Thief of blood and souls

A few hundred kilometers from the exact spot where Kyle had disappeared, the scenery was completely different.

Beyond the wall, the landscape of filth and decay transformed into that of a modern city, with well-constructed houses and buildings. The streets were clean, devoid of the universal dirt that plagued the world beyond the wall.

The outer zone was modest; the buildings were not high-end, and some areas were still dirty, with homeless people scattered around. However, the crime rate was minimal, even in this poorer district. Even the most miserable vagabonds knew that for people like them, crimes such as theft were punished with exile to the wasteland.

No matter how desperate they were, they preferred living in squalor here rather than starving to death in the wasteland. At least here, there were people who gave alms out of compassion. On the other side of the wall, it was far more likely that some desperate soul would kill them for cannibalism.

Even so, these people were a minority. The majority could still survive and live a decent life as long as they were willing to work.

Further into the city, the environment improved little by little. There were multiple luxurious neighborhoods filled with villas and mansions adorned with extravagant features, beautiful gardens, and pools. Servants could occasionally be seen—a sign of the immense wealth of those living in this area. Some were wealthy businessmen with multiple properties, while others, perhaps less rich but far superior in status, were simply players.

At the center of the city, surrounded by another wall that separated the wealthy from the true elite, was the home of the city's supreme ruler. Those who dictated the laws and governed vast expanses of land in this new world belonged to one of the nine existing S-rank guilds on Earth—the Phoenix Guild.

It was a paradise on Earth. There wasn't a single inch of this place that didn't radiate luxury, splendor, and majesty. Even the servants were beautiful and elegant, dressed in tailor-made uniforms crafted from the finest fabrics. The members of this guild, respected players, walked around or attended to their duties with ease.

Their leader, one of the nine S-rank beings in this world, was inside the central palace of this domain, seated in a lotus position while undergoing a massive transformation.

Jennifer Steel, known by many as the Phoenix Goddess, was overjoyed. Soon, her advancement would be complete, and she could return to her beloved husband.

Her husband. Her king. Her god.

He was the center of her life, the only thing that mattered. He had told her to inform him if she ever planned to advance, but she wanted to surprise him. Maybe then, he would finally agree to be with her. After all, at that moment, she would become the strongest person in the world.

And now, after several months, her advancement was finally complete.

[Congratulations on ascending to SS-rank]

[All attributes increased]

[Talent enhanced]

[The [Golden Sun Flames] detect a curse]

"A curse?" Jennifer murmured in confusion, but she didn't care. The only thing she wanted now was to return to her husband.

[The [Golden Sun Flames] have removed the curse]

[The S-rank curse [Slave Love] has been lifted]

The curse, which had been engraved on her soul for eight long years, was incinerated the moment she reached SS-rank.

And in that instant, as the foreign object was eradicated, Jennifer's expression froze.

In a split second, eight years of memories surged through her mind. Her face twisted in such overwhelming rage that the entire city trembled beneath her pressure… No, not just the city—the entire continent shook.

Billions of people collapsed helplessly before the overwhelming presence of this divine being.

Even the other eight S-rank players were horrified. This pressure was so immense that it could crush them like mere ants. The gap between ranks was truly that vast.

In less than a nanosecond, Jennifer materialized inside a room that screamed luxury in every corner. There, an incredibly beautiful young woman was performing an erotic dance for a man of average appearance.

In an instant, Jennifer grabbed the man by the throat and slammed him against the wall.

"Mom! What are you doing?!" Anna screamed in horror, her eyes filled with obsessive love as she rushed toward the man.

Jennifer unleashed a terrifying pressure that froze her daughter in place. A small golden flame left her hand and entered Anna's body.

In an instant, the curse was broken.

Anna's expression froze for a moment before erupting into unrestrained fury. Energy surged from her body as she screamed.

"You son of a bitch! I'm going to kill you!"

Jennifer approached the man, her gaze completely cold and devoid of emotion. With her power now elevated to unimaginable heights, she could see Adam's very essence—the man who had cursed and controlled them for eight years.

"Miserable bastard," Jennifer's voice was ice-cold. "You received a talent that allowed you to enslave two people as long as they were below SS-rank, regardless of their strength. You used it on the two women you were obsessed with—my daughter and me. You forced us to commit unspeakable sins. However…"

She paused, looking at the powerless man with disdain.

"When you did, your talent revealed its punishment. You yourself were cursed—turned into an insatiably lustful man, yet made into a powerless eunuch. Heh, how pathetic."

Adam, after a few seconds, processed the situation. His face twisted with rage at her words, but he couldn't deny the truth. Even after more than eight years of having them under his control, he had been unable to do anything to them. His lower half had simply stopped working as a consequence of his talent.

He understood that the woman before him had reached a rank no one else on Earth had. He knew he would die today. The only thing he could do was provoke her into killing him as quickly and painlessly as possible.

So he smiled maniacally.

"Pathetic? Yeah, I'm a miserable son of a bitch. But you're no better. Do you remember little Kyle? How you threw him into the wasteland, calling him useless? What kind of mother does that to her own son?"

Jennifer froze. Her hands trembled as the truth of what she had done years ago settled into her mind.

Beside her, Anna's face paled. Her mind, finally freed from the curse, remembered someone so crucial in her life.

"That place is terrible, you know? What they do to women who fall there… Heh, even I find it disgusting. I can't even imagine what they did to a child like him. But it doesn't matter. He probably died years ago and—"

"Shut up!"

Golden flames engulfed Adam instantly. His body disintegrated at an atomic level in mere millionths of a second.

Jennifer didn't even glance at him as she shot forward at unimaginable speed. In less than a millisecond, she had traveled hundreds of kilometers, now hovering above the wasteland.

She extended her vast, terrifying senses, covering the entire dump and threatening to spread across the city and beyond.

But she didn't need to search far. She had already found a presence she was incredibly familiar with.

She appeared in the hideout Kyle had called home, where he had been just minutes ago.

"My son… Has he been living in a place like this?" Her face darkened with anguish, and tears threatened to fall. But she held them back.

Without hesitation, she sent a telepathic message to every member of her guild.

"Drop everything and enter Infinite Continent immediately. If you find this man, protect him with your life and bring him back to headquarters.

Whoever brings him back in one piece will receive the guild's full support to reach S-rank.

I repeat: Protect him with your life."

With that, she also entered the Infinite Continent.

She cared about nothing else.

Right now, the only thing that mattered was finding her son.