Back on the planet of Evonon…

Helena looked out at the turning sea with a sigh. The ever-present evening light cast a dark shadow behind her as she waited quietly, staring at the sloshing waves.

She had heard from Marcus of how war had broken out between the Borrel Autarchy and the Draconic Tribes. These two major powers going to war was a huge incident. It was something that was bound to shake the entire 30,000 Worlds, if both forces were serious about this. The effects of such a war were bound to reach them, even all the way over here.

Yet here… All she could think about was a certain Anomaly that was no longer present.

"Come home soon… Dorian…" She whispered quietly to herself, her eyes gleaming.

Helena had never been a social person, much preferring a life to herself. Yet with Dorian, everything felt comfortable, everything felt safe. He reminded her a lot of Highlord Marcus in that way.

She smiled ruefully as she stood up, glancing around.

She was standing on one of the stone towers that connected to the Castle of Darkness. No one else was present,

thud

Someone landed on the roof right next to her.

Helena remained perfectly calm as she swiveled, her hands at the ready. She leaned down in a fighting stance, every cell she had alert. She perfectly entered her martial focus, an Aura of Might ready to burst out around her at a moment's notice.

"Lady Helena." The figure that landed on the roof immediately went to one knee, bowing.

Helena started when she saw this. Not because of the bowing, but because of the man's appearance.

He wasn't a Vampire… but instead was a human, dressed in black leather pants and a black shirt. He had smooth, brown eyes, with a small grey beard and with a short head of grey hair.

On his back, a beautiful, ancient looking bow was slung, colored a blood-red hue.

"Yes?" Helena began, her voice carrying a hint of confusion.

"My name is Leader. I've come in search of the Great Lord." Leader's words carried a hint of fanaticism as he glanced up, looking into Helena's eyes.

"The Great Lord? You mean… Dorian?" Helena stuttered.

When Leader heard that, his eyes lit up, a warm smile appearing. His entire demeanor seemed to relaxe as he looked at her, genuine happiness appearing.

"It is as I suspected, please forgive my abrupt appearance. The Great Lord indeed fooled the Council all along. What they thought was an enemy was merely a clever test, to help find the traitors like Fifteen." He nodded to himself, as if everything now made sense.

There were a swirl of rumors about Lord Inigo's mysterious wife in the Shade Empire. It wasn't publicly known that Helena had been the one accompanying him as his 'wife,' nor was it even well known that his 'wife' was a Vampire.

The accusations thrown out by the Southern Duke's subordinate had been silenced and any stray rumors quashed by the authority of the Shade King. The leader of the Shade Commune was currently in talks with the Aurelius Vampires, under a strict ceasefire, and would allow no distractions to interfere.

Leader, however, had picked up on everything. When he pieced it all together, putting all the clues up, he gradually reached a different conclusion than the one that Council reached.

Everything only made sense to Leader if the Great Lord, Dorian, was the man known as Lord Inigo all along.

And for that to be possible, it meant that Dorian must have killed the original clone or subordinate that Fifteen had sent out as Lord Inigo, taking his place. He then used that as cover to test the Demonic Council.

"A bunch of blind idiots… there's a reason I never joined them."

As Leader was in the midst of congratulating himself and his own genius, Helena began to realize who she was talking to.

She remembered hearing about a powerful archer that used to follow Dorian around faithfully, an archer that had been separated from him after the disaster at Magmor. An archer that used the Demonic Law of Pride, but was not evil, one that believed Dorian's presence was a sign that the Demonic Laws would return to operate openly.

And, indeed, given that Dorian had gained all 7 of the Demonic Laws, he wasn't really wrong in that regard.

He was an archer of supreme skill with the same name as the man before her… Leader.

"Lord Ini-, ah, I mean, the Great Lord is no longer here. He is off on a journey to increase his strength and understanding of the Laws of the Universe." She responded quickly, wondering how Leader had managed to sneak up to her. This was the Castle of Darkness, after all. To achieve this much, his strength must've increased greatly since the last time he talked to Dorian.

"Hmm…" Leader seemed to sense Helena's intent, figuring out that Dorian didn't need or want company right now.

"Then I will stay behind here with you, my lady." Leader's eyes flashed as he nodded, making up his mind.

"The 30,000 Worlds are no longer safe."

Helena stared at him oddly.

