As the terrifying cosmic pressure finally settled and the atmosphere returned to normal, a new anomaly occurred. The three pitch-black Chaos Cubes resting inside the protective lightning shield on the obsidian table abruptly flickered—and vanished into thin air.
A heavy, stunned silence fell over the Apex Sanctum. For the artifacts to bypass Tiberius's absolute defenses and simply erase themselves from a magically sealed room left everyone completely dumbfounded.
The Holy Pope immediately stood up, his hood of absolute light wavering erratically.
"I must depart at once," the Pope declared, his omnipresent voice laced with an unprecedented, frantic urgency. "I need to officially classify this as a supreme threat to the entire Empire. Furthermore, I must secure the Emperor's direct approval to mobilize the royal shadows—the kingdom's top assassins."
Without waiting for a response or a formal goodbye, the blinding pillar of light descended from the ceiling once more. In a single flash, the Pope disappeared from the chamber.
Tiberius Invictus rose from his jagged amethyst throne, his lone purple eye darkened with grim resolve. He looked at the empty space where the heretical cubes had just been, fully aware that the rules of their world had just been violently rewritten.
"This summit is officially adjourned," the Patriarch announced, his booming voice echoing off the stone walls.
He then turned his piercing gaze toward Cassius and Ares. "However," Tiberius added, his tone leaving absolutely no room for argument, "I will not allow you to leave without an escort."
He gestured toward the grand doors of the hall. "I am assigning an elite soldier from my personal Vanguard to accompany House Valentine back to your estate. If Asterion's followers attempt to ambush you in the wake of this revelation, you will have the raw power of the Stormguard at your side."
With that heavy, final declaration, the high gathering came to a close.
-----
Ares and Cassius quickly made their way back to the crystalline teleportation array, trailed closely by the elite Stormguard escort Tiberius had assigned to them.
They stepped onto the massive platform. However, just as the Invictus soldier began to channel his golden magic into the array, something went terribly wrong. Pitch-black, suffocating Aethel violently bled into the glowing Lingua Caelestium carved into the crystal. The corrupted runes twisted and scrambled. Before the escort could even draw his blade, the array flashed with a blinding, dark light.
Ares and his father vanished without a trace, leaving their heavily armored escort completely behind.
When Ares and Cassius finally opened their eyes, the pristine white marble of Caelus City was gone. In its place was a blinding, oppressive glare. The air was not just hot; it was actively scorching, burning their lungs with every breath.
They had been thrown into the Great Sahara of the Empire.
This colossal, endless sea of golden dunes occupied nearly half of the entire Caelian Empire. It was a brutal, unforgiving wasteland where no rain ever fell, and the temperature constantly hovered above a lethal 40°C. According to the ancient archives, this territory had once been a lush, vibrant paradise overflowing with vegetation. But millennia ago, the Old God of the Sun had descended and fought a catastrophic battle here. Whatever terrifying entity the Sun God had fought was completely erased from history, but the sheer, devastating heat of their clash had permanently boiled the life out of the region, turning it into a living hell.
"Where are we?" Ares asked, his golden eyes scanning the distorted, heat-hazed horizon.
Cassius's face hardened into a mask of pure, veteran focus as he immediately drew his heavy broadsword. "It seems we were forcefully redirected. Someone hacked the spatial coordinates of the teleportation device."
Ares fell silent, his mind racing at a terrifying speed.
This never happened in my previous life, Ares thought, a cold sweat breaking out on his neck despite the blistering heat. Did the Eighth God send his followers to intercept us?
The timeline was fracturing more aggressively than he could have ever anticipated. But as the shock faded, a cold, calculating resolve washed over him. Ares gave his father a firm nod, silently dropping into a combat stance.
He dug deep into his Vessel, feeling the chaotic energy pooling near his heart. Because he was only at Ascendant Step 2: Evocati, his overall Aethel reserves were relatively low. A prolonged fight in this heat would easily drain him dry. But if Asterion's heretics were about to ambush them, Ares was completely prepared to play his final trump card.
Even if it drained every last drop of his Aethel, he was ready to deploy his mutated domain: the Crimson Solar Eclipse.
