shake its massive frame.

With a low growl, the Mountain God began gathering energy again. The runes along its arm flared to life, golden light pulsing as it prepared to strike back and reclaim its pride.

But as it raised its hand—Ethan was gone.

"Huh?" The Mountain God's eyes narrowed, scanning the battlefield. "Where did he go?"

Silence.

Even the wind seemed to hold its breath.

Then—

"Looking for me?"

The voice came from above, calm and cold.

Ethan landed lightly on the Mountain God's head, as if gravity didn't apply to him.

The Mountain God's heart lurched. It moved to swat him away—

But it was too late.

BOOM!

The Domain of the Dead exploded downward like a crushing millstone, its pressure slamming into the Mountain God's skull. Its massive feet sank deeper into the earth.

Ethan raised one foot, now glowing with the same deathly energy, and stomped down with brutal force.

BOOOOOOM!

The impact was like a meteor strike. The Mountain God reeled as if a planet had just crashed into its head.

Its knees buckled.

With a thunderous CRACK, it dropped to the ground—kneeling.

"Our god... is kneeling?"

The Xenobeasts stared, frozen in disbelief. The divine being they worshipped, the ruler of the continent, was on its knees—beneath the foot of a Zombie King.

Was this... the true power of a Deathless Sovereign from Necroterra?

They looked at Ethan's upright figure, standing tall and unshaken, and a chill crept into their hearts.

On the other side of the battlefield, Ethan's zombie underlings were just as stunned.

"Boss looks even stronger than before..."

"Yeah, but that stone guy's no joke either."

"True. Not many things can take two full hits from the boss and still be standing."

"..."

The Mountain God, now seething with rage, had had enough.

Sigil Lockdown!

With a furious roar, the runes beneath its feet began to writhe and spread, crawling across the battlefield like living veins of gold. In seconds, the entire area was bathed in golden light.

Ethan was just about to conjure a phantom and slip away when he felt it—his body suddenly grew heavy, like he'd been chained to the earth.

He looked down.

The golden light was everywhere, stretching across the terrain in all directions. The Ritual Array had activated, and it wasn't pulling any punches.

Everything caught within the array was being dragged downward by an overwhelming gravitational force—hundreds of times stronger than normal.

Ethan's body, built like a war machine, could handle it. But even he felt the weight. His movements slowed, his limbs heavier.

This rune magic... was no joke.

He expanded the Domain of the Dead again, using its power to counteract the crushing force. Then, with a burst of strength, he leapt upward, aiming to break free from the Ritual Array's range.

"Where do you think you're going?!"

The Mountain God roared in fury, swinging its massive stone arm to block Ethan's path, then swept it backward in a wide arc, trying to snatch him out of the air.

To Ethan, it was like a wall of stone had suddenly risen to cut off the sky itself.

But that wasn't the end of it.

With a thunderous rumble, the Mountain God's body began to break apart—splitting into massive chunks of stone that floated into the air, each one etched with glowing runes.

They hovered ominously, radiating a terrifying, ancient power.

"This thing... definitely wasn't born naturally," Ethan muttered, eyes narrowing as he scanned the shifting stones.

It felt like a thousand ancient titans were closing in on him, boxing him in from all sides.

Clearly, the runes on the ground were only part of the Sigil Lockdown. The real trap was just beginning.

The rune-engraved stones that had once been the Mountain God's body began to converge on Ethan, moving with unnatural precision.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

One after another, the stones slammed together, forming a massive sphere around him.

There was nowhere to run.

Ethan compressed the Domain of the Dead into a tight shell around himself, using it to resist the crushing pressure. But the stones kept closing in, tighter and tighter, until he was swallowed by darkness.

From the outside, the floating stones had formed a perfect sphere—like a prison forged from the bones of a god.

But what shocked the watching zombies even more was what came next.

The runes on the surface of the stone sphere began to writhe and shift, linking together into intricate patterns. Each stone fit perfectly into the next, like pieces of a divine puzzle.

The glowing lines pulsed with light, forming a brand-new Ritual Array.

"What kind of ability is this?"

"It feels... otherworldly. Like it was all planned from the start."

"Boss is trapped in there... how the hell are we supposed to win now?"

"..."

Nervous tension spread through the zombie ranks.

They had to admit it—the Mountain God wasn't just strong. It was smart. It had held its own against Ethan longer than any enemy before, and now it had even managed to trap him.

By all accounts, this thing was on a whole different level.

The Mountain God had fully activated the Sigil Lockdown, using its own body as the vessel to seal Ethan inside. The runes on the surface blazed brighter and brighter, radiating golden light.

From a distance, it looked like a miniature sun had descended onto the battlefield.

A deep rumble echoed from within, as if the sphere was grinding something into dust. The light grew so intense that everything else lost its color—sky, earth, even the air itself faded into pale gray.

"A miracle... this is a miracle!"

"That's divine power! The light of a god!"

"This time, that damn Zombie King has to be finished!"

"..."

The Xenobeasts were in awe. Some even dropped to their knees, eyes filled with reverence, unable to resist the urge to worship.

Bathed in the golden glow, the battlefield took on a surreal, almost holy atmosphere.

But the moment didn't last.

A strange, sinister red began to seep through the cracks between the stones—like blood leaking from a wound.

The red deepened, thickened, spreading like veins across the surface. A suffocating aura of destruction followed in its wake.

"What... what is that?!"

Every creature present felt a chill crawl down their spine. Some primal instinct screamed at them—something terrible was coming.

The red light pulsed through the cracks, weaving into the golden glow like veins of corruption.

The radiant sun had turned blood-red.

The energy inside grew more violent, more unstable.

BOOM!

A deafening explosion ripped through the sky.

A pillar of crimson energy shot upward, tearing through the clouds like a spear of rage.

The stone prison shattered, chunks of rock blasted outward. The runes flickered wildly, some going dark entirely—like they'd been mortally wounded.

And from the swirling blood mist, Ethan emerged.

His body was wreathed in crimson energy, his eyes glowing like twin embers.

He had entered the third stage—Blood Rite.

After absorbing countless crystal cores and evolving again and again, Ethan had reached a new level. The Blood Rite had grown exponentially stronger—its power now beyond anything he'd wielded before.

Shrouded in blood mist, he looked like a demon risen from the abyss.

The Mountain God wasn't a carbon-based lifeform. That much was clear. But it had a mind—a consciousness. And Ethan had a theory.

That consciousness had to be hidden in one of those stones.

"Then I'll just smash them all."

Ethan shot forward like a bullet, his fist cocked back.

With the Blood Rite surging through him, the power behind that punch was monstrous—apocalyptic.

The sky itself trembled.

Two of the floating stones were caught in the shockwave of his strike. They began to shake violently, the runes on their surface flickering like dying stars.

Even the golden light on the ground began to unravel, breaking apart at the seams...

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