"Isn’t that the same thing that blew up the entire Red Dragon Boat?"

"It destroyed hundreds of ships around it... in seconds."

"Even an entire floating island sank into the sea afterward..."

The Loose Immortals who had gathered began trembling one after another. Anyone who had witnessed the earlier destruction needed no explanation. That green liquid was not a weapon, it was an extinction event.

Several Loose Immortals immediately turned and fled, abandoning all pride and dignity.

The sea grew so silent that even the wind seemed afraid to breathe. Then a long, lazy yawn echoed across the still water.

A figure floated above the glowing ship, stretching his arms as though he had just woken from a pleasant nap. The green explosive tubes illuminated his silhouette, highlighting the black-and-white Phantom Mask resting on his face.

Phantom Blackwood floated above it.

"Don’t try it," Tyler said suddenly.

The Sky Dragon Palace Elder froze mid-gesture. His half-formed dragon claw, which had been reaching forward, dissolved instantly.

Tyler floated comfortably, completely relaxed. "This ship is filled with destruction liquid. You’ve all seen what it can do. The small explosion talisman inside can ignite everything at once. All it takes is one thought from me."

He tilted his head and smiled behind the mask.

"Let’s see which is faster? My thoughts or Your claws?"

The Sky Elder slowly lowered his hand.

The tension in the air tightened like a coiled wire. No one dared to breathe too loud.

"Good choice," Tyler said casually. "I know you’re upset with us. Really, I do. But look at it from our side, it was a personal feud with the Red Dragon Master. The Ghost Princess only loves to call me oni-chan. But this guy introduced himself as her Oni-chan. Because of that she wanted to kill him."

Everyone face twitched. They know it’s not the real reason but no one dared to interrupt.

"We only blew up the Red Dragon boat due to an accident. We only tried to kill him silently. So how about you stop chasing us like dogs that lost their bones?"

Several Dragon Palace warriors twitched violently. Even a few Loose Immortals felt the corners of their mouths quiver.

They all wanted to yell at him but didn’t dare. Not with that ocean of explosives under him.

The Sea Dragon Palace Elder stepped forward with a stern expression. "Blackwood, we carry the Dragon King’s name. Our reputation matters. If we ignore this incident, then tomorrow some random pirate group will think they can target Dragon Boats without consequences."

"Understandable," Tyler said with a nod. "Reputation is important. So how about compensation? I’ll pay. Then the whole world will know that the Dragon King Faction punished the Phantoms by charging them a hefty sum. Reputation will be saved. And everyone can go on their own ways."

The two elders exchanged a long stare, then turned their heads slightly. A silent sound-transmission conversation began between them.

The crowd waited nervously, watching their expressions shift.

Finally, the Sky Dragon Palace Elder spoke.

"Very well. Each Dragon Boat is priceless. Losing one cannot be ignored. So the compensation will be... ninety billion Lydia."

The amount dropped like a bomb. Everything stopped. Loose Immortals froze. Dragonions forgot to breathe. Even the waves seemed to stiffen.

Ninety. Billion.

For many organisations, that wasn’t an amount— it was a myth. Something you heard about in legends. Something entire kingdoms could not accumulate in a thousand years.

Only Tyler remained calm.

The Sea Dragon Palace Elder added, "Pay ninety billion Lydia, and we will lift all active hunts on your group. The bounties will remain, but we will not pursue you for the next one hundred years."

Tyler almost laughed. For an Immortal, a hundred years was barely a nap. Even For a Beginner Immortals, ninety billion was impossible to gather even in a 100 years.

But for Tyler?

If he wanted to transfer the amount right now, he could. However, showing that would draw even worse eyes than the Dragon Palaces, so he didn’t reveal anything. Also it’s not Phantom Pirates are wealthy, it’s White Merchant Group.

Instead he asked calmly, "And the Red Dragon Master?"

"Hmph." The Sky Elder snorted. "That impostor has nothing to do with us anymore. Because of him, we lost a Dragon Boat and suffered humiliation. He is no longer recognized by either palace."

The Sea Elder nodded. "His only path to redeem himself would be to kill all of you. Otherwise, he is not part of the Dragon Palace from this moment onward."

"So he got fired," Tyler said thoughtfully. "Good. That means we can take his head without worrying about you coming after us."

The dragon elders didn’t deny it. They simply allowed silence to stretch.

