Chapter 55: Strife

The entire country was gone. Not just burned, not just ruined—erased. The destruction was beyond anything mortal hands could conceive. This was not the simple devastation of a bomb, not the crude eradication of a nuclear strike. No, this was something greater, something more primal. It was as if the very bones of the earth had crumbled under the sheer force of the calamity that had been unleashed. A cataclysmic earthquake, a violent convulsion that tore through the land like a vengeful god's wrath, rending cities, forests, and mountains apart with no regard for what once stood there.

The surface of the planet itself had been altered, reshaped by forces so vast that even the concept of survival seemed laughable. What once was land was now an endless chasm, an abyss stretching into the very core of the planet, its depth unfathomable. The sky burned with the echoes of destruction, the air thick with the last remnants of what used to be. Civilization had not simply been wiped away—it had been rewritten, as if it had never existed in the first place.

But I still stood.

The Lance of Velrage tore through the sky, a streak of glowing death, moving so fast that even light itself seemed sluggish in comparison. Without even needing to look, I reached out and caught it midair, the force of its return causing shockwaves to ripple outward. The moment my fingers closed around its shaft, I moved, my body a blur of speed and raw power. The monster loomed before me, its grotesque form shifting and pulsating, a mass of endless mutation. But I did not hesitate.

I drove the lance forward, aiming for the one weakness shared by all creatures—its eye.

The strike landed with the force of a dying star, a compressed sphere of mana forming around the impact point. Energy rippled outward, so condensed that the air itself collapsed inward for an instant before exploding outward in a violent shockwave. For a moment, everything was still, the world itself seeming to hold its breath. And then, the force of the strike detonated, sending a cascading wave of destruction rippling through the monster's body.

And yet—it endured.

The Murmux did not fall.

Instead, it moved.

One of its enormous hands reached out, each finger as large as a mountain, and before I could react, it seized me. The grip was crushing, a force so great that the very fabric of reality seemed to strain against it. And then—it threw me.

The world became a blur, space itself warping as I was launched with such force that the very air screamed in protest. The sky disappeared. The planet vanished.

I was no longer on Earth.

I barely had time to register what had happened before I felt the impact.

The surface of the moon shattered beneath me.

A crater formed instantly, its diameter stretching for miles, the sheer force of my landing sending ripples through the lunar crust. Dust and debris exploded outward, forming an atmosphere of destruction that momentarily surrounded me. I exhaled sharply, shaking off the impact, my feet pressing into the moon's fractured surface. Before I could react further, Crown's voice cut through my mind, calm, calculating.

"Adapting."

Crown was evolving. It was analyzing.

Good. It needed to adapt—quickly.

I had no time to celebrate this minor reprieve. Before I could even think about returning to Earth, before I could even assess the situation fully, something changed.

The Murmux—had evolved.

Its body shifted, twisted, grew.

"This creature is called a Murmux," Crown informed me, its tone devoid of any urgency despite the situation unfolding before us. "Originating from Planet XXXV23."

An odd name. A meaningless designation. What mattered was that it was still alive—and it was still growing.

And then—before my thoughts could even settle—the Murmux was in front of me.

It had followed me. It had moved through the void of space, bypassing the very laws of physics, and now it was here, standing upon the surface of the moon.

And with one single, devastating strike—

Half of the moon was destroyed.

The force of the impact sent me hurtling through space once more. The fragments of the shattered celestial body scattered like debris in a hurricane, massive chunks of lunar rock spiraling outward in every direction. The void trembled, and I knew—if I stayed, if I fought here, I would not survive.

I had no choice.

I flew.

A different planet. A distant refuge. A new battlefield.

But the Murmux—

It followed.

It would not let me escape so easily.

As I sped through space, tearing through the darkness like a comet, the Murmux lifted an arm. A bow formed in its grasp, massive beyond comprehension, its string a line of pure energy, its arrow a spear of condensed destruction.

It loosed its shot.

The arrow carved through the void, its trajectory precise, its speed unfathomable.

The planet I had just landed on—

Was gone.

Gone in an instant.

Not merely destroyed. Erased. The moment the arrow struck, the planet shattered like glass, disintegrating into cosmic dust before my very eyes. I had barely escaped, barely moved in time to avoid the fate that had claimed an entire world.

"Fuck," I muttered, my mind racing. This—this was beyond anything I had ever faced.

And it was not over.

The Murmux—

Was still evolving.

"Crown!" I shouted, urgency lacing my voice. "What's happening?!"

But Crown, ever unbothered, responded with a calmness that was almost infuriating.

"The race of the Murmux has the ability to grow exponentially large."

And it did.

God knows how.

The Murmux grew.

It expanded, its body stretching, warping, twisting.

It became—

As large as the sun.

No—larger.

Far larger.

And then—casually, effortlessly—it reached out and lifted the planet I stood upon.

I was nothing before it. A mere speck of dust. A shadow beneath an unfathomable entity.

And yet—

Crown finally spoke again.

"Adapting complete."

And now—

It was my turn.

The Lance of Velrage returned to my grasp, its presence filling me with power. Without hesitation, I moved.

I threw it.

The force of my throw sent pain lancing up my arm, the sheer velocity tearing apart the very space it traveled through. The lance became a streak of death, an unstoppable force that carved through the void with such power that even the universe itself seemed to recoil.

It struck.

And this time—

It did not stop.

The lance went straight through the Murmux's head.

The skull, once impenetrable, shattered. The echoes of the impact rippled across the cosmos, the shockwaves distorting the very fabric of reality. And then—finally—

The Murmux fell.

"Victory," Crown intoned, its voice carrying the weight of finality.

And then—

A new offer.

"Wish to gain skills?"

For the first time, Crown acknowledged my triumph. It recognized my success.

"Yes," I said.

And then—

I felt it.

The power of the Murmux. The abilities of a god-like entity. The strength to erase planets, to warp existence itself.

And yet—

I was not done.

Not yet.

I turned back toward the ruins of Earth, the desolation that remained.

I looked upon what had once been my home, now reduced to nothing but memory.

No.

This was not how it would end.

I reached out.

Time bent to my will.

And then—

I turned it back.