Ethan’s brows pulled tight.

He could feel it—this barrier was dangerous.

And right then, the system’s data came back.

That power didn’t belong to the Stone Golem at all.

It was Elysion’s origin force.

In other words, this outsider had already gotten its hands on the world’s core—and stolen a huge portion of its power.

So someone had gotten to his loot first?

Ethan’s gaze went completely cold.

He adjusted his breathing once, and his aura spilled outward in a sudden flood.

Golden energy gathered high above, rapidly sketching out a massive dragon phantom in the sky. The dragon’s body coiled. Its head dipped low. Transparent lightning braided with golden light, carrying a world-ending weight as it smashed down on the Stone Golem. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

The dragon phantom collided with the barrier.

RUMBLE—!

The heavy shield on the Stone Golem’s surface shook violently. Dense cracks spiderwebbed across it on the spot.

The fractures ran from its shoulder to its chest, then crawled down its arm—one more hit away from shattering completely.

Ethan was just about to follow up.

Then the space behind him convulsed.

A spatial rift was forcibly torn open—and a humanoid creature that looked like a shark climbed out of it.

It was tall, its skin giving off a cold, hardened sheen. Its mouth was packed with sharp teeth, and a similarly powerful foreign energy wrapped around it.

Ethan sensed it immediately.

This thing’s aura had the same "flavor" as the Stone Golem’s.

They were together.

Rumble...!

The shark-like humanoid opened its jaws the moment it appeared.

Dimensional energy gathered in its mouth at speed, compressing into a trembling beam. The next instant, it fired—straight at Ethan.

Ethan’s expression snapped sharp.

The beam came fast and vicious. It was basically on him the moment the creature opened its mouth, tearing through the air toward his face.

Its edges carried a razor-sharp spatial cutting force. Wherever it passed, rubble and stone in the ruins were sliced into powder.

Ethan folded his body to the side. Transparent lightning detonated under his feet, and he dodged by a hair.

BOOM!

The dimensional beam skimmed past his shoulder and slammed into the ruins behind him.

The ground was plowed open into a deep trench. Broken buildings were thrown into the air by the impact—and then shredded mid-flight by the twisted spatial force.

Ethan stabilized, eyes sinking darker.

He hadn’t expected the Stone Golem to have backup.

He raised a hand and flicked it lightly to the side.

Transparent lightning spread from his fingertips, tearing a thin, long crack in the nearby void.

A surge of void energy was yanked out by force. It rushed into his hands, compressed hard, and formed into a deep, unstable sphere of power.

Then he snapped his arm and threw it.

The sudden void force collided with the Sharkman head-on.

Before the Sharkman could gather a second attack, the blast hammered into its chest.

The protective energy on its body shattered instantly. It was sent flying backward, its back slamming into a ruined wall—caving the already-wobbling structure in and bringing the whole section down in a crashing collapse.

Ethan had already taken control of this world’s Overlord power.

Even if Elysion was nothing but ruins now, as long as the world still had a remaining core framework, he could still mobilize everything here.

The Sharkman and the Stone Golem both widened their eyes.

Only now did they realize they weren’t facing some ordinary trespasser. This young-looking human could directly call on the power of this ruined world itself.

They both started to retreat almost at the same time.

Ethan didn’t let them.

The surrounding dimensional space fractured in rapid succession. One rift after another tore open above the ruins.

Flames. Arctic cold. Void turbulence. Compressed Primordial Force. And the leftover origin energy of the world—

—all of it poured out of different tears at once, like a coordinated execution carried out by the world’s own hand.

Those forces slammed into the Sharkman and the Stone Golem.

RUMBLE—!

Terrifying power detonated in full, blowing both of their bodies apart into ragged ruin.

The Sharkman broke first.

Half its body was ripped open by dimensional turbulence, then a compressed blast cut straight through the middle. Its entire frame was smashed into two pieces, blood, flesh, and scales spraying across the rubble.

The Stone Golem’s defenses were stronger.

Even so, huge chunks of its rocky body were blown away. Its shoulder and chest were torn open into gaping holes—yet it still managed to move.

Whatever fight it had left evaporated.

Its massive body blurred, rising straight into the sky, and it fled without looking back.

On the ground, the Sharkman dragged its ruined body forward, crawling in agony.

It looked up at the escaping golem, its voice packed with venom and panic.

"You bastard!"

"I’m the one who brought you to this perfect place! Now that disaster’s here, you’re just going to abandon me?"

The Stone Golem didn’t even turn around.

It detonated every last scrap of power it had left. Dark red and blue light flared across the surface of its stone body.

Then it slashed at the sky, forcibly carving open a dimensional passage—trying to escape Elysion outright.

But this world was already in Ethan’s grasp.

Ethan lifted a finger and lightly tapped the newly formed passage.

The edge of the tunnel froze instantly.

Then the rift looked like it was being clenched by an invisible hand—shrinking, sealing, collapsing—until it vanished completely.

The Stone Golem stopped in midair.

For the first time, true terror appeared on its face.

Ethan rose into the sky with it.

Power surged in from every direction like a tide. Ruins. Earth. Spatial fractures. The remaining pillar of energy—

—everything was pulled into motion under his will.

Forces from different directions coiled around the Stone Golem’s body, layering into invisible restraints that wrapped it tighter and tighter, starting to crush.

"AAAH—!"

A shriek ripped across the ruins.

Stones began to peel off the golem in chunks—first its arms, then its shoulders, its chest, its lower body. It didn’t take long before most of its frame collapsed under the pressure, leaving only a shattered torso—

—and the exposed energy core inside.