The torrential rain battered the floor-to-ceiling windows, showing no mercy to Sancta Lodo.
In this sprawling, neon-drenched metropolis, the shadows of the skyscrapers hid the Awakened syndicates that had seized control ever since the Aether returned to the world.
But inside a hundred-million-dollar penthouse on the Upper East Side, the air was thick with a suffocating, blistering heat.
Caspian Vane leaned back against a charcoal-grey leather sofa, his broad chest bare. Standing at six-foot-three, his physique was sculpted like a dark marble god—every muscle coiled with a dangerous, explosive power. Right now, however, his sharp, aristocratic jawline was taut, and beads of cold sweat rolled down his neck. Deep within his abyssal dark eyes, violent arcs of purplish-black lightning danced erratically.
"Hss..."
A low, ragged breath escaped his throat. Inside his body, it felt as if ten thousand primordial beasts were tearing his sanity to shreds.
It was the Toxin of Ruin.
In the previous eon, as the Supreme Lord of the Cycle, he had been betrayed. The "Soulmate" he trusted with his back, and the "Resonance Partner" who shared his bed, had conspired against him. They drained his Genesis Spark and detonated his Core of Ruin, reducing the entire civilization to cosmic dust.
Now, carrying the memories of ten thousand cycles and his shattered fragments, he had been reborn in this parallel, modern world of Awakened mortals. But this newly condensed mortal shell was too weak. It simply couldn't contain the residual, apocalyptic rage of the Toxin.
If he didn't find a "receptacle" to vent this primal urge immediately, his body would detonate within the hour.
"M-Mr. Vane... do you need help?"
A voice, dripping with seductive intent and a noticeable tremble, shattered the heavy silence.
Caspian slowly raised his crimson-tinted eyes. A blonde woman with a devastatingly voluptuous figure had slipped into the room. Her name was Chloe, the pampered heiress of a second-rate Awakened conglomerate in the city. Tonight, she had bribed the security and exhausted all her connections just to climb to his floor.
Chloe was wearing a crimson, almost entirely translucent silk slip dress. Her heavy, proud breasts heaved against the thin fabric, the hardened peaks clearly visible. With her long, pale legs crossed seductively, she walked toward him, the clicking of her heels echoing like a heartbeat.
Looking at Caspian—a man radiating a lethal, elegant, yet overwhelmingly dominant pheromone—her eyes turned hazy. Her thighs clamped together as an involuntary shiver ran down her spine, a wet warmth pooling at her core just from being in his proximity.
"Your body is burning up..." Chloe whispered boldly, pressing her soft, ample curves against him. Her manicured hands roamed over the rock-hard, scorching muscles of his chest. Feeling the terrifying heat and tension beneath his skin, the lust in her eyes ignited completely.
Straddling his thick thighs, she ground her softest, wettest part against the dangerous bulge resting beneath his slacks. Parting her glossed lips, she leaned in to kiss his neck.
Caspian didn't dodge.
He slowly lowered his gaze. In his pitch-black pupils, there was zero affection—only the dead, glacial apathy of a god who had lived through a thousand apocalypses.
In my past life, I was killed by the gentle traps of women who threw themselves at me. You think opening your legs is a shortcut to power in this life?
"Ah!"
A sharp gasp tore from Chloe's lips. Caspian's massive hand suddenly clamped down on her slender waist, the terrifying grip strength paralyzing her instantly.
"You want to be my woman?" Caspian's voice was a low, gravelly rasp, dripping with cruel sensuality.
"I... I just want to serve you, Master..." Enveloped by his aggressively invasive aura, Chloe's bones turned to jelly.
"Good. Then use your body to put out this fire."
With a sudden, violent motion, Caspian flipped them over, pinning her lush, writhing body against the wide sofa. Riiip! The expensive silk slip was torn to shreds by a single hand, entirely exposing her snow-white, bouncing curves to the cold air.
There was no foreplay. To the current Caspian, the woman beneath him didn't even possess a trace of a true 'Aetheric Signature.' She was merely a [Vessel-Class] tool. There was no soul resonance here, only the most primal, brutal collision of flesh.
