Apocalypse: King of Zombies

”Oh no! Ethan’s frozen solid!” Chris and the others stared in horror from a distance—it was the first time they’d seen anything like this happen.

Brandon’s brow was furrowed tight. ”That alien thing... it’s seriously strong. Like, freakishly strong.”

Leah’s face was grim. ”Ethan... he’s not gonna end up like Mia, is he?”

A heavy silence settled over the group. The sheer power of their enemy was crushing, and despair crept into their hearts.

”Waaahhhhhh—!”

Sean couldn’t hold it in anymore. He broke down, sobbing uncontrollably. With Mia’s fate still unknown, if Ethan died too, he’d be losing the two most important people in his life.

”Those two jerks ganged up on him! Two against one! That’s so unfair! Ughhh, cheaters! Waaaahhhh!”

”...”

Meanwhile, the Crimson Count and his crew were all grinning, clearly pleased with how things were going. It felt like victory had just fallen into their laps—Ethan, their biggest threat, was about to be taken out.

Maybe reaching the top wasn’t just about power. Maybe luck played a part too. This... this was destiny.

”You said I was the one who was dead meat? What a joke. You’re the one who’s gonna die today!” the Crimson Count sneered, his voice low and cold.

But the one who was truly ecstatic... was Sophia.

She’d waited so long for this moment.

The weight that had been crushing her chest was finally about to lift. Every pore in her body felt like it could breathe again. It was exhilarating.

Finally... they were going to win.

At the mountain’s peak, LORN’s presence still radiated power. His eyes locked onto Ethan, burning with manic excitement. He wanted to kill him—needed to.

He moved like a storm unleashed, a razor-sharp ice spike forming in his palm as he lunged straight for Ethan’s forehead.

It looked like the next second would be Ethan’s last.

”Die!” LORN roared.

But then—suddenly—a massive pressure exploded outward, like a tidal wave of blood crashing through the air. The entire space froze in place.

LORN’s ice spike slammed into what felt like an invisible wall, its speed dropping instantly, screeching as it scraped against the unseen force.

”What the hell...?”

His breath caught in his throat. A terrible feeling crept up his spine.

Then, Ethan’s eyes twitched.

The ice encasing him began to crack—sharp, brittle sounds echoed as thin fractures spiderwebbed across the surface, spreading faster and faster until—

BOOM!

The ice shattered completely, shards flying in every direction like bullets.

”I hate filth,” Ethan muttered, stepping free.

His arm drew back, muscles coiled, and a deep red aura of blood energy swirled around his fist. He looked like a beast unleashed, charging forward with terrifying force.

The power behind his punch was like a meteor crashing down—unstoppable, obliterating everything in its path.

BOOOOM!

LORN didn’t even have time to react. The punch landed squarely, smashing through his ice spike and slamming into his body like a mountain falling from the sky. He was sent flying, his body spinning through the air before crashing into the ground with a thunderous impact, leaving a massive crater.

A thin stream of blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. His insides were rattled—he was hurt.

”Huh?” The Crimson Count’s eyes widened in disbelief. He’d thought LORN would finish Ethan off. But instead, Ethan had broken free and knocked him halfway across the battlefield with a single punch.

LORN lay in the crater, coughing up blood.

”Useless,” the Crimson Count muttered under his breath, scowling. ”What a damn waste.”

Clearly... if this was going to get done, he’d have to do it himself.

But when he turned to look again, his expression shifted.

Ethan stood there, shirtless now, his chiseled torso gleaming like a work of art. His muscles were flawless, sculpted like a statue—but alive, radiating raw power.

A faint red mist of blood energy seeped from his skin, a sign of a body pushed to its absolute limit.

The Domain of the Dead surged around him, compressed into a tight 15-foot radius. The air shimmered with instability, and the scent of destruction hung heavy.

The Crimson Count felt a chill crawl up his spine. A deep, primal sense of danger gripped him.

LORN, just now staggering to his feet and wiping the blood from his mouth, froze when he saw Ethan.

His pupils shrank to pinpricks.

”It’s starting...”

”He’s taking his shirt off again!”

”...”

He remembered now—last time his consciousness had descended into battle, Ethan had beaten him the exact same way.

The Crimson Count felt it too—that creeping dread curling in his gut.

”What the hell is going on?”

”This is what you’d call Phase Two,” LORN said grimly, his voice low and tight. ”We have to work together now. No ego, no games. If we don’t, we’re screwed.”

He still hadn’t forgotten the sting of their last defeat.

Truth be told, LORN’s awakened form wasn’t even as versatile as the fifth-gen Cyborgs, who could fuse the five elemental systems—wood, earth, water, lightning, and fire. His only real edge was his monstrous physical strength.

Overall, he was stronger than a fifth-gen Cyborg, sure—but not by much.

Ethan stood shirtless in the middle of the frozen battlefield, completely unfazed by the cold. His breath was steady, calm. The blood-red aura around him surged even more violently now, like a firestorm ready to consume everything.

”You can die with Mia.”

In a flash, Ethan moved.

His speed was beyond human perception—just a blur of motion wrapped in the terrifying energy of the Domain of the Dead, crashing forward like a tidal wave of blood.

The Crimson Count felt the pressure bearing down on him and didn’t dare hold back. Veins bulged across his face, his fangs extended, and his claws grew long and razor-sharp. He shifted into his ultimate vampire form—his most powerful state.

He clenched his fist and met Ethan head-on, his own crimson aura flaring to life, radiating a crushing force.

Two Zombie Kings. Two monsters. One final clash of brute strength.

Ethan didn’t flinch. He gathered every ounce of power into his body and launched a full-force punch.

Their fists collided mid-air.

BOOM!

The explosion was deafening.

The entire mountaintop cracked and buckled under the impact. Massive boulders broke loose and tumbled into the abyss below, crashing down like thunder.

The mountain itself trembled, as if an earthquake had struck.

Even the underground shelter wasn’t spared. The walls shook violently, dust and chunks of rock raining from the ceiling.

”Waaaahhh! Mommy, I’m scared!”

”Is the whole place coming down?!”

”Are we gonna die here?! Waaaahhh!”

”...”

Panic erupted inside the shelter—adults shouting, kids crying, chaos everywhere.

Outside, Chris and the others shielded their faces with their arms. Even from a distance, the shockwave hit them hard, carrying dust and debris like a sandstorm.

The flying stone shards sliced across their skin like blades, leaving bloody cuts in their wake.

”They’re... insanely strong...”

They were stunned. They’d seen some wild battles before, but nothing like this.

This wasn’t just a fight—it was a natural disaster.

The mountain kept shaking for a while before the tremors finally began to settle. But even then, rocks continued to tumble down, crashing and echoing through the valley.

As the dust slowly cleared, what they saw left them speechless.

The thick clouds that had blanketed the mountaintop were now split apart, as if a storm had torn them open. The sky above had been carved in two, and the point of origin... was the direction Ethan’s punch had traveled.

He stood there, shirtless, unmoving—like a statue carved from divine fury. The blood-red aura still swirled around him, pulsing with raw power.

In front of him was a massive crater, filled with rubble and broken stone.

Ethan stood at its edge.

Above him, the clouds had parted to reveal a blood-red moon, hanging low and ominous in the sky.

Its eerie light bathed his body like a spotlight, casting long shadows and painting the scene in crimson.

It looked like something out of a myth.

...