Viltrum

"Close your eyes. Just don't feel too strongly opposed to it."

Shane considered Raven's proposal for several minutes before reluctantly agreeing.

He also warned Raven not to make any unnecessary moves, or the consequences would be severe.

"The moment I sense danger, none of your magic will have enough of a chance to activate in front of me."

Raven nodded impatiently and promised Shane that she would remain absolutely lucid throughout the process.

The two changed locations and found an abandoned warehouse.

The girl extended a finger and carefully, slowly touched it toward Shane's brow.

Just before their skin touched, Shane seemed to hear her swallow again.

The next second, those memories that had become somewhat blurred by Viltrum's oppressive environment and the passage of time gradually sharpened in Shane's mind.

"Huh?"

Shane and Raven seemed to be watching a movie of someone's life together.

Under Shane's deliberate control, all memories of his previous life were concealed. Raven could see only an endless darkness, though she could sense that Shane's soul was gradually maturing.

Raven glanced at Shane but made no comment.

After a long stretch of darkness, the images of memory slowly unfolded.

"Oh? Another Elite. And this kid's awakening level is pretty impressive."

Several large hands passed Shane around before he could fully open his eyes. Some of them seemed quite satisfied with certain traits he displayed.

"This kid is incredibly strong. He almost snapped my finger—take him! Put him in an incubation pod in the Elite section."

During his brief infancy, Shane spent almost all his time soaking in a nutrient tank. Though he had been classified as an Elite, few adults paid him much attention afterward.

Occasionally, he was let out for some fresh air and given strange-looking toys.

But Shane showed no interest at all. Whenever he was let out, he simply sat quietly where he was.

Raven happily narrowed her eyes. By this point in the images, Shane's soul had begun to carry many strange flavors.

The opening note was loneliness steeped in confusion.

From the age of one, Shane had to watch videos provided by the adults at fixed times every day.

The content was rather complex. There was indoctrination in Viltrum's spiritual culture, as well as scenes of Viltrumite Warriors displaying their might on other planets.

Shane finally understood where those strange-looking toys had come from.

They were spoils picked up by those adults, after a casual selection with hands stained in blood, from civilizations that had already been wiped out across the universe.

At two years old, Shane had left the nutrient tank, but he still had to undergo regular tests every day.

These included observing the growth of Shane's superpowers, as well as blood draws and physical examinations.

The videos became more varied, covering Viltrumite history, language lessons, and—combat and killing techniques.

Shane's soul began to stir.

At three years old, Shane was thrown into a group of children.

Some were around his age, while the older ones were seven or eight.

The adult who had brought Shane there spoke sternly.

"Zhent, you are an Elite. Everyone around you is a Viltrumite who was deemed unqualified from birth."

"Your task is to kill every last one of them."

Then the man turned to the other children.

"From the moment you were born, you were merely ordinary people slightly better than inferior products. But thanks to your glorious Viltrumite genes, you can still adapt to Viltrum's gravity, which is more than twenty-five times that of an ordinary life-bearing planet."

"So you possess considerable combat ability as well. If you don't want to wear the label of unqualified for the rest of your lives, then use every ounce of your strength to kill the Elite among you!"

Shane's soul began to fluctuate violently.

Words that utterly destroyed the worldview shaped by thirty years of his previous life brought an intense, shocking flavor to Shane's soul.

Raven's face had already flushed red, but she also wore an expression of unbelievable shock.

In reality, Raven could not help secretly observing Shane, whose eyes had long since opened, only to find an indescribable emptiness in his gaze.

Three days later, the door to the room finally opened.

Shane, covered in blood, was brought out by the man with satisfaction.

He also received his first formal praise and commendation on this planet.

"As expected of an Elite. Let me see whose descendant you are... Oh, you're Lord Thragg's bloodline. No wonder."

The man smiled as he held the hollow-eyed Shane in his hand, like a swordsman holding the unfinished blade of a peerless weapon.

At five years old, Shane entered Viltrum's Elite training class for his cohort.

At eight, Shane stood before a spotless white cultivation room while the Instructor behind him drilled the rules into him.

"Remember the standards. Elite, unqualified, inferior product. I will select all of the first two categories. You stay here and destroy all those inferior products."

As he watched the little ones curled up in incubation pods, wailing their hearts out, a trace of lifeless gray darkness appeared in Shane's empty eyes.

Raven's body began to tremble as well. The impact of this scene on her was no weaker than when Trigon corrupted other worlds.

And here, Shane's soul seemed to age by more than a decade in an instant.

At ten years old, Shane, a Top Student among the Elites, was ordered to receive the opportunity for Honorary Observation.

He boarded a Spaceship and traveled several light-years. For the first time, he flew beneath Nature's sky and watched the eager Viltrumite Warrior Squad soar over his head.

Then they brought Catastrophe upon a planet inhabited by fifty million Intelligent Life.

One month later, the blood-covered Instructor flew back with a savage grin and brought the expressionless Shane to the planet's final Shelter Gathering Point.

"Zhent, my finest student, I saved this especially for you. Those Elites left at home won't get to experience this feeling so soon."

The Instructor pointed at the final thousand or so Survivors huddled in the corner, already too despairing even to cry.

A rough, calloused hand shoved Shane in the back.

"Go! Enjoy your glory!"

Ten minutes later, Shane, drenched in blood, suddenly let out a roar. He blasted apart the mountain of corpses and sea of blood, becoming a crimson bolt of lightning as he drove a fist into the Instructor's Heart Area.

But his opponent was a warrior who had fought for Viltrum for over a thousand years. After a brief moment of astonishment, he slapped Shane into the ground.

"Have you gone mad from killing? You dare attack me? A Viltrumite who can't remain calm and think amid slaughter is also an inferior product!"

Later, fourteen-year-old Shane was specially chosen to participate in the Coming-of-Age Ceremony of other Viltrumite graduates who were already seventeen.

When he learned that the planet to be conquered this time was unusual—not only extraordinarily distant, but requiring the Genocide of the entire planet to complete the Coming-of-Age Assessment—a faint light suddenly began flickering again in eyes that had been dead for ten years.

To commit Genocide against an entire planet, if its population had reached a certain threshold, meant that the duration of this Coming-of-Age Assessment—

Would be especially long.

In the final image, Shane slowly descended from the sky. With his hands behind his back, he stood amid a Sea of People.

All around him were eyes filled with hatred and madness. Those countless gazes stabbed into him like sharp blades.

Yet Shane seemed utterly indifferent to them.

He looked around and spoke loudly, his tone numb and lifeless.

"Luo Star is beyond saving. In another three months, the Viltrumites will have almost finished clearing out your entire planet. If you keep resisting stubbornly, you won't even be able to preserve the seeds of your civilization!"

Amid the hatred etched into their bones, a trace of inexplicable confusion appeared.

Shane raised his right hand and opened his palm. A square Storage Chip rested quietly upon it.

"Your spirit of unity is admirable. Your warriors went to the front lines without reservation, and nearly everyone left in this refuge is among Luo Star's foremost Scientific Research Talents."

"This contains the Blueprint for an Escape Spaceship developed by another civilization that no longer exists, using all its remaining living strength in its final moments. Their technological level was close to yours, so it can perfectly match the level of your remaining production equipment."

Shane spoke quietly.

"We use the Zoned Carpet Search Genocide Tactic. These three months are your final opportunity. Preserve some seeds of civilization, and go seek a Pure Land far from Viltrum in the universe."