Hundreds of eyes stared at Tyler, the masked Phantom Blackwood, the man casually lounging on top of a ship filled with enough explosive liquid to rewrite the ocean.

The battle that everyone expected, the clash between Dragon King faction and the Phantom Pirates came to a halt.

Not because of strength nor the diplomacy.

Because one insane pirate captain parked a floating bomb larger than a small mountain in the middle of the sea... and then laid on top of it as if sunbathing.

Negotiations replaced war and Fear replaced fury. And an uneasy peace settled between forces that normally would never stand on the same side. But Tyler has power, the destruction in his hand. Destruction means Peace.

Tyler stretched lazily, as if he hadn’t just threatened two Dragon Palaces with a floating bomb.

"Alright then," he said, sounding almost bored. "I trust you won’t go back on your word."

Without waiting for a reply, he drifted upward. His relaxed posture contrasted sharply with the tension in the air. The dragon warriors, Loose Immortals, and even the two Palace Elders watched him fly toward the Orion Tesseract without daring to breathe too loudly.

Not a single person moved to stop him.

When Tyler reached the glowing structure, he looked over his shoulder toward the floating ship covered with green chemical tubes. Then he waved his arm casually.

The entire ship vanished.

Like it was teleported away in an instant. It simply vanished from existence.

In the spectators’ eyes, it disappeared instantly, as though swallowed by a void. No aura, no distortion —one moment it existed, the next it didn’t.

Tyler hid the copper ladle within his sleeve.

The space near the Tesseract distorted. A ripple of glitch-like energy unfolded around his body, and in a blink, Tyler vanished.

Silence blanketed the sea. Even the wind halted.

The Sea Dragon Palace Elder frowned deeply. "This..."

Everyone shared the same doubt.

How had Phantom Blackwood made an entire destruction ship disappear without a trace?

The Sky Dragon Palace Elder folded his arms. "These Phantoms... are not ordinary pirates. Their methods are not something these lower seas can contain."

Before anyone could respond, the Orion Tesseract began to glitch violently.

Its geometry bent inwards, then exploded outward in a burst of impossible angles. Several Immortals instinctively activated their defense.

"What is that?" someone shouted.

The Sea Elder raised his hand, analyzing the phenomenon. "The space around the Tesseract is being tainted. Time and space elements are overlapping. Past, present, future, and alternate timelines are connecting simultaneously."

Shocked murmurs spread through the crowd.

"This reaction... is only visible to those outside," the Sea Elder continued. "For the ones inside, it will appear differently. But for us... the Tesseract has already closed."

The Sky Elder exhaled slowly. "It only behaves this way after all twenty-two Orion Cube fragments enter the Tesseract. Which means Phantom Blackwood... was the final one."

Panic broke out.

"No—wait! I have a fragment too! Why couldn’t I enter?!" a Loose Immortal cried as he flew toward the cube. Others followed.

The moment they touched the Tesseract’s glitching edge, time snapped.

One Immortal instantly aged several lifetimes. His hair grew long, grey, then white, and his body withered like dry bark before collapsing into dust.

Another shrank into an infant, then into a fetus, rhen into a microscopic organism and then into nothing.

Alternate timeline collapse and Causality erasure.

The crowd recoiled in terror.

"Everyone retreat!" the Sea Elder barked.

The Loose Immortals fled without hesitation. All greed vanished as they flew in random directions, desperate to escape the collapsing timeline around the Tesseract.

Even the Sky and Sea Dragon Islands began to withdraw. Their enormous islands flickered, their protective arrays trembling. Despite their power, the chaotic time distortion threatened to tear their foundations apart.

Somehow, both islands managed to escape the danger zone before the distortion expanded.

In a matter of seconds, the Orion Tesseract became completely invisible to the naked eye. The sea returned to silence, and the space where the cube had been began to react.

The ocean began swirling in a violent rotation. A massive whirlpool appeared consumed the surrounding sea. The debris floating around, began to vanish beneath the spiraling waters.

At the center of the whirlpool, Arkansas appeared again. It was sleeping again. It’s Giant, tightly-closed teeth forming a massive circular maw.

The creature inhaled, sucking in seawater. Then it exhaled, blowing it back out in torrents again.

┉┈ ◈ ◉ ◈ ┈┉

END OF VOLUME 7

<<<To The Nox Pass>>>