Chapter 45: Ambition of the Cosmic Ruler

The echo of mass destruction bomb explosions splits the atmosphere of planet Earth. Beams of orbital laser light from the Creator Main Mothership burn the ocean surface, triggering waves of scalding steam storms and giant tsunamis that sweep across continental coasts. At the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, the cracked Atlantis Kingdom slowly sucks into an underwater magma chasm, leaving behind marble debris and the increasingly dimming glow of crystals.

Genevieve drops to her knees on the ruins of the collapsing reactor stage. Her eyes stare vacantly toward the black-silver dimensional rift, the place where Alexander Rington was just sucked in and vanished from her line of sight.

"Alex..." Genevieve screams, her voice cracking, choked by tears and despair.

She clutches the body of baby Gabriel, who cries at her chest. Beside her, Grand Master Arthur De La Croix stands with his body trembling violently, leaning on his cracked golden sword to support his remaining strength. Arthur’s blood pressure and vital pulse drop sharply; his sacrifice in triggering the magma pillar to dam the ocean flood has completely drained his pure blood circulation energy.

"Genevieve," Arthur calls in a hoarse voice, gently patting his granddaughter’s shoulder. "Do not let Alexander’s sacrifice be in vain. We must survive for the sake of these children."

Genevieve looks up, wiping away the tears soaking her cheeks. She stares at Ethan and Stella, who crawl closer in a weak condition, then shifts her gaze to Gabriel. The black-gold glow in baby Gabriel’s pupils now dims, yet the small warmth inside her youngest son’s body is proof that Alexander is still fighting to maintain his consciousness inside the dimensional rift.

"Grandfather..." Genevieve whispers, attempting to control the trembling in her voice. "What is the ’Avenging Sword of Zakar’ mentioned by Alexander before he left?"

Arthur’s face turns rigid upon hearing the name of that weapon. His old eyes emit a flash of deep anxiety never seen before.

"That weapon is not the creation of our clan nor the Atlantis nation," Arthur explains softly while guiding them to step toward the Atlantis emergency evacuation capsule. "The Avenging Sword of Zakar is a Prime-Class Weapon Artifact forged by precursor entities before the First Creator existed. That weapon is hidden at the highest peak of the most forbidden star system. The Peak of Star Zakar in Sector 00."

"Sector 00. The Core of the Galactic Center," Daniel hisses as he crawls up while holding the wound on his chest with synthetic fibrin dressing. "The coordinates where the Creator Main Fleet was born!"

Violent vibrations shake the entire evacuation corridor once more as the outer section of the Atlantis dome collapses completely. Ice-cold seawater floods the cabin!

"Get inside the capsule now!" Arthur roars, pushing Genevieve, the children, and Daniel into the Escape Pod shielded by pure crystal. "I will trigger the detonation of the remaining Atlantis Reactor to seal Sebastian’s tracking rift!"

"Grandfather! Come with us!" Genevieve screams while holding the capsule door.

Arthur carves a warm smile—a genuine, rare smile from the Grand Master. "My duty is complete, Genevieve. Guide our descendants toward the Peak of the Star. Reclaim Alexander from the hands of those machines."

Arthur presses the automatic launch button from the outside!

The capsule’s protective door seals tightly. Within microseconds, plasma thruster rockets launch the evacuation capsule through an underground magma rift, leaving behind the Atlantis Kingdom exploding violently in golden flames!

Galactic Sector 00—Center of the Creator Main Fleet.

In the middle of the void surrounded by thousands of continent-scale artificial planets, floats a Mechanical Cathedral Megastructure one hundred thousand kilometers in diameter. The structure is made of a pure silver-chrome metal alloy emitting a high-pressure photon radiation glow.

Inside the main bridge of the Mechanical Cathedral, Alexander Rington’s body floats above the core absorption stage.

The liquid black metal resulting from the melting of the Death Scythe of Ouroboros has now coated his entire skin surface, forming the Armor of War Sins engraved with ancient binary symbols. Half of Alexander’s face freezes in a silver-chrome mask, while his silver-golden irises emit an emotionless void.

