System S.E.X. (Seduction, Expansion, eXecution)

Chapter 805: Chapter 805: Absolute Annihilation

At the center of the shattered bedrock, the pressure emanating from Ethan’s figure reached a critical threshold. The sword energy emitted no light; rather, it swallowed the sunlight filtering through the Secret Realm’s fissures. The air around him began to distort, forming a sphere of pure shadow that froze time and space in its path.

The abyssal mantis, having devoured the last of the males, erupted with a deafening roar. Its exoskeleton glowed with incandescent purple veins, and its wounds had completely healed. Feeling invincible with the newly absorbed power, it raised its two massive scythes and lunged at Ethan at a speed that broke the sound barrier, ready to behead him.

Ethan didn’t move a single centimeter. Holding the Black Chaos Sword with both hands at his side, he locked his pitch-black eyes onto the abomination rushing toward him.

”Sever destiny...”, Ethan the young man whispered.

SHING!

The movement of his blade was so swift that no visible trajectory existed. There was no clash of metal nor collision of shockwaves. A line of infinite gloom crossed space, slicing reality itself.

The mantis came to a dead halt less than three meters from Ethan, its scythes raised in mid-air. For a second, time seemed to freeze across the devastated valley.

An instant later, the technique’s energy unleashed itself within the beast.

CRACK! BOOM!

A fissure of abyssal darkness erupted from the mantis’s head down to the base of its tail. Unable to emit a single shriek of pain, the queen’s gigantic body split cleanly into two halves, revealing how its vital core and organs had been reduced to ashes by the Void Sword Intent. The two halves slammed heavily against the cracked earth, beginning to dissolve into foul black smoke.

Ethan exhaled a long breath of dark vapor as his eyes gradually regained their natural amethyst tone. Accumulated exhaustion struck his meridians like a wave of lead, yet he maintained a firm posture, sheathing the Black Chaos Sword with a metallic click.

In the distance, the blind monk and the Frost Dragon Princess witnessed the outcome with bated breath.

”A single slash...”, murmured the blind monk, trembling slightly as he leaned his hands on his staff. ”He didn’t just destroy its physical body... that attack erased its soul and existence from the cycle of reincarnation.”

Ethan turned slowly and walked toward the rock formation where Isabella rested. The young lady opened her eyes slowly, meeting her fiancé’s warm gaze. Ethan knelt by her side and gently took her hand.

”I told you I’d be back in a moment,” said Ethan the young man, a faint, tired smile playing on his lips.

In the Golden Sun Grand Colosseum, the spiritual projection screen displayed the overwhelming gloom dissipating across the destroyed valley. The Emperor, leaning back gracefully upon his golden throne, slowly turned his head to look at his right hand, Vorian the enforcer.

”It seems he was holding back during dinner,” commented Vorian the enforcer, adjusting the sleeves of his robe while assessing the image with analytical eyes. ”Had he unleashed that power that night, they likely would have granted him the title of champion outright. There would have been no need whatsoever to hold this tournament.”

”Precisely what I was thinking,” agreed the Emperor the sovereign, an unreadable smirk playing upon his lips. ”That strike bypassed the barrier of the Dao Manifestation Realm and rests firmly in the league of the Spiritual Transcendence Realm.”

”Indeed, Your Majesty,” concluded Vorian the enforcer.

Upon hearing those words from the mouths of her father and the imperial enforcer, Princess Seraphina was left thoroughly awestruck. A faint crimson blush began to spread across her cheeks as her eyes remained pinned to Ethan’s silhouette on the projection. This was the man her father wanted to be her husband. The winner of the Imperial Tournament would receive an absolute, ruleless wish granted by the crown... and what if he decided to demand her hand in marriage before the entire empire? Wouldn’t it be just like in the romance novels she so dearly loved reading in the palace, where the valiant prince fought with all his might against monsters and rivals to claim the princess?

The young princess’s mind began to wander into romantic fantasies, oblivious to the arrogance she had displayed hours earlier.

Noticing his daughter’s dreamy expression, the Emperor smiled subtly and spoke in a deliberate voice:

”Princesses are the rewards of heroes...”

”They would be a match made in heaven,” added Vorian the enforcer, glancing at the princess with a touch of irony.

Upon hearing this, the princess snapped her head down, feeling a suffocating heat burn across her cheeks. Being caught red-handed right in the middle of her daydreaming was utterly humiliating. After all, ever since that day, she had made it her mission to fight and complain to her father day and night so he wouldn’t follow through with his proposal; why, just a few hours ago she had thrown a tantrum in the palace that forced the Emperor himself to reprimand her personally. Yet, here she was, daydreaming about becoming that plebeian’s woman.

With a sudden spark of inspiration, Princess Seraphina raised her head, trying to regain her composure.

”If he leaves his other sluts behind... I might consider letting him be my husband,” exclaimed the princess the young woman, crossing her arms with arrogance.

In her spoiled, pampered mind, the idea made absolute sense. Abandoning those cheap harlots in order to claim the princess of the Golden Dragon Empire sounded like the greatest trade of a lifetime. When else would a mere plebeian get a second chance to leap straight to the absolute peak, like a carp leaping through the Dragon Gate?

”Take my advice and form bonds with him before it is too late,” warned the Emperor, staring at his daughter in a stern tone.

”Too late?” replied Princess Seraphina, letting out a disdainful giggle. ”He will always be a vassal, nothing important without our support. The absolute most he can aspire to is being as strong as a vassal king, nothing to worry about.”

The Emperor let out a long sigh, shaking his head. Deep down, the monarch regretted having spoiled her far too much over the years; now karma was coming back to bite him.

As for the princess, she merely thought her father was reacting in a ridiculously exaggerated manner. In her mind, there was no need for such a fuss over a simple vassal.

”Do not regret it later,” warned the Emperor.

Vorian preferred to pretend he didn’t hear the family dispute, merely shaking his head in silence as he continued watching the projection screen.