Apocalypse: King of Zombies

With the Flamekin wiped out completely, all of Clearford City fell into a kind of wild celebration.

For days, the Flamekin had inflicted damage that was almost impossible to put into words.

Plenty of people in Clearford City had watched their family and friends get burned alive with their own eyes.

They’d wanted to slaughter those beasts every second of every day—but the gap in strength left them powerless.

Most of them had genuinely believed this was how their lives would end: living in fear until the moment the flames finally took them too.

And yet… the moment Fallen Star City’s powerhouses dropped from the sky, those demons were crushed like rotten wood. The reversal was so fast it felt unreal. A lot of the Clearford City residents who hadn’t fought kept asking again and again just to make sure they weren’t dreaming.

No wonder the Commander had kept telling them to swallow their pride and endure—told them to wait for hope to arrive.

So hope had been real.

In that moment, Clearford City truly understood how strong Fallen Star City was.

Before this, everyone ”knew” Fallen Star City was powerful… but it was just a vague idea. No one had a concrete picture.

Today, they got one.

The whole city boiled over. Out on the streets, the three hundred-plus Awakened from Fallen Star Squad’s second echelon were surrounded by crowds—pulled into waves of cheers, drowned in worship and gratitude so intense it almost made them dizzy.

As for Ethan and the others, they were inside Clearford City’s central command hall now.

General Cross slowly raised his hand and gave Ethan a solemn military salute.

Behind him, every senior official in the hall did the same.

No one spoke.

For a moment, the command hall was so quiet you could hear breathing.

Ethan blinked, caught off guard. ”General Cross… what are you doing?”

”Ethan,” General Cross said, voice heavy, ”thank you is far too small for what you’ve done. But other than thanks… Clearford City doesn’t have anything left that would be worth your attention.”

His gaze didn’t waver.

”From this day forward—if you ever need my life, say the word. I won’t hesitate.”

Ethan let out a helpless sigh.

”Come on, General Cross. You’re making it way too formal.” He reached out and patted the man’s shoulder. ”We’re old friends, aren’t we? There’s no need for this.”

”You don’t understand,” General Cross said, shaking his head.

”You have no idea how I lived through these past few days. I barely slept. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw our people burning alive in those flames.”

He swallowed, jaw tight.

”More times than I can count, I wanted to throw everything away and charge those monsters, even if it meant dying with them.”

”If you and Fallen Star City hadn’t given me something to hold on to… I wouldn’t have lasted this long.”

He looked up again, eyes red but steady.

”You saved more than ten million people in Clearford City. No amount of gratitude would ever be too much.”

”Alright, alright—enough with the ’saving you’ stuff,” Ethan said, waving it off like he couldn’t stand the weight of it. ”We’re all part of the Atlas Federation. When things get like this, we’re supposed to hold each other up.”

Then his expression sharpened.

”And besides… just because we handled the Flamekin doesn’t mean Clearford City is safe now.”

”You know what the situation looks like out there.” Ethan’s voice dropped a notch. ”It’s very possible another race shows up soon to take Clearford City for themselves.”

”Th…” General Cross and the others frowned immediately.

They knew Ethan wasn’t wrong.

Killing the Flamekin only meant the city was suddenly vacant. In a world like this, vacancy was an invitation.

And in the end, the problem was still the same—

Clearford City’s strength was too weak.

In this environment, they simply didn’t have the power to protect themselves.

”Ethan… what do you think we should do?” General Cross looked straight at him.

”Not an easy problem.” Ethan rubbed his forehead, like the headache had finally caught up to him.

”Right now there are only two options. Either Clearford City raises powerhouses who can hold off Void Realm creatures… or you fold Clearford City into Fallen Star City.”

He exhaled.

”But both options are hard. Training people who can resist Void Realm monsters isn’t something you can do overnight. And merging into Fallen Star City is a logistical nightmare—there are just too many of you. With the world like this, migration is basically impossible.”

Rowan’s eyes lit up, hope flaring. ”Ethan, when you came here, you basically popped out of a dimensional rift. Do you have some kind of Spatial Travel skill? Could you take all of us to Fallen Star City?”

