Apocalypse: King of Zombies

The other human Awakeners watched as the Zombie King was forced to retreat under the relentless assault of Howard’s flames. Their spirits soared—at this rate, it felt like taking him down was only a matter of time.

But then, Ethan calmly reached up and began unbuttoning his shirt.

”Huh? What’s he doing?”

Confused murmurs rippled through the crowd.

With one swift motion, Ethan yanked off his white dress shirt and tossed it aside, revealing a body carved from stone—every muscle sharply defined, like it had been sculpted by a master artisan. He looked less like a man and more like a living weapon.

At the same time, the energy of the Domain of the Dead surged around him, swelling to its absolute limit.

The pressure that followed was suffocating—like a tidal wave of blood crashing down from the heavens.

Gareth’s psychic field shattered like glass. His mind spasmed, and for a split second, he lost focus.

”So strong…”

Even Howard’s flames began to flicker and whip wildly, as if caught in a violent storm. He could feel it too—Ethan’s power had just spiked again.

What the hell is going on?

Was he holding back this whole time?

Only now did they realize—the Voidborn Undying standing before them was even more terrifying than they’d imagined.

”Let me take him first,” Serah said, stepping forward without hesitation.

She was still on point, confident in her close-combat prowess. Without waiting for backup, she launched herself at Ethan again, moving at blinding speed.

Her body tore through the Domain of the Dead by sheer force, carving a path through the oppressive energy.

As she closed in, she threw a punch straight at Ethan’s face.

But this time, Ethan—now in what could only be described as his ”second phase”—didn’t meet her blow with brute force.

Instead, he opened his hand and reached for her.

THUD!

Her fist slammed into what felt like a wall of steel. It didn’t budge. She couldn’t push through even an inch.

Then—tightness.

”Oh no…”

She looked up and saw it—her fist was caught in his grip. She tried to pull back, twisting and yanking, but it was useless.

Ethan’s fingers clenched tighter—and then twisted.

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

The sound of bones snapping echoed through the air. Her arm bent at a grotesque angle, but Serah gritted her teeth, refusing to scream.

Then Ethan’s knee came up—fast and brutal—slamming into her gut.

”AAAHHH!”

This time, she couldn’t hold it in. The scream tore from her throat as her body was launched backward like she’d been hit by a freight train.

She flew hundreds of feet before crashing to the ground, tumbling across the dirt and debris until she finally slammed into a pile of rubble and lay still.

”Serah!” Howard shouted, eyes wide with shock.

She was known for her close-combat dominance—and yet the Zombie King had just manhandled her like she was nothing. That alone spoke volumes about his strength.

Of course, it wasn’t that Serah was weak. But fighting Ethan inside the Domain of the Dead? That was like stepping into his home turf—she was at a natural disadvantage.

”You should worry about yourself,” Ethan said coldly, his eyes locking onto Howard.

Then—he vanished.

Gareth’s eyes widened in alarm. ”He’s coming for you!” he shouted.

”What?!”

Howard whipped around just in time to see his Infernal Soulflame Domain torn open—Ethan’s figure was already charging straight through the breach, closing in fast.

Howard’s heart sank. He knew damn well—he wasn’t built for close combat. Not like Serah. And if she couldn’t hold her own against the Zombie King, he sure as hell wouldn’t last long.

Blazing Avatar!

In that split second, Howard didn’t dare hold back. He unleashed his trump card—an ability he’d only awakened after breaking into SSS-rank.

As an ultra-fire type Awakener, his connection to flame was absolute. He had reached the point where he could become fire itself.

Flames erupted from his body in a violent blaze, surging upward over a thousand feet high. The night sky above Inner City lit up like it was noon.

The fire twisted and writhed like a demon unleashed, gradually forming into a humanoid shape.

In the blink of an eye, Howard had transformed into a towering inferno—a flaming giant over a thousand feet tall.

He let out a thunderous roar that shook the heavens, then raised a massive, burning fist and brought it crashing down toward Ethan like a falling sun.

The crowd gasped, stunned by the sheer scale of it.

So this… this is the true power of an SSS-rank Awakener?

It was overwhelming.

But Ethan didn’t flinch. The deathly energy of his Domain of the Dead surged around him like a tidal wave, and he met the giant’s blow head-on.

BOOOOM!

The two forces collided with apocalyptic force, light and shadow twisting together, space itself trembling under the pressure.

Flames scattered like a meteor shower, raining down in a fiery storm.

Wherever they landed, the ground blackened and cracked, scorched into glass. Buildings were pierced clean through, reduced to ash in seconds.

”Run! Get out of here!”

The lower-tier Awakeners scrambled again, fleeing the battlefield. Just a single ember from that clash could kill them instantly.

At the heart of the chaos, the flaming giant staggered back a few steps, its massive form flickering.

Ethan, too, was forced to retreat, sliding back across the ground.

”This guy’s not easy to kill…” Ethan thought, analyzing the situation. Looks like it’s not just SSS-rank Zombie Kings that are hard to put down—these human elites have some serious bite too.

Taking them down wouldn’t be easy.

Gareth, seeing Howard forced to go all out, knew this was the moment. If they were going to kill the Zombie King, it had to be now.

”Mind Abyss!”

A tidal wave of psychic energy exploded from Gareth’s mind, so dense it made the air feel thick, suffocating.

The pressure was immense—like the ocean itself was collapsing inward.

The entire Domain of the Dead was swallowed by it.

Ethan instantly felt like he’d been dropped into the deepest trench of the sea. The pressure closed in from all sides, his movement growing sluggish, his space to maneuver shrinking fast.

Then, from the rubble in the distance—BOOM—a figure rose.

Serah.

She staggered to her feet, her body already healed thanks to her monstrous physique.

Her eyes burned with determination.

”I’ll give you this—pushing us this far? That’s no small feat.”

Gareth’s psychic energy kept pouring out, even his SSS-rank mind starting to feel the strain, like it was being wrung dry.

But when he saw Serah rise again, a flicker of relief crossed his face.

”I’ll lock him down. You finish it.”

”Count on it.” Serah wiped the blood from her lips, her gaze sharpening like a blade.

Ethan could feel it—space itself thickening, his limbs dragging like he was wading through tar. The psychic pressure was real. He couldn’t move freely.

”Now!”

Serah seized the moment.

She charged forward, her speed building with every step until she was a blur, a living missile.

Her right arm began to swell grotesquely, muscles bulging and twisting with raw power. Her sleeve shredded apart as veins popped and blood aura pulsed from her skin.

In seconds, her arm had grown to nearly match her height—an absurd, monstrous limb packed with every ounce of her strength.

She had converted all her attributes into raw power.

Then she threw the punch.

The air warped around her fist. Space itself bent under the pressure.

An SSS-rank’s full-force strike—there was no overstating how terrifying it was.

And Ethan, still trapped in Gareth’s Mind Abyss, had no way to dodge.

The spectators held their breath. This was a once-in-a-lifetime battle—an all-out clash between monsters. And now, it looked like the Voidborn Undying was finally about to fall.

Even Serah herself was confident—if this didn’t kill him, it would at least cripple him.

Ethan’s eyes narrowed. He knew he couldn’t escape.

So he didn’t.

Instead, a surge of crimson energy erupted from within him, thick and violent, like a blood tide.

”Blood Rite—”

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