"You killed a god's servant in front of the world."
Vel Sari's voice was low, almost reverent.
Erwin didn't respond. He sat cross-legged in the sand, sharpening his dagger against a rusted whetstone. Blood still clung to the blade.
"You've started something," Isa added. "They won't let this pass quietly."
"Good," Erwin muttered.
"I didn't come this far to be ignored."
The Upper Society Responds
Within 24 hours of Drayvax's execution, the Upper Societies declared war — not on armies, not on nations, but on a man.
Across Murim temples, System cities, and Divine courts, his name echoed like a curse:
Erwin Wail. The Laughing Wraith.
Wanted dead.
Not captured.
Not interrogated.
Eliminated.
Because what he did was unforgivable.
He didn't just kill a System councilor.
He broadcasted it.
He taunted them.
He proved they could bleed.
The First Retaliation
At 3:00 a.m., a Murim strike team attacked a known Outcast refuge in the North Wastes.
They expected rebels.
They expected resistance.
What they found instead… was Erwin.
He was waiting.
Alone.
They circled him — twelve elite martial artists. Aura-infused, armed to the teeth.
The lead monk stepped forward.
"Surrender. You've been marked by Heaven itself."
Erwin grinned.
"Good. Then Heaven can watch."
The first died in under a second — throat slit before his aura ignited.
The second, he used as a shield.
The third, he gutted mid-spin, laughing.
"You call this divine justice?"
"Here's mine."
He drove his rusted blade through the leader's mouth — then shoved him off the cliff, still twitching.
The last few tried to retreat.
He hunted them one by one.
No survivors.
System Shock
Elsewhere, a young System-Blessed girl was uploading her dungeon results to the guild terminal when her screen glitched.
ERROR: Unauthorized Code Signature Detected.
Parasite Protocol Injection — Class: Unknown.
Trace Origin: WAIL.EXE
A laughing face distorted the screen.
Her interface began to bleed — literally.
Red lines across her palm.
She screamed.
The terminal exploded.
The System's network had never been breached.
Not until now.
Erwin had begun injecting corrupted anti-code into guild terminals — one by one — across cities, nations, even divine temples.
He wasn't just killing.
He was infecting their world.
Targets Identified
Kairos placed a new map on the war table. Erwin stood at its edge, eyes scanning silently.
"Three new objectives," Kairos said. "Each of them high-ranking, each connected to the dungeon entertainment conspiracy."
1. Lady Nyzaria – A vampire noble who hosted blood-sport dungeon tournaments in the Underveil.
2. Grandmaster Roh Wun – A Murim tactician who planned the monster breaks for maximum public chaos.
3. High Seer Caltrix – A divine oracle who manipulated the news drones to show 'heroic' rescues staged by the Upper Society.
"Who do you want first?" Kairos asked.
Erwin didn't hesitate.
"The one who smiles the most."
Meanwhile...
At a golden summit on Mount Athrel, the High God Council convened.
"He's destabilizing all sectors," one archangel hissed.
"This is no longer an isolated rebellion," said the Techno-Deity Voxus. "He's aiming to collapse the pillars."
The oldest among them, cloaked in silence, finally spoke:
"You feared mortals. Now you face the one who stopped being one."
Down below, in the dirt and blood of the forgotten world, Erwin carved a mark into the stone ruins of a destroyed guild outpost.
A message to all who saw:
"Your heavens are next."
[End of Chapter 9 – Scars on the Sky]