Chapter 496 - 355: The Fall of a Legend, The Big Mushroom 3

Ian looked up at the sky, his Spiritual Power already blanketing an area for hundreds of kilometers.

In his Perception, the missile was as clear as a torch in the dead of night.

A glint appeared in his eyes, and his lips curved into an unreadable smile.

’A mushroom cloud... I can make one of those, too.’

He raised his right hand, palm facing up. Deep within his chest, the crimson Light Core began to spin frantically.

The temperature rapidly soared—one million degrees, five million degrees, ten million degrees...

All the heat was tightly bound within his palm by the Gravity Field, compressed, and then compressed again.

It finally condensed into... a blazing white orb of light the size of an egg.

From a distance, it looked just like a miniature Fixed Star.

"Go,"

Ian murmured. With an upward push of his right hand, the orb of light shot free and rose into the sky.

The orb of light flickered as it leaped through space, moving even faster than the missile.

「Three seconds later, ten kilometers from Ian, over the outskirts of Delria.」

The orb of light and the missile met.

There was no explosion, no sound. Only light.

An infinite, endless light erupted from the point of impact, like a true sun detonating low in the sky.

The light was so intense it instantly consumed the entire sky.

Within Delria City, everyone looking up at the sky was instantly blinded. Countless piercing screams rang out.

But the disaster didn’t end there. Next came the shockwave.

A terrifying shockwave radiated outward from the orb of light’s epicenter.

In its wake, buildings collapsed as if made of paper, trees were torn out by the roots, and vehicles were overturned, ripped apart, and melted.

The crude shantytowns on the outskirts were vaporized in an instant, not even leaving Ashes behind.

In the city center, the glass on every high-rise shattered, walls cracked, and foundations buckled.

The screams of pain, the cries of anguish, the terrified weeping of women and children... all were drowned out the instant the explosion roared to life.

Then came the rumble of collapsing buildings, the roar of consuming flames, and... the omnipresent stench of death.

Ian remained where he stood. Two thousand meters in front of him, a faint golden Purification Light Curtain unfurled.

All the shockwaves, radiation, and intense heat... were silently purified and dissipated the moment they touched the Light Curtain.

He looked up at the mushroom cloud slowly rising into the sky, his expression calm, without a trace of pity.

Even Gaga on his shoulder had fallen silent.

’The farce is over. Time for business,’ he muttered to himself, striding toward the royal palace.

No one stood in his way any longer. All the soldiers, all the Superpower Users, all who were still alive...

...were all fleeing for their lives.

Fleeing the city, fleeing toward the Wilderness, fleeing to any place that might possibly be safe.

No one dared to so much as glance at the figure in dark blue. No one dared to even entertain the thought of stopping him.

All they knew was... the sky had fallen.

「The Royal Palace Banquet Hall.」

King Samit was slumped on his throne. Drool trickled from the corner of his mouth, and his eyes were vacant.

The screen before him had gone dark. The signal was back, but the camera had been destroyed.

But he could still hear the rumbling from outside, the deafening crash of collapsing buildings, and the desperate cries of the people.

He could also feel the ground trembling and the air growing warmer... Death was closing in.

The great doors were pushed open. Ian walked in, his dark blue uniform spotless.

"Samit."

Samit’s body shuddered, and he slowly raised his head.

The moment he saw Ian, his pupils constricted, and a hot stream gushed from his crotch.

"You... you..."

He wanted to beg for mercy, but his throat was so tight with fear that he couldn’t form the words.

"Where are my Source Crystals?" Ian asked, walking up to the king and looking down at him.

"Hand over my payment for purifying the Rift, along with Delria’s entire stock of Source Crystals."

"I won’t ask a second time."

Samit opened his mouth, about to haggle, but when he saw Ian’s calm, deep eyes, he swallowed his words.

He took a long, deep breath to momentarily quell his terror, then turned to the Minister of Finance, who was slumped beside him.

"Go... go get them..."

The Minister of Finance scrambled out of the banquet hall.

Ten minutes later, he returned, clutching three Large Jade Boxes. He was followed by two soldiers, each carrying a large chest. He placed them before Ian and opened them one by one.

The three Jade Boxes together contained over two thousand complete, golden Source Crystals. Ian didn’t bother counting what was in the two large chests.

"This... this is the entire stock from the royal treasury," the Minister of Finance stammered, kneeling on the floor with a trembling voice.

Ian swept his Spiritual Power over the haul, storing all the Source Crystals in his Dimension Ring before turning to leave.

He paused at the doorway and glanced back at Samit.

"Remember the lesson you learned today. There is a price for greed."

With that, he strode away, his figure disappearing down the corridor.

Ian didn’t kill Samit. He didn’t have to. After a blunder of this magnitude, he could just wait for the other political factions to settle the score.

In the banquet hall, only Samit remained, slumped on the throne.

He stared out at the empty hall, his gaze unfocused, his mouth twitching.

He slowly closed his eyes, and tears streamed from the corners.

He didn’t know what would become of the Indian nation after today, but he knew one thing for sure: he was finished.

Three Legends had fallen, Delria was half-destroyed, and the royal treasury had been emptied.

And all of this, just because they had gotten greedy over some Source Crystals.

’I’m such a fool...’ he muttered, his voice filled with despair.

Outside the window, the mushroom cloud was still slowly rising.

Sunlight pierced through the smoke and dust, spilling onto the throne and stretching his shadow long.

Like that of a rotting corpse.