The creatures moved as one as hundreds of twisted shapes lurching toward them from every direction.

Kael raised one hand.

Gravity crashed down.

The pressure wasn’t targeted as a blanket of force that covered everything within fifty meters, compressing air, crushing stone, and turning every creature in range into paste.

Splat. Splat. Splat.

Bodies that had been charging forward a moment ago were suddenly flat, spread across the red ground in patterns that looked almost artistic. The few that survived—maybe a dozen, the ones that had been just outside the pressure zone—froze, their jerky movements stilled by something that might have been fear.

These were Mana Gathering realm creatures. A handful of Core Formation. To someone at Kael’s level, they were insects.

Lyra looked at the carnage with a smile.

"Looks like the Vorn family’s gravity powers really do live up to the hype."

Kael dismissed the pressure and stepped over a flattened creature without looking down. "They have their uses."

The group resumed moving, picking their way through the red landscape toward the distant temple. The surviving creatures had retreated, sensing that these intruders were outside their weight class.

"Silas." Lyra’s voice cut through the silence. "Check the area for me. Locate where the mana is most concentrated. That’s where the final boss probably is."

Silas nodded.

She raised both hands, fingers moving through an intricate pattern that Kael’s Spirit Eyes immediately began analyzing. Rune-like structures formed in the air around her palms—not actual runes, but something similar, a different system of energy manipulation that achieved similar results.

A bird materialized.

It was beautiful—crafted from pure light, wings spanning maybe a foot across, feathers shimmering with colors that seemed to shift depending on the angle.

So she’s a summoner. Kael filed that away. Probably useful for other things too, depending on what else she could summon.

The light bird took flight.

It soared upward, cutting through the crimson sky with impossible speed, disappearing into the distance within seconds. Silas’s eyes closed, her expression going distant, her connection to the bird apparently allowing her to see through its eyes.

They waited.

Five minutes passed in silence. The red landscape pressed against them from every direction,

The bird soon returned as it landed on Silas’s outstretched finger, dissolving back into light as information transferred from master to summoner. Silas’s eyes opened.

"Approximately sixty Core Formation realm cultivators." Her voice was flat. "Twenty Foundation Establishment realm. Eleven Mana Heart realm cultivators."

She paused.

Her eyes flicked to Kael.

A smile tugged at her lips.

"Including the woman with red hair you mentioned."

Kael’s expression didn’t change, but something behind his eyes sharpened. Seraphina. Finally.

Silas continued. "Also, there are two people in the temple at the center. That’s where the mana concentration is highest. Whatever is powering the dome is in there."

Her smile faded.

"I couldn’t sense their aura at all. I couldn’t get any closer because I was afraid they would detect me."

Lyra reached out and patted Silas’s head.

"Good girl."

Silas’s cold expression softened slightly, a hint of color touching her cheeks. Something about that dynamic was interesting, but Kael filed it away for later.

"Those two are probably Spirit Soul realm cultivators," Lyra said. Her voice had shifted—still casual, but with an edge that hadn’t been there before. "Beyond what we can handle directly."

She turned to face the group.

"Alright, everyone. Kael, Rue, Aria, right?" She didn’t wait for confirmation. "And Silas will stay behind to cause a bang. You know what I mean." A smile. "A big distraction."

Her gaze shifted.

"Victor, myself, and Grey will move inside while you keep them occupied. Is that taken?"

"Yes ma’am."

The response came from all four of them simultaneously—Kael, Rue, Aria, and even Silas, who apparently understood chain of command when it mattered.

"Grey."

The four-star guardian stepped forward.

He understood immediately. His hands came up, and that familiar golden light erupted from his body—the same enhancement he’d used in Thornwell, the same boost that had turned Kael’s already-insane physical stats into something monstrous.

"ENHANCE ALL PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES AND MANA OUTPUT."

The halo expanded.

Golden light washed over Kael, Rue, Aria, and Silas. Power flooded through their bodies—muscles tightening, mana surging, senses sharpening. Kael felt his already-enhanced physical stats double, his mana output spike to levels that would have been unsustainable without his Transcendent Core.

Grey kept the enhancement on himself too, but he wasn’t coming with them. He was going with Lyra and Victor. Which meant—

"Move out," Lyra said.

The group split.

Lyra, Victor, and Grey vanished into the red landscape, moving toward the temple with the particular stealth of people who knew how to avoid detection. They were shadows within seconds, gone from both sight and gravity sense.

Kael watched them disappear.

Then he turned to the three women.

"Change of plans," he said. "We’re not causing a small bang."

He started walking.

Toward the temple.

Directly toward it.

Not stealthy. Not careful. Just walking, black kimono flowing behind him, silver eyes fixed on the massive red structure in the distance.

"Kael—" Aria started.

He ignored her.

The temple grew larger with each step. Twisted spires reached toward the crimson sky. The mana concentration increased, pressing against Kael’s senses like a physical weight. And between them and the entrance—

Movement.

Twenty figures emerged from the red structures flanking the temple path. Core Formation realm cultivators, wearing the same black clothes and red horned masks that Kael had come to associate with House of Crimson. They spread out, blocking the path, weapons drawn.

One of them stepped forward. Larger than the others, mask slightly different—probably a squad leader.

"Oi." The voice was muffled by the mask. "Who’s this guy?"

Kael stopped walking.

He looked at them.

Twenty Core Formation cultivators. Not a threat. Not even a speed bump. They were the kind of enemies he could have killed in his sleep, the kind that made him wonder why House of Crimson even bothered deploying them against anything above Gold class academy students.

He smiled.

"I’m your daddy." 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Gravity crashed down.

Not the gentle pressure from before. Not the blanket effect that had flattened the creatures. This was targeted, concentrated, focused on the twenty figures in front of him with surgical precision.

They didn’t even have time to scream properly.

One moment, twenty living people. The next, twenty red stains on red ground, masks and weapons and bones all compressed into indistinguishable paste. The sound was less a splat and more a crunch—the kind of noise that happened when you stepped on something you shouldn’t have.

The echoes of their aborted screams bounced off the twisted structures, drawing attention.

Kael felt them coming before he saw them. Signatures converging from every direction—Core Formation, Foundation Establishment, and two bright spots that could only be Mana Heart.

Dozens of them.

Forty or more cultivators emerged from the red landscape, surrounding the four intruders in a loose semicircle. They wore the same masks, the same clothes, but their cultivation bases were significantly higher than the first group. These were the real defenders—not fodder, but actual threats.

Two Mana Heart signatures stood out like bonfires. Rank 1 and Rank 2, if Kael’s senses were accurate. Dangerous. Not overwhelmingly so—Grey’s enhancement made him competitive with early Mana Heart even at Foundation Establishment Rank 8—but dangerous enough that carelessness would get someone killed.

Rue moved to his left, tails spreading, golden light flickering around her hands. Aria took his right, shadows pooling at her feet, golden light forming in her palms. Silas positioned herself behind them, hands already moving through summoning patterns.

Kael stood at the center.

He looked at the gathered enemies—forty-plus cultivators, ranging from Core Formation to Foundation Establishment, with two Mana Heart anchors. They were forming up, organizing, the smarter ones already communicating through hand signals.

He smiled.

"Hey boys." His voice carried across the red landscape, casual and confident and utterly unbothered. "Daddy’s home."