Beyond just survival, a dangerous, thrilling thought crossed his modern mind. If they were truly alone in the middle of a massive, empty desert, away from the prying eyes of the capital... it was the absolute perfect environment to test exactly how his new powers worked.
From the far edge of the shimmering heat haze, a solitary figure emerged.
He was clad in dark, heavy armor that seemed to absorb the blistering desert sunlight. The suffocating Aethel radiating from him was identical to the pitch-black malice of the Chaos Cubes, but it was infinitely denser and completely under his control.
Cassius Valentine didn't hesitate. Stepping in front of his son, the veteran warlord gripped the hilt of his greatsword. He channeled a massive surge of golden Aethel into the heavy blade, intending to unleash a devastating, lethal slash to cut the interloper down.
But before Cassius could even swing, the dark figure vanished.
In a fraction of a second, the man materialized directly in front of Cassius. With a mere flick of his armored finger against the flat of the greatsword, the interloper deflected the massive strike, burying the blade harmlessly into the sand.
"No, no. You can't do that," the unknown man scolded playfully. "I am here to talk."
As the man stepped closer, Ares's breath caught in his throat. Beneath the dark hood of the armor, a lock of crimson-red hair fell across the stranger's smiling face. The heavy, dark energy radiating from him was unmistakable.
Ares's modern, calculating mind instantly violently fractured. He knew this man. He would never, ever forget him. This was the exact same cursed energy he had felt as he lay dying in his previous life—the same man who had slaughtered the entire Valentine estate and reduced his family to ash.
And he was here. Years too early.
The red-haired man ignored Ares completely, keeping his smiling gaze fixed on Cassius. "So, Lord Valentine. Tell me... where did you hide the ancient rune?"
"What do you mean by that?" Cassius demanded, his golden eyes narrowing in genuine confusion.
"Oh, you know exactly what I mean," the man purred, his smile widening. He was completely relaxed, reveling in his own overwhelming superiority. "The lost Divine Pathway. The Crimson Solar Eclipse."
Ares froze. A chaotic storm of questions raged in his head. Why is he asking my father for it? Does he not know I have it? But before logic could take hold, a blinding, all-consuming fury erupted from the depths of his soul. He didn't think it through. He didn't care that he was only at Ascendant Step 2 and lacked the Aethel reserves to sustain it.
He only knew he wanted this man dead.
Drawing upon the chaotic energy pooling in his heart, Ares began to chant in the ancient, vibrating geometric tones of the Lingua Caelestium.
"The sun is a fragile lie," Ares whispered, his voice resonating with an unnatural, overlapping echo. "Let the heavens bleed. Let the light rot. I am the shadow that devours the dawn."
The red-haired man's smile faltered, his eyes snapping toward the young heir.
"Domain Manifestation: Crimson Solar Eclipse."
The moment the final syllable left his lips, a massive, pitch-black geometric dome violently expanded from Ares's body, swallowing the desert battlefield. All natural light, sound, and ambient Aethel were instantly snuffed out, replaced by an eerie, suffocating twilight of deep, bloody red.
Ares felt his power instantly multiply. This was the true, hidden tactical advantage of his domain: The Observer Effect. By plunging the battlefield into absolute darkness, he completely blinded mortal eyes. With no one able to clearly see or "pollute" the geometric lines of his magic, the Lingua Caelestium formed perfectly and flawlessly. Even at Ascendant Step 2, the unobserved darkness supercharged his Aethel, pushing his power to terrifying new heights.
The red-haired man looked around the bloody twilight, his arrogant smile completely vanishing.
"Oh... so you know how to weaponize the Observer Effect as well," the man muttered, taking a cautious step back. "But the domain is incomplete."
He looked back at Ares, a flash of genuine hesitation crossing his face as he felt the crushing weight of the primordial magic.
With a swift wave of his hand, the dark runes of Asterion swirled around the man's armor. "I will take that Crimson Solar Eclipse from you eventually, boy. But I am leaving for now. I am not stupid enough to fight you while you hold the advantage of a Primordial Lingua Caelestium in the dark."
Before Ares could unleash his supercharged strike, the red-haired man sank into his own dark runes and vanished completely, leaving father and son alone in the suffocating red twilight.