"Boom—!"
"Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!!!"
After the initial nuclear detonation, a rapid succession of explosions followed, nearly engulfing the entire street where the Hall of Halls stood. In an instant, the whole block was plunged into a sea of fire.
Guan Tong's expression shifted to one of shock at the sight.
When he had obtained the nuclear weapon from Yelanka, she had told him the yield was only sufficient to destroy the Hall of Halls and the military buildings directly adjacent to it, and would not affect a wider area.
However...
Guan Tong stared at the block engulfed in flames and suddenly realized Yelanka hadn't been wrong. The issue wasn't the nuclear weapon's yield—it was that this street block had been riddled with hidden bombs all along!
After the nuclear explosion, the other bombs in the block had been triggered in a chain detonation, which was why this terrifying chain reaction had occurred.
Why had Bruce buried so many bombs throughout the block?
Guan Tong couldn't understand it. Did that bastard want to turn the entire block into a minefield, or was he trying to use his own people's lives as hostages for leverage?
Whatever the reason, it didn't matter at this point.
Listening to the faint screams echoing from the sea of fire, Guan Tong clenched his fists slightly.
He would never feel guilt over this, just as no nation's government would negotiate with terrorists. If you accepted one act of extortion, there would be countless more after it.
He turned his gaze toward the Hall of Halls where the instigator resided. The surface structures there had been completely obliterated the instant the nuclear weapon detonated.
In Guan Tong's view, the Hall of Halls no longer existed above ground. Even the alloy barrier surrounding its perimeter had been melted into molten iron by the extreme heat.
[The Twenty-Seventh Doomsday Rule has been released]
The Fire Thief's voice rang out. Guan Tong gave the new rule's contents a cursory glance before setting it aside for the moment.
Interstellar trade and such—for him personally, it was far less important than eliminating Bruce right now.
"Xiao Tong, we saw the explosion. Why was the blast so massive?"
Shi Jingyi's voice came through the Mind Network. She and Chen Na could both see the block swallowed by flames, the sky itself dyed crimson by the glow.
"Bruce had bombs planted throughout the entire block. They all chain-detonated," Guan Tong said.
"...Do you need us to come over now?"
"Not yet. I'll check the situation at the site first."
"Be careful."
"Yeah."
Guan Tong activated Body Swap once more and arrived at the explosion site.
The nuclear blast had been most powerful at the epicenter. Nearly the entire Hall of Halls structure had been melted away, with the ground emitting sizzling hot steam and the air thick with radioactive dust.
Guan Tong protected himself with the Shadow Battle Suit and made his way to the center of the Hall of Halls—which was now nothing more than a massive crater.
Looking down into the pit, it wasn't just the surface buildings—the underground areas had also been almost completely destroyed.
Neither researchers nor test subjects could have survived being so close to the epicenter.
Those laboratories and the Energy Station had all been blown apart, and they too had experienced secondary explosions.
Guan Tong manipulated his shadows to explore the underground region. Before long, he discovered that three or four structures remained intact, looking completely unharmed. These were precisely the areas that only Bruce had the authority to access.
Even blast-resistant facilities couldn't remain unscathed when situated right next to an epicenter.
They must have used special protective barriers or barrier tools...
Guan Tong activated his Shadow Domain as he thought about it, spreading it across the surrounding area to ensure no one could escape.
Then, masses of shadows converged into heavy hammers and smashed down upon those few structures.
These specially protected buildings couldn't withstand Guan Tong's violent Mind Power bombardment. Within moments, their walls were shattered.
"Don't, don't kill me!"
In one room that appeared to be a meeting room, seven or eight people were huddled in a corner.
These people were all Bruce's trusted subordinates, and several of them frequently appeared at official press conferences.
Upon seeing the shadows bursting into the room, they were all seized with absolute terror.
Some shouted "Don't kill me!" and "I surrender!" while others frantically pulled out items to defend or attack—but no matter what they did, the result was the same.
Guan Tong eliminated them without hesitation.
In another room, however, he was stunned to see over a dozen "Gaelids."
That's right. He had seen Gaelid's photo from Adam and knew what Bruce's son looked like.
The dozen or so Gaelids in this room all bore similar features, clearly products of artificial bodies or biological cloning of some sort.
He guessed that after Ai Ya had been taken, Bruce must have downloaded Gaelid's memories many more times.
At this moment, upon seeing the shadows, these "Gaelids" all wore expressions of fury, radiating intense hostility.
Guan Tong knew these Gaelids' memories had likely been tampered with, implanting information like "Guan Tong is the mortal enemy."
For these products that should never have existed in this world, he manipulated his shadows to wipe them all out without hesitation.
