Corpses soon covered the ground in endless waves.

The giant golden ray tore through the elven armies without mercy, burning through armor, flesh, and bone as if the golden light they worshiped had turned against them. Screams rose for only a moment before they were swallowed by the destruction, and wherever the ray passed, the proud ranks of the elves vanished into broken bodies and scorched earth.

And all of it happened because one man had decided to punish those who dared to play games with him.

Max watched from above as a face far in the distance twisted with disgust, guilt, and rage he could no longer suppress. It belonged to a young-looking man, tall and handsome, with long golden hair stretching past his shoulders and eyes that burned with a fury he could no longer hide. Golden light still surrounded him, but now it no longer looked divine. It looked stained, as if the power he had released had just murdered his own people before his very eyes.

He was known to everyone as Thalvendor, the Emperor of all elves and the protector of the forest.

He was the man who had once achieved the impossible, uniting all elven lands under his rule and creating one of the most fearsome and dangerous legions on the continent. To his people, he was their pride, their shield, and the untouchable ruler who stood above every noble bloodline.

And now, before he had even spoken a word to Max, his own attack had carved through the army he had come to save.

His violet eyes looked ahead, meeting Max’s gaze across the ruined capital.

Neither of them spoke, yet both understood what that silence meant, because the moment their eyes met, the space between them had already turned into a battlefield.

"Warriors of the Aelvarith Empire, follow me."

Thalvendor waved his hand and turned around, not giving Max another glance, as if leaving was his choice to make, as if the black mist surrounding his army was nothing more than an inconvenience placed before him by someone beneath his notice. But before he could take even a proper step away, the dome closed before him.

The path disappeared.

His golden hair shifted slightly as he turned his head, and there, above the broken land, Max flew closer while still remaining higher in the sky. He did not descend to meet Thalvendor on equal ground. He stayed above him on purpose, looking down with his black wings spread behind him, making sure every elf and every dragon could see the difference between them.

"I gave you a chance to leave," Thalvendor said, his voice deep, smooth, and strangely enchanting, carrying the kind of charm that could make weaker hearts tremble for reasons they would not understand. "You have already cost me many men. Many good lives were extinguished today by my own hand. I could kill you, but I gave you face, allowing you to stay alive for another day, and this is how you repay my kindness?"

His words were calm, yet the rage behind them was impossible to hide. It twisted beneath every syllable, hidden under that refined voice, under that beautiful face, under the dignity of an emperor who had just watched his own attack carve through the army he had come to save.

Max’s smile slowly grew.

"Arrogant. Foolish. Weak." He spoke each word clearly, letting them hang between them. "That is the emperor these people were so desperately waiting for? That is the man who decided to mess with my dragon region and invade my lands?"

He paused on every my, deliberately making the word heavier each time, pressing it into Thalvendor’s pride like a blade sliding under the skin.

Max’s eyes darkened slightly.

"You’re nothing but a coward, one who decided to flee the very second he witnessed my power."

Max taunted him from above, void magic twisting around his body in slow, violent circles. Violet and black mixed together like smoke and poison, wrapping around him as he moved through the air with no need to flap his wings, as if the sky had lowered itself beneath his feet only so he could walk over everyone below.

"Me? Scared? Of you?" Thalvendor’s face twisted, his pride bleeding through the disgust in his voice. "Don’t make me laugh. You’re nothing but a lowly dragon. Once I find that human who bested the two emperors of the dragon empires, I will kill him, and then I will kill you too."

Max raised an eyebrow.

"So you don’t know, huh?" he said, and the smirk on his lips became colder.

Thalvendor felt something twist around him before he could answer. It was not wind, not pressure, not even a spell he could immediately understand. The mana around him bent first, then trembled, as if it was being forced to kneel before the might of the dragon flying closer to him.

"I am that human."

Max stretched out his arm.

The mana around Thalvendor was stripped away in an instant. The golden light surrounding the elven emperor flickered violently, his long golden hair whipping backward as the air bent around him and something unseen forced its way into his body. It crawled through his skin, his veins, his mana pathways, trying to rob him of the very power he had always believed belonged to him.

Max smirked as he watched the emperor’s expression change.

This was just another gift left behind by the torture he had endured. After being split apart thousands of times and rebuilt beneath the eyes of the creator, his mind had become sharper, his control cleaner, and his understanding of void magic had opened into directions he had never considered before.

So many ideas now moved inside his head, and he wanted to test them on someone worthy, someone powerful, someone whose defeat would become a warning carved into the memory of every race foolish enough to look at his lands with greed.

"And today, I will destroy all of you elves," Max said, his voice dropping lower as the black mist behind him spread like a living shadow. "I will leave only a few alive to rebuild your lands into my bastion. I shall never show mercy again. Ever."

His eyes turned dark, as if ink had flooded them completely, leaving nothing human behind.