But Ethan had no intention of giving them another chance.

Power exploded off him. Transparent and white lightning turned into a crushing pressure and slammed down on the Titan Sovereign.

The Titan Sovereign tried to resist—

—and got pinned anyway, driven down hard onto The Dominion’s deck.

"In my eyes," Ethan said, standing over him on the warship’s deck, looking down at the Titan Sovereign mashed against the metal, "you’re nothing. Not even worth mentioning."

Transparent-and-white lightning prowled over Ethan’s body. Multiple layers of voice overlapped inside the same sentence, cold and wrong in a way that made your skin crawl.

"And you dare call yourself a Titan Sovereign?"

He took a step forward.

The deck caved in under his foot.

"Today, I’m going to show you what real power looks like."

As the words fell, Ethan’s energy fully erupted.

The weight pouring down from his body was like an entire sky of thunder collapsing onto the Titan Sovereign.

The Titan Sovereign started to raise an arm to fight back—

—and the sound of bones breaking erupted at the same time from his shoulder, ribs, and spine.

Crack-crack-crack.

The rapid, dense snaps turned the old man’s face paper-white.

The Titan Sovereign’s body was welded to the deck by sheer force. He couldn’t get up. Couldn’t even properly move.

Domineering energy drilled into him through his wounds. Transparent lightning tore through flesh. White thunder crushed bone. Even the thick, heavy power inside him—power that had once felt inexhaustible—was forcibly scattered and blown apart.

Beside them, the old man freaked out.

He tried to back away.

He didn’t even make it a second step.

Ethan was suddenly right in front of him, one hand clamping around his throat.

The old man’s pupils exploded wide. A broken sound scraped out of his throat. Ethan’s fingers tightened, transparent lightning flashing across his palm.

Crack.

His head was ripped clean off.

Even then, Ethan didn’t stop.

Transparent lightning surged outward, swelling into a dense net of thunder that wrapped the Titan Sovereign and the old man’s lingering soul fluctuations together. The two souls had barely surfaced from their collapsing bodies before the lightning swallowed them whole.

Boom!

Their souls shattered—gone completely.

After dealing with both of them, Ethan crouched and pulled out the energy cores inside their bodies.

The core from the Titan Sovereign’s ruined body was the strongest—red and gold light still twisting and flickering together. The old man’s core leaned more toward The Dominion’s control energy.

Ethan didn’t hesitate.

He slammed the cores straight into his own body.

Violent power flooded in.

At first, that energy crashed wildly through him, ramming against his insides like it wanted out. Then transparent lightning and white thunder forced it down, compressing it, breaking it apart, until it began to fuse into his own system.

At the same time, the control energy tied to The Dominion started to shift.

Inside the ship, the control authority that had belonged to the Titan Sovereign and the old man began to peel away, bit by bit, following the energy cores into Ethan.

A sharp spark lit in Ethan’s eyes.

He could feel it.

This massive warship was responding to him.

At that point, he didn’t waste another second. He headed straight for The Dominion’s main control room. The heavy hatch opened automatically as he approached, and inside, enormous control arrays lit up in layers, one after another.

Ethan stepped up to the main control console. He raised his hand and pressed his palm onto the central control lever.

Hummm—

The entire Dominion shuddered.

In the next instant, every control line plugged straight into Ethan’s consciousness. The outer shield. The main cannon. Secondary weapons. Internal defense systems. Troop distribution throughout the ship—everything unfolded inside his perception with crystal clarity.

The Dominion had fallen completely into his hands.

The remaining Valgari soldiers onboard noticed something was wrong immediately.

They started smashing and charging through corridors, trying to retake the control room. Ethan only had to think once.

The Dominion’s internal weapon systems came online across the board. Ports along corridor walls, deck compartments, and ceiling mounts snapped open at the same time, and dense beams of light swept through the ship’s interior like a scythe.

The screams didn’t last long.

After Ethan finished purging every enemy soldier on the ship, he activated The Dominion’s broadcast system.

His voice rolled out through the massive warship and spread across the entire battlefield.

"Listen up. All of you."

On the chaotic battlefield, countless movements paused.

"Your Titan Sovereign is dead. I killed him."

The moment those words dropped, it was like an invisible hand pressed down on the battlefield. The noise drained away fast. Whether it was Emerald Castle or the remaining Valgari forces, everyone looked up at The Dominion.

"Now you’ve got two choices," Ethan continued, his voice pressing down from the sky.

"Submit..."

"...or die."

All eyes stayed locked on the warship.

No one had expected Ethan to actually finish the Titan Sovereign—much less take control of The Dominion afterward.

For the Valgari, it wasn’t just losing their commander.

It was their faith getting shattered on the spot.

After a short, dead silence, someone suddenly roared from the ranks.

"Besides the Supreme Deity, we’ll never serve anyone else!"

"I’ll avenge him!"

That shout lit the last spark of madness in the remnants.

Large numbers of Valgari soldiers shot up into the air, and the surviving warships began to realign their gunports. They detonated every bit of power they had left and surged toward The Dominion in one reckless wave—eyes empty of reason, filled with nothing but fanatical loyalty to the Titan Sovereign.

Ethan watched, his gaze tightening slightly.

He truly hadn’t expected them to be this loyal.

Fine.

Then there was nothing left to say.

He opened every weapons system on The Dominion.

The next second, countless pillars of light dropped from the warship’s underside, its flanks, and its prow all at once.

Golden beams blotted out the sky, swallowing the charging Valgari. They didn’t even make it halfway—shields were punched through, and then their bodies were devoured by energy.

Just the first volley wiped out more than half.

The survivors froze in midair, hesitation finally creeping onto their faces.

Only then did they truly understand: Ethan hadn’t just killed the Titan Sovereign.

He’d taken the entire Dominion.

But hesitation came too late.

A second wave of light pillars slammed down.

This time, the Dominion’s fire was even more precise.

Each beam locked onto a single target. It speared through flesh—and erased the soul fluctuations along with it. The Valgari who still tried to fight didn’t even manage a full motion before they shattered completely inside the light.

If they were going to stay loyal to the Titan Sovereign to the bitter end, Ethan had no reason to spare them.

So he didn’t.

He ended them here.

When the last resister was burned out of the sky, the battlefield finally went truly silent.

Ethan piloted The Dominion downward in a slow descent, bringing the massive warship to a stop outside Emerald Castle.

As its enormous hull settled, its shadow swallowed huge stretches of ground. The wind kicked up by its thrusters rolled smoke and dust in surging waves across the land.