"You killed it?! You aren’t even a fusion stage cultivator, how did you defeat such an opponent?!" Mrs. Manchester asked in disbelief, her ethereal form flickering with shock at the sheer impossibility of the claim.

​"Wasn’t difficult," Mirabella said with a shrug, her absolute nonchalance bordering on arrogance. To her, it was merely another stepping stone.

​The two phantom parents looked at one another, their initial shock melting into a look of profound, nostalgic understanding. They smiled softly, a shared memory passing between them.

​"Just like your mother, you’re indeed from the Sun family," Mr. Manchester said with a smile, recognizing the terrifying, unyielding combat powers that defined her bloodline. He then shifted his posture, his golden eyes narrowing in focus.

​"Ok, you said this opponent was an Ancient Dragon, tell me. How many horns did you see on his head?"

​Mirabella recalled the skull of the beast she had slaughtered in the thermosphere. "Two," Mirabella answered.

​Mr. Manchester shook his head softly, a grim reality settling into his voice. "That’s just a slave from the ancient dragon family in the Fourth World... Take note, in the dragon family, horns represent their strength and position in the family. The highest number of horns you can see is Six, which only the main family has. You won’t face such enemies now, because they’re simply too powerful." He said, laying bare the insurmountable hierarchy of the higher realms.

​"So the one I fought was just a slave... That’s why he was so weak," she said in surprise. The realization that a creature capable of turning the sky to ash was nothing but the lowest dregs of its society was a sobering thought, even for her.

​Mr. Manchester nodded his head, the lesson concluded. He turned his gaze to his son, his expression softening into one of desperate, parental plea.

​"My son is weak, and I heard him call you Big Sister, so please, can you help us look after him?" he asked. The mighty Warlord of the Golden Angel Clan was bowing his head to a junior, bound by the fragile hope of his son’s survival.

​Mirabella slowly nodded her head. "I am his big sister, so I will naturally protect him... But." Mirabella stared at the couple with a serious expression on her face, her mind ever at the forefront:

"I can’t always be beside him, so at least, he should be able to use his powers... I am pretty sure your Golden Angel family has a way to conceal your presence." she said. She knew better than to shelter a warrior in a world rapidly descending into madness.

​"Hahaha! I like speaking with smart people! I was going to bring that up," Mr. Manchester laughed loudly, the booming sound echoing within the dark dome. With a flick of his wrist, the two radiant crystals resting in the coffins rose towards them, hovering gently in front of Carl.

​"Absorb them as you would absorb awakening stones," he instructed.

​Carl reached out, his hand trembling slightly as the ambient divine energy washed over his skin. "What will this do? Can it hide my powers?" Carl finally opened his mouth, staring at the crystals that held his parents’ final legacies.

​"My child, it will help conceal your aura and powers so those from higher worlds won’t be able to locate you," Mrs. Manchester said with a bright, comforting smile. She reached out as if to cup his cheek, though her hand passed through him.

​"But take note, it won’t be able to hide your energy from those in the same world as you, or in the world below... For example, once you enter the Third World, and use your powers, every powerhouse in the Third, Second, and First worlds will sense it, but no one from the Fourth World will know," she explained, carefully outlining the dimensional physics of their stealth mechanics. She then added a reassuring note:

"Don’t worry, only those in the King stage or above can detect our aura, and there aren’t anyone like that in the Second World." she said.

​"Ok... Okay." Carl slowly nodded his head, the weight of his new inheritance pressing heavily upon his young shoulders.

​Mirabella stared at the family, recognizing that this was a final, sacred goodbye. She nodded her head. "I will give you some privacy."

​Without waiting for another word, she manipulated the energy around her and vanished from the inside of the dark dome, seamlessly appearing back in the ruined cemetery. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

​"...?!"

​The moment she materialized, the overwhelming stench of decay and iron hit her senses. Mirabella moved her gaze around, staring at the hundreds of zombies rushing into the cemetery gate. They weren’t just wandering; they were stampeding, a frantic, mindless tide of rotting flesh.

​"Huh? Isn’t this strange?" she muttered in surprise, staring at her team, who were still fighting, killing non-stop in a beautifully synchronized dance of blades and magic. But the sheer volume of the horde was highly anomalous for a localized area.

​"There shouldn’t be this many monsters here. Did the other guardians notice the death of the fifth and open the four gateways?" She tapped her Galaxy bracelet. The holographic map flickered into existence before her, illuminating the grim reality. The projection showed thousands upon thousands of red dots multiplying rapidly all over New York State, swarming like a virus.

​"What the?!! Those guys actually activated all the gateways... Although New York University is safe, but if this continues, all the monsters will rush towards it..." she analyzed, calculating the structural integrity of the campus defenses against a state-wide siege. She pinched the bridge of her nose in profound annoyance:

"Gosh, why are these dragons annoying, can’t you just sit quietly and wait for your death?" she muttered to herself.

​Sensing a shift in the energy behind her, she looked over her shoulder. "Oh?"

​She snapped her fingers and the dark dome vanished, dissolving into wisps of black smoke. It revealed Carl standing alone between the two open, empty coffins. The spectral forms of his parents had departed, leaving him as the sole heir to a fallen empire.

​"You good?" she asked, looking at him over her shoulder.

​Carl clenched his fist. In his grip was a newly manifested weapon. He nodded his head.

​"Wait!!"

​In a flash of golden light, Mirabella appeared instantly before him. She bypassed all boundaries of personal space, her eyes locked onto the weapon he held. It was a golden dagger, its handle intricately carved with divine feathers that pulsed with a suffocating, transcendent aura.

​"This! This is a Supreme Class artifact?!! Wow! Your parents must be wealthy to have such a thing?!" she yelled in shock. Supreme Class artifacts were myths among myths—weapons capable of splitting continents and defying the laws of reality.

​Carl chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck, the ancient power of the dagger contrasting sharply with his boyish demeanor.

​"Well, this is the heirloom of the whole Golden Angel family, and it turns out my father was the head of the whole family," he said.

​Mirabella processed this information, her eyes widening slightly before settling into a look of profound respect. "I am not surprised, he has ten wings, and also knows a lot..." she said with a small smile.

​But beneath her smile, her mind was running terrifying calculations. ’The only question here is, even with that power and this Supreme weapon, they still ran away from the Aethelgard family. How powerful is this family?’ she thought. The sheer, unfathomable might required to force the Ten-Winged Warlord of the Golden Angels into hiding was a terrifying metric of the Fourth World’s true apex.

​She pushed the grim thoughts aside. They needed to survive today before they could worry about the gods of tomorrow. She turned her head back to the horde of zombies, and monsters, which had broken through the perimeter and were now charging towards them.

​"Ok Carl," Mirabella said, drawing Sunder as her eyes glowed with lethal intent. "It’s time to complete your first objective. We will kill until we get to Queens."