"See that?"
Ethan's voice was calm.
"They're not using the gems."
"They're being—parasitized by them."
In that moment, everyone understood.
This wasn't a massacre.
It was a purge.
A cleanup of contamination.
The order was carried out immediately.
Soldiers scattered across the city.
Before long, every blood-red gem they could find had been gathered in one place.
And those twisted, power-warped individuals were hunted down and wiped out.
But soon, a troubling pattern emerged—
Not every creature had a gem inside.
Only about half did.
The implication was obvious.
Calrakk was no longer a unified race.
It had become a nation forcibly altered, fragmented, and corrupted.
And the slaughter finally triggered backlash.
Civilians who had already surrendered began to riot.
Chaos spread fast from the outskirts inward.
When the reports came in, Ethan was silent for a moment.
Then he gave his final order.
"Wipe them all out."
No anger.
No hesitation.
