THE GENESIS End!

After Morcant's death, Aldric was consumed by fury, yet he refused to let his rage overpower his reason. His determination to complete the chant only grew stronger, fueled by the fire of vengeance. Meanwhile, Ruhabayo bid a solemn farewell to Morcant before advancing, dragging his sword across the ground. His eyes darkened, and his heart hollowed—grief and fury intertwining within him. The final clash between Ruhabayo and Aldric Jeffery had begun.

"...In my wake, none remain!" Aldric completed his chant and stepped forward.

"What will you do now, Ruhabayo?" he mused, eyes locked onto his adversary.

The ground trembled violently, and a massive fissure split the island in two. The soldiers caught in the center plummeted into the abyss, their screams swallowed by the darkness below. In mere seconds, thousands of elite warriors perished. Yet Ruhabayo did not panic as he once might have—he made no effort to save them. His mind had lost all sense of reason. Only one thought remained, an unshakable obsession that burned in his soul—

The annihilation of the Jeffery bloodline.

The golden light that had descended earlier began to intensify, reaching temperatures rivaling that of a star. The searing heat ignited the dry grass, reducing it to ash, and bore a perfect hole through the Earth's crust—an abyss that led directly to the planet's molten core.

Suddenly, the dark clouds above erupted with torrential rain, flooding the castle in moments. Water surged through every corridor, filling the ruins with an overwhelming deluge. Then came the winds—furious gales that howled through the battlefield, tearing the castle apart stone by stone, scattering its debris across the barren land. The once-thriving fields were stripped bare, with towering grasses violently uprooted from the soil.

A thunderstorm soon followed, swallowing the torrential downpour in a relentless tempest. Lightning cracked through the heavens, striking down with merciless precision, setting every tall tree ablaze. The scorched earth resembled humanity's very depiction of hell—a wasteland of fire and ruin.

It was then that Aldric revealed his ultimate technique—The Gehenna.

An attack capable of manifesting hell on Earth itself. However, it bore a fatal flaw: the inferno it unleashed would consume everything in its path, sparing neither friend nor foe.

Ruhabayo, however, remained oblivious to the impending catastrophe. With unwavering resolve, he leapt toward Aldric, his sword raised high before bringing it down in a devastating overhead strike.

Aldric, momentarily distracted by the gaping chasm before him, sensed the incoming attack just in time. He swiftly raised his weapon, intercepting Ruhabayo's strike with a resounding clash of steel.

"What in the world are you thinking, fool?" Aldric bellowed. "Shouldn't you be worrying about escaping this inferno?"

But Ruhabayo did not respond. He cared for nothing else but the fight.

The force of the block sent Ruhabayo staggering backwards, yet he refused to retreat. Without hesitation, he lunged forward once more, delivering a swift horizontal slash. Aldric, anticipating the move, effortlessly parried the attack, forcing Ruhabayo back.

The battlefield raged around them, Gehenna's unrelenting flames consuming everything in their wake. Yet neither warrior spared a glance at the destruction.

Ruhabayo lunged again, his blade thirsting for Aldric's blood. But Aldric evaded with a quick roll, rising to his feet in an instant. Observing Ruhabayo's relentless assault, Aldric made his decision—he would fight in earnest.

With a deadly precision honed by years of battle, Aldric launched a riposte, seamlessly deflecting every strike Ruhabayo hurled at him. Blow after blow, the two clashed, locked in a brutal dance of steel, while the inferno of Gehenna burned on, unstoppable and all-consuming.

Three seconds later, the Gehenna reached its peak temperature, igniting completely and preparing to consume everything caught in its grasp. A massive explosion of volatile gases erupted, jolting both warriors into awareness. They realized that time was slipping away—they had only moments left to fight. And yet, neither relented. Strikes and blocks continued to clash, their blades singing with every impact, each determined to die without regret.

Aldric's Realm Expansion was weakening against Ruhabayo's Sunpo, his dimensional control unravelling. The countdown began—3…2…1…

But neither fighter cared. As Aldric's artificial dimension collapsed, they remained locked in combat. However, the true nightmare had only begun. Gehenna did not vanish with the dimension—it persisted, now consuming the real Earth.

Meanwhile, Jonathan's gaze fell upon Morcant's lifeless corpse. Without hesitation, he sprinted toward it, lifting the body onto his back. With powerful leaps, he bounded through the trees, determined to take his fallen comrade to a burial ground—unaware that his desperate attempt to flee had been noticed.

Gehenna sensed the escape.

