The heavily wounded White Lion and Ruijia collapsing to the ground ignited the last repressed volcano within Mark Grayson.
That wasn't anger; it was a will of destruction that transcended anger, icy to the extreme yet also blazing to the extreme!
The Viltrum bloodline surged and roared within him in an unprecedented manner. Some deeper, divine-level shackles began to crack under this extreme emotional impact and pressure, groaning under the strain!
"Aaaahhhhhhh—!!!"
Mark Grayson let out a roar that shattered the void, looking up at the sky!
The explosive aura around him suddenly converged, no longer outwardly expansive but completely integrated into every cell, every fiber of his being!
His body didn't seem to grow larger, but the sensation he gave off was as if he had instantly swelled, transforming into a god of war towering between heaven and earth!
A suffocating, terrifying pressure, far exceeding anything before, spread out like a tangible force, even causing the mindless clones to momentarily freeze!
Trigg's true body, laughing wildly in the air, abruptly stopped. The expression on his face instantly shifted from triumph to extreme horror and disbelief!
"Impossible! How could you..."
Before he could finish his sentence, Mark Grayson below moved!
There was no afterimage, no sonic boom, not even a trajectory of movement; he simply vanished into thin air.
The next instant, he appeared in front of Trigg!
It was as if space itself had been forcibly folded and traversed by him!
His molten-gold eyes, filled with endless icy fury, locked onto Trigg!
"Bang!!!"
A simple, direct, unadorned straight punch!
Trigg couldn't even react to block it. He only felt an indescribable, terrifying force, as if the mass of an entire galaxy was compressed into a single point, smashing violently into his chest!
"Pffft—!!!!"
Dark red blood mixed with fragments of shattered internal organs erupted from Trigg's mouth like a waterfall.
His Old One energy shield instantly shattered like paper, and his entire body was like a human cannonball, struck head-on by a supernova explosion, flying backward at a speed impossible for the naked eye to track.
Boom boom boom boom boom!!!
He continuously crashed through dozens of clones attempting to block him; those clones exploded into primitive blood mist the instant they made contact.
His speed didn't slow in the slightest, tearing through the atmosphere, even generating dazzling plasma flames from friction, ultimately transforming into a streaking light that nearly shot directly out of the planet's gravitational pull and into the cold abyss of space!
He flew nearly a quarter of the planet's circumference before barely managing to stabilize himself!
The power of a single punch was terrifying!
And the remaining clones, deprived of direct command from their true body, were met with Mark Grayson's one-sided slaughter feast!
His figure once again transformed into a storm, but this time, the storm's efficiency and destructiveness increased by more than several times!
He no longer used heat vision or freezing breath; simply using his hands, one grab and one tear, a powerful clone was ripped in half.
One crash and one impact, swathes of clones exploded as if run over by a high-speed battleship!
He seemed to have transformed into an executor of the universe's own power; every swing and step was the purest crushing force of physical laws!
Hand tearing! Foot crushing! Shoulder ramming! Elbow striking!
Countless Trigg clones were cleared and annihilated at an astonishing speed. Their eerie smiles finally turned to terror and despair, but in the face of absolute power, even escape became a luxury!
Mark Grayson was invincible!
However, even as he engaged in this frenzied slaughter, the planet beneath his feet, already riddled with holes from the Old One's erosion, let out its last, unbearable wail.
Rumble rumble rumble—!!!
The ground began to crack wildly, not the kind of fissures caused by previous battles, but terrifying rifts that penetrated the crust and extended deep into the mantle!
Scorching magma erupted like blood from the planet's wounds, shooting tens of thousands of meters into the sky. Global super-earthquakes erupted simultaneously, the fungal mat was torn apart, and mountain ranges collapsed in huge sections.
The entire planet was violently trembling, expanding, and deforming; destructive energy accumulated deep within the core, reaching the critical point of explosion!
Trigg's true body, high in the sky and having just barely stabilized himself, despite being severely wounded, was the first to clearly sense the signs of the planet's imminent complete collapse.
An expression of extreme madness and malevolence appeared on his shattered face!