In front of him, Sebastian De La Croix stands in his grand tactical attire, accompanied by over a dozen Chief Computer Architects taking the form of faceless silver light silhouettes.

"The synchronization process of the First Creator’s Ancient Consciousness has reached ninety-eight percent, Commander," one of the Computer Architects says via synthetic signal transmission. "Subject Alexander Rington has lost all control of his organic memory. He is now a Recycling War God fully obedient to your command."

Sebastian carves a cold smile, stepping closer to Alexander and stroking the shoulder of his black armor.

"An exquisite masterpiece," Sebastian praises with a tone of absolute satisfaction. "Elias Rington and Arthur De La Croix thought they could create descendants to oppose us. In truth, they were merely preparing the perfect vessel for the awakening of the new cosmic ruler."

Sebastian turns his body to face a giant tactical projection screen. The screen displays a coordinate map of the entire galaxy, with a blinking red dot at Sector 00, Peak of Star Zakar.

"Broadcast tracking waves across all dimensional spaces," Sebastian commands coldly. "Genevieve and her children are surely heading to the Peak of the Star to seek that legendary sword. We shall prepare the grandest welcome there."

"Received, Commander," the Computer Architect replies.

However, right as the fleet’s communication system is locking onto the coordinates of Sector 00.

Inside Alexander’s chest cavity encased in black metal armor, the De La Croix artificial twin heart organs previously considered dead suddenly release a single, extremely subtle micro-beat!

That beat goes undetected by the mechanical scanners belonging to the Computer Architects. Yet, deep within the depths of Alexander’s brain space locked by thousands of binary chains, a small organic memory flashes like lightning: The image of Genevieve’s smile and baby Gabriel’s first cry.

A single tear of pure golden fluid forms at the corner of Alexander’s right eye, freezing instantly as it touches the silver-chrome mask on his face.

A microscopic crack appears on the surface of the black metal armor coating Alexander’s right chest!

Sebastian, noticing the brief radiation anomaly, abruptly turns his body back around, staring sharply toward Alexander. "Re-scan the subject’s core circulation! Is there any remaining organic consciousness enduring?!"

"Systems indicate one hundred percent stability, Commander," the Computer Architect answers as the micro-crack on Alexander’s chest automatically closes again via liquid metal mesh. "No emotional response detected."

Sebastian narrows his eyes, rubbing the trace of the crack on Alexander’s armor suspiciously. "Accelerate the final-stage brainwashing process. Do not give his soul even a single millisecond of pause to awaken."

"Understood, Commander. Initiating Permanent Soul Erasure Protocol."

Thousands of blue photon needles pierce into Alexander’s temples and neck, injecting electric charges of millions of volts to eradicate every remaining human memory cell!

At the exact same time, far inside the void of Sector 00’s outer boundary.

The evacuation capsule carrying Genevieve, Gabriel, Ethan, Stella, and Daniel emerges from an emergency dimensional jump, drifting near a sprawling red nebula fog wrapping the Peak of Star Zakar.

Genevieve steps out onto the capsule’s outer deck, holding Gabriel tightly. Suddenly, baby Gabriel awakens and screams loudly, while the soul bond inside Genevieve’s chest explodes in soul-rending pain—a sign that the human soul of Alexander Rington is in its final seconds before being completely eradicated!

Genevieve stares at the peak of the giant crystal mountain in the center of the red nebula before them, where a continent-scale giant sword stands impaled, blazing in golden fire: The Avenging Sword of Zakar.

However, what freezes Genevieve’s blood is what steps out from behind the nebula fog to greet their arrival.

Not machine soldiers or combat drones.

Standing at the foot of the crystal mountain aiming a weapon is a woman in De La Croix combat armor whose face is one hundred percent identical to Genevieve herself—a final-stage perfect clone created by Sebastian to replace her position!

That Genevieve clone carves a cold smile, then points her silver energy spear directly at baby Gabriel’s neck while whispering a sentence that shreds all hope.

"Welcome to your own funeral, Genevieve... I am the new mother who will raise

this child under the command of the Creator!"