Chapter 247 - 248: Absolute Authority
The frozen sector remained locked in place after Runar’s single word.
The devouring barrier hung motionless, its dark membrane stretched taut across every edge of the sealed space like a predator caught mid-strike. The Multiversals floated in stunned silence, their earlier panic replaced by a deeper, more primal unease. The Universe Wills watched from within their membranes with held breath, many of them still trembling from how close their realms had come to erasure. At the center of it all, the Void Devouring Dragon still stood, its golden eyes fixed on the empty space where the voice had come from. Its massive body remained locked by the residual authority of that single command, yet its mind raced with questions it could not answer.
Then Runar appeared.
There was no flash of light. No spatial tear. No dramatic surge of energy. One moment the space in front of the dragon was empty. The next moment a calm figure in simple dark robes stood there, golden light faintly radiating from his body. He looked almost ordinary at first glance—tall but not imposing, features sharp yet unremarkable, posture relaxed as if he had merely stepped out for a casual stroll. Until the pressure began to leak out of him.
It started as a subtle weight, like the air growing denser. Then it thickened. The void itself seemed to lean toward him, drawn by something deeper than mere power. Fine threads of golden radiance drifted from his form in slow, lazy currents, each one carrying an authority that pressed against every law in the sector.
Runar started walking forward.
Each step was slow and unhurried. The void beneath his feet cracked like thin ice under a heavy weight. Fine fractures spread outward with every footfall, glowing faintly with golden light before fading into the darkness. The pressure around him grew heavier with every step. It was not a wild, aggressive force that smashed and tore. It was calm, absolute, and steadily increasing—the kind of pressure that made even Advanced-tier beings feel small. It did not demand submission. It simply existed, and everything else was forced to acknowledge it.
The Multiversals closest to him instinctively backed away. One Initiate-tier being felt his knees weaken; the principles he had spent centuries refining began to tremble as if they might unravel. Another found it hard to breathe even though there was no air in the void—his very existence felt compressed, squeezed between invisible walls that had no name. The Universe Wills watching from inside their membranes felt the same crushing weight pressing against their authority. Several of them instinctively reinforced their realms, pouring power into their membranes in a desperate attempt to keep the pressure out.
Far away, inside his own universe, William watched the scene with a grim expression. He had seen powerful beings before. He had competed against geniuses at the Multiversal Academy. He had even stood near those rare existences he privately called "disgusting monsters"—beings so broken in talent that normal rankings stopped making sense. Yet as he watched Runar walk forward, each step cracking the void, William felt a cold realization settle in his core.
This one is worse, he thought. Those monsters at the academy at least still felt like they belonged to the same scale of existence. This... this doesn’t.
The Void Devouring Dragon’s golden eyes widened.
What type of monster is this...?
The thought hit it hard. Its massive body, which had just recovered to full Advanced-tier strength after devouring the formation’s power, began to tremble slightly. The pressure rolling off the approaching figure was wrong. It did not feel like any Advanced-tier Multiversal the dragon had ever encountered. There was no hunger in it, no chaotic greed, no desperate need to consume. There was only quiet certainty—the kind of certainty that belonged to something that had already decided the outcome long before the fight began.
This pressure... it doesn’t belong to any normal Advanced-tier.
This fellow doesn’t belong in this rundown sector at all.
Why is something like this even here?!
With every step Runar took, the fear inside the dragon grew sharper. Its instincts—instincts that had allowed it to survive for countless ages by devouring everything in its path—were screaming at it to flee. But the void around it still felt locked by the residual force of that single word, and the figure kept walking closer. Dark energy flickered across the dragon’s scales in restless waves. Its claws scraped at nothing. Its jaws parted slightly, but no threat came out. For the first time in its long existence, the Void Devouring Dragon felt the unfamiliar weight of being the weaker party.
While still walking, Runar casually raised one hand and waved it once.
The massive devouring barrier that had sealed the entire sector shattered instantly.
It did not explode. It did not resist. It simply dissolved into harmless dark particles that scattered and vanished, as if the barrier had never existed. The sudden release of pressure made several Multiversals gasp. Freedom returned to the sector in an instant—space unlocked, escape routes opened, the crushing sense of being trapped disappeared. Yet none of them dared to move. Every eye remained locked on the calm figure walking toward the dragon. The barrier that had moments earlier seemed absolute had been erased with less effort than brushing dust from a sleeve.
Runar stopped a short distance away. He looked up at the enormous dark dragon with a faint, almost playful smile. The golden light around him pulsed once, soft and steady.
"Lizard," he said in a calm voice, "looks like you have had enough fun. Let the two of us play together."
The dragon’s mind was still processing the words when reality shifted.
One moment Runar was standing several void-units away. The next moment he was already beside the dragon’s massive head. There was no blur of movement. No spatial fluctuation. No trace of any principle being activated. He was simply there—standing in the empty space next to a skull larger than most planets, looking almost tiny by comparison, yet somehow more solid than the void itself.
The next thing the dragon felt was a single, hard slap across the side of its face.
The sound was like a universe cracking.
From the dragon’s perspective, the slap was catastrophic. The moment the open palm connected, its entire information structure shuddered. Principles that had been stable for ages cracked under the pure authority. The Principle of Devour itself flinched, recoiling as if it had been struck by something it could not consume. Pain—real, sharp, humiliating pain—exploded across its skull and raced down its long neck. Dimensional layers tore open. Dark energy burst from newly formed wounds. For a terrifying instant, the dragon felt its own existence wobble, as if the slap had tried to rewrite its place in the hierarchy of the void.
The force behind the slap was absolute. It carried no visible energy, no flash of golden light, no grand display of principles. It was pure, refined authority compressed into a single motion. The Void Devouring Dragon’s enormous body was launched backward like a broken meteor. It tore through the void at a speed that left afterimages, flying millions of void-units away in a single instant. (A void unit was the average distance between one universe and the nearest neighboring universe.) Entire stretches of empty space blurred past the dragon as it tumbled helplessly. Dark scales cracked under the residual force of the strike. Dimensional tears reopened along its neck and chest. Its golden eyes spun with disorientation.
In the far distance, the Void Devouring Dragon finally managed to stabilize its massive body. It forced itself to stop tumbling, dark energy pouring from the fresh wounds across its face and neck. Its golden eyes stared back toward the distant golden figure with pure disbelief.
That single slap... the dragon thought, still shaking. I am more injured from that one hit than when I fought that damn chicken. Fuck, I have to escape.
The real difference in power had just been made clear to everyone watching.
Silence fell over the sector.
The Multiversals stared with wide eyes. Some of them forgot to breathe. Others simply floated in place, minds struggling to process what they had just witnessed. An Advanced-tier Void Devouring Dragon—freshly recovered, fully powered, and feared across multiple sectors—had been slapped across the void like a misbehaving child. The Universe Wills were speechless. Several of them instinctively pulled their membranes tighter, as if trying to hide from the residual force still lingering in the space. William, still watching from inside his own membrane, felt a cold sweat run down his back even though he had no physical form. The sheer casualness of the act left him shaken. He had known Runar was strong. He had not truly understood how strong.
Runar remained standing calmly in the same spot, golden light still faintly surrounding him. He lowered his hand as if he had merely brushed away an annoying insect. His expression had not changed at all. There was no triumph, no arrogance, no lingering hostility—only the quiet satisfaction of someone who had decided the game was over before it truly began.
The real difference in power had just been made clear to everyone watching.