The planet trembled under the movement of Dyon's fingers. A jarring melody played as though it rose from the depths of hell, surging through the skies and covering them in a blanket of black clouds.
The music froze the battle, being the likes of which those of the martial world had never heard. Such cacophonic composition… Such anger, rage… A chaotic mash of notes that almost sounded as though they didn't belong together.
At that moment, no one wanted to move. The level of the music intent was higher than any will they had ever felt before… So high that only Patia-Neva had sniffed that level before…
Unfortunately for Patia-Neva, after his ice will fell from the ninth intent level, even while he was building it back up during these almost two decades, he had only managed to reach the 7th intent level once more… He was simply out matched…
At the same time, in a barren land scape stretching hundred of thousands of miles, the remnants of the mortal world still lay silent.
The earth was scorched, large sections of deep valleys were filled with coarse salt remaining from evaporated oceans, and there was not a single breath of life.
The landscape was wholly depressing. One would never be able to tell that it had once contained one of the most advanced civilizations to ever exist without cultivation.
After 17 years, the land had hardly changed. Other than the heat on the surface gradually reducing over time, there was nothing else.
The truth of the matter that a celestial's attack couldn't cover such a large area. It was impossible for a single dying attack to destroy half of a planet that could rival the sun in size. So, how could things have ended this way?
When Patia-Neva finally concluded his revenge on the Clyte family by killing King Clyte, he had rushed back to Earth only to find the atmosphere quickly combusting into nothingness. Had this process succeeded, the Earth would have been scorched to oblivion, causing the instant death of anyone below sainthood, and the eventual deaths of even saints who wouldn't be able to handle the vacuum of space for an extended period of time.
Knowing this, Patia-Neva quickly used his ice will to stop the chain reaction. However, the damage was already done to the mortal world… Even if Patia-Neva had been a dao formation expert, it would have pushed him to the limit to save what remained of the mortals.
Under normal circumstances, those familiar with basic chemistry would know that if the atmosphere suddenly disappeared, the fear wouldn't be heat, but rather oppressive and chilling cold.
With the atmosphere gone, there would be nothing to trap and retain the heat coming from the sun, causing a drastic dip in temperature.
The reason this expanded Earth would actually experience the opposite is due to the existence of one person: the entity.
Why could an Earth expanded to match the sun in size still retain a normal climate? It's because the heat that maintained normal temperatures was no longer the sole responsibility of the sun, but rather that of the entity's body!
The body heat of the entity alone was such that it could turn the earth to ash in an instant. The role of the atmosphere of this new Earth was to conduct this heat away, maintaining safe living conditions. This was how the prison of the entity was constructed.
So, why is all of this important? It's because the moment Matriarch Niveus started the chain reaction, she was actually evoking the body heat of the entity to kill off all of the mortals!
The martial world half of the world managed to survive because they had support of the energies of the universe, allowing any damage to the atmospheric array to be quickly fixed. However, as one knows, the reason there was no auspicious sign during Dyon's birth was because energies of the mortal world were sealed!
What killed the most mortals wasn't Matriach Niveus' initial strike, it was the aftereffects! Both the effects of the entity's body heat and being exposed to the vacuum of space were devastating.
However… Later that day, something magical happened.
After Dyon finished his fight with Loki and Elder Daiyu, putting his life on the line for survival, he took the final two remaining kernels away with the last bits of soul energy he had left.
At that moment, the energy seal placed on the mortal half of the world was lifted, causing a surge of natural energies to reinvigorate the atmospheric array…
What Matriarch Niveus hadn't accounted for in her final breaths was that the catacombs of the Belmont family didn't just extend through the martial world. For centuries, various governments of the mortal world had explored and mapped these catacombs as well.
Unfortunately for them, due to the seal on energy in the mortal world, and them not daring to venture into the martial world territories, they never discovered any legacy worlds.
One had to remember that the prize for the World Tournament was access to the Belmont Tombs, not because they had treasure, but because there were tens of thousands of hidden legacy worlds within their twisting tunnels!
The moment the seal was officially broken, two Earth shattering events took place…
The first was that three pregnant women who had managed to survive long enough to escape into their country's mapped catacombs gave birth at the same time.
The second was that a dozen legacy worlds that had been lying dormant suddenly opened…
The initial attack Matriarch Niveus sent landed directly in Dyon's hometown of New York City.
Thinking that whoever Dyon loved had to be staying there, she aimed her attacks for that large populated area. As for how she knew where Dyon was from, how could she not? After all, Dyon was the one suspected of having the soul kernel. However, this gave the rest of the world time to respond.
Any government would have disaster plans in place. The United States Government even had nonsensical plans for the possibility of a zombie attack. As ridiculous as this sounds, it was true. So, how could the various governments of the world not have plans in place for a disaster like this?
Having explored their various catacombs for centuries, it was a no brainer that they would quickly evacuate those they could into those places.
Unfortunately… No matter how fast their response was, more than 95% of the mortal world's population was wiped out within the first ten minutes. Aside from those who had no chance escaping a strike levied a celestial, the subsequent chain reaction was too fierce for the rest to survive.
Due to the proximity of the White House to New York City – taking into account the attack range of a celestial – Matriarch Niveus' initial attack instantly wiped out the entire eastern border of the United States and Canada, taking with it the life of Clara's father…
However, the troubles didn't end there.
Due to diligently laid succession plans, President Gallagher's replacement was chosen almost immediately and an evacuation order was sent. Luckily, the entrances to the catacombs covered the entire world. Of course, these entrances didn't exist naturally, but were rather dug out and created by those of the mortal world.
As a result, even small cities had a few dozen possible entrances, allowing quick evacuations. But, as the atmosphere quickly burnt to nothingness, the entrances had to be closed. If they remained opened, then this evacuation would mean nothing… Should the doors have remained opened… Everyone inside would have died too…
At that moment, the leaders of the world made a harsh decision, deciding to close the entrances to these safe havens less than ten minutes after they opened.
Despair fell onto those who didn't make it in time. Some families were torn apart… Husbands from wives… Fathers and Mothers from children…
This was the devastating reality…
Of the nearly ten billion mortals that had been alive just minutes earlier, less than ten million remained…
Still, the problems didn't end there. It was as though they had hopped out of a frying pan and into the fire.
As is clearly known, the heat of the Earth didn't come from the sun, but from the entity. So, even if escaping underground would save them from the initial surge of Matriarch Niveus' attack and being exposed to the vacuum of space due to the various technologies hidden within the bunkers, it only brought them closer to the disaster beneath their feet!