"I am in the Castle of Darkness, Leader, one of the safest places in the world, home to a Pseudo-Angelic expert and the strongest stronghold of the Aurelius Family." She continued,

"I am quite safe, and…" She clenched her fists.

WHOOSH

A raw, but tightly constrained Aura of Might burst out from her. This electrifyingly strong Aura forced Leader back a couple of steps, widening his eyes.

"I need no protection."

"As expected from the Great Lord's woman." Leader nodded knowingly to himself. When Helena heard that, and realized what it meant, she blushed faintly and donned an annoyed expression.

"I meant you no disrespect, Great Lady." He seemed to take it for granted that she was with Dorian now.

"But… a storm is brewing, Lady Helena…" Leader's eyes narrowed, his demeanor shifting to one that was extremely serious.

"He has returned."

"He?" Helena stared at him, not understanding.

"The Council confirmed it. It's why I took so long to get here." Leader rubbed at his eyes,

"The Great Destroyer now walks the 30,000 Worlds."

.. .. .. .. .. ..

Two and a half weeks prior…

"Hello, old friend."

"I am here to kill you again."

After the words left Arthur Telmon's lips, the Wizard King clasped his hands together.

As Zero watched all of this, his golden hair slowly started to flutter. An Angelic Halo appeared and flickered around his head, flashing a myriad of colors in its incomplete form.

"You may find that quite a bit harder than you anticipate, Wizard." Zero remained sitting, but the air around him seemed to shiver as he stared at Arthur.

The large underground cavern the duo stood in seemed to quiver, the air quaking as energy surrounded the Wizard King. A golden, Angelic Halo appeared around Arthur's head, shining with light and power.

Arthur's eyes gleamed with yellow light as he stared back at Zero.

"I may find this hard?" Arthur's voice was soft as he spoke, filled with a hint of amusement.

"I have trained every day for a thousand years for this moment. In fact…" The Wizard King casually waved his hand to the side.

"Creation Magic: Universal Space Prison Reveal."

WHOOSH

Immediately, a huge tear in space appeared, thirty meters wide and long. A burst of wind whiplashed throughout the large cavern as reality tore, cascading about chaotically.

Inside this tear, a world of white fog appeared. This fog flashed with ethereal light, glimmering mysteriously, and seemed to go on endlessly. After a few seconds, large tracts of the fog began to fade away, revealing something rather strange.

Dozens of figures floated in this fogscape, spaced several meters from each other. Some figures had demonic features, while others looked angelic. Some were huge and towering beasts while others were small and diminutive.

"I have already done this many times before. You will be the 47th Anomaly I have captured." Arthur took a step forward.

Zero's eyes remained unperturbed,

"I am not like them. I am the strongest. Nothing can defeat me." Black energy crackled around Zero, a powerful Aura rising.

However, for a split second, his attention wavered as he looked at all the other Anomalies that were Sealed within the tear in space.

The Wizard King took advantage of that split second, dismissing the portal and activating two spells.

"Creation Magic." The words blasted from his mouth like a meteor, cascading in the air,

"Form."

A meter in front of the Wizard King, a small particle of light appeared. This particle was extremely tiny, so small it was invisible to the naked eye. Despite its small size, however, this particle contained an incredible amount of energy.

Right after this particle came into existence, the Wizard King uttered one other Spell.

His body moved unnaturally quickly throughout all of this, his physical speed enhanced thanks to a small ring that glowed on his finger. It was such that he completed both Spells within that split second, the words shooting out of him.

"Creation Magic." He whispered,

"Detonate."

As this particle finished forming, in a fraction of a second after the Wizard King activated his second Spell… it began to twist.

And then, near instantaneously… it broke.

This tiny particle suddenly became two tiny particles.

Then… it broke again. And again. And again.

Every time it broke, a small bit of the huge store of energy present in it would flash out. This caused a chain reaction as the pieces of it that formed broke over and over, repeatedly.

All of this happened in less than a millionth of a second, so incredibly quickly that no one present could react.

The small particle broke 27,812 times.

The resulting energy was hyper-concentrated, but after the numerous chain reactions, it rapidly began to expand.

A flash of white light shot out.

The Wizard King's body flickered and vanished.

A moment later…

A gargantuan explosion obliterated the underground cavern.

BOOOM

WHOOSH

Raw energy expanded outward at a speed exceeding the sound barrier. This powerful force not only destroyed the underground chamber, but it also blasted into and incinerated the surrounding earth and continued to expand.

