CHAPTER 20: The Judgment and the Shattered Seal
**ARC 2: COLLEGE DUNGEON TRIAL & ANCIENT CLAN AWAKENING**
The subterranean core chamber fell into a heavy, suffocating quiet, broken only by the low hum of the cracked Spatial Core Anchor and Garron Valerius’s ragged, wheezing breaths.
Garron lay on the cold stone floor at Ethan's boots, coughing up blood. His eyes were wide with frantic terror, staring up at the linen-wrapped spear in Ethan’s hand.
"Wait... Ethan, wait!" Garron sobbed, scrambling backward on his elbows until his back hit a jagged obsidian pillar. "It was Elder Vane! It was Kaelen’s idea! I—I just followed them! We're classmates at the Imperial College! You can't kill me!"
Elena stepped forward, her azure sword drawn, her eyes cold as ice. "When you locked the entrance and unleashed hundreds of Grade-4 beasts on three hundred students, did you care that we were classmates?"
"I—I'll give you everything!" Garron wailed, desperately unstrapping his spatial pouch and tossing it toward them. "House Valerius's secret manuals, high-grade spirit stones... anything! Just spare my life!"
Ethan looked down at Garron with pure disgust. Three weeks ago, when Garron was mocking slum commoners, he acted like an untouchable god. Now, stripped of his noble guards and corrupt elders, he was nothing more than a groveling coward.
Ethan didn't draw the blade of his spear. He stepped into the stance of the Nine-Bones Iron Dragon Method, channeling his gold-tempered physical strength straight into the heavy wooden butt of his spear shaft.
"House Sterling doesn't take bribes from rats," Ethan said, his voice flat and absolute.
THWACK!
Ethan thrusted the end of the shaft straight into Garron’s Dantian!
CRACK!
A sickening sound of tearing meridians echoed through the cavern. Garron let out a blood-curdling shriek as his internal spirit channels ruptured like glass, his cultivation completely destroyed in a single, precise physical strike!
"AAAH! MY CULTIVATION! YOU CRIPPLED MY CULTIVATION!" Garron howled, writhing on the ground before passing out cold from the sheer agony.
Beside them, Kaelen Valerius—his limbs already shattered by General Ignatius’s domain—watched his cousin's fate, his face completely drained of color.
"Take the three array masters," Gabriel commanded smoothly, stepping toward the center of the cavern. "Malakor, bind them."
WHOOSH.
From the shadows behind Gabriel, Malakor materialized silently, dragging three dark, shadow-spun ropes. Within seconds, the three blood-robed array masters were tightly bound, their mouths sealed with shadow Qi to prevent them from biting their tongues.
"Clan Master," Malakor bowed respectfully. "The three array masters have confessed under my shadow intent. They were hired directly by Elder Vane of the Valerius Inner Branch, using sixty thousand high-grade spirit stones from the family treasury."
"Good," Gabriel said, his dark eyes glinting with a cold, calculating light. "We take them outside. Let the entire Inner City see who set this trap."
Gabriel turned toward the cracked, blood-stained Spatial Core Anchor hovering over the lake.
"Ignatius," Gabriel called out.
"Master!"
"Shatter the Blood-Sealing Array and open the main portal. It's time for the scholars to go home."
"By your command!"
General Ignatius stepped up to the edge of the subterranean lake. He raised his colossal, eight-foot battle-axe with both hands, his crimson dragon armor erupting into a blinding, mountain-shaking torrent of Martial Grandmaster Domain Qi!
SOVEREIGN WAR-AXE — DOMAIN SHATTER!
SWOOOOOSH—BOOOOOOM!
Ignatius swung his axe straight up into the cavern ceiling! A three-hundred-foot beam of pure, crimson destruction tore through two miles of solid granite bedrock, slicing through the blood-sacrificial runes like paper!
Outside the dungeon, at the canyon staging area...
Panic had completely overtaken the crowd.
Vice-Principal Oberon and a dozen teachers were desperately pouring their Qi into the blood-red portal frame, but the Blood-Sealing Array repelled their energy like iron armor.
"It's no use!" a senior teacher yelled, wiping sweat and blood from his forehead. "The internal seal is too strong! Unless a Martial Grandmaster strikes from the outside, we can't break through!"
On the spectator platform, Elder Vane of House Valerius had already wiped his hands, feigning deep sorrow as he spoke to the surrounding guild leaders.
"A tragic day for the Imperial College," Vane sighed mournfully, though his eyes carried a victorious glint. "A natural spatial collapse is something no one could predict. House Sterling’s twin S-Ranks, along with my own dear nephew Garron... lost to the void. We shall build a monument in their honor—"
Before Vane could finish his fake speech—
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
The entire mountain range surrounding the canyon shook violently!
A massive, crimson pillar of divine domain light blasted straight out of the canyon floor, tearing through the cloud layer and shattering the blood-red portal into a million glowing shards!
"WHAT?!" Vice-Principal Oberon gasped, knocked backward by the sheer wind pressure.
The blood-red energy vanished, replaced by a massive, fifty-foot-wide stable spatial rift.
Out from the glowing rift stepped hundreds of terrified, bruised, but living first-year scholars! They tumbled out onto the stone staging area, crying and hugging each other in sheer relief.
"They're alive! The students are coming out!" the teachers shouted in joy.
Before the faculty could move forward to assist them, a heavy, suffocating pressure descended over the entire canyon, locking every noble elder, teacher, and student in place.
STEP. STEP. STEP.
Out from the grand spatial rift stepped Gabriel. His dark, celestial dragon silk coat fluttered in the mountain wind, his golden dragon pupils flashing in the sunlight.
Flanking him were Ethan and Elena, both completely unharmed, holding their weapons with calm, absolute dignity.
And walking behind them, dragging three bound blood-robed array masters alongside the broken, limp bodies of Kaelen and Garron Valerius, was General Ignatius in his full, terrifying Crimson Dragon Armor!
The entire canyon went dead, absolute silent.
Guildmaster Raymond’s eyes almost burst out of his head as he felt the undeniable, crushing Martial Grandmaster Domain radiating off Ignatius!
"A... A Martial Grandmaster?!" Vice-Principal Oberon stammered, falling onto his knees. "Where... where did a Martial Grandmaster come from?!"
Gabriel walked straight toward the spectator platform, stopping thirty feet below Elder Vane. He flicked his wrist, and Malakor tossed the three bound array masters onto the stone floor in front of the crowd.
Gabriel looked up at Elder Vane, his voice echoing across the entire canyon like a decree from an ancient god:
"Elder Vane of House Valerius. Your array masters have confessed. Your nephews are broken. Now... how does House Valerius plan to answer to House Sterling?"