"Now... kneel."

The battlefield had fallen silent.

Fifty thousand soldiers, cultists, and dwarves stared at the lone figure standing on the ridge.

The Spectral Trench Coat swirled around her, around him, like living ink. The white mask with the jagged "0" seemed to stare into the soul of every man present.

The five Imperial Knights of the Royal Guard, who moments ago were sneering at an exhausted elf, were now trembling.

"You..." the Lead Knight stammered, his sword shaking in his grip. "Who are you?"

Looking at the person in front of him, he knew this was not the elf from before

And sure enough, hearing this, the figure tilted his head.

The voice that emerged was layered, Lyra's soft soprano twisted with Damien's arrogant baritone.

"I told you," Zero said calmly. "Kneel."

The Knights roared, flaring their 6th Order auras in defiance. They were the elite warriors. They would not bow to a ghost.

"Attack!" the Leader screamed, swinging his broken sword hilt.

Zero sighed.

"How disappointing."

He lifted a single finger.

VWMMM.

A strange energy appeared at its tip. He channelled the result of 90,000 Destiny Points burning through the trans-dimensional link.

It was a cocktail of Golden Dragon Aura, Voss shadow Mana, and the heavy, crushing Abyss Pressure he had brought back from hell.

It was above anything they had ever encountered before!

It was transcendent!.

CRACK. CRACK. CRACK.

Gravity collapsed.

The armor of the five Knights crumpled inward like tin cans. Their kneecaps shattered against the mud with a sickening crunch.

"AGH!"

They screamed as they were forced face-first into the dirt, pinned by the Greedy King's Intent.

They couldn't lift their heads. They couldn't breathe.

Zero stepped off the ground. Emotionless beneath the mask, he simply walked on the air, ascending toward the bruised sky.

'This power...' Damien thought, feeling the energy coursing through Lyra's veins.

'It feels omnipotent. It feels right.'

He stopped in the center of the battlefield, silhouetted against the rising, smoke-choked sun.

He spread his arms wide. One hand pointed to the blackened heavens. One hand pointed to the blood-soaked earth.

His voice boomed across the valley, amplified by the terrified silence.

"The Gods hide in the Heavens. The Demons rot in the Abyss."

He tilted his masked face toward the sun.

"Throughout Heaven and Earth..."

"...I alone am the Honoured One."

Below, amidst the carnage, Leona lowered her Void gauntlet. The corner of her mouth twitched.

"He hasn't changed a bit," Leona muttered to Alaric, shaking her head.

"Still the most dramatic person alive."

Alaric grinned, blood dripping from his forehead.

"Yeah. But he backs it up."

…......

BOOM!

Just as everyone was processing what was happening and examining the newcomer to the battlefield, an explosion of black mud erupted from the Dragon Empire command tent.

A figure shot into the sky to meet Zero.

It was the Second Prince. But he wasn't human anymore.

Half his face was consumed by shifting black oil. A pulsating purple eye had opened in the center of his forehead.

His aura flared, a corrupt, sickening mix of Royal Authority and Void Corruption. It had unexpectedly surpassed the 7th Order.

Behind him, two hooded figures floated up, 8th Order Void High Priests, their robes writhing with tentacles.

"Zero!" the Prince roared, his voice distorted.

"It seems you survived what happened at the academy. I wonder if that old fool Aurelius would be glad or angry that you're still alive."

The pressure from the three high-level enemies threatened to crush the Alliance army below.

"You talk too much," Zero said, sounding bored.

The two High Priests raised their hands to strike.

CRASH. SWISH.

However, before they could act, two massive waves of mana intercepted them.

From the left, a beam of blinding white light slammed into the first Priest. Queen Aelinor stepped out of a spatial rift, her World Tree staff glowing with the wrath of nature.

From the right, a meteor of molten iron crashed into the second Priest. King Durin landed, his hammer wreathed in magma, the heat turning the air to steam.

"Kid," Durin laughed, wiping blood from his beard. "Nice entrance. You made it just in time."

"I have questions about where you've been, Nephew," Aelinor said, her eyes glowing green.

"But I'll leave it for later. We'll handle the trash here. You take this rotten Prince."

Zero nodded.

He ignored the Prince entirely. Instead, he turned his masked face downward, toward the Dwarven lines.

His enhanced vision locked onto a specific red mech.

"HEPHAESTUS!" Zero shouted.

Inside the cockpit, the Master Smith jolted.

"GO LIVE!" Zero commanded. "It's time to let the world know that I am back!"

Hephaestus grinned a maniacal, oil-stained grin. He slammed his fist onto a control panel.

"On it, Boss!"

Z-Z-ZT.

Across the continent, in every city square, every guild hall, and every noble house that possessed a Magitech Crystal, the static cleared.

The image of the masked figure floating in the sky appeared on millions of screens.

Zero turned back to the Prince.

"Let that Imperial bastard of a father see this," Zero whispered.

The Second Prince's face twisted in rage. To be ignored? To be treated as a prop for a broadcast?

"You dare ignore me?!" the Prince shrieked, gathering a sphere of pure Void destruction in his hands.

"I am the Emperor! I am a GOD!"

Zero tilted his head.

VWIP.

He vanished.

He combined [Shadow Warp] with Lyra's innate [Phantom Speed].

He moved at a speed that surpassed common sense; it was as if he deleted the distance.

With a fraction of a second reappeared instantly behind the Prince's back.

Hovering there, whispering directly into the Prince's ear before the man could even turn his head.

"Hey."

The Prince froze.

"Have you ever been kicked at the speed of thought?"

Zero raised his leg. He channelled Golden Dragon Aura into Lyra's limb, condensing it until it shone like a star.

FLASH.

Then he kicked.

BOOM!.

A beam of golden light flashed across the sky. The Second Prince was launched downward at Mach 5.

He impacted the desert floor with enough force to vaporise rock. A mushroom cloud of dust and debris rose into the air.

From the smoke, Zero hovered in the silence, adjusting his cuffs.

"From today onwards, the world should know", Zero announced to the camera. "Both the elves and the dwarves are covered by me, Zero!"

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