The Judge

The secret beneath this wilderness had been concealed by sophisticated mysticism, rendering it "nothingness" on the spiritual level, but it ultimately still existed within this physical world.

In theory, as long as the soil and rock dozens or even hundreds of meters underground were completely overturned and devastating destruction was inflicted on the most purely physical level, any space hidden beneath would have nowhere to hide.

Edwin's figure slowly rose into the air, while the wasteland and weeds beneath his feet rapidly shrank into mottled patches of color.

He stopped several hundred meters above the ground. The biting wind stirred the hem of his clothes, and the outline of the entire city of Backlund lay fully exposed before his eyes.

He extended his right hand.

At a single thought, the air around him began to churn violently.

The invisible gases seemed to have received an order from some supreme will, madly converging upon and compressing into his palm.

The density of the air rose sharply in a manner that defied natural law. The distance between molecules was forcibly reduced, and their friction produced blinding flashes of electricity.

Within an extremely small area, the pressure was raised to an inconceivable level.

Overwhelmed beyond endurance, the gas molecules began to break apart. Electrons were brutally stripped from their atomic nuclei, forming plasma composed of cations and free electrons, radiating an eerie violet-blue glow.

This unstable mass of energy leaped wildly in his palm, emitting a sizzling wail as though it might burst apart at any moment.

However, once the compression of that energy reached a certain critical point—

"Buzz."

After a hum that could not be heard by the ears yet made even the soul tremble, the violent plasma was instantly ignited.

There was no violent explosion, no shockwave that swept everything