The two successful raids flooded the Solaria black market with rare crystals and essences, collapsing prices and throwing the Grand Guild's resource management into chaos. The whispers about the "Phantom Hunter" were now full-throated shouts. The Grand Master, humiliated and now financially stressed, ordered an unprecedented lockdown on all high-rank dungeons.
I returned to my safehouse, immediately absorbing the Void Alchemist essence into my gauntlet. The growth-type essence integrated perfectly, the swirling chaotic electrical essence of the Storm Titan instantly becoming more focused and stable. My gauntlet was now the ultimate tool for consumption.
The Central Authority had to intervene. They had set the rules, and I had broken them with catastrophic efficiency.
The communication came not from the Grand Master, but through the highly encrypted, specialized network I had stolen from his archives—the network used exclusively by the Central Authority.
The message was brief:
Your clear times are unsustainable. Your violation of the Resource Flow Charter is a direct threat to stability.
We have provided a unique target.
Proceed immediately to the Ancient Citadel of Ash. A Mythic-grade entity has manifested early due to your recent actions. If you succeed, you will be granted an audience. If you fail, the charter will be permanently enforced.
The location—the Ancient Citadel of Ash—was an unclassified area, one of the few places even the Grand Guild didn't officially chart. The message was a clear challenge and a trap. They were offering me a Mythic essence, knowing it was the only thing I truly coveted, but they were doing it on their terms, hoping the chaotic nature of the fight would destroy me.
---
I knew the entity they referred to: the Phoenix Sovereign. A creature of pure, eternal flame, capable of perpetual resurrection. It was the absolute pinnacle of Mythic elemental power.
I didn't take the direct route. I spent the final hours before the scheduled confrontation sending a ghost-encrypted message back to Juts in Vigan, instructing him to activate the final contingency protocol if I didn't check in within 36 hours.
I approached the Ancient Citadel of Ash at midnight. The ruins glowed with a terrifying, ethereal gold-red light. The Phoenix Sovereign emerged from the ruins, a terrifyingly beautiful spectacle of molten feather and pure solar fire.
It did not wait. It attacked, releasing a colossal wave of fire that instantly boiled the air around me.
I met the attack not with defense, but with Absorption.
I activated the full power of the Void Alchemist. I wasn't fighting the Phoenix Sovereign's attack; I was fighting the concept of its power. I let the inferno wash over me, and as the chaotic Mythic flame touched my Epic Gauntlet, the Void Alchemist began its work—not absorbing the energy into my core, but filtering it, converting the chaotic heat into a stream of stable, usable Mythic Catalyst.
This was the final, most terrifying test. I had the power, the plan, and the strategy. I was no longer an Epic hunter. I was a force capable of controlling Mythic power. The final confrontation for absolute control of the world's power system had begun.