Apocalypse: King of Zombies

The battle had raged for over ten minutes. The entire underground fighting pit was littered with corpses, and blood pooled into small streams across the floor.

All around, heavily wounded fighters lay in agony, struggling in the crimson puddles.

Ethan casually dropped his stealth mode and walked toward them.

”P-please… help me…” A young man on the ground, his face drenched in blood, clutched at his torn-open abdomen, desperately trying to push himself up.

Ethan nodded. ”Sure.”

He drew his Tachi and drove it straight into the man’s throat. Blood sprayed instantly. The young man’s eyes widened in shock before his body collapsed back into the blood-soaked ground, motionless.

Meanwhile, Harvey had fought his way to the exit, but three men still blocked his path.

”You’re not leaving here without handing over our crystal cores.”

”I didn’t steal your damn crystal cores!” Harvey was on the verge of losing it, his voice raw with frustration.

But the three weren’t listening. Two of them drew Kukri knives and lunged at him, blades flashing. The third, an Ice Awakener, summoned razor-sharp ice spikes and launched them forward.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Hearing the ice shards slicing through the air, Harvey ducked just in time.

But before he could recover, a Machete came swinging down from above.

Harvey reacted instantly, catching the attacker’s wrist mid-air. With a sharp twist—crack!—the sickening sound of snapping bone echoed. The machete slipped from the man’s grip.

Harvey snatched it mid-fall and, without hesitation, slashed.

Schlkk! The blade sliced clean through the man’s neck. Another body hit the ground.

At that moment—

A cold, searing pain tore across Harvey’s back. He gritted his teeth as another deep wound split open, exposing raw flesh.

”Motherfucker!” His face twisted in fury, jaw clenched so tight it felt like his teeth might shatter. He spun around, locking eyes with his attacker, and launched himself into another brutal exchange.

But the Ice Awakener behind him wasn’t letting up.

If Harvey lost focus for even a second, those ice spikes would tear through him. The fight was turning into a bloodbath.

”Boss, I got you!”

One of Harvey’s men, seeing him overwhelmed, rushed in to help. He flipped his dagger into a reverse grip and lunged straight for the Ice Awakener.

But the Awakener was fast. He caught the man’s fist mid-strike, and an instant later—

A wave of freezing energy surged out.

”AAAAHHH—!” The man’s scream was cut short as his entire arm froze solid before their eyes.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

His arm shattered into jagged ice shards, chunks of flesh and bone scattering across the floor in a gruesome spray of red and white.

Harvey had just finished off his opponent when he turned and saw the carnage. Without hesitation, he charged at the Ice Awakener.

The ice-user reacted, summoning another ice spike in his palm, ready to strike.

But Harvey didn’t dodge.

At this point, his body was already covered in wounds—one more didn’t matter. He was fighting to kill, no matter the cost.

”DIE!”

His Machete slashed across the Awakener’s throat, severing the carotid artery in one brutal motion.

At the same time—

Shlkk!

The ice spike pierced straight through Harvey’s shoulder, stopping just an inch from his heart.

”Kh…! Cough!” Harvey staggered, coughing up blood, his breath ragged. He wiped his mouth, smearing crimson across his face. He looked like hell.

But—

”Hah…” He exhaled deeply, relief washing over him.

Because now—

Every last Black Hand Legion member in the underground pit was dead.

The chaos had faded. The only sounds left were the quiet drip of blood and the eerie silence of a battlefield turned graveyard.

And just ahead—

The exit stood wide open.

Finally, he could get the hell out of here.

”Boss, you okay?” The one-armed subordinate clutched his bleeding stump, his face pale.

Harvey’s steps were unsteady—he could barely stand. ”I’m hurt pretty bad. Once we get out of here, we need to report this to the boss.”

”I got you.” The subordinate quickly moved to support him.

Leaning on each other, the two limped toward the exit.

The underground pit had a strict no-escape policy—no one was getting out without settling their debts. The main gate was locked.

Harvey fumbled for the key, his hands trembling as he tried to fit it into the lock.

But then—

A smooth, magnetic voice rang out from behind them.

”Hey. Where do you think you’re going?”

”Hmm?”

Harvey and his subordinate froze. A chilling sense of danger washed over them. Instinctively, they turned around.

Not far away, Ethan stood there, dressed in pristine white, completely untouched by the carnage around him. The stark contrast between his clean appearance and the blood-soaked battlefield made him seem almost surreal.

”Who the hell are you?” Harvey’s eyes widened in shock.

Ethan didn’t answer. Instead, he smiled slightly. ”So, you’re the last one standing. Looks like I won my bet.”

Harvey’s mind raced. The way this guy spoke—so calm, so in control—it suddenly clicked.

He was behind all of this.

”Wait… it was you, wasn’t it? You took all my crystal cores?”

Ethan nodded casually. ”Yeah, I took them. But not all of them… there’s still one left.”

As he spoke, he started walking toward them.

Harvey’s breath hitched. His last crystal core—the one inside his own skull.

”You… you stay the fuck back!”

Panic surged through him. He was already severely injured, barely able to stand. His subordinate wasn’t in any better shape. They had almost no fight left in them.

But in a desperate last stand, they charged at Ethan, teeth gritted, determined to go down swinging.

They didn’t even make it halfway.

Their bodies froze mid-motion.

A terrifying force swept over them—Domain of the Dead.

Harvey’s eyes widened in horror. He recognized this power.

”He… he’s a Zombie King!”

”What the hell?! How is there a Zombie King in Blackhand City?!”

Their minds reeled in disbelief.

But a second later, none of that mattered anymore.

Ethan’s blade flashed.

Two heads flew through the air, landing with a dull thud.

Their bodies crumpled to the ground, lifeless.

Ethan exhaled softly, his voice indifferent. ”Sleep tight.”

Then, without wasting time, he began looting the battlefield.

He collected every last crystal core, sweeping them into his spatial storage ring. Even the corpses—he took them all.

By the time he was done, the underground pit was eerily empty.

It was as if nothing had ever happened.

...

This fight had been profitable.

Ethan had gathered at least three to four hundred crystal cores. Unfortunately, most of them were low-tier—the highest was only A-rank, nothing particularly rare.

He needed better ones.

His best bet? The upcoming deal between the Black Hand Legion and Genesis Biotech.

A transaction of that scale… both sides would definitely send their top-tier Awakeners.

With that thought, Ethan activated Domain of the Dead and vanished from the underground pit, slipping away unnoticed.

...

Hours later.

The sky began to lighten, shifting into a soft gradient of blue and white.

Dawn was breaking.

The long night was finally over.

Mia and the others were early risers. By 4 AM, they were already up.

After all, this was Blackhand City—you didn’t sleep in if you wanted to stay alive.

They washed up quickly and gathered in the courtyard. There was still plenty of beef pot pie and braised beef left from last night.

It would make for a decent breakfast.

Just as they were about to eat—

”Morning.”

Ethan stood in the courtyard, smiling as he greeted them.

Mia raised an eyebrow. ”You really stayed up all night guarding the place?”

”Nah,” Ethan admitted honestly. ”Went out for a midnight snack.”

”Oh…” Mia nodded, immediately understanding what he meant.

Her mind drifted back to that scruffy guy from yesterday—the one who claimed to be the second-in-command of the neighboring faction. He had even invited her to come find him.

Just then—

”Cock-a-doodle-doo!”

A rooster’s crow echoed from the neighboring compound.

The sound was sharp and piercing, cutting through the early morning air.

Ethan and Mia both froze.

It had been a long time since they’d heard a rooster crow.

And then—

They realized something.

The neighbors had chickens.

...