The silence that had fallen over the desolate ruin after Valdrak’s death seemed heavier than any scream or explosion.
Nothing remained of that battlefield.
No army.
No arrays.
Not even a complete sky. Massive cracks still covered the entire space above the ruin, and behind those fissures, the dark void could be seen, quietly and silently devouring the world like an endless mouth.
The black roots of the massive tree were still spread across the ground, but they were no longer as restless as before.
Daniel stood calmly in the middle of that hell.
Dark-golden blood still dripped from the superficial wounds on his body, but even those wounds began to heal before his eyes.
His gaze slowly moved over the ruins of the field, over the ashes of the dragons, over the burnt remains of the knights, and over the shattered corpses of the elves.
"They’re not weak..." He then quietly muttered to himself.
His voice was quiet, but in the silence of the ruin, it was clearly heard.
His gaze rose to the cracked sky.
"Even that Holy Emperor managed to prevent the full leakage of the shockwave..."
If that man had not succeeded in containing the force of the final clash, probably half the continent would have been destroyed by now.
The last attack that had occurred was probably something beyond what the world could withstand. The only remaining continent would certainly have been destroyed, and all living beings would have been killed.
But that Holy Emperor had actually managed to stop this attack from entering the continent. Although Daniel doubted it was his own power, it was still remarkable.
Daniel had previously thought this world was simply one of those weak worlds that had been destroyed and conquered by the beasts of corruption.
But now his opinion had changed slightly. This world was not weak, but limited.
Its beings had not yet reached the stage where they could truly transcend the laws.
Even Valdrak... the strongest warrior he had seen so far, in the end, was still fighting within the framework of this world.
He could bend the laws, but he could not break through them.
If he had to guess based solely on speculation, the Half Step-Divines probably had power equal to Heavenly Kings, which would be the peak of this world’s power.
And that old man he had seen, whom he had reasoned was the last true Divine, was probably a Demi-God, and perhaps a False God.
So this world had also had other demigods, but they had been killed by that monster that destroyed two continents, or by something else.
This world was not weak; the beasts of corruption were too powerful.
"Is this why the Mother System connected our world and the Celestial Domain? Does it want the two worlds to stand together against the beasts of corruption?" He muttered to himself.
He was still not sure, but he thought it was likely that this was the truth.
Then his gaze slowly went to the remains of the four commanders. None of their bodies remained intact.
Rodric was just a broken torso, still holding his cracked sword in his hand.
Miralia had almost turned into a burnt mass of flesh and silent runes.
Alindra had only part of her upper body and arm remaining, her silver bow still lying beside her body.
And Valdrak... only a piece of his black skull and a fragment of his dragon heart remained, from which a weak warmth still emanated.
Daniel looked at them in silence for a few moments, then quietly raised his hand.
A drop of dark-golden blood separated from his fingertip. Blood that carried the scent of eternity and death within it.
The first drop fell on Rodric’s remains, and at that moment, a purple-black shadow covered the entire corpse.
Flesh was rebuilt, bones were restored, but not in their previous form.
A taller, more compact body, eyes that shone like a dark galaxy, and behind his back, a faint trace of shadow-like wings formed.
A system notification appeared before Daniel’s eyes.
[The Fallen has been created]
[Name your Fallen]
Daniel looked at it for a few moments.
"Rodric." He then said without enthusiasm.
The notification flickered for a moment.
[Name Registered]
And the being before him quietly knelt on one knee.
"Master."
The second drop fell on Alindra’s remains.
Her elven body was restored, but her skin now had a color between purple and galactic black.
Her silver hair had become darker, and from behind her body, delicate black branches grew, resembling broken wings.
"Alindra."
The third drop.
"Miralia."
And the silent runes on the woman’s body lit up again, but this time not golden.
Rather, dark purple. Runes that seemed to carry the light of dead stars within them.
And then the drop of blood fell on Valdrak’s remains. For a moment, the entire ruin trembled.
