Looking at his men who had died tragically behind him, Rutledge snapped out of his daze. He gasped, fear instantly flooding his mind. His survival instinct made him turn and run towards the entrance of the secret passage.

The black dragon adjusted its wings and swooped down from the sky, its massive body crashing heavily to the ground, causing the entire royal city to sway slightly from the impact.

With its two dragon claws piercing the earth, the dragon activated its earth-controlling ability, and a powerful earthquake began to ravage the entire city of Muxi, centered on the black dragon.

Buildings collapsed, city walls crumbled. Sculptures in the square were shaken to the ground and smashed into pieces; rebels in the city lost their footing and fell in droves during the earthquake.

The epicenter of the earthquake—the Muxi Palace—suffered the most severe impact. The once solid ground shook violently, like the sea in a storm, and cracked open with huge fissures.

With another roar from the black dragon, the ground of the entire palace began to slowly rise, forming an ever-rising basin.

The massive amount of soil, like giant waves in a tsunami, trapped all the rebels in the middle of the basin, leaving them nowhere to go.

As the black dragon's giant claws descended, the 'waves' slowly closed like two enormous hands, burying the panicked humans alive into the earth, leaving no trace.

The earth-controlling ability slowly ceased. The black dragon flapped its wings and landed on the former site of the royal palace. Looking at the huge hill beneath its feet, it stretched out its giant claws and dug into the soil. A moment later, it pulled out a half-dead person.

"Rutledge, we meet again."

The black dragon spoke in human language, and the human whose name was called slowly raised his head, looking into the terrifying dragon eyes before him, and said in disbelief, "You are... the Holy King? But how is that possible?!"

Todd looked at the human in the dragon's claws and said in a low voice, "Don't judge this world with your ignorance."

Rutledge shook his head frantically, shouting, "Todd Fischer! I know you! I understand you! I've studied all your information! You're just a farmer's son from the foot of a mountain who learned some alchemy in a monastery! But you can't be a god! Gods don't exist!"

Todd ignored Rutledge's shouts, simply placing his dragon claw in front of Rutledge's forehead and calmly saying, "Rutledge Dawson, your soul will be eternally imprisoned in nothingness... Thank me, at least I've given you a dignified death..."

Seeing the sharp spike on the dragon's claw drawing ever closer to his head, Rutledge was terrified, his face ashen. "Holy King! Please forgive me! I'm willing to offer all my possessions to gain your mercy!"

"There are some things in this world that money can't buy."

After saying this, Todd plunged his claws into Rutledge's forehead.