Apocalypse: King of Zombies

The entire planet of Originis felt like it was on the brink of annihilation.

At the heart of The Origin Mountain, the energy fluctuations were at their most violent. The three suns blazed overhead like they were just inches away, their scorching heat searing the skin.

Even Ethan and Endless couldn’t fully withstand it. The two stood rooted in place, as if carrying the weight of mountains on their backs, crushed by an overwhelming pressure.

”You see it now, don’t you? I wasn’t lying. It’s already past the point of no return!” Endless growled, his voice low and strained.

Ethan lifted his gaze to the sky, golden light blazing in his eyes.

The three suns were blinding, orbiting the mountain’s center. Space itself cracked and shattered around them.

That crushing pressure—it was coming from there. Something was about to emerge.

Above them, the sky collapsed in on itself. The heavens exploded, revealing a swirling chaos beyond.

Threads of golden light intertwined and began to spread outward. It was the purest energy in existence—brighter than the suns themselves.

Only now did Ethan realize: the three ”suns” of Originis weren’t stars at all. They were massive spheres of energy.

Their blinding light merged with the golden glow from the chaos, forming a single, seamless force.

Which meant… even a single wisp of that energy could exist forever, unchanging.

The golden light was being drawn in, pulled toward something. Its true form was about to be revealed.

The pressure across the land intensified. Endless’s legs buckled—he nearly dropped to one knee. Even the body of a Deathless Sovereign couldn’t withstand this.

Only Ethan remained standing, like a steel spike driven into the earth, bathed in golden light, unshakable.

As the chaos spread, the golden glow grew even more intense. A golden energy sphere slowly began to emerge from within.

The entire Origin Mountain erupted in radiant light—it had reached its peak, the most volatile moment yet.

BOOM!

Endless finally collapsed under the pressure, slamming to his knees, hands braced against the ground, shoulders trembling uncontrollably.

”It’s here… It’s really here. It’s over. Everything’s over!”

”That’s the Cosmic Core. It’s the will of the universe itself. Anything that gets too close—it wipes it out completely!”

”The Cosmic Core…” Ethan murmured, eyes narrowing in thought.

Endless kept talking. ”Do you know who shattered the stone tablet before?”

”Who?” Ethan turned to look at him.

”The strongest Deathless Sovereign of the last generation from Necroterra.”

Endless explained, ”He was insanely powerful. He once tried to open The Origin Mountain too. But that triggered the Cosmic Core—it tried to erase everything.”

”So, that Sovereign used every last ounce of his strength to shatter the tablet and cast it into the spatial rift, stopping the catastrophe. If you want to fix this now, you’ll have to do the same—break the tablet!”

”…”

Endless shouted with all his might, a flicker of hope in his eyes.

But Ethan didn’t move. He just stood there, golden eyes gleaming. ”Even now, you’re still trying to play me with your little tricks.”

”Uh, I…” Endless opened his mouth, but no words came out.

Ethan cut him off. ”After the last Sovereign shattered the tablet, I’m guessing he didn’t live much longer, did he?”

”And before we opened The Origin Mountain, you kept saying everything would be destroyed—but you never once mentioned the Cosmic Core. That tells me… there’s something you’re hiding.”

”…”

Ethan’s instincts were razor-sharp. He’d spotted the lie.

Neither the old man from the Forbidden Zone nor Endless had ever mentioned the Cosmic Core. Clearly, they didn’t want him to know about it.

Which meant…

The real way to start a new era probably had something to do with the Cosmic Core itself.

Ethan had figured out Endless’s game.

”You lured me to Heartland for the Star Map tablet. You didn’t want to stop me from opening The Origin Mountain—you just didn’t want me to be the one to do it. Someone like you wouldn’t be content staying stagnant forever.”

”Now you’re trying to trick me into breaking the tablet, just like the last Sovereign did—so I’ll die, and you can swoop in and reap the rewards. Clever move… too bad I see right through it.”

”You… uh…” Endless stammered, completely speechless.

Ethan’s eyes gleamed as he looked toward the golden light in the chaos. That was the source of all energy in the universe. If he could control it, he could have everything.

