Far away, in a place beyond the reach of space and time, a colossal castle stretched into infinity. Its marble walls sparkled, shining brighter than the stars themselves.

Inside the grand hall stood twelve mysterious figures, their bodies completely hidden beneath long veils that draped from head to toe.

At the center of the hall hovered a massive sphere of wool , large enough to rival a galaxy. Each veiled figure wove trillions of luminous threads with only two hands apiece, their motions precise, mechanical, and godlike.

And suddenly...

For a fraction of a fraction of a second, all twelve stopped weaving at the same time. Then they resumed, utterly unfazed.

Their voices rose in eerie unison, cold and monotone, yet vast enough to shake galaxies:

"Fate unbound. Threat level increased to the highest level.

World: 982662828377338, newly awakened.

Target: Saint.

World should be eliminated."

Threat should be eliminated immediately.

As their voices faded, an orb of light detached from the colossal wool and shot out of the castle, vanishing into the endless cosmos without a single hitch.

However, instead of heading toward Solara as it once did, the orb suddenly appeared in another world, an unknown corner of the universe.

The air was thick with despair. Everything lay in ruin, the only remnants of life being the countless hordes of monstrosity roaming the wasteland. If Aron had been there, he would have recognized some as the same Abomination of Decay he had killed.

Boom!

The orb exploded in the middle of the ruined world, and from the blinding light, a mystical decree in an ancient language echoed across the desolation, reaching every abomination. One by one, they froze, their grotesque heads lifting toward the sky.

When the light faded, they all turned their faces upward, toward a single point in space.

Moments later, millions upon millions of such creatures burst out of the world, traveling at the speed of light within translucent bubbles. Their eyes were fixed in one direction, as the world they left behind shattered into fragments that drifted into the void.

--

Aron stood beneath the sun, basking in its warmth with a content sigh. It felt… refreshing.

After a while of following the clones, he noticed they had changed direction, sprinting toward a new location. The reason became clear, zombies were starting to emerge from their cocoons.

Aron figured the clones were finally heading back to their original.

Aron couldn't help but marvel. These clones had been working nonstop for three days, no rest, no food, no sign of fatigue. Like tireless machines.

The odd part, though? Despite all the fighting and killing, they never leveled up. Aron suspected they couldn't.

He continued to tail them. Their numbers had dwindled to thirteen. Compared to the growing zombie horde, they were too weak, forced to move slowly and quietly, taking care not to alert nearby zombies.

Whenever Aron reached the place where the dead clones had fallen, He made quick work of the lingering zombies, collecting the bag of cores they dropped.

Using his water control, he drew rainwater from the muddy ground that covered Zone B, slicing through nearby zombies with fluid precision.

Many of them which were already level 20, with a few starting to break free from their cocoons. But Aron didn't care, he killed them all the same.

After several minutes of stalking, his senses picked up movement in a half-collapsed building that might once have been a clinic. He detected seventeen people bearing awakened marks, along with a few unawakened survivors working in silence. Their eyes were hollow, their expressions lifeless. Some were tied up, naked and beaten.

Aron's lips curved into a faint smile. Because among the seventeen Awakened, fifteen bore the same faces as the clones. Fourteen of those fifteen were armed, guarding the slaves and patrolling the shelter.

Then his senses caught something that made him pause.

He focused for a moment, then continued forward.

Aron easily slipped through the decrepit halls. He avoided detection with practiced grace, weaving between the patrols until he reached the source, a scruffy-looking man with the same face as the clones, somewhere in his fifties, seated cross-legged in what had once been a children's ward.

The place had now been converted into a personal chamber.

Two clones stood guard beside him. Around his neck hung a white pearl bead necklace, though most of the pearls were missing, only four remained. The beads looked identical to those used by the earlier clones.

Three ornate rings gleamed on his fingers, each one radiating faint power, Arati Artifacts.

The man sat calmly in the center of the room, eyes closed in meditation.

Aron frowned, glancing around. The room was well lit, with no shadows or blind spots he could use for stealth.

He's probably still at the peak of the Ascender Rank, Aron mused.

He could easily wipe everyone out here, killing them would be no harder than breathing. But that wasn't his style. The man hadn't wronged him, and Aron didn't like to kill without reason.

Besides, no matter how tempting it was, he wasn't interested in artifacts unless they were weapons.

Stretching his senses again, he found the clones he'd been following earlier. They were still about a mile away, hiding in another building to avoid a zombie's notice.

He sighed and shook his head.

Time to get creative.

(No unnecessary bloodshed this time.)

After a brief moment of thought, an idea struck him.

A sly smile spread across his face. He extended his hand, and water began to stir from a nearby source, the toilet pit.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Using his water control, Aron shattered the toilet and several fixtures in an instant.

The scruffy man, startled from meditation, snapped his eyes open. One of his clones rushed into the toilet to investigate, while the other opened the door and scanned the hall.

Finding nothing, out of cautiousness the scruffy man decided to leave the room, flanked by both of his clone guards.

He scratched his hand absently, frowning at a sudden itch, then shrugged it off and kept walking.

Hidden around the corner, Aron grinned as a notification appeared in his vision.

[Claimable Ability Detected: Self Clone]

...

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:}

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