"So they came here before I could visit them?" Noah thought calmly. "Looks like those fools need a reality check."

He did not rush. He did not panic. The threads told him everything. Kaelos was not here to destroy the planet. Not yet. Unit Zero was not here to annihilate the city. Not yet. They were circling him, like predators who thought the prey was cornered.

That mistake would cost them.

Kaelos stepped forward, his boots cracking the pavement, and appeared directly in front of Martha and Eric. The air warped around him. Glass trembled. The pressure made breathing difficult.

"You two are… interesting," Kaelos said, eyes narrowing as he studied them. "Your daughter is a super prodigy. Your son…" He paused, lips curling. "Your son has already stepped into the Epic Rank. Anomalous for a fourth epoch primitive."

Martha's hands shook violently. Eric pulled her closer, trying to shield her with his own body despite knowing how useless it was.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Martha said, her voice barely holding together. "We're just bakers. We don't have any—"

The front door creaked open.

The sound was soft, almost gentle. But it cut through the pressure like a blade.

Noah stepped out.

He walked slowly, his hands clasped behind his back. His face was calm, almost emotionless.

Even Martha felt fear seeing those eyes.

Not because he looked monstrous.

But because he looked like someone who had already decided how the world would end.

Kaelos turned at him, curiosity flickering through his eyes. "So this is you," he said. "The anomaly."

Unit Zero remained where it was, but its internal systems were screaming.

[Scanning subject's power level.]

Noah had restrained himself almost completely. He allowed only a thin thread of aura to leak.

[Power Level: Peak Human.]

[Re-evaluating…]

[Peak Black Iron.]

[Peak Bronze.]

[Peak Silver.]

The scan continued automatically. Faster now. Desperate.

...

...

[Peak Diamond.]

[Peak Legend.]

Unit Zero's four arms twitched.

[Peak Epic.]

[Warning. Power level is still increasing.]

[Peak Mythical.]

[Warning. Scanning limit exceeded.]

[Critical Error.]

[Run.]

[Run.]

[RUN.]

Unit Zero froze.

Its systems were not designed to feel fear. But the Law of Karma did not care about design. The instant Noah's killing intent brushed against its karmic thread, the machine understood one thing with perfect clarity.

This being could erase its entire civilization again. And this time, no one would remember they had existed.

Noah's right eye flashed gold again.

He saw the thread of the law which was just used.

A law probing him.

"The Law of Appraisal," Noah noted quietly.

He marked the thread and let it pass.

Later, he would take it apart and understand it properly.

However Kaelos felt nothing. That was the most terrifying part. Noah allowed Unit Zero to perceive him, but he denied Kaelos the same courtesy.

A god does not bare his fangs to ants unless he wants them to scream.

Noah smiled faintly at Unit Zero.

Through the karmic strings, he saw its history. A mechanical race born in a distant galaxy. Advanced. Proud. Then erased by a Primordial Empire. Refugees who found Earth and were welcomed because they were useful.

"How pitiful," Noah thought.

Kaelos folded his arms. "I'll be direct, boy. Come with me. Tell us how you achieved this power. Do that, and your family will live peacefully for the rest of their natural lives."

It was a threat wrapped in civility.

Unit Zero's internal processor glitched.

[Subject Kaelos is a dumbass.]

[Re-evaluating.]

[Conclusion confirmed. Subject Kaelos is a bastard.]

It began running archived human profanity files at random, unable to reconcile Kaelos's ignorance with reality.

Noah did not answer immediately.

He walked forward.

One step.

Then another.

Kaelos then felt it. A chill. Subtle. Like standing too close to an abyss and realizing it had noticed you.

Noah stopped an arm's length away.

"Sure," Noah said calmly. "Let's go meet your leader. I was planning to visit anyway."

Kaelos blinked. He had expected resistance. Bargaining. Fear.

Not compliance.

"But," Noah continued, turning his head slightly toward Unit Zero, "the Xylo Technarch Supreme Leader should attend as well. I don't enjoy repeating conversations."

Unit Zero moved instinctively, bowing slightly.

"Affirmative," it said. "Your directive is absolute. We will participate in the meeting."

Then it vanished.

Kaelos's expression darkened. "What nonsense are you spewing, machine?"

But the machine was already gone.

Kaelos looked back at Noah. For the first time, doubt crept in his mind.

There was something deeply wrong with this situation.

"Shall we?" Noah asked.

Kaelos hesitated, then nodded sharply. "Follow me."

Noah didn't follow.

He sliced the air with two fingers.

