Playboy Cultivator in the Apocalypse

Every soldier immediately lifted their weapons at Kaze, flying above the bridge. However, they found a wall of spear-sized blood shards facing them instead.

It was [Tears of the Fallen] without immediate usage and larger shards.

A vortex of blood from the bridge materialized in real time, shocking everyone watching aside from Crux, who watched in awe.

There was a lot of blood in the area from days of rioting and confrontations with the military, and it was all displayed in the most dramatic way possible.

"Unless you seek a swift, avertible death, I suggest you follow my instructions." The emperor declared coldly, causing every soldier to tremble.

The sick were unphased by his demonstration.

"Who... in the FUCK... do YOU think you—"

A rioter's head exploded when a spear crashed into it, impaling his body. The blood in the shard expanded inside, causing pressure that made the wound explode.

The healthy around the man screamed and attempted to move backward again.

More yelling broke out, and dozens of shards followed, swiftly ending all those incapable of keeping a sane mind in the face of traumatic strength.

He performed the operation without harming any healthy people and even killed the sick who weren't yelling but were trampling the healthy. It was skilled and fair so far as mass murder went.

"If you cannot keep your anger in check in the face of mortal danger, you're sick." Kaze yelled, "If you're healthy and can't keep your anger in check to save your life, you deserve to die."

Crux watched the emperor in confusion. She could tell the sick from the healthy at a glance, so she couldn't figure out why he was putting on a grand show.

She looked at the soldiers and then into the sky, at the skycruiser that Kaze had pointed out earlier. It reminded her that Malta's Military was watching him.

"I see." Crux whispered, "I'm here to solve my problem, your problem, and their problem simultaneously. Clever."

No one else shared her casual attitude on the matter. The soldiers on the ground panicked, watching three more people's bodies explode every second.

Then blood would splash to the ground and get swept into the vortex again.

It was a nightmare scene that shocked everyone, especially Agent Ryker, who thought he was living the rapture.

"Are you ready to listen, you obstinate fools!?" The emperor yelled, capturing everyone's attention.

He had spent a minute weeding out those most afflicted, masking their deaths in the blood-soaked chaos.

The area calmed down to half volume for the first time.

"If your mind is uncorrupted enough to understand death awaits you here, leave slowly!" Kaze roared, "Partition!"

He waved his hand in a large wave of Qi shot through the highway, slicing vehicles in half.

The two split areas then parted, creating a six-foot space between them. It was a surreal sight.

"Those who disrupt the exit of others will meet death!" Kaze yelled, "There is a clear path, but you needn't rely upon it.

If there is a blockage, I suggest you help clear bodies and help each other up. Now go!"

Hundreds of people immediately ran backward, rapidly pushing through the new space.

It didn't take long before there were issues, but Kaze waved his hand, and troublemakers instantly met death.

People began dragging bodies out of the way, learning that the emperor didn't kill those who aided. It was a survival method.

Over a third of the five thousand people had left within ten minutes, making it halfway over the bridge or further.

The soldiers could only watch in awe as the week-long ordeal they struggled with was half resolved in fifteen minutes.

After waiting another ten minutes, he addressed the people present.

"Is there any among you that are sane and patiently waiting to leave?" Kaze asked boldly, "Or do you all seek death?"

Those waiting to avoid trampling took the hint and began pushing to leave quickly.

After another ten minutes, there were just under two thousand rioters still screaming and yelling, attempting to find objects to throw at the emperor.

Crux watched with narrowed eyes, trying to decipher his actions.

He appeared to be making a grand show of arbitration before committing genocide, but she knew there were other reasons but didn't know what they were.

Kaze looked at her with an intelligent gaze. "It's time. Work backward and take your time; we want people to see."

She nodded, walked into the center area behind him, and lifted her hand.

A vehicle groaned as raw Qi picked it up, letting it hover in the air for a moment before she sent it flying over the bridge.

Agent Ryker and the soldiers were shocked, not because she was using what they interpreted as [telekenisis] but because she—was clearing the highway.

It was the objective that the soldiers present were tasked with.

While she was doing it in a way that was painfully slow to her, it was absurdly fast to everyone else!

There was a fleet of tow trucks in the distance waiting to mobilize.

Yet this woman in a frog hoodie was casually lifting her hand and throwing vehicles over the bridge every five seconds!

Kaze gave Agent Ryker's camera a snide smile before continuing his work.

The demonstration was to demonstrate traumatizing force, arbitration, and intention before leading the massacre.

By the time he killed everyone, the government would consider him a benevolent figure whose actions were necessary and ideal, or at least advantageous, and shouldn't be questioned.

That is why wanted the slightly-shorter-than-average woman in a frog hoodie to walk around with a bored expression throwing cars off the side of the bridge.

The absurd image proved his point and was impossible to forget.

Once he set the stage, the emperor looked down at the sick and depraved souls below him.

"Is there anyone else with sanity left!?" Kaze asked in a booming voice.

"Fuck off!"

"Get down here so I can kill you!"

"Who do you think you are!?"

"Murderer!"

The emperor turned to the soldiers. "You'd agree that these people are sick, yes?"