Entire mountains of rock were blasted apart, thrown into the air with abandon.

In ten-thousandths of a second, the explosion broke free to the surface and destroyed everything within 5 miles.

In a thousandth of a second, it destroyed everything 15 miles.

In one-hundredth of a second, it destroyed everything within 50 miles.

And finally, as a full second passed…

The explosion's radius settled after creating a gaping hole in the surface of the planet that spanned roughly 70 miles wide and long. Dust and debris rained down as huge chunks of rock littered the air, cast up by the impact. Several large, mountain-sized chunks of earth escaped the atmosphere, blown up with such force.

The surface above the underground chamber was a desolate wasteland, hidden and tucked far away from civilization, a place Zero had thought safe. In fact, the entire Lesser World of Hani was considered a wasteland Planet, occupied only at the edge of its World Bridges. It was once considered a sacred zone for the Draconic Tribes, but was heavily damaged and left desolate after a series of vicious, internal wars.

As a result, no lives were taken in the initial blast and the resulting expansion.

A figure emerged into the huge cloud of dust, glowing with white light. Arthur Telmon was completely uninjured, his fine robes and open vest not even the slightest bit damaged.

"Wind Magic: Vanish."

WHOOSH

The huge storm of dust seemed to freeze for a moment. Right after, a huge windstorm shook the air, multiple tornadoes forming. All of the floating dust and debris became sucked into these tornadoes and shot up high into the sky, exiting the atmosphere and moving into Chaotic Space.

The huge torrents of wind cleared an area roughly 30 miles wide, at the epicenter of the explosion.

As this dust cleared, the huge scale of the explosion became clear.

A hole that was roughly 10 miles deep into the surface of the planet had been bored, spread out along a huge area. The raw explosive power required to obliterate so much dense rock was gargantuan.

A few underground rivers began to pour water into the massive crater from the sides or bottom, while exposed veins of rare ores and minerals gleamed. There were even a few geothermal magma veins bursting forth with molten rock, sizzling into the crater.

Arthur's body blurred and vanished as he shot forward, however, his eyes zeroing in on something specific.

At the very center of this explosion… a creature could be seen.

A bruised, burnt figure of a huge lion, shimming with black energy. It stood roughly 60 meters tall, a huge beast that looked tiny in the scale of the crater it stood in. Its formerly majestic, gold and white fur lay covered in burns and injuries, appearing quite pitiful.

"Wizard… I stand yet." Zero's voice was harried as he looked at Arthur's glowing form.

In the moment right before the explosion, Zero had felt a dangerous premonition in his soul, as if Fate itself was guiding him.

If he did not return to his Divine Golden Lion… he would die.

He followed that feeling and instantly transformed.

A mere fraction of a second after, he was hit with the deadliest attack he had ever suffered from. All of his Abilities, all of his power, all of it almost failed in the face of the raw explosive might of a single Spell from the Wizard King.

"Your… attack failed." Zero continued, his head raised proudly,

"And so shall you!"

Divine Golden Lions were unique creatures. They drew upon the natural energy of reality, and by doing so, through their own natural physique, they had a near limitless supply of energy to use for attacks.

Zero had picked up several protective Abilities as he absorbed multiple Bloodlines. By combining these with his near limitless energy supply, he was barely able to survive Arthur Telmon's explosion.

"You don't even remember, huh? You were the one that gave me the inspiration for that Spell, from the memories of your past life, old friend." Arthur shook his head as he looked down at the huge lion that was raging below him.

Zero's entire physical form blurred as he raised his front legs. Above his head, a massive ball of energy formed, made up of gold and white particles that fluctuated. This energy was condensed from the very air itself around Zero, and the unending supply of energy within him, all in a split second.

WHOOOOOOOSSH

This attack took only a split second to summon, yet seemed to tire the giant lion greatly, causing its body to tremble from exertion. The golden light that surrounded it trembled in fury, particles shivering and shuddering.

A concentrated beam of raw might shot forward, moving at an extremely fast pace. It melted through the air, destroying space itself as it ripped forward.

It was the same attack that Sun Wukong had barely deflected, even with his near all-seeing-eyes, one that made the hidden injuries the ancient monkey bore grow worse, the sheer effort needed to block the attack requiring an extreme level of skill.

An Ability only a Divine Golden Lion possessed.

Annihilation Beam.

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