"Mark Grayson! You've ruined everything for me, so let's be buried together!"
He roared, no longer attempting to personally attack Mark Grayson, but instead poured his remaining Old One energy unreservedly into the ground beneath his feet, channeling it frantically through the planet-wide fungal mat network, surging deep into the core.
He wanted to accelerate it!
He wanted to detonate this planet!
To bury Mark Grayson, along with those two heavily wounded insects, completely here!
"You wish!"
Mark Grayson instantly perceived Trigg's intention and the abnormal surge of the core's energy.
He ignored the remaining grunt clones, stomped hard on the air, and shot towards the culprit in the sky like a reversed meteor, moving even faster than when he had sent Trigg flying earlier.
"Stop him! At all costs!"
Trigg shrieked, ordering the remaining clones.
Countless clones rushed at Mark Grayson like suicide bombers, attempting to block him.
But Mark Grayson, whose strength had temporarily surged, completely ignored these obstacles. He was like a red-hot iron ball crashing into a snowdrift; anything that dared to block him vaporized and annihilated upon contact!
Almost instantly, he was in front of Trigg again!
"Die!"
Mark Grayson said nothing more, his fist, imbued with destructive power, struck out again!
Despair and madness flashed in Trigg's eyes. He desperately gathered his last dark-red energy to try and resist!
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Several consecutive, unadorned clashes. With each collision, Trigg's arms and chest burst open with large amounts of blood mist and shattered bone.
He was no match at all!
The power bestowed by the Old One seemed so flimsy and vulnerable in the face of Mark Grayson's pure, ultimate violence!
"No!!!"
On the verge of complete collapse, Trigg let out a final, malevolent shriek.
He suddenly spread his arms, no longer defending, but using his last strength to act as an energy node and fuse, completely detonating the planet's geological structure, which was connected to his energy and already extremely unstable!
"Destroy... with me!!!"
Boom!!!!!!!!
Centered on Trigg's true body, an indescribable, dark-red ring of destructive energy suddenly expanded, instantly sweeping across the entire globe!
This was not an explosion, but a deeper, fundamental collapse and ignition of rules!
The ground beneath his feet no longer cracked, but began to... disintegrate!
Huge plates were flung into space, the light of the core frantically burst through countless fissures, and the planet's explosion entered an irreversible final countdown!
However, what shocked Mark Grayson was that Trigg's self-detonation did not affect the remaining clones!
They were still executing their final orders, frantically lunging at him.
This meant that the Old One's control over them was not entirely dependent on this "true body"; there was a deeper source of control behind it!
But now, Mark Grayson couldn't afford to think about any of that!
The planet was about to explode!
The White Lion and Ruijia were still down there!
"Damn it!"
Mark Grayson roared, abandoning the pursuit of the clones without hesitation, and sharply changed direction, plummeting towards the planet's surface like a falling meteor.
His target was the already cracked, brilliantly glowing, and about to completely shatter core, resembling a broken egg!
He would use brute force to forcibly prevent the planet from exploding.
...Even if it was just to delay it by a few seconds!
"Come on... close up!!!"
Mark Grayson plunged near the core; the extreme heat, high pressure, and violent energy, sufficient to instantly vaporize most matter, were merely immense resistance to him, not damage.
He stretched out his hands, his star-crushing arm muscles bulging to their limit, veins like coiling dragons. He desperately gripped two massive core fragments, composed of scorching liquid metal and energy, that were about to separate.
"Aaaahhhhhhh—!!!"
Mark Grayson let out a scream he had never uttered before, putting all his strength into it!
All the power in his body surged wildly, blood seeped from his taut skin, only to be instantly vaporized by the high temperature. He felt his muscle fibers wailing, his bones groaning under the strain.
He had never felt such effort, such hardship!
This was like wrestling with the physical laws of the entire universe!
He forcibly, with unparalleled brute strength, slowly, bit by bit... squeezed and re-closed the two core fragments that were about to burst apart.
The planet's collapse, incredibly, was forcibly delayed by his defiant act!
But this brief delay came at a huge cost!