A catastrophic explosion erupted where Jonathan had been, engulfing him and Morcant's corpse in a sea of fire. Yet, Jonathan survived—his special defence technique shielding him from annihilation.

Morcant's corpse, however, was not so fortunate. The flames of Gehenna devoured it entirely, leaving behind nothing but ashes.

In the final moments of Gehenna's activation, Aldric suffered a devastating stab to the chest, his ribs shattered into multiple fragments. Jonathan's left hand was completely burned away, reduced to nothing more than exposed bone attached to his body. In his right hand, he clutched a small bag containing the ashes of Morcant the Warrior—an act of reverence that had grown after hearing stories from the soldiers at the camp.

However, their injuries paled in comparison to the agony Ruhabayo endured. Every bone in his body was broken, his muscles torn and failing, while blood streamed endlessly from his wounds. His mind remained untamed, lost to the chaos of battle. Multiple stab wounds riddled his lower body, his heart remained at the mercy of Morcant's pin, and his lower half burned as though he had become one with the fire itself.

With no path of escape, Jonathan made a desperate decision. He hurled the gleaming crimson pouch containing Morcant's remains beyond the Raven Islands. By sheer luck, a sailor in the nearby ocean caught it. A wave of relief washed over Jonathan, but his mission was not yet complete. With his eyes glowing dark red and his body ablaze in the infernal light of Gehenna, he stepped forward, walking through the flames into the ruins of the once-great Mondevieu Castle.

Bearing the excruciating pain, Ruhabayo tightened his grip on his sword, aiming directly at Aldric's heart, determined to end him once and for all. From a distance, Jonathan watched in horror. He saw his ancestor faltering, the once-mighty Aldric Jeffery now teetering on the brink of defeat. A surge of shame and emptiness filled him.

"I'm ashamed to bear your blood, Aldric Jeffery!" Jonathan shouted, his voice laced with frustration and humiliation.

Aldric turned to him, his gaze heavy with urgency. He longed to reveal the truth—the truth about himself, about their family. But with time slipping away, he could only utter the words that mattered most:

"Jonathan, my son… My fate was sealed the moment this battle began, just as Ruhabayo's was. Do not let shame cloud your path—seek the truth instead. Our truth. I failed to tell your grandfather, but you must know who we truly are.

We are more than just the Jeffery Family. We are the Jeffery lineage of the Malebranche clan, a branch of the Noctis sect. We are the leaders of the Rulers—one of the three most powerful communities in the universe. Yes, we command the Rulers, and within you lies the potential to surpass all limits.

If you manage to escape the Gehenna, you will become my successor—the second President of the Mondevieu Union. You will inherit command over the Rulers and lead them to victory.

I grant you the ability to live for the next 200 years. You will not perish until the 200th year of your life from this moment. As for Ruhabayo... he will die here with me.

Now, escape, Jonathan. Escape!"

Ruhabayo heard every word, yet it did not sway him. Without hesitation, he drove his sword through Aldric's heart, ending his life instantly. Jonathan, witnessing the moment in solemn silence, bowed his head—acknowledging both his loss and his newfound duty. He had now inherited the mantle of leadership, becoming both the President of the Mondevieu Union and the leader of the Rulers.

Wasting no time, Jonathan sprinted toward the edge of the Gehenna, determined to escape its wrath. Ruhabayo, however, pursued him relentlessly. But in the end, he failed to catch Jonathan and, as far as Jonathan believed, perished within the infernal flames.

Yet, reality told a different tale.

Ruhabayo collapsed onto the scorched earth, but the Gehenna did not claim him. Instead, a brilliant light cascaded from above, enveloping his broken body. Before he could resist, an unseen force from the vastness of space pulled him into oblivion.

Meanwhile, the portion of the Raven Islands that had hosted the Gehenna burned until there was nothing left—and then it sank beneath the ocean's depths, lost forever.

Thus, supernatural abilities—once feared, once revered—faded into extinction.

In the years that followed, Jonathan established the Monde Uni and summoned seven formidable Rulers from the Dark Realm. He trained them in the art of war, molding them into his most trusted disciples. And then, as if erased from history, Jonathan himself disappeared, his existence swallowed by the dark pages of time.

Yet rumors persist.

Some believe Jonathan mastered the ultimate secret—immortality—and that even now, he waits in the shadows, biding his time, plotting to seize control of the universe itself.

As for Ruhabayo, no records of his fate remain. But one thing is certain—he, too, survived.

End of the Genesis.

[To be continued in Chapter 30]