Chapter 788  Vengeance

(The next Day, Planet Bravaria, Righteous Faction Territory)

The planet Bravaria was a picture of peace that morning.

Golden clouds drifted lazily across its clear emerald skies, the twin suns painting the cobbled streets in soft amber hues as life unfolded with the unshaken rhythm of routine.

Vendors shouted prices from under floating stalls, air trams hummed overhead, and children in white tunics darted between the legs of guards, laughing as they chased each other through the open plazas.

Nothing about the air hinted at what was coming.

Then the sirens began to scream.

*WEEEOOOO—* *WEEEOOOO—*

At first, no one moved. Heads turned upward, eyes narrowing in confusion as the alarms reverberated through the capital towers.

A man carrying fruit stopped mid-step, clutching the basket closer to his chest.

"Huh? Air raids in Bravaria?" he muttered. "That's not possible. For an enemy fleet to reach us, they'd have to break through at least a dozen other planets…"

He theorized, however, the sky above told a different story.

The clouds darkened without warning, twisting into violent spirals as streaks of white mana fire lanced upward from the planetary defense cannons.

A fleet of Righteous warships broke formation overhead, their sleek silver hulls catching flashes of red from some unseen threat above the atmosphere.

The people looked on in silence at first, then the first explosion tore the sky apart.

*BOOM!*

A blinding column of red light split the heavens, so bright it painted the city in the hue of blood.

The leading Destroyer flagship of Bravaria's planetary Commander was vaporized instantly, its energy core detonating in a single, silent flash before fragments began raining down like molten hail, as screams erupted down below.

"WHAT IS THAT?!"

"IT'S COMING THROUGH THE CLOUDS!"

"THE COMMANDERS! THE MONARCHS! THEY'RE—"

They never finished the sentence.

From the surface, it looked like the end of reality itself. A ripple of energy curved across the sky, bending light, air, and space inwards.

Then, with a sound that was not so much heard as felt, like bones snapping inside the soul, every Monarch Commander who had flown to intercept the intruder vanished in an instant.

Not burned.

Not disintegrated.

Gone.

The people stared upward in mute horror as their planet's guardians, men and women they had prayed to for safety, blinked out of existence one after another.

The sky became littered with falling armor, weapons, and pieces of torn metal that disintegrated before touching the ground.

A woman dropped to her knees, clutching her child. "The Commanders... they're dead... they're all dead..."

Then someone shouted, voice trembling with disbelief. "Look! Look up there!"

A shape was descending.

It came slowly, steadily, wrapped in light so radiant it drowned out the sun. Crimson, gold, and white threads of energy coiled around it like living chains of fire, stretching across the sky as if the heavens themselves struggled to contain the being approaching.

As it neared the lower atmosphere, the light peeled away, revealing the silhouette of a man—towering, divine, and terrible in his stillness. His eyes were not eyes at all, but burning coals of judgment that saw through the very marrow of existence.

Someone whispered the name first. "It's him…"

Then another added. Louder. "It's Soron… the Evil God Soron!"

Panic surged through the city like a tidal wave. People ran, tripping over each other, abandoning carts and children, clawing for cover that would not save them.

But Soron was already lowering his arms.

The wind died.

The light changed.

And then came the pressure.

*BOOOOOOOM*

The air itself buckled under his aura. The ground cracked open, buildings splintered, and every living thing dropped where it stood as if crushed beneath an invisible mountain.

Children screamed until their throats tore. Soldiers tried to stand and failed, their armor imploding against their ribs, while the strongest of them, those blessed with an indomitable will, managed to raise their heads just long enough to look at him before their knees shattered beneath the weight.

*Crash*

Soron hovered above them, his voice rolling across the entire planet like a storm made of wrath.

"YOU DARE CHAIN MY PEOPLE?"

The very clouds trembled, scattering like frightened birds.

"YOU DARE PUT SLAVE COLLARS AROUND THEIR NECKS?"

The oceans boiled, their tides rising miles high before collapsing back in waves that erased coastlines.

"YOU DARE FORCE THEM TO KNEEL?"

Every light in the city died. Every generator exploded. Every screen flickered into static as his fury drowned technology itself.

The people below gasped for air, their throats tightening as if invisible hands had seized them all at once.

One woman clutched her husband's arm, eyes bulging. "I… can't… breathe…"

Then came the final words, spoken with divine finality.

"NOW… PAY."

The pressure intensified, becoming suffocating, total.

The collective sound of choking filled the air, an ocean of strangled gasps, gurgles, and dying breaths.

Across the planet, billions fell.

Their skin darkened from lack of oxygen, their bodies convulsing violently as they clawed at their own necks, nails tearing through flesh in blind desperation.

Children collapsed beside their mothers.

Priests screamed prayers that no god answered.

The soldiers of Bravaria, those who had served the Righteous Fleets, fell in their gilded barracks with the same helplessness as beggars in the street.

And through it all, Soron watched.

He did not blink.

He did not flinch.

He simply let them die, one breath at a time, until the planet grew silent.

The wind returned first, whispering across the corpses that littered every city and village, carrying with it the scent of fear and iron. The twin suns broke through the fading clouds again, lighting a world devoid of motion.

Soron's eyes swept across the carnage.

"Let this serve as a reminder to the Righteous Faction that Soron still lives.

That they will pay dearly for the suffering of my people.

For although Bravaria is the first to fall, it won't be the last.

And after tonight, not a single Righteous Citizen will sleep soundly.

For they won't know if their planet is next on my hitlist."

He said as his aura began to retract, the divine glow folding back into his body like a dying storm as the silence that followed was worse than the destruction he wrought.

There were no explosions, no screams, just the quiet, lifeless hum of a world purged by vengeance.