The pressure of massive dragon blood was released. A massive shadow appeared behind his rebuilding body and then quietly sank into his body.
When Valdrak stood again, he seemed even larger than before. His black scales now had galactic purple veins, and two massive horns protruded from the sides of his head.
His eyes were no longer red, but shone like two dark suns.
"Valdrak."
The dragon-man was silent for a few seconds, then quietly knelt.
"I will carry out your command, Lord."
Daniel just nodded. He hadn’t even consumed much energy for this; it was nothing more than building a few new tools for him.
Of course, he didn’t forget Varkas either, and used one drop of blood to turn him into a Fallen as well.
In return for EXP, he naturally gained ten percent of their stats. EXP no longer held any value for him, but the stats of these four were still better than nothing.
His gaze then turned to the surroundings, to the massive corpses of the dragons.
Unlike the humans, large parts of the dragons’ bodies still remained.
Bones, hearts, scales, and most importantly, draconic essence.
"Turn them into Fallen...?"
But he immediately understood the answer. He already had an army of dragons right now, and he really didn’t need more of these dragons.
The four commanders alone were more valuable than most beings in this world.
So why should he waste extra energy on the rest?
Instead, if he devoured them, his physical power would directly increase.
And that would be much more useful and beneficial. After all, dragons are very well known for their physical strength.
His eyes glowed quietly.
"Eternal Physique."
The next moment, all the dragon remains trembled. Thousands of purple-golden threads of light were pulled from their bodies.
Bones collapsed, hearts dried up, and their draconic essence flowed like a massive river into Daniel’s body.
His physical pressure suddenly surged. His muscles became more compact. The blood in his veins grew heavier, and even the space around his body cracked for a moment.
System notifications appeared one after another.
[Eternal Physique has devoured dragons]
[Physical Strength Greatly Increased]
Daniel quietly exhaled.
He could feel that even without using laws, his raw physical power was now at a completely different level.
Then his gaze fell on another part of the field.
The humans. But nothing remained of them. Even their corpses, most had either been destroyed by the laws or devoured by the tree.
Only ash remained, and ash had no value.
But the elves... hundreds of corpses still remained from the thousands and tens of thousands of elves who had come, of course excluding those the tree had devoured.
Daniel was silent for a moment. He had previously tried to turn an elf into a Fallen in the Celestial Domain.
But he had failed, because the elves were connected to the World Tree, and their souls returned after death, and that connection prevented them from falling.
But now the situation was different. He had severed Alindra’s connection to nature earlier today. And if he had been able to separate an elven commander from the World Tree, then separating the rest was also possible.
His black sword quietly appeared in his hand, and the Law of Destruction flowed on the blade.
But this time, not to destroy the body. Rather, to sever the "connection."
Daniel quietly moved the sword. No explosion occurred, no massive wave was released, but hundreds of invisible threads connecting the elves to a distant place... were suddenly cut.
Then he let his blood drops fall on their corpses.
At that moment, all the corpses trembled. Purple-black shadows emerged from beneath their bodies.
And one by one, they began to rise. Elves taller than before, skin with a galactic color, and shining, dark eyes.
Some had shadow-like wings, others delicate purple horns.
Hundreds of fallen elves quietly knelt before Daniel. A scene that, if any living elf saw it, would probably shatter their mind.
The army of the World Tree had now become Daniel’s army.
At that moment, a new notification appeared before his eyes.
[Swordsmanship Proficiency Increased]
[Sword Aura has evolved]
[Supreme Sword Aura acquired]
Daniel was silent for a moment. It had been a long time since he had obtained Sword Aura, and he had completely forgotten that it could evolve.
And then the space around his sword changed. A dark, massive aura quietly formed around the blade.
But this was no longer just sword energy, but something like an extension of a law. The space around the blade quietly split apart, even without movement.
And its pressure made hundreds of the Fallen unconsciously lower their heads further.
Daniel quietly looked at the blade, then a faint smile settled on his lips.
Even just this far, this tower floor had brought him tremendous benefit.