The remaining, frenzied clones, like piranhas smelling blood, seized the opportunity to frantically swarm him!
They tore at Mark Grayson's back with their claws, shot energy beams at his head, and even bit his arms and legs with their teeth!
They ignored the terrifying environment of the core; their only goal was to kill Mark Grayson!
Mark Grayson's body was instantly engulfed by countless attacks. Wounds appeared, blood flowed like streams, but he couldn't let go; he couldn't even spare a moment to swat away these flies.
All his strength and focus had to be used to maintain the core's fragile balance, to buy the White Lion and Ruijia those last moments to escape!
"White Lion! Ruijia!!! Wake up!!!"
Mark Grayson, while desperately clutching the about-to-explode core and enduring countless attacks, let out a deafening roar, his voice even overpowering the core's rumble and the clones' shrieks!
His cry, like thunder, finally reached the ruins above.
The heavily wounded and unconscious White Lion and Ruijia, amidst the immense commotion and Mark Grayson's shouts, slowly, with great difficulty, regained consciousness.
They opened their eyes to a scene like the end of the world.
The sky was shattered, the ground disintegrated, and beneath the surface, Mark Grayson, like Prometheus, desperately clutched the about-to-explode sun, while countless black locusts frantically gnawed at his body, blood raining down!
"Mark Grayson..."
Ruijia called out weakly, her eyes filled with shock and heartache.
"Roar!!"
The White Lion struggled to his feet, ignoring the tearing pain throughout his body, and let out a roar of grief and indignation. He saw Mark Grayson's plight, he saw those damned clones!
"Go... get on the ship... hurry!!!"
Mark Grayson's voice came again, urgent and unyielding!
The White Lion looked at the horrific scene, then at the severely wounded Ruijia beside him.
He clenched his jaw, a look of grim determination flashing in his eyes, and with a final burst of strength, he hoisted the almost immobile Ruijia and rushed towards the assault ship where Mark Grayson had landed!
He knew that staying here would only be a burden to Mark Grayson!
The clones tried to block them, but the White Lion fought them off desperately.
They struggled onto the ship.
"Mark Grayson! Get in!"
Ruijia, through the viewport, shouted with her last strength.
"Go!!!"
Mark Grayson only replied with one word.
The ship's engines started, and it wobbled, struggling to break through the chaotic gravity and energy fields, heading for outer space!
Mark Grayson stared intently as the ship became a tiny dot and vanished into the sky, until he sensed that they had completely escaped the maximum range of the planet's explosion...
Only then did he slowly, with extreme difficulty... release the wild core, which was already beyond saving.
All the pressure was instantly released!
Boom—!!
Sui Xie (Debris) planet, along with all its fungal mats, clones, and Mark Grayson's figure, was completely engulfed by an indescribable, ultimate light and energy!
A super-explosion, sweeping across the entire star system, illuminated the cold deep space like a briefly blooming flower of death in the universe.
... ...
After an unknown period, the heavily damaged, almost disintegrated assault ship, relying on its last auxiliary power, finally followed its navigation back to the Lishi Star port.
The anxiously awaiting Alliance members immediately swarmed over, opened the hatch, and saw the blood-soaked, unconscious White Lion, and the equally severely wounded and endangered, semi-conscious female leader Ruijia.
"Quick! Medical team! Highest level emergency rescue!"
People frantically carried them out, rushing them to the core medical room of the base.
After emergency resuscitation and initial treatment, both their conditions temporarily stabilized.
Only then did people finally piece together fragmented details of the battle from Ruijia's broken, pain-filled delirious whispers and the faint information from the White Lion's desperate grip on an engineer's arm before he lost consciousness...
The terrifying Trigg clone army... the tragic battle... the planet's explosion...
And...
Everyone suddenly realized a question.
A question that made their hearts stop.
They looked at the empty, almost scrapped assault ship.
Lord Grayson...
He hadn't returned.
------------------------------
"Behind the scenes, there's a world of exclusive content waiting for you on Patreon. Get early access, to see the latest chapters!!! That's where it all happens 🚀.
👉 Check it out: [patreon.com/TripleCrown07]"