Chapter 121: The Fall of Solaris.
Above, [ Rain of Dark Judgment ] formed in silence, black spears trembling, awaiting the command of the boy who stood unmoved by his father’s crown or fire.
His hand lowered.
The sky blackened futher.
It began as a ripple, a shudder that tore through the heavens, and then the spears descended.
Thousands of obsidian javelins screamed down like an unending storm. Each one carried with it the weight of annihilation, trailing streaks of voidfire that split the clouds apart.
Lan’s Rain of Dark Judgment fell upon Solaris.
The capital roared as if the earth cried out. Streets buckled. Towers groaned and collapsed. Market squares vanished under cascades of impact, the cries of fleeing soldiers drowned by the relentless downpour.
And if civilians had not already been evacuated, the capital would have been wiped out in one sweep.
Fire and shadow intermingled, and the proud jewel of the kingdom twisted into a grave.
At the center of it all stood Aldric, his jaw clenched, his arms raised toward the void.
He summoned every ounce of his legend. A flaming sphere erupted from him, brighter than the sun itself, layers of gravity warping around its edges.
Buildings bent and shattered, their stones pulled inward as if the city wished to kneel before its king. The heat was unbearable, enough to melt steel, to burn bone to ash.
The black rain struck the sphere.
Each spear detonated like thunder, the shockwaves tearing the palace walls apart. The flaming globe cracked, splintered, mended itself, cracked again.
Aldric’s teeth bared in a snarl, blood streaming from his nose, ears, eyes. His body began to burn within his own defense, skin blistering, muscles tearing apart under the weight of what he resisted.
And yet, somehow, he endured.
When the final spear struck, the capital lay in ruin—streets split wide like scars, statues toppled, rivers of flame and shadow spilling into every crevice. The once-magnificent palace now stood as a fractured husk.
Aldric emerged, limping, staggering. His golden aura flickered in tatters, his once-pristine armor split and cracked. His flesh smoked. His breath was fire drawn raggedly through shattered lungs. But he lived.
Lan stepped forward.
The flames bent away from him. Shadows swirled at his feet, coiling like serpents, hissing in hunger.
His eyes glowed with cold, endless cruelty. Each stride carried inevitability, as if destiny had decided this was how it must end.
With a whisper, crimson light bled outward.
The Blood Domain expanded—an ocean of death, saturating the air with despair. Within a hundred meters, the very atmosphere grew heavy, choking, suffused with inevitability.
The scent of iron filled every breath. Soldiers caught at the edges shrieked, clutching their chests as their souls tore and screamed within them, their minds unraveling.
Many simply fell limp, eyes wide in horror they could not name.
Aldric staggered, his legs trembling under the pressure. His aura guttered like a candle in a storm.
"You—" His voice rasped, cracked and hollow. "What manner of demon are you?"
Lan’s answer was a step closer.
Then:
"One that can not be won against."
Aldric lunged, desperation blazing. His hands clawed at the air, gravity warping space itself. Entire towers wrenched free from the ground, hurled toward Lan with apocalyptic force. Flames spun around them, a cyclone of collapsing matter.
Lan vanished.
Dark Step carried him through the inferno, each movement faster than thought. The towers smashed into the earth where he had stood, detonating in blooms of molten stone.
A shadowed hand grazed Aldric’s arm. Severance Touch spread rot instantly—flesh blackening, peeling away in ribbons despite the fire.
The king roared, flames exploding outward to sear the corruption, his own arm half-charred in the process.
But Lan was already behind him.
Sword Intent flared, unseen blades cutting across the battlefield. Aldric’s armor split in jagged lines, crimson spraying as gashes opened on his chest and thigh.
His knees buckled; his golden aura flared only to be sheared apart by invisible edges.
Still, Aldric fought.
He was a cornered beast, and beasts cornered bit hardest. He slammed his palms to the earth—gravity surged, the ground imploding, flames detonating in a wave that consumed all.
The palace itself split down the middle, the throne hall caving in as if the gods had struck.
Lan walked through it.
The flames parted around him, shadows feeding on their light. He raised Devil’s Lie, the rusted blade that seemed almost mocking in its simplicity, yet every step it took toward Aldric pressed like the march of death itself.
Blow after blow, the king faltered.
His strikes grew erratic. His knees buckled. His roars weakened into choked screams. Blood covered him, half his body a ruin of burns and corruption.
Lan finally knocked him to the ground. Devil’s Lie batted aside his flaming sword, shadows surged and pinned him against the shattered remnants of his throne hall wall.
Aldric gasped, defiant still, but his eyes betrayed terror.
Lan raised his blade.
"Your lies end here."
The words were final, cold, unbending.
Devil’s Lie descended.
And then—the world shook.
Not from Lan. Not from Aldric.
From something else.
The Blood Domain shuddered, its inevitability cracked by an intrusion. Shadows recoiled as if they had touched something alien.
The air itself thickened, trembling, vibrating at a pitch beyond mortal hearing.
Lan froze, his blade halting inches from Aldric’s throat. His eyes narrowed.
A presence emerged from the shattered throne hall, stepping over rubble and corpses alike. A figure clad in strange cloaks and markings, not of Solaris, not of any empire.
His aura was not Qi yet it felt more than mana.
Each step he took bent the air. Even the remnants of Aldric’s golden flames bowed away. Even Lan’s Blood Domain strained against it, red waves flickering uncertainly.
"Seems...i was late."
Lan’s grip tightened on Devil’s Lie. His gaze locked onto the intruder, storm-grey eyes glinting with murder and curiosity alike.
Aldric slumped beneath him, spared by the intrusion, trembling in disbelief that he yet lived.
The figure stopped, his visor reflecting the crimson of Lan’s domain. For a moment, silence reigned.
And then, the ground cracked open.