Chapter 456: The Cloud Offensive

The seventy-two hours passed. Alarms blared across every corner, but no one in the main courtyard moved a muscle. Everyone stood firm, surrounding Alexander in the trigram formation as the energy grid flowed in balance.

Upon hearing the blare of the alarms, Alexander let out an exhale, opening his eyes to gaze at the firmament.

In low orbit above the Poisonous Valley of King Yama, the flagship led three fleets that blotted out the sky. On the bridge, the Pillar of Flame stared at the toxic haze blanketing the surface.

“How shall we proceed with the mist?” asked the Pillar of Flame, turning toward the Pillar of Nullity.

“We will bombard the toxic miasma to purge as much of it as possible before advancing,” said the Pillar of Nullity, gazing at the tactical screens. “Prepare to invade; we leave no one alive below.”

The warships launched a bombardment upon the Poisonous Valley, but as the mist cleared, they realized there was no open way in; the stronghold remained armored in high-density alloys.

“Leave it to me—I want to see how tough they are,” said the Pillar of Flame, stepping forward as she eyed the structure.

A pillar of fire began to rise, encircling the armored entrance. The flames shifted from red to blue, then to purple, until darkening into a pitch-black hue. The heat surged, and the heavy gate began melting, turning into liquid metal that dripped to the ground.

The Pillar of Flame raised her hands and accumulated a sphere of scorching energy: a sun. The sphere vibrated between her fingers while a smile filled with satisfaction spread across her face.

“Let’s see if you can survive this!” screamed the Pillar of Flame, relishing the process as the heat threatened to vaporize everything around her.

The Pillar of Flame hurled the sun with rage, sending the sphere speeding toward the molten breach to blow the stronghold into the sky.

Before the projectile could touch the interior, Alexander walked through the liquid metal, wrapped in his mantle of tricolor flames. Seeing the heat sphere approaching, he raised his right hand and opened his palm with composure.

“Too weak to be called a sun,” whispered Alexander.

The haze of his [Eclipse Monarch] expanded, forming a maw of shadows and golden flames that engulfed the burning sphere. The sphere trembled, losing brightness and mass as Alexander’s ability devoured its solar energy, leaving an extinguished spark that dissipated in his palm.

The Pillar of Flame froze, her smile vanishing as she took a step back.

“What… what kind of monster are you?” asked the Pillar of Flame, staring at him in horror. “He absorbed my attack as if it were nothing!”

Alexander advanced over the remains of the molten metal, keeping his eyes locked on the woman’s face.

“Don’t you recognize me? You hunted me down like a dog,” whispered Alexander, taking another step toward her.

“It can’t be… it’s you…” said the Pillar of Flame, backing away in panic as her voice trembled. “How can you do that? What is this?”

“You call yourself the Pillar of Flame, you feel like the ruler of the world, but you’re just a bitch with puny power,” said Alexander, glaring at her with disdain. “I’ll show you the difference between an usurper and a true monarch.”

Alexander walked toward her. To the woman’s horror, her own flames began to sway toward Alexander, encircling his body as if stroking him—recognizing their true supreme master.

“No! Come back to me! You are my power!” screamed the Pillar of Flame, trying to regain control of her element with zero success.

“Fire belongs to the Sun, not to you,” said Alexander, clenching his fist as her energy was absorbed into his eclipse mantle.

“Get away from her!” roared the Pillar of Wind, appearing behind Alexander as he swung twin blades wrapped in a cyclone.

Before the blades could reach Alexander’s neck, the Pillar of Nullity positioned himself out front, driving his black spear into the ground to deploy a force field that distorted space across the area.

“[Nullity Domain: Absolute Cancellation]!” shouted the Pillar of Nullity, trying to extinguish the eclipse flames enveloping Alexander.

The Pillar of Wind’s swords struck directly against Alexander’s shoulders with a metallic thud, but the blades failed to pierce the first layer of his tricolor flame-coated skin. Alexander didn’t flinch; he tilted his head to glance at them from the corner of his eye.

“Do you think a pathetic nullity barrier can extinguish the light of the eclipse?” whispered Alexander, clenching his free fist.

The Pillar of Nullity broke into a cold sweat upon seeing the mantle of fire devour his spear’s field as if it were fuel.

“His mana is overwriting the laws of my domain!” screamed the Pillar of Nullity, grabbing the Pillar of Flame’s armor to drag her backward.

“Both of you fall back right now! This thing isn’t human!” shouted the Pillar of Wind, leaping backward as his swords cracked from the residual heat.

Alexander released the darkness from his body in a single burst, spreading an abyssal mantle that engulfed everything around him. The mass of gloom generated a gravitational pull so violent that even the fleet’s warships in low orbit began getting dragged toward the ground, their hulls groaning under the structural pressure.

However, the darkness was not cold, but a scorching inferno that made the air boil. Federation soldiers on the perimeter began screaming in agony as they felt their armor and skin melt upon contact with the eclipse haze.

“Do something, sir! Activate your domain to the max or it’s going to dissolve us all!” shouted the Pillar of Wind, trying to shield his face as his clothes turned into ashes.

The Pillar of Nullity drove his spear down, channeling his mana to expand his cancellation field to its limit.

“I’m using all my power!” screamed the Pillar of Nullity, the veins in his neck bulging as sweat vaporized on his skin. “His ability isn’t responding! The power of the eclipse is too dense—I can’t suppress it or cancel it!”

“I told you that you were nothing more than an insect trying to put out the sun,” whispered Alexander, appearing before him amid the burning mist.