But what made his brow furrow deeply was that he hadn't found his true target—Bruce—in any of these nuclear-blast-proof rooms.
Could Bruce have teleported away the instant the explosion happened? Unlikely.
Guan Tong didn't believe Bruce had that kind of speed, and besides, teleportation items took time from activation to completion.
Nor did he think Bruce would flee via teleportation, because once he left New Covenant—his home base—Bruce's status as king would be practically crippled.
Could he be hiding somewhere?
Within the Shadow Domain, countless eyes opened, searching the deep crater carved by the nuclear blast for any trace of Bruce.
Meanwhile, Guan Tong could hear the rumbling of war vehicles in the distance. The Suroma military stationed in New Covenant was rushing toward them.
"Jingyi, bring Xiao Na over here," Guan Tong said, deciding to have Chen Na help him find the target for greater efficiency.
"Alright."
Within just over a dozen seconds of Shi Jingyi's reply, she had brought Chen Na to the edge of the massive crater.
Chen Na remained perfectly composed in the face of the scene before her and directly activated her ability.
Her Perception Domain expanded outward, and in an instant, everything within a vast surrounding area was entirely within her grasp.
Guan Tong's Mind Power, Shi Jingyi's Mind Power... and then she sensed another Mind Power located deep underground, rapidly moving away.
"Brother Guan, I found him. There's an Ascendant moving quickly underground."
Likely honed by dozens of missions with the Countermeasures Research Office, Chen Na was now extremely calm and focused when entering an operational state, meticulous in every detail.
She immediately synchronized the location of the Mind Power she sensed to Guan Tong, who instantly directed his shadows to pursue.
At that moment, the first wave of Suroma troops had arrived. Guan Tong was about to divert some of his attention to deal with them, but Shi Jingyi spoke up: "You two focus on your task. I'll handle these people."
"Alright."
Guan Tong and Chen Na devoted their full efforts to pursuing the Mind Power rapidly fleeing deep underground.
The advance force that had arrived at the scene was completely intercepted by Shi Jingyi.
She wore a white cloak that covered her entire body—an item Guan Tong had obtained for her to conceal her identity.
The advance force spotted the enemy and attacked without a moment's hesitation.
The result? Their bullets and Mind Power attacks all struck empty air.
Shi Jingyi was too fast. They could barely catch glimpses of white afterimages flashing before their eyes, and then excruciating pain spread through their bodies, leaving them instantly incapable of fighting.
An advance force of over a hundred people was all lying on the ground in less than half a minute.
Familiar with human acupoints, Shi Jingyi knew exactly how to strike to disable someone's mobility most quickly, and her exquisite control over Mind Power allowed her attacks to remain precise even at high speed.
After effortlessly dealing with the advance force, she withdrew from the scene according to the plan Guan Tong had laid out, refusing to engage with the additional enemy forces arriving.
Meanwhile, Guan Tong and Chen Na pursued the Mind Power moving swiftly underground, finally cornering it after a minute.
Guan Tong manipulated over a dozen pillar-thick Shadow Pillars to plunge into the earth, sealing off all movement in every direction and forcing the person to surface.
And so he and Chen Na witnessed a vehicle with a full metal shell, resembling some kind of metallic motorboat, burrowing up from underground. It appeared to be a Mind Power vehicle of some sort for driving.
After emerging, the thing didn't dart around in escape attempts, as if the driver had realized there was no getting away.
"Brother Guan, I can sense that the Mind Power inside is very strong. Be careful," Chen Na warned.
Guan Tong nodded. His Shadow Wings flapped as he flew to a position above the "burrowing motorboat."
"Come out, Bruce. You've reached a dead end."
"Click—"
The metal hatch at the top of the vehicle opened, and a staircase extended outward. A figure holding a scepter stepped out.
It was Bruce.
He descended from the vehicle, stood on the ground, and looked up at Guan Tong.
There was no panic or fear on his face. Whether it was psychological fortitude or a belief that he hadn't yet reached his end remained unclear.
"Retaliating with a nuclear bomb—that's your style, alright," Bruce said. "I miscalculated. I never thought you'd choose to strike on the day a rule was released."
Bruce's words carried genuine sincerity.
Ever since the Fire Thief descended and the first Doomsday Rule had ended, every nation had adopted the habit of ceasing all activities on the day rules were released, devoting their full attention to formulating countermeasures for the new rule.
It wasn't just national governments that did this—every individual Ascendant did as well.
Every Ascendant would restore their Mind Power to full before the rule release day, eat and drink their fill, calm their minds, and greet the new rule in their best condition, all to improve their survival odds during the new Rule Period.
