In an instant, the ground erupted—every grain of sand lifted into the air as if gravity had suddenly vanished. The golden dust surged toward Ethan, wrapping around him like a living storm.
His vision vanished. All he could see was a swirling world of sand, a suffocating haze of yellow and the raging force of the Absolute Domain.
A crimson gleam flickered in Ethan's eyes. The power of the Domain of the Dead surged outward, pushing back against the encroaching sand. The two forces clashed, neither giving way, forming a massive sphere of sand that trapped Ethan at its center like a prisoner in a sealed tomb.
Cyborg's psychic interference hit him next, followed by the Hunter's Mark locking onto his presence, and then the Spatial Lockdown snapped into place. All of it layered on top of him, one after another.
Ethan was now completely sealed off—cut off from the outside world in a closed-off battlefield.
His movements were severely restricted. Even lifting an arm felt like trying to push through a mountain. Every motion came with crushing resistance, like he was buried under ten thousand tons of pressure.
But the Perfect Team wasn't done yet.
They had one last trump card.
"Bloodrose, now! Do it!" Sable shouted, his voice sharp with urgency.
Bloodrose had been waiting for this moment. She rose slowly from the ground, her slender figure steady, katana in hand—Stellar Fang gleaming in the dim light.
She was ready to burn every drop of her blood to unleash her strongest attack.
"Never thought I'd be pushed this far…" she murmured, almost to herself. Then she lifted her gaze. Her eyes turned blood-red, the crimson spreading until it drowned out the whites completely.
A second later, a thick, fiery aura of blood ignited around her like a blaze, engulfing her entire body in a storm of red flame.
The sky above was painted in a deep, burning crimson. Her power surged outward like a tidal wave, shaking the air itself.
The blood aura was so intense that her body—now a dark red silhouette—seemed to distort the space around her. The air rippled, trembling with pressure.
Bloodrose raised the Stellar Fang and sliced open her palm. Blood spilled freely, and she ran it along the blade, coating the entire weapon in her own essence.
The already indestructible Stellar Fang now pulsed with a savage red glow, sharper and deadlier than ever.
With a fierce cry, Bloodrose bent her knees and launched herself into the air.
The ground beneath her cracked and collapsed from the sheer force of her takeoff.
She shot forward like a missile, her body wreathed in flames, aiming straight for the massive sand sphere.
Her katana cut through everything—sand, psychic energy, spatial barriers—nothing could stop her. She was a force of nature, unstoppable and absolute.
Where her blade pointed, nothing could stand in her way.
And then—she saw him.
The figure in white at the center.
Her ultimate strike was unleashed.
Ethan, still struggling against the crushing forces, saw her coming. With the raw resilience of the Zombie King's body, he twisted slightly to the right, trying to dodge the blow.
Their bodies passed each other in a blur.
Bloodrose's strike shattered the balance of every force in play. The moment her blade hit, the entire battlefield exploded.
The Domain of Sand erupted, mixed with spatial energy, psychic force, and raw destructive power. Shockwaves blasted outward in every direction.
At the center, a massive mushroom cloud rose into the sky.
Even the clouds above were torn apart.
The earth shook violently, deep cracks ripping through the ground and spreading like wildfire.
People nearby were thrown off their feet, scrambling to escape the blast zone.
"The shockwave's insane!"
"Get out of here, now!"
Even the aftershocks were deadly. A few slower Awakeners were caught in the blast and instantly reduced to dust.
Chris, Leah, and the others were just as stunned. They quickly retreated, flying back to a safer distance.
Their hearts pounded with fear—and awe.
A battle with this level of destruction… it might be the first of its kind on Earth.
"I've never seen anything like it."
"What about Ethan? Did he survive that?"
The shockwaves from the battle had been so intense that the ground at the epicenter was left in utter ruin. Deep fissures split the earth, and from within them, jets of white steam hissed upward like the breath of some slumbering beast.
Thick smoke and dust hung in the air for a long while before finally beginning to settle.
Richard, the head of Genesis Biotech, stood frozen, eyes locked on the battlefield. His fists were clenched so tightly that the veins on the backs of his hands bulged. His heart pounded with anticipation, adrenaline surging through him.
The last time he'd felt this kind of thrill was when he watched Messi win the World Cup live.
"That damn Zombie King from L.A... is he finally dead?" he muttered, barely daring to believe it.
The explosion had been so massive, so apocalyptic, that he hadn't been able to see a thing. All he caught was Bloodrose's final, devastating strike—and then the world had gone white with the blast.
"He's gotta be dead, right? This was your Perfect Team plan, after all, Mr. Richard!" his assistant said, eyes gleaming with excitement.
Richard nodded slowly, exhaling a long, shaky breath. "Yeah... this plan's been in the works for a long time."
And it had. Every piece had been meticulously placed, every move calculated. And now, it had all come together exactly as he'd envisioned.
First, Cyborg used the Hunter's Mark to locate and tag the target. Then another Cyborg locked onto Ethan's position with psychic interference. A third deployed Spatial Lockdown to trap him in place.
After that, a high-level Awakener engaged him directly, draining his stamina and limiting his movement even further.
And finally, Bloodrose—an Awakener with overwhelming offensive power—delivered the killing blow.
That was how you hunted the Zombie King of Los Angeles.
Richard couldn't help but smile. "Just like I always say... we make our own destiny."
The other Awakeners from Genesis Biotech were equally fired up. Their hearts raced with the thrill of victory.
Could it be? Was the battle finally over?
The L.A. Zombie Horde had been a nightmare looming over them all, a mountain pressing down on their chests, suffocating them with its sheer presence.
If they'd really brought it down today, this would go down in history as a legendary battle.
Every one of them would have their names etched into the monument of glory.
But on the other side of the battlefield, the zombie faction had gone eerily still.
All the major Zombie Kings—Bulldozer, Laura, Little Shadow, and others—stood in silence, their blood-red eyes fixed on the center of the explosion.
"Did Boss really lose?" someone muttered.
"Yeah... Boss never loses."
Laura narrowed her eyes, staring hard into the smoke. "I can still feel his presence. He's still there."
"Oh? So he's okay?" Bulldozer asked, his voice low and hopeful.
"He's not in danger," Laura replied, shaking her head. But then her tone shifted, more serious. "But... the consequences might be bad."
"Consequences? What do you mean?" the others asked, confused. Her words didn't seem to match.
All eyes turned back to the battlefield.
The smoke finally began to clear.
The first figures to emerge were Sable and the three Cyborgs. Their once-imposing presence was gone. They looked battered, covered in dust and grime, their expressions dazed and shaken.
Then, at the center, Bloodrose came into view.
She was down on one knee, using her Stellar Fang katana to prop herself up.
She hacked violently, blood pouring from her mouth. Her entire body was soaked in it—she looked like a walking corpse, a "blood doll" barely holding together. Even her pores were leaking red, her body pushed to the brink of collapse.
And then, everyone's gaze shifted to the very heart of the battlefield.
A figure stood there, tall and unmoving, like a lone pine tree in a storm-ravaged forest.
Gasps rippled through the crowd.
He was still standing.
But he wasn't moving. His head was slightly bowed, eyes fixed on his chest. He stood there in complete silence, like a statue carved from stone.
Shock and disbelief spread like wildfire.
"He... he's still alive?"