CHAPTER 432: A DREADFUL CYBORG

In the now snow and ice-filled land on the outskirts of Anbord, silence and cold reigned like tyrants. Entire settlements that once bustled with life had been erased, swallowed by white desolation. No wind blew. No birds cried. Even death felt frozen.

Deep within this barren snowland loomed a colossal ice fortress, jagged, regal, and unnaturally pristine. If Ethan had looked closely earlier, he would have seen it instantly. The culprit never intended to hide. But rage had clouded Ethan’s perception, blinding him to the obvious.

And even if he had noticed, what then? His current foe was no mere criminal or deranged Ascendant. He was a full-fledged Saint Realm being. Someone who could bend nature itself. Someone who could freeze cities without lifting a hand.

Someone, Ethan, in his weakened state, could not truly match.

Inside the frozen castle, the air was filled with a faint hum of energy. Chains of white crystal pulsed like veins, spreading frost throughout the walls and floor, feeding the ever-growing blizzard outside. In the royal hall of this ice-forged structure sat a young man who appeared to be in his early thirties.

Leon Richards.

Gone was the human body he once had. His right eye glowed a mechanical neon blue, rotating and adjusting focus like a scanning lens, while the left eye shimmered the pale blue of eternal frost. His hair, once a natural blue, now fell over his shoulders in a stark, chilling white.

He rested casually upon a throne made of frozen crystal, his upper body completely exposed. Metal plates and cybernetic implants ran beneath and across his pale skin, pulsing with small streams of blue light. Each pulse resonated with the room, like the steady heartbeat of a monstrous machine. He wore only fitted black combat trousers and a pair of armored metallic boots, the soles etched with runic technology.

He was a fusion of human and machine. Soul and weapon. Vengeance and evolution.

Leon raised a hand, and a small holographic screen manifested before him, showing the still-falling sheets of frost across the outskirts.

"Beautiful," he whispered, lips curling into a faint smile. "This empire... his empire... crippled in just a single morning." His voice echoed softly, as if the room itself listened to him speak.

A thin mist expelled from his left eye as he leaned back and drummed his cybernetic fingers on the armrest. "You’re weak this time, Ethan." His smile deepened, more twisted. "Perfect."

The castle shuddered slightly as the ice outside grew thicker, expanding outward like a living organism.

"He’ll come," Leon murmured, eyes glinting with both madness and confidence. "And when he does... I’ll finish what I started."

Snowflakes danced in the air like feathers of a silent curse.

Leon Richards waited.

And the catastrophe continued to spread.

One might ask...

Why? Why was Leon doing this? Why had he attacked Ethan after all this time? What was his true purpose?

The answer was simple.

He hated Ethan.

Just the thought of Ethan Voryn Kael’Dri was enough to tear Leon apart from the inside. He hated Ethan with every breath he took. He hated Ethan with every beat of his corrupted heart. If he were given a choice between Ethan’s death and his own salvation, he wouldn’t even need to think. He would choose Ethan’s death a thousand times over.

And what birthed such powerful hatred?

First, Ethan had appeared out of nowhere. A scholarship student in Anbord Mage Academy. A nobody. Someone who should have remained beneath the notice of the academy’s elite. Yet, in a single semester, he silenced everyone. Best grades in the entire academy, from 1st Year to 5th Year. Even Leon’s academic excellence was overshadowed.

Then came the worst part. Ethan somehow became close with Trevor Smith. The one person Leon, despite his arrogance, stayed far away from. Trevor was the first son of the Smith family, the main family Leon’s entire household served under. Leon’s fear of Trevor was deeply ingrained, yet Ethan, a lower-year nobody, became his friend.

As if that wasn’t enough humiliation, Ethan caught the heart of Clara Verna. One of the academy’s famed belles. A girl Leon had pursued with everything he had. He had even been willing to give up his lifestyle of flings and meaningless pleasure for her. But Ethan ruined everything simply by existing.

His jealousy had driven him to plot Ethan’s humiliation, but every scheme backfired and ended with Leon becoming the one humiliated. He issued a duel using his authority as a Tyrant and his sister’s as a Zodiac, trying to crush Ethan beneath his boot. Yet even in victory, he tasted only fear. Ethan wasn’t fighting seriously, and everyone saw it. The academy rewarded Ethan with the authority of a Tyrant afterward, elevating him to Leon’s level as if mocking him.