Everyone did this because they couldn't predict what the new rule would be. The optimal strategy, therefore, was to remain in peak condition on rule release day.
Yet Guan Tong had deliberately chosen this very day to launch his attack, expending a massive amount of Mind Power without hesitation.
This kind of behavior—throwing aside even the "maintain peak condition on rule release day" strategy for the sake of revenge—had indeed shattered Bruce's expectations.
"But I never expected you'd harm innocents just to kill me," Bruce said with a deadpan expression. "Don't tell me you didn't know there were many innocent test subjects locked in the bunkers."
"Those people died because of you, and for all you know, they would've been happy to die alongside you," Guan Tong said.
"Comforting yourself with that kind of thinking is the mark of the weak," Bruce said. "If you'd simply said you'd spare no cost to kill me, I might have appreciated you a bit more."
Guan Tong's fingers twitched slightly, and countless Shadow Blades condensed from all directions.
"You shouldn't have done this," Bruce continued. "That laboratory, the Gaia System—they were for the future of humanity. By destroying it, you've destroyed humanity's future."
"Rather than worrying about humanity's future, you should worry about where you'll be going after you die."
Guan Tong had no desire to exchange more words with Bruce. He waved his hand, and the mass of condensed Shadow Blades slashed forward in unison.
Hum—
All the Shadow Blades were blocked by a special barrier. Guan Tong's gaze shifted to the scepter in Bruce's hand.
The Scepter of Royal Authority.
Yishan had told him that this scepter in Bruce's possession was his exclusive Mind Power item, its effect being the exercise of "the king's authority."
Last time at the wedding, Bruce had escaped from his grasp thanks to the barrier created by this scepter.
Back then, Guan Tong had pushed himself to his limits and still couldn't break through that barrier's defenses in a short time. But encountering it again today, he already had some ideas for countering it.
"Guan Tong, you should feel honored, for you will be the first to witness the power of my item after its advancement."
As Bruce spoke, he slowly raised the scepter in his hand.
Item advancement...
Guan Tong narrowed his eyes, attempting to see through it using one of his Title Abilities—the Eye of True Sight.
"I am the king of Suroma."
"As long as the people of Suroma still exist, my authority can be exercised."
Hearing this, Guan Tong thought to himself—could this advanced ability of the scepter be similar to that of Your Holiness Paul?
One of the Cult Leader's abilities had been substitution of fate, allowing him to transfer fatal injuries onto believers under his mind control.
To eliminate him, one would have to eliminate all his followers first, or find a way to break his ability.
Guan Tong couldn't see what the true effect of Bruce's "king's authority" was, even with the Eye of True Sight Title Ability.
That was because the Eye of True Sight could only see through abilities that attacked Guan Tong himself. But Bruce's barrier here was purely defensive, so the ability couldn't take effect.
"The kingdom is with me, and the kingdom is my body."
Bruce pressed buttons at both ends of the scepter simultaneously. The next moment, the scepter detached from his hand, plunged into the ground, and emitted a brilliant light.
The light radiated outward from the scepter in all directions, forming an ultra-large-scale array of light in an instant.
"Witness this..." Bruce said in a deep voice. "My King's Domain."
King's Domain...
The moment Bruce's words fell, Guan Tong saw dense crowds of figures materializing from within the light array.
Twenty, fifty, one hundred, five hundred, one thousand...
"So much Mind Power!" Chen Na, clinging to Guan Tong's back, gasped and quickly assessed the nature of this "King's Domain." "Brother Guan, this is an ultra-large-scale reverse teleportation array!"
Guan Tong was equally shocked by the sight of those densely packed Ascendant figures.
Whether it was teleportation abilities or items, they had always been forward-directional—the user could teleport themselves or others from Point A to Point B.
But the King's Domain Bruce had just unfolded was actually an ultra-large-scale reverse teleportation array! Once deployed, it could forcibly summon Ascendants belonging to Suroma from wherever they were.
Whether it was the defensive barrier or the reverse teleportation array, neither of this scepter's abilities possessed direct offensive capability. No wonder the Eye of True Sight couldn't see through it...
In just two or three seconds, the Ascendants forcibly teleported by Bruce's King's Domain numbered in the thousands!
Most of these people wore bewildered expressions, looking left and right, having no idea what was happening. Some were even still in their pajamas, holding food in their hands—they had clearly been ripped away by the reverse teleportation mid-moment.
"Fight for your king. Eliminate the enemy."
Bruce, wielding the Scepter of Royal Authority, seemed to possess command authority over them. The moment he gave the order, all the Ascendants' consciousnesses unified as one, and they all raised their heads to look at Guan Tong in the sky.