He roughly parted her long legs, and carrying the chaotic, violent Toxin of Ruin, he thrust forward, burying himself to the hilt without an ounce of mercy.
"Nngh—! T-Too deep... Mr. Vane... please..."
Chloe's head snapped back. The tearing pain, instantly followed by a tsunami of mind-melting, paralyzing pleasure, wiped her brain completely blank.
Caspian's thrusts were like a violent storm. With every brutal impact, arcs of purplish-black destructive lightning surged from his core and poured into Chloe's body. Her heavy breasts bounced wildly, sweat glistening along her sensuous curves.
"M-Master... I'm breaking... Please... Ahhh!"
In this clash of absolute dominance, Chloe's pride as an Awakened was ground into dust. She convulsed wildly beneath him, climaxing over and over, completely reduced to a submissive container for a god's wrath.
...
An hour later.
The storm subsided. Chloe lay paralyzed on the ruined sofa, utterly drained. Her pale skin was littered with bruises and red marks, her thighs splayed open, unable to close. Yet, a look of thoroughly conquered, debauched satisfaction lingered on her flushed face.
Caspian didn't even spare her a glance.
Pulling out, he casually picked up a custom-made black dress shirt and threw it on. Through that emotionless physical purging, the apocalyptic toxin had been successfully siphoned out. His mortal shell had finally achieved a temporary balance.
To pull out and feel nothing—that was the reality of a ruler.
Right at that moment, a cold, grandiose mechanical voice echoed in the depths of his mind.
[Ruinous Urge preliminarily suppressed. Mortal shell stabilized.] [The Singular Entity: The Omega Exchange (Fragmented State) has officially awakened.] [Current Status: The Proprietor (Caspian Vane).]
Standing by the floor-to-ceiling window, looking down at the neon veins of Sancta Lodo, a sharp glint flashed in Caspian's eyes. The Omega Exchange. The only domain bound to his soul that survived the reincarnation.
[BEEP— Exchange Alert!] [North District, Sancta Lodo. Extremely high-concentration 'Aetheric Signature' detected fluctuating... Signature is rapidly weakening! Classification: Suspected Apex-Tier (Genesis Spark)!]
Caspian's gaze turned frigid.
The North District. That was the jurisdiction of the continent's highest religious authority—The Temple of Holy Radiance. And the exact coordinates pointed to Sacred Heart Prep, a prestigious high school where several genius beauties had recently vanished without a trace.
"The Temple..." Caspian let out a dark, mocking chuckle. Crackling purple lightning danced across his fingertips, instantly reducing a crystal glass on the table to fine dust.
The foolish masses worshipped the Guardian Deities of the Temple, entirely unaware that the entity the Temple originally worshipped was him! Now, the descendants of the traitors running it were hunting down the top-tier women in this world—the ones harboring the "Genesis Spark"—to sever his path to rebirth.
Caspian's eyes narrowed. He couldn't just march in and slaughter everyone; he was still in the Fragmented Mortal stage. Doing so would alert the False Gods hovering in the higher dimensions. He needed to enter the hunting ground quietly, as an apex predator in disguise.
He turned slowly, his glacial eyes falling upon the trembling, exhausted Chloe on the sofa.
"Master..." she whimpered, trying to cover her nakedness, terrified yet utterly infatuated by his overwhelming presence.
Caspian walked over, his leather shoes clicking against the hardwood floor. He pinched her chin, forcing her to look up into his abyssal eyes.
"You wanted to be useful to me, didn't you?" Caspian's voice was devoid of warmth. "Use your family's resources. By tomorrow morning, I want a flawless background identity, and I want to be enrolled in Sacred Heart Prep."
Chloe's eyes widened in shock, but the absolute command in his voice left no room for hesitation. "Y-Yes, Master! Whatever you desire!"
Caspian released her chin and turned back to the storm raging outside the window.
The hunt for the Genesis Spark—and his vengeance against the Temple—had officially begun.