I turned back to face the planet and sent a message through our link to all my summons.
"Capture them. I want information on all three organizations. Lyrate, I’m leaving that to you."
The response came instantly. They understood.
I clasped my hands behind my back and hovered there, staring down at Abor. From this height, the chaos below looked almost distant, like ripples on a surface I had already decided to smooth out.
Beside me, Vivi shifted slightly.
"Why are you so angry?" she asked.
I didn’t answer immediately.
"I’m not angry," I said after a moment. "I’m... hurt."
She blinked in surprise and quickly fluttered in front of me, hovering close.
"What? Where? Let me see. I can heal you," she said, looking me over.
I shook my head slightly.
"Not physically, Vivi," I replied. "My ego."
She tilted her head, clearly confused.
"Your ego? Why is your ego hurt?" she asked, her small eyes locked onto mine.
I exhaled slowly.
"Because they dared," I said. "Weak people. People who should not even be in a position to think about something like this... they still dared to attack me."
I looked down again.
"I don’t like that feeling. It sits wrong."
Vivi went quiet for a few seconds, thinking.
Then she nodded slowly.
"I think I understand," she said. "I am the strongest in Vaythos. I am Vaythos. But there are still these weak humans who act like they own everything. Sometimes I feel like I should just crush them."
She paused, then added seriously,
"But I control myself. Still... it does hurt my brain because of how stupid they are."
I chuckled softly at that.
"Fair enough," I said.
She flew back and settled on my shoulder again.
"So what are you going to do?" she asked.
I didn’t hesitate this time.
"I’m going to find them," I said. "The ones who planned this. The ones who thought this was a good idea."
My gaze hardened slightly.
"And then I’m going to beat them to death. After that I will spread a message of fear."
There was no emotion in my voice.
Vivi shifted slightly.
"How will you send the message?" she asked.
I thought about it for a moment. Then shook my head.
"Haven’t decided yet," I said. "But I will."
I looked at the burning remains of the fleet still drifting in space.
"They’ll understand it when they see it."
******
One by one, they began to arrive beside me. Knight appeared first, stepping out of the shadows as if he had always been there.
"There is something you should know," he said, his tone calm but serious. "There is an entire army of abominations and phantoms stationed elsewhere. They were waiting to infiltrate Abor, but they couldn’t. They are unable to open a portal under the current conditions."
I nodded slowly, my gaze still fixed on the planet below.
"So this wasn’t just a quick strike," I said. "They came prepared for a full invasion."
The thought did not anger me further. It clarified things.
Lyrate arrived next, her silver glow steady.
"It’s not just three organizations," she said. "There are five in total. The other two haven’t deployed their forces yet, but they are present. All of them have gathered at one location, and the force there is... large."
I turned to look at her.
"All five... together?"
She nodded.
"They are waiting."
A faint smile appeared on my face.
"Good," I said quietly. "That saves me time."
I shifted my attention.
"So where is this place?"
Ash stepped forward, as if he had already anticipated the question.
"I have the coordinates," he said and transferred them directly through the link.
I looked at him for a second, then nodded.
"Good," I said. "Then let’s go and end this."
I didn’t wait. Right there, in the open void, I raised my hand.
Runes began to form.
They appeared one after another, spreading outward in a circular pattern, each one locking into place with precision. The air itself seemed to respond as the formation grew, layers of symbols merging and stabilizing into a complete teleportation circle.
The energy around it intensified. Within seconds, it was ready.
I stepped toward it, then paused briefly.
"Keep an eye on Abor," I said to all of them.
Vivi lifted off my shoulder and floated in front of me.
"You go and teach them a lesson," she said, her small voice carrying surprising confidence.
I gave a small nod. Then stepped onto the circle.
Space folded.
And I was gone.
******
The next moment, space tore open. I stepped out of the portal and arrived above a planet. It didn’t take long to understand what I was looking at.
It was the base of these underworld organizations. The planet was much smaller than Abor. I let my perception expand and cover the entire planet.
The surface was covered with an army.
An enormous one.
Abominations, phantoms, and soldiers from multiple races filled the landscape below, stretching across cities and open land alike. They had gathered everything here, preparing for something far bigger than a simple attack.
Knight had not exaggerated.
I decided to begin and first take care of their escape routes. I raised my hand slightly and tapped into my major space law and locked the space around the planet.
Then I stepped forward and vanished and appeared directly inside their capital or whatever this place was where their army had gathered.
The moment I arrived, my presence alone forced a reaction. Thousands of soldiers turned instantly.
I did not give them a chance to react as space rippled and I froze all of them. Every single one of them locked in place.
Five figures stood ahead of me. Their leaders. All of them in the upper range of Transcendent, hovering around level 470.
I walked forward slowly.
"My name is Billion Ironhart," I said, my voice calm but carrying across the entire city. "And I suppose you already know who I am."
I took a step forward, my gaze moving across all five of them.
"Then tell me," I continued, my tone steady, almost conversational, "what made you think it was a good idea to attack me... after knowing I wiped out the entire Hollow Star?"
For a brief second there was silence. Then all five of them moved at once. Each of them pulled out a small black token and crushed it in their hands. The tokens shattered into fine black sand that immediately began to drift around their bodies, forming a swirling layer that pulsed with energy. I could feel the spatial intent behind it clearly.
Teleportation.
Emergency escape. The sand thickened, wrapping around them, trying to pull them out of this space, but nothing happened. The void around them rippled once. Then went still. Their expressions changed instantly. The sand continued to swirl, trying again, pushing harder, but the result remained the same. The space I had locked did not respond to their attempt.
There was no exit.
I could see it clearly.
The fear.
It crept into their eyes slowly, replacing whatever confidence they had walked in with. They had come here prepared, confident in their numbers, their plans, their backup measures.
And now, none of it worked.
Behind them, their entire army stood frozen in place, unable to move, unable to intervene, forced to watch.
One of them swallowed hard and stepped forward slightly, his voice shaking despite his effort to control it.
"Mr. Billion... we can talk," he said quickly. "We made a mistake."