“Thank you!”Destiny and all the children bowed towards Zeke and Celestia. Not only did they give them a lot of food and water, but they also beat Valo and his goons.The bandits had awakened from their premature slumber, but they were handcuffed and thrown to the cramped back of Stella.“You don’t have to move out of here or do anything. We’ll be heading to the base of Mad Dogs to talk with their leader.”Celestia chatted with the lively children for a bit before getting into the driver’s seat.“They’re good children. It’s unfortunate that they have to live like this.”She paused for a bit before adding, “I’ll talk to my father when I’m back home. He has contacts in the empire.”“Yeah, you do that. Shall we go?”Zeke shrugged and turned his head to the back, gazing at the frightened piss-smelling men clustered together like chicken.With his hand, he beckoned Valo, who obediently crawled closer while forcing a smile.“Y-yes… sir?”“You’ll take us to your base, okay?”“O-of course, si

Zeke’s stats were increased thanks to Surge of Pain, which reached its max stacking effect.Left with no choice, he used ‘The Reaper’, which slightly changed his appearance. The long scythe appeared in his hands and the energy of death and decay was unleashed.Paul frowned and tightened his grasp on the black club, but that wasn’t all. Tiny red cubes dancing around his body, seemingly alive and sentient.Like a literal Reaper, Zeke kicked the ground and shot toward the enemy, the scythe clashing with the club, resulting in a loud shock wave.“Ugh!”Much to his surprise, Paul was overpowered and his weapon was flung to the side. The scythe moved rapidly and slashed his chest then his dominant, almost making him lose hold of his weapon.Zeke was outrageously fast as he circled around the large man and swept the scythe vertically, wounding the target’s back as a large bloody scar appeared.The red cubes flew at him and tried to immobilise him again, but the energy of death made them disa

“Ahh!”Zeke yelled and sat up, breathing rapidly and regaining his senses. His body was aching a bit and filled with exhaustion, but what bothered him was the complete darkness dominating his right peripheral vision.“Zeke! Lie down.”Celestia’s voice came from the side as she softly pushed him back on the cold ground and checked his pulse.While touching the bandage wrapped around his missing right eye, Zeke looked at the ceiling with a half-delirious expression.“W-what happened?”“I still don’t know. We survived, at least.”Celestia looked around the place they were at. Remnants of destroyed technology and broken machines were scattered all around the room.They seemed to be in a house, a half-obliterated one that had no living soul besides them.Zeke checked the logs of the System in an attempt to try and make sense of what happened.[All System Protocols have been lifted.][Divine Essence absorbed by Death Rune: 0.2%][Strength +100][Aether +150][Agility +100][+50 PE][You’ve

In the blink of an eye, three weeks passed. Zeke and Celestia kept travelling across the lands while remaining clear of the large red clouds looming above cities and moving randomly about.The Dead Ends have appeared on Earth, but, unlike the homeworld of the Proto-Demons, the planet wasn’t entirely finished yet. There were a decent amount of places unaffected by them, or so the duo assumed.What was strange was the total lack of any humans, even in ‘safe’ regions. The only living soul they met was the man in the hazmat suit.Other than that, there was nothing but empty buildings, empty vehicles, and empty roads.The stiff air, perpetually cloudy and grey sky, and the lack of Aether made Zeke and Celestia move with caution and at a slow pace.They always remained in the vicinity of each other and didn’t delve into seemingly dangerous places without one another.Fortunately, there was no lack of food or living resources scattered everywhere. Moreover, their relationship had become a bi

When the Dead Ends were less than 500 meters away, the Nuclear Reactor sprung into motion. One by one, they let out periodic and controlled bursts of Aether and radiation.The red cloud seemed unaffected by the first two, but on the third, its spinning came to an abrupt halt and it started twisting and distorting as if trying to get away from the blasts.“See how it’s diverging its path? I know it would work.”Dr. Rouge jumped up and down in excitement, his face containing an expression of pure bliss.“Basically, the reactors act as an amplifier for the Aether you poured into it. It’s not their primary function, but my theory was on point!”“That’s it?” Zeke didn’t seem that impressed by this whole process.“Well, it’s a teeny-tiny bit more complicated. The Aether bursts that are systematically emitting are like invisible waves that share the exact frequency. Only like that will the Aether itself be able to withstand the distortion within the Dead Ends and actually dominate it. No off