Reality split open like paper.

On the other side was the royal capital of Aethelgard. Floating spires of jade and starlight. Streets paved with sigils older than Earth's moon. The heart of an ancient empire.

Kaelos stared at it.

He had never seen spatial manipulation this clean. This effortless.

"Who is this man?" he thought. "Why did my instincts scream at me to kneel?"

They stepped through.

The portal closed.

The streets of Aethelgard fell silent.

Citizens stopped mid-step. Guards froze. Scholars dropped their scrolls.

The Chief of Defense had returned.

With a primitive human.

Noah walked forward as if he owned the place.

Eyes followed him. Some with curiosity. Some with disdain. Some with fear they could not explain.

"So this is Aethelgard," Noah thought. "A beautiful corpse pretending to be alive."

Kaelos led him toward the central palace. With every step, Noah's presence subtly distorted the laws of the realm. Formations flickered. Protective arrays trembled.

Deep within the palace, Archon Valerius rose from his throne.

His pupils constricted.

Something had entered his domain.

Something that did not belong under heaven.

The grand doors opened.

Noah walked in alone.

Kaelos followed, but he felt smaller now. Lesser.

Valerius studied Noah from head to toe. His gaze sharpened, piercing through flesh, soul, and destiny.

Then his breath hitched.

He could not see Noah's fate.

Not blurred.

Not hidden.

Absent.

"That's impossible," Valerius whispered internally. He was a supreme mythical being who had glimpsed on the supreme law of fate. He became an ultimate leader through it.

The primordial empire notice their presence because of this law. But today it didn't work.

Noah met his eyes.

"Archon Valerius," Noah said politely. "We need to talk."

The air in the hall grew heavy.

Moments later, space rippled again.

Unit Zero appeared, kneeling instantly.

Behind it, a projection formed. A towering mechanical figure composed of shifting fractal light.

The Supreme Leader of the Xylo Technarchs.

Valerius's expression twisted. "You dare appear without summons?"

The projection ignored him.

Its sensors were locked on Noah.

"All systems confirm," it said slowly. "This entity stands beyond projected causal limits."

Noah nodded. "Good. Everyone's here."

Noah spoke softly, but his voice echoed like judgment.

"You came to my home," he said. "You frightened my parents. You threatened my people."

His eyes glowed. Gold and grey intertwined.

"Now," Noah continued, "we will discuss compensation."

"Compensation?" Valerius repeated slowly, his voice carrying the authority of an epoch-ruler. "You stand in the court of Aethelgard and speak as if you are the aggrieved party."

Noah smiled faintly.

That smile sent a ripple through the karmic threads of the hall.

"You erased a Guardian," Valerius continued, eyes narrowing. "You threatened a Technarch Supreme Leader. By our laws, your existence is already forfeit."

Noah lifted his hand.

The air froze.

Every vibration in the hall paused. Sound ceased. Light bent unnaturally. Even the ancient formations carved into the palace walls flickered and went dark, as if refusing to operate in his presence.

"I was not speaking under your laws," Noah said calmly. "I was speaking under mine."

The Supreme Leader's projection flickered violently.

"Impossible," it said. "No single entity may supersede inter-civilizational accords without triggering a Source backlash."

Noah turned his gaze toward it.

"You still think the Source is external," he said. "That is your fundamental mistake."

The Law of Karma surged.

[Warning. Karmic recursion detected.]

[Cause and effect reversal in progress.]

Unit Zero shuddered violently, forced to its knees by the backlash traveling through its core.

Valerius stepped back half a pace.

He had ruled for billions of years.

He had never stepped back from anyone.

"What are you?" Valerius demanded.

Noah finally released a fraction more of his presence.

The throne cracked completely and disintegrated into light. The High Heavens formations collapsed one after another. The laws anchoring the palace screamed as they were forcibly rewritten.

He looked directly into Valerius's eyes.

The Law of Destiny trembled.

A shimmering gold thread wrapped around the future of Aethelgard itself.

"If you wish to survive," Noah continued, "you will withdraw from Earth. Permanently. You will sever all influence over the fourth epoch."

Valerius's voice shook. "And if I refuse?"

Noah's pupils turned fully iridescent grey.

Valerius felt that his existence was about to be vanished.

"I… accept," he said through clenched teeth.

The Supreme Leader of Xylo Technarch projection flickered again. "The Technarchs will not submit—"

Noah looked at it.

Just looked.

The projection collapsed into static.

"Directive acknowledged," it said. "We will withdraw."

Noah turned away.

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