Magnalith roared—a sound not merely heard, but felt. The vibration resonated through the air, the ground, the very fabric of reality. It was an entity without a fixed form, a horror that should not exist, yet it did. Even with space locked, preventing it from bending distances and manipulating its presence as before, it did not stop.
The creature's colossal roots, stretching for miles and penetrating deep into the earth, were an essential part of its strength. But now, they were sealed, bound by the shadows of the little girl. The monster knew that without them, it was limited. Vast, yet diminished.
Then, it advanced.
The speed at which a being three thousand meters tall moved was simply absurd. There was no parallel in the known world. Its movement was not like that of a slow, imposing titan—it was a storm, a conscious cataclysm, moving with the inevitability of a falling star.
The impact was imminent.
Korrak, standing beside the little girl, felt primal instincts screaming in alarm. He was strong, fast, cunning—but how could anyone react to something like this? His mind considered, for a brief second, grabbing her and fleeing, but he quickly realized there was no time.
And then, the girl moved.
She leaped.
It was so sudden, so brutally simple, that Korrak barely processed it. Her small, seemingly fragile body lunged toward Magnalith, meeting its colossal mass like a shard of light against a hurricane.
The collision came.
The resulting blast was not a normal sound. It tore through reality—a shockwave so intense that the atmosphere itself buckled and trembled. The spatial barriers that had been established began to crack, like glass under unimaginable pressure.
Even buried miles beneath the surface, Ethan felt it. The weight of the rocks around him vibrated with the force of the impact. The earth groaned, the world seemed to shrink for an instant, suffocated by the sheer violence of the collision.
But then came the impossible part.
It wasn't the girl who was thrown back.
It was Magnalith.
The titanic monster was ripped from the ground and hurled skyward. Its form twisted, its roots flailed, trying to find an anchor point that no longer existed. It was ascending—rising against its will—an aberration being cast toward where it did not belong.
And in the sky, Lian Xuan was waiting.
The cultivator had been preparing something. Not a common strike. Not a simple technique.
Something greater.
He had gathered his energy, harmonizing his understanding of the elemental laws. The air around him condensed, becoming thick, almost solid. The earth responded, converging its force toward this singular moment. The cultivator channeled both forces, merging them into one of his most devastating techniques.
Heaven and Earth Shattering Fist.
The martial art was not merely a technique but an expression of the universe itself. Air and earth were the foundations of the world. The sky and the ground were the pillars of existence. And in that instant, Lian Xuan unified these concepts within his palm.
An ethereal silhouette emerged behind him. A colossal, celestial fist, nearly as large as Magnalith, manifested on the horizon. It wasn't just an illusion—it was real, forged from condensed energy, a strike that carried the weight of cosmic order.
Magnalith was rising. The fist was descending.
The collision was inevitable.
When the two forces met, the world seemed to hold its breath.
The impact obliterated the air around them, creating a shockwave that expanded for miles. Rocks the size of mountains were torn from the ground, flung like mere grains of sand. The ground didn't just tremble—it fractured, massive fissures carving new scars into the earth.
Ethan, still buried, felt something shift. His perception of the world wavered, his body pulled by an invisible force. The blue essence surrounding him began to move on its own, carrying him upward. He burst through layers of earth and stone, emerging into the air.
For a moment, all he could see was the horizon.
And there, at the center of the devastation, a colossal fist crushed an abominable being against the ground.
The earth shattered.
The ground gave way, swallowing Magnalith into a massive crater. Its body was buried deep within the earth's crust, pushed down by the cosmic forces of the cultivator's technique. But something else happened.
Space gave way.
The barriers that had been locked couldn't withstand the pressure of the impact. The cracks that had appeared earlier now expanded uncontrollably. The entire battlefield was collapsing in on itself—an imminent dimensional breakdown.
Seryne and the others tried to retreat, but it was too late. The unstable battleground engulfed them. Space tore apart, absorbing each of them. Their fates became uncertain, pulled into unknown realms.
Magnalith roared—a sound that transcended the physical. It was a cry from something that existed beyond time and space. Its fury reverberated, and the fissures in reality grew even wider.
Lian Xuan realized the danger too late. He launched himself toward Ethan, who was still vulnerable in the air, slowly being pulled toward one of the rifts.
But then, the Mad Sorcerer intervened.
Golden characters danced around him.
He raised a finger.
And with a single command, the space around the cultivator opened, pulling him away before he could reach Ethan.
The boy watched the old man disappear into a golden vortex, powerless to stop it.
And then, it was his turn.
Ethan was pulled into the spatial fissure, the world around him transforming into a kaleidoscope of impossible shapes and colors. He tried to keep his eyes open, but he felt that if he continued looking, he'd lose his very existence to the distortion.
He closed his eyes.
And fell into the unknown.