Pitch black.

For a terrifying moment, everything went completely dark. No light. No sound. No sensation. The world seemed to vanish entirely, swallowed by an absolute void that consumed even the concept of existence. Lian felt nothing — not the ground beneath his feet, not the air in his lungs, not even his own heartbeat. It was as if reality itself had been erased in a single instant.

Then, light returned.

Slowly at first, like a hesitant dawn breaking through thick smoke. The darkness receded in waves, revealing a nightmare landscape. Lian’s eyes fluttered open. His body ached. Dust choked the air. Fires crackled in the distance. The ground beneath him was cracked and uneven, littered with rubble.

He pushed himself up with a groan, his arms trembling from the effort. Minor bruises covered his body, but nothing serious. He had been far enough from the epicenter to survive the worst of it. He looked around and saw Elara lying a few meters away, unconscious but breathing. He crawled over and gently helped her up, supporting her weight as she stirred.

“Elara...” he whispered.

She coughed, blinking rapidly as she regained consciousness. Her alloy limbs whirred softly as she steadied herself against him. Like Lian, she had only minor injuries — cuts, bruises, and a ringing in her ears. They had been lucky. They weren’t close enough to the direct clash to be obliterated. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Everywhere was cloudy with thick dust, smoke, and floating debris. Fires burned in scattered pockets, casting flickering orange light across the devastation. Rubble from collapsed buildings lay in massive heaps. The air tasted of ash, blood, and melted metal. Bodies were scattered across the ruined streets — some crushed under fallen structures, others torn apart by shockwaves. The once-bustling district of Vorthex Prime had been reduced to a graveyard.

This is what life is, Lian thought coldly. The weak are crushed without mercy. The strong remain standing. No fairness. No justice. Only power.

He helped Elara steady herself. They both looked around, trying to get their bearings. Visibility was terrible. The dust cloud was so thick they could barely see five meters in front of them. Shapes loomed like ghosts in the haze — broken walls, twisted metal beams, and what might have been human remains. Navigation was nearly impossible. They moved carefully, stepping over debris, listening for any signs of danger.

The silence was eerie. No screams. No fighting. Just the crackle of fires and the occasional groan of collapsing structures in the distance.

Lian’s mind raced. Where were they? How far had the destruction spread? How were they supposed to get out of this mess? The dust made everything disorienting. Every direction looked the same — ruined, hazy, deadly.

Then, slowly, the dust began to clear.

A strong wind swept through the devastated area, pushing the thick clouds aside. Visibility improved. First ten meters, then twenty, then more. What Lian saw made his jaw drop. A cold shiver ran down his spine, freezing him in place.

The planet had been split into two.

A massive, clean gash stretched across the horizon — a perfect cut that sliced through mountains, cities, and the very crust of Vorthex Prime. One half of the planet was visibly separated from the other by a yawning chasm of empty space and floating debris. The scale was incomprehensible. The cut was so deep and precise that the two halves were slowly drifting apart, exposing raw planetary core and magma that glowed like hellfire in the darkness. Entire cities had been bisected. Oceans poured into the void between the halves. The sky itself looked wrong — fractured by the impossible wound.

Elara’s legs went weak. She stumbled, gripping Lian’s arm tightly for support. Her blue cyber eyes were wide with disbelief and fear.

Lian stared at the cataclysmic sight, heart pounding. The sheer power required to do something like this... to slice an entire planet...

What power is this?

Power Scale / Cultivation Realms (Quick Reminder)

Foundation Realm (Layers 1–9): Body forging, no external Qi.

Circuit Awakening Realm (Early–Peak): First Qi loop, internal bursts.

Core Condensation Realm (Early–Peak): External Qi release, short flight.

Stellar Circuit Realm (1–9 Stars): True flight, Qi armor, energy projection.

Nebula Dominion Realm and higher: Domain control, galaxy-level power, etc

Power Scale Reminder

Lian Yu: Stellar Circuit Star 1.

Elara Voss: Core Condensation Middle

Keep it as reminders