Meanwhile, the conflict in the Imperial Colosseum escalated into an all-out war.

The Blood Monarch rallied his demonic allies and disciples against the forces of the Seven Great Holy Lands. Supreme Elders also from both factions had arrived, turning the Imperial City into a truly chaotic and devastating battlefield.

​Amidst this invasion, the news of the newly crowned Emperor Tristan's death spread throughout the sheltered citizens underground. The command naturally fell to the second-in-line, Tyrion Light.

The citizens of the Holy Light Empire were stunned by the ruthless decisiveness of the Demonic Faction's invasion. All around the City, devastation and the ashes of their once-proud legacy reigned supreme.

​

​Patriarch Dimidium and the other Patriarchs of the Holy Lands waited patiently, their eyes glued to the sky, anticipating the return of the Saintesses with good news. The destruction happening now was deemed inconsequential compared to the immense value of the Divine Treasury; with that wealth, they could rebuild several empires.

​Very soon, the sky above the Imperial City shook violently. Then, with an echoing, rumbling sound, the entire Secret Realm—the unstable dimensional pocket—began to collapse, folding in on itself.

​It was another apocalypse. The sheer kinetic and spiritual force of the dimensional collapse crushed the powerful Supreme Elders from both factions like ants. Their cultivation bases, no matter how high, could not withstand the unmaking of reality.

​

​To Patriarch Xion's immediate relief, Flama and the other four remaining Saintesses (Celestine, Valeria, Evelina, and Aria) emerged unharmed from the dimensional rupture. Their high-level cultivation and proximity to the tearing edge of the realm allowed them to survive the dimensional backlash. However, some of their followers had perished in the chaos.

​The Patriarchs frantically scanned the returning group. Seraphina and Lilith were nowhere to be seen.

​Fatty Liam, Vahn's senior brother, was also missing. He had been sent into the collapsing Secret Realm earlier to find the treasure. But now he was nowhere to be see.

If Vahn were here, he would have desperately searched for Liam. But Liam had no one else close enough to find his corpse, his sacrifice unnoticed in the grand, apocalyptic collapse.

​The Patriarchs, now aware of the immense loss of life and the failure of their primary mission, knew they had to find the returning Saintesses immediately.

​Patriarch Dimidium, ignoring the ongoing battle, rushed towards the Saintesses. He immediately demanded a report.

​"Where is the Divine Treasury? Where is Seraphina? And where are the others who entered the realm?"

​The five returning Saintesses looked at their elders, their faces grim, knowing the disaster they had to report.

Aria Stormsong, her face bruised and her armor scorched from the battle with Espirit and Lilith, stood stiffly. She delivered the bitter truth with no embellishment.

​"The mission failed, Patriarch," Aria stated, looking ashamed. "The Divine Treasury—all of it—was contained within a single Dragon Pearl. Vahn Necrotis secured it after defeating the final Guardian and activated a Temporal Void Array. He, Seraphina, and Lilith escaped the realm just before its collapse. They are gone."

​Dimidium's eyes widened in horror. Patriarch Xion looked at his own daughter, Flama, and the other Saintesses with crushing disappointment. The loss was immeasurable.

​Suddenly, a terrifying figure pushed through the crowd of surviving elders: Supreme Elder Hilda Irobraid of the Divine Forge Valley, Aria's master.

Hilda was a woman whose fury was legendary.

​"You worthless piece of absolute trash!" Hilda roared, using harsh curse words that echoed through the devastated city.

"You were the fastest, the strongest, the most promising of them all! You couldn't even stop a single devil spawn and a traitorous Saintess! You allowed the greatest treasure of the ages to be stolen by a Golden Core cultivator!"

​Aria stood rigid, tears pooling in her eyes but refusing to fall. She had fought her heart out; she had endured the Monarch-Spirit and the relentless Lilith. Yet, she received only cruel disappointment from the woman she revered most.

She felt utterly alone, her lifelong dedication yielding only this public humiliation.

​Hilda, showing no pity, drew closer, her eyes blazing with scorn. "You have brought eternal shame upon the Divine Forge Valley! Do not dare show your face in the Holy Lands again, you failure, until you bring that Devil Spawn and the Dragon Pearl back to me! Go!"

Aria stood motionless, the spiritual humiliation far more painful than any physical blow. The shame was suffocating, yet as she processed her master's cruel banishment, the pooling tears in her eyes dried instantly, replaced by the fierce, cold fire of her will.

​She turned to face her Master, Supreme Elder Hilda, and then swept her gaze over the surviving Patriarchs and the decimated city.

She voiced in a pained tone,

​"Master, I have served the Righteous Faction since I could walk," Aria stated, her eyes flashing with defiance. "I led your missions. I fought your wars. And in that collapsing realm, I fought a Monarch-Level Spirit that nearly destroyed me, only to be betrayed by your own Saintesses."

​She paused, taking a deliberate step back from the ruins of her former life.

​"You believe I am a failure, Master? Fine. You believe I am unfit to stand among the Holy Lands? So be it."

​Aria raised her Lightning Greatsword, pointing the tip toward the distant, shattered horizon where Vahn had vanished.

​"I will not return to the Divine Forge Valley," she declared with the finality of an oath forged in lightning. "I will not return to the Holy Lands! But I swear by the Dao I follow: I will hunt Vahn Necrotis across every corner of this world and every dimension he hides in!"

​She looked directly at her Master one last time,

"I do not need your forgiveness or your resources! The Divine Treasury and the Devil Spawn will be brought back. I will complete this mission alone, and when I return, I will answer to no one but myself!"

​With a final, shattering charge of lightning energy, Aria turned and sprinted away, disappearing into the ravaged landscape.

She left behind the collapsing empires and the bitter elders, choosing a solitary path of vengeance and redemption.

Whether she would succeed or fail, no one knows.

But the top dogs wouldn't be staying idle after this humiliating defeat. The hunt for Vahn Necrotis would never end.

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