”You’re dreaming.” Ethan shot him a look. ”My ability can only bring at most five hundred people at a time. Clearford City has millions. You could work me to death and I still wouldn’t get you all there.”

The room went heavy.

”So what now…? Are we leaving the tiger’s mouth just to walk straight into the wolf’s?” someone muttered.

The joy from wiping out the Flamekin drained out of the air like someone had pulled a plug.

Then Ethan said, ”Then we make your own gods.”

”Make… gods?”

Everyone stared at him, confused.

”You all saw the fight earlier,” Ethan said. ”Besides us, you saw those powerful soulless thralls.”

He tapped the table lightly, each word landing with weight.

”Those soulless thralls were made after we crippled Void Realm creatures and turned them into weapons.”

”If Clearford City wants high-end combat power fast… this is the only way.”

It wasn’t something Ethan said lightly.

He’d thought about it for a long time before deciding.

Ethan had always been a pure pragmatist. He could take other people’s stuff without blinking, but if anyone tried to take his? Good luck. He guarded what mattered to him like a wolf.

The method to create thralls—he’d originally intended to keep it within his own circle forever.

But the world wasn’t giving him the luxury of being that selfish anymore—unless he was willing to abandon every other compound and only protect Fallen Star City.

And this was different.

These weren’t strangers on the other side of the map.

They were millions of survivors from the Atlas Federation.

If he walked away now, he’d never be able to tell himself he’d made the right call.

Besides, once Ethan learned the upper limit of the soulless thrall method was Tier 35, he wasn’t as obsessive about secrecy anymore.

He was already completely unafraid of Tier 35 powerhouses.

And honestly—other than his group, who else even had the ability to create Tier 35 soulless thralls in the first place?

The ones most shocked by Ethan’s decision weren’t Clearford City’s officials.

It was the Fallen Star Squad.

They knew Ethan better than anyone. This choice… didn’t look like him.

But none of them said a word.

To them, if the captain decided something, it was right. End of story.

General Cross and the others were stunned.

”You mean…” General Cross’s voice trembled a little. ”You’re willing to teach us how to create soulless thralls?”

They’d seen it with their own eyes—how terrifying Ethan’s thralls were. Those things had beaten Flamekin powerhouses into the dirt.

And now Ethan was willing to hand that trump card to them.

How could they not be shaken?

Not one of them connected this technique to the Hale family’s infamous thrall incident from before.

Back then, the Hales had only managed to create a single thrall—and it had been dealt with by Ethan almost the moment it appeared. Most people never got a real look at what that thrall could do.

Later, Ethan had wiped the Hale family out completely. The method had fallen into his hands, and everyone in the Hale family who’d known the details had been eliminated.

So when Ethan brought it up now, nobody thought to link it to that old incident.

Ethan nodded.

”Yeah. Most of the Flamekin Stage S fighters… we didn’t kill them. I kept them alive on purpose. Materials.”

He glanced around the room.

”In a bit, you’ll build a proper site for creating soulless thralls—exactly to my specs. You’ll prepare the materials. Then I’ll teach you the method.”

He paused, then added, matter-of-fact:

”Except Elder Kael, and the two Tier 33 captains—I’m taking those three with me.”

”The rest of the Stage S captains are yours.”

”With those Stage S soulless thralls, you’ll be able to block the majority of Void Realm creatures. Most Void Realm raids don’t even bring Stage S-level powerhouses.”

”And if you run into something you can’t handle…” Ethan’s eyes sharpened. ”I’ll step in.”

He leaned back slightly, already thinking ahead.

”Normally, you can also take the thralls out to hunt Outland Beasts. Use them to power-level the Enhanced in your compound.”

”Yes… yes…” General Cross and the others choked out, voices breaking.

”Thank you, Ethan. Thank you…!”

Old men who’d held the city together through fire and screams were openly crying now, tears running down their faces as they bowed and thanked him over and over.

Because Ethan wasn’t just giving them a method.

He was giving them a future.

And right then, other than gratitude… they truly didn’t have anything else to offer.