Then came Andriel. More beautiful than Clara. A girl who turned heads wherever she walked. And Ethan was seen talking to her. Leon tried again to break Ethan. Again, he failed. And when his lust and anger spiraled into something vile, when he thought to force himself onto the new girl, Ethan interfered again. Ethan earned praise. Leon earned dread.

Leon discovered one of Ethan’s secrets and tried to use it to destroy him, but even that failed. The secret disappeared like it never existed. With every failure, Leon’s fear grew. Ethan wasn’t normal. He couldn’t be. How could someone without backing do all that he did? Even Leon, born with status, could not crush obstacles the way Ethan did.

And while Leon drowned in frustration, Ethan gained affection. Andriel fell for him. Then Clara. Then two more. Four women, brilliant and powerful, loving Ethan. And Leon had nothing real. Just temporary thrills and empty nights.

The academy outing was supposed to be the turning point. Leon colluded with a dark organization, determined to end Ethan forever. But the universe mocked him once more. Ethan wasn’t human. Ethan killed a Platinum-tier Destruction Beast as if it were nothing. Ethan revived a fallen ally like death was merely a suggestion. Leon was beaten like a child by Trevor. Everything Leon had was stripped away.

And then the greatest humiliation.

Ethan took Anbord. Became Crown Prince. Built an empire. And Leon’s own sister, who once respected and obeyed him, now defied him just to protect Ethan. She loved Ethan deeply enough to raise her voice against her entire bloodline. Against him. Against everything.

The last straw broke, and when disaster came for Leon, when the Diamond-tier beast tried to rip him apart, he refused to die. His hate refused to die. His obsession refused to die.

His will to destroy Ethan transcended reason. In that moment, he awakened. Not as a hero. Not as a savior. But as a devil born from rejection and rage. His ancient fairy bloodline surfaced, but twisted. Corrupted. Dark.

Leon Richards ascended into a dark fairy.

A monster fueled by a hatred that froze the world.

A catastrophe given form.

And today, he finally made his move.

The cyborg he was now was just the immediate help he got from the person who saved him. Even though that person was dead, killed by his own two hands. If he had killed his savior, then he would destroy Ethan with everything.

...

Ethan stood in the middle of the ruined outskirts, surrounded by ice that stretched farther than his senses could comfortably reach. He clenched his fists so hard that the bones creaked, yet his expression remained frighteningly composed. Rage simmered under that calmness like a demon waiting to break free.

Leon Richards.

A name he hadn’t thought about in a long while. Not because he forgot, but because he thought Leon was gone. Dead. Lost. Or so he believed.

But now...

A snowflake-shaped mark.Ice that ignored nature.People frozen in existential horror.

Leon was alive. And stronger.

Ethan stared down at a slab of ice, his eyes narrowing as he saw a faint trail of something deeper inside it. Not just mana. Not just cold.

Fairy essence.But corrupted.

"So you survived that day," he muttered quietly, his voice echoing across the frozen wasteland like a death sentence whispered by the wind.

His senses surged outward, scanning every blade of ice, every vibration of mana. Nothing. Leon was hiding with precision. Hiding like prey that knew the hunter was close. Ethan gritted his teeth.

He refused to feel guilt. He refused to regret saving Leon back then. He refused to shoulder blame for the darkness Leon chose to embrace.

But what truly gnawed at him was something else.

Why now?

Why strike after years of silence?Why slaughter innocent people?Why this level of ice magic?

And why leave such an obvious mark for him?

Ethan inhaled slowly, letting the cold bite into his lungs. His golden eye faintly glowed as he activated just a sliver of his truth perception, burning through the fog of his weakened Saint realm.

Then he felt it.

A ripple.Faint.Almost intentionally subtle.Like someone was teasing him to notice.

North.

Deeper into the blizzard-coated lands that stretched beyond sight.

Ethan’s aura thickened, cold and merciless. His breath turned into frost as the atmosphere darkened around him.

"So that’s where you are..." he whispered.

His gaze sharpened to a predatory gleam.

"Helheim’s winter doesn’t belong here. You think you can pull this off in my territory?" A chilling smile curved his lips. "Leon... you’ve chosen the wrong world to freeze."

He stepped forward, teleportation energy crackling at his feet.

The hunt had begun.