Each swallowed nervously under his sharp gaze, but one after the other, they nodded in assent.

"Fall." Kaze declared, lowering his hand to the earth.

Thousands of spear-sized shards of blood fell from the sky, impaling everyone.

To the soldier's bewilderment, when the spears hit the earth, they turned into liquid on contact, showcasing the flexibility of the emperor's power.

Kaze closed his eyes when everyone died. A massive spherical vortex of blood 100 feet in diameter surrounded him, creating a horrifying landmark.

"Reap." He whispered.

Everyone watching shifted their mindsets from horror to awe a moment later when the blood around him radiated in golden light.

The emperor's eyes glowed vibrant gold as the soul Qi from thousands of souls entered his body.

He gritted his teeth and gasped for breath as his partially completed soul core worked overtime, grinding the energy into his chest. There were thousands once again.

Right now, he wasn't [healing]. On the contrary, he was corroding his body further, as his soul core couldn't withstand the strain.

Kaze had to move quickly to complete his core and heal his soul. He had enough soul Qi to do that much, but the pressure on his soul was intense, and he was risking over-exhaustion or death.

Unlike Qi deprivation, there were no temporary fixes or stopgaps to his problem. "Since I cannot create a soul core or heal myself, I must protect myself.

Having that woman around right now is loathsome."

So he closed his eyes and used a soul cultivation technique on his body. "Transfigure Souls—[Revenge's Protection]."

The emperor's body glowed with strange runes that only Crux could see, and a light, piercing, shrill assaulted her highly-sensitive cat ears.

She had never seen or heard anything like it, which meant he was using a sacred technique or higher.

Her mind snapped back to attention when he lifted his hand.

"Exodus Blaze." He whispered, lowering it.

A violent wave of gravity crashed into the rioter's blood-free bodies, grinding their bones to dust.

The corpses combusted into blue veins a moment later, instantly burning them and turning their bodies into ash.

Crux watched the scene in awe. The technique from her dreams, combining gravity and blue flames, was displayed to her. It was [him].

Kaze gritted his teeth after the seemingly simple demonstration. He was in intense pain, feeling hazy from the soul Qi pressure and corruption weighing on his soul.

However, he continued, closing his eyes and dispersing the blood in full force off the side of the bridge, and then turned to the soldiers.

"Who is in charge here?" Kaze demanded.

Someone perked up nervously, pushing against his trembling body. "My name is Sargent Jeffrey. I am in charge of this operation."

"Sargent Jeffrey, I am here by request of General Michaels." The emperor stated, "We're helping clear this bridge for you.

Do not interfere or raise your weapons; we'll be gone momentarily. Please relay those orders."

"Y-Yes, sir. We wouldn't dream of it." Sargent Jeffery replied nervously.

"Good man." Kaze nodded, turning back to Crux, who was still slowly removing the vehicles.

He frowned; there were almost a thousand vehicles on the bridge, and she couldn't handle so much upfront.

The suspension bridge made it impossible to casually toss things over the edge at once. It required them to navigate objects between the beams.

Kaze closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then he cultivated at full force in the air for ten minutes, collecting as much power from the environment as possible.

Crux watched in disbelief as the human on the Mortal Plane cultivated at the speed she'd only expected from the top rulers of the Sky Plane.

When he snapped open his eyes, he addressed the shadow cat. "Move out of the way."

She nodded and flew off the bridge.

He waved his hand, and invisible vertical slashes cut through each row of vehicles, cutting cars, trucks, and shuttles in half along the way.

"This should make things easier." Kaze said with a solid voice, hiding the strain only she noticed.

"Understood." Crux replied, waving her hand. As alluded to, the vehicles she lifted were only half the weight and more balanced, allowing her to push them off the bridge far faster.

The emperor joined her, picking up multiple at the same time and throwing them from the area.

It was at times like those that he wished that he had less destructive techniques meant for finesse. Unfortunately, he didn't have anything that had power and allowed such refinement.

So the two ground away for another hour, removing vehicles meticulously.

All the soldiers watched in awe as the two did a week's worth of work in an hour.

Agent Ryker stared in disbelief, stunned that the emperor voluntarily helped them with a major objective.

Beyond that, their enemy—compared to a nuclear threat—was also helping them for an unknown reason.

The emperor's vision became heavy when they reached about 3/4ths of the way down the bridge.

"Damn soul corruption." Kaze scoffed under his breath, trying to remain standing and stoic as his vision doubled.

Crux turned around subtly with wide but sharp eyes. "You need to stop."

"I'm fine." He replied coldly, lifting his hand again. While he didn't feel the woman was his threat, he couldn't show his obvious weakness before someone of her power.

"You'll hurt yourself." Crux replied coldly, "Is it worse to look weak or be weak?"

Kaze dry-swallowed subtly, using Qi to prevent sweat from collecting on his forehead. "It's better to be neither at all costs."

"I suppose that's fair." She laughed in amusement. However, her smile disappeared when the emperor collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

Within a fraction of a second, the entire situation shifted.

Skycruisers rocketed to the location, making their way to the bridge.