The eternal silence had no beginning… and no end.
Darkness stretched infinitely, swallowing sound, direction, and meaning itself.
"You really think dragging me here will help you defeat me?"
Slaughter Master's voice echoed as he forged a gigantic cosmic spear, its surface crawling with annihilation laws. With a violent roar, he hurled it forward—tearing through layers of reality toward Rien.
Rien didn't move.
He smiled.
The spear entered his body… and vanished.
Not shattered.
Not deflected.
Absorbed.
"Well," Rien said calmly, his hands behind his back,
"a creator touching his own creation isn't exactly impressive."
Before Slaughter Master could react—
Rien was already behind him.
A single kick to the spine.
The impact bent causality itself, launching Slaughter Master across the eternal void like a discarded object. He was about to crash into a massive universe-core sphere—
Snap.
Rien flicked his fingers.
The sphere drifted aside.
Then another moved.
And another.
Entire universes shifted positions, sliding through existence like chess pieces being rearranged.
Slaughter Master stabilized himself, staring in disbelief as the void returned to perfect stillness.
"…What did you just do?"
Rien looked at him like a teacher disappointed in a slow student.
"This place existed even before motion had rules," Rien said.
"Move one atom incorrectly, and everything collapses."
He lifted his gaze.
"So I moved everything."
Slaughter Master's jaw tightened.
"How much… did you move?"
Rien's smile didn't fade.
"Universes don't have edges. Or centers.
They're only 'large' until your intelligence fails to describe them."
Rage erupted.
Slaughter Master roared, forming a colossal soul-warrior, its body made of compressed slaughter laws. It raised its hands, swinging down toward Rien.
"Now try handling this!"
Rien stepped forward.
"Physical combat…"
A low chuckle escaped him.
"I like this."
His presence expanded.
Not energy.
Not pressure.
Existence recoiled.
The space around the soul-warrior twisted, crushed, and folded inward—
and the warrior ceased to exist, erased by Rien simply standing there.
"…Too weak," Rien muttered.
"It couldn't even face me."
Slaughter Master unleashed his full cosmic energy and charged.
"You can't defeat me!"
He teleported behind Rien and threw a punch—
His fist passed through nothing.
Reality had been shifted aside.
"…How?" Slaughter Master whispered.
Rien turned slowly.
"This is finally getting fun," he said, amusement creeping into his voice.
A punch.
Slaughter Master's chest collapsed inward as he was hurled into the abyss.
Before he could recover—
Rien was already behind him again.
"Where do you think you're going?"
A sudden laugh escaped Rien—sharp, unstable.
Another kick.
"Is that all you've got?"
Rien teleported in front of him, gripping his collar.
"You're making me excited."
Then—
Rien turned his head.
The Universal Gods had arrived.
"Oh… all of you," Rien said calmly.
"I was waiting."
He crushed Slaughter Master's body into fragments and let it explode in front of them.
One goddess gasped in fury.
"Who are you?! Do you realize what you've done?!
You just killed the successor of the 46th Universal God!"
Rien's smile vanished.
Cosmic tension wrapped around existence itself.
"Don't talk," he said softly.
"Show."
Six gods vanished—appearing behind Rien—activating erasure techniques.
"You can't erase," Rien said, already moving,
"something that was never bound to existence."
He grabbed one god by the leg and hurled him into a universe-core.
The universe collapsed instantly.
The remaining gods stared in horror as cosmic debris drifted freely.
Snap.
Rien restored everything perfectly.
"Don't think about him," Rien said coldly.
"Think about yourselves."
They formed a desperate formation, channeling everything into one god.
"Now you can defeat us!"
The god rushed forward at light speed—
Rien caught his face.
Crush.
"You were slow."
Blood and neural matter coated Rien's hand.
A goddess stepped back, trembling.
"This boy… is a monster."
Rien walked forward, blood dripping.
"Should we actually start?" he said casually.
"I haven't used my physical strength in centuries."
Three male gods charged.
"We won't let you win!"
Rien dodged effortlessly.
Countered calmly.
"Not bad," he said.
"Keep trying."
Flick.
One god's head vanished.
"That wasn't powerful."
Teleport.
Rien tore another god apart—arms and legs ripped away, body floating.
"…That's brutal," the goddess whispered, horrified.
Another god attacked—
Erased mid-air.
Rien calmly dragged the dismembered god's arm into the wrong shoulder socket.
"AHHHH—!"
Rien pulled it out again.
"Gods can feel pain," he said with interest.
"Fascinating."
He ripped the god's head free and tossed it into the void.
Then he turned.
"You're the 19th strongest Universal Goddess, correct?"
She trembled.
"Y… yes."
Rien burned the blood from his hands.
"Physical fights are messy."
She bowed deeply.
"I'm sorry… for dirtying your hands with our blood."
Rien paused.
"…I don't hurt women."
His voice turned absolute.
"Go to the Divine Realm.
Tell every god to stay away from the Dragon Dimension."
Reality shook violently.
"If they even think about it—
they remember my name first."
The portal opened.
Rien stepped into the Dragon Dimension.
"I'm back."
Alisa bowed deeply.
"Thank you, Emperor."
"That was easy."
Rien turned to Miss Yin.
"Ready? Tian and Shuan Masters are arriving."
He held her hand and stepped through.
"See you later," Rien smiled, look at Alisa
"Mrs. Omnion."
Alisa watched, tears forming.
"Our Emperor has changed…"
"Maybe he finally found peace."
On the other side, Aliera staggered into the Divine Realm. The moment her feet touched the sacred floor, her strength finally gave out. She collapsed onto her knees before the assembled gods, her body trembling.
"Aliera… what happened?" one of the gods asked, rising slightly from his throne, concern sharp in his voice.
Aliera lifted her head. Her eyes were red, overflowing with tears that refused to fall. Her lips quivered as she spoke.
"All of them are dead… everyone," she whispered brokenly. "I'm the only one who survived. He… he killed us all."
The atmosphere changed instantly.
A god stood up from his throne, his divine presence erupting like a storm. The entire Divine Realm shook—pillars cracked, the heavens roared, and the space itself trembled under his wrath.
"Who is this man," he demanded, his voice thunderous and dangerous, "who dares to lay his hands upon the gods?"
Aliera flinched. She looked up at him for a moment—then lowered her gaze again, horror flashing across her face as the memories resurfaced.
"He was… different," she said slowly, her voice hollow. "More powerful than the entire Divine Realm combined. I couldn't sense his cosmic energy at all—as if it didn't exist."
Her fingers clenched against the floor.
"But his physical power…" she swallowed hard, "it was raw. Absolute. Brutal. Every strike felt like the end of existence itself."
The gods listened in silence.
"He fought like a monster," Aliera continued, her voice shaking, "merciless, overwhelming… unstoppable."
She paused, her expression twisting in confusion and fear.
"But after killing all the male gods…" her voice dropped to a whisper, "his emotions changed instantly. As if the slaughter meant nothing to him at all."
The Divine Realm fell into a deathly silence.