Chapter 41: The Emperor's Wrath

Magzorha raised a single hand, faster than thought.

Before anyone could react, he flicked his fingers. Reality compressed, forming a shockwave that tore through the chamber. The Seedkeepers were hurled backward—Markus slammed into a pillar, his shield barely absorbing the impact. Gray tumbled across the floor, rolling to a stop against the far wall. Chloe skidded, her boots scraping against metal, nearly tumbling into a void where a platform had simply ceased to exist.

Only Dr. Emma Forrest remained standing. The WoodDust within her reacted, wrapping her in a golden aura that counteracted Magzorha's overwhelming force. She planted her feet, unyielding against the storm of compressed gravity pressing against her.

Magzorha tilted his head, studying her with eerie fascination. "You resist," he observed, voice unnaturally calm. "But resistance is merely delayed inevitability."

Then he vanished—moving beyond the limits of perception, leaving only the distortion of warped space in his wake.

He reappeared behind Forrest, an energy blade materializing from his palm as he struck.

Forrest felt the attack rather than saw it. She pivoted at the last moment, the blade grazing her side instead of piercing her heart. Where it touched her, golden WoodDust flared outward, twisting reality around the wound before sealing it almost instantly.

Magzorha's eyes narrowed, just slightly. "Interesting."

Forrest didn't wait—she retaliated.

Her fists erupted with power, golden tendrils coiling up her arms as she lunged. She struck—her blow colliding with Magzorha's chest with the force of a collapsing star.

The chamber shattered outward from the impact—pillars crumbling, gravity distorting, light bending unnaturally.

Magzorha staggered back, his perfect composure disrupted for the first time. But his armor regenerated instantly, the damage vanishing as though it had never happened.

He lifted a hand, and space itself fractured, creating spear-like distortions that shot toward Forrest at impossible speeds.

Markus, shaking off the shock of the initial blast, charged forward. His Bastion shield glowed with accumulated kinetic energy, designed precisely for moments like this. He slammed it forward, expanding the energy field to catch Magzorha's attack mid-air. The backlash sent Markus skidding across the floor, deep gouges scraping beneath his boots, but he held his ground.

"That all you got?" he muttered, grinning through gritted teeth, blood streaking down his forehead.

Magzorha vanished again, reappearing above them.

He raised both hands, and the entire chamber contorted.

The floor fractured, shattering into floating platforms, suspended in a void of impossible shifting shapes.

The Seedkeepers found themselves separated, each stranded on their own island in a sea of chaos.