The pressure was immense. His knees bent slightly, like a hawk ready to launch into the sky.

”It’s suicide! You get near the Cosmic Core, you’re dead! Breaking the tablet is the only safe way!” Endless screamed desperately.

But Ethan didn’t even glance at him. Golden light surged around him, and in the next instant, he leapt into the air—straight toward the Cosmic Core.

”Look! Boss is flying!”

”So this is the path he chose?”

”Can he really pull it off?”

”Who cares? If we die, we die. I’ll follow Boss to the end, no matter what!”

”…”

Aboard the Dreadnought-class Starcruiser, the horde of Zombies roared in unison.

Their hearts burned with loyalty, cheering Ethan on.

This time, the enemy wasn’t some powerful Zombie King, a human warlord, or a monstrous Xenobeast.

This time… the enemy was the world itself.

As Ethan drew closer, a powerful repulsive force surged out from the Cosmic Core, slamming into him and slowing him down drastically.

Golden runes flickered across his body, dimming and flaring like candlelight in a storm—fragile, on the verge of being snuffed out.

Blood-red energy swirled around him, unraveling into the air like smoke. His body trembled under the pressure, but his eyes burned with unwavering resolve.

He wasn’t doing this just for himself. He was doing it for his crew, for the promises he’d made—and for the man he refused to stop becoming.

Even with death staring him in the face, Ethan charged forward without hesitation.

”Boss!!”

Bulldozer and the others roared from afar, their voices hoarse with desperation.

They squinted into the chaos, barely making out a lone figure pushing toward the golden energy at the center.

His speed was slowing, step by agonizing step—but he never stopped.

Like a moth drawn to a raging inferno, he flew straight into the blaze.

And then, finally, Ethan was swallowed by the golden light.

The glowing runes on his body disintegrated. Even the power of the ancient symbols couldn’t shake the Cosmic Core. His blood energy—once fierce and wild—was torn apart like paper in a storm.

Every pore on his body screamed with pain, like needles stabbing into his flesh. Even his powerful Zombie King physique began to unravel, breaking down on a cellular level.

”Is this really it…?”

Ethan’s thoughts drifted, his mind flashing through memories like a reel of film.

The day the apocalypse began. His evolution. The battles on Earth. The war that brought him to Originis. Every moment, every fight, every loss.

Familiar faces flickered through his mind—friends, enemies, allies. Their voices, their laughter, their tears. All of it, playing back like a slideshow in his head.

”…Then let it end. It’s not like I haven’t died before.”

Ethan gritted his teeth, flipping the switch in his mind—going full tilt, all-in, no fear.

Even as his body crumbled, he reached out again, hand stretching toward the blinding golden light.

VMMMM—

His fingers clenched into a fist.

A violent surge of energy exploded outward from his hand, a shockwave of pure light blasting in every direction.

BOOOOOOM!

The two Dreadnought-class Starcruisers hovering above were instantly hit. Their defensive barriers shattered like glass, and the massive ships groaned in agony as they were hurled downward, spiraling toward the ground.

Above, both zombies and humans were engulfed in a blinding white light.

They couldn’t see. They couldn’t hear.

The world had gone silent. The sky had lost its color.

”Is this it? Are we dying?”

That was the last thought that crossed their minds before everything went black.

BOOM! BOOM!

The two Dreadnought-class Starcruisers slammed into the ruined earth below, sending shockwaves through the battlefield.

For the zombies and humans caught in the blast—whether they were elite Voidborn Undying or just hardened frontline fighters—the moment felt both endless and instantaneous.

Like a century passed in a heartbeat.

”Did Boss… fail?”

”Are we already dead?”

”So this is what dying feels like…”

”Hey! Wake up, man! Get off me, you’re crushing my foot!”

”...”

A few moments later, consciousness began to return.

One by one, the zombies stirred, blinking in confusion. They found themselves standing on the wrecked deck of the fallen Dreadnought-class Starcruisers.

They leaned over the edge, peering out at the world around them.

And what they saw left them completely stunned.

...