The entire ground complex collapsed into rubble in an instant. The two of them cleared the way ahead for Emma, leaving nothing but scorched earth in their wake. Her Gravicar hovered steadily behind them. From her seat, Emma watched the live surveillance feed Corvin had pulled up for her. On the screen, the Violet Obsidian Clan's therians were in chaos—panicking, scattering, trying to flee for their lives. Emma had already told Thero and Jimmy to destroy property, not people. After all, those survivors would soon be sent to the outer battlefield as free labor against the Chitinids. Killing them would just be a waste. One after another, these therians shifted into their serpent forms, slithering frantically toward the clan's central compound. The sheer number of snakes made Emma's skin crawl. Then came a sharp hiss. A massive serpent—over 300 feet long—shot into the air, lightning flickering across its scales. It looked terrifying. Edric's brows furrowed the moment he saw it. "Thalion. Why is he here?" Emma didn't recognize the creature, but the air around it pulsed with a terrifying Rank 10 aura. "That thing's Rank 10?" she asked. Silas' voice came through, cool and disdainful. "An artificially accelerated Rank 10. The same as that Sulien we saw at the Interstellar Hunter Alliance last time." He gave a humorless laugh. "I should've known. The Violet Obsidians will do anything to regain their former glory—even torture their own kind. They've turned that cruelty inward." On the screen, Thalion looked feral, almost deranged. Lightning crackled as he launched himself at Jimmy with suicidal abandon. No tactics. No defense. Just madness. "There's something wrong with him," Emma said softly. The instant Thalion collided with Jimmy, the beast was swatted down with a single claw. A thunderous boom followed. The impact carved a crater deep into the ground. "His mental power has collapsed," Silas explained calmly. "He's about to self-destruct." Edric's expression darkened. "He's a failed experiment. The last time I saw Thalion was two months ago on Duskora. He was only Rank 7 then." Corvin's expression tightened. "They forced a Rank 7 therian to ascend to Rank 10? The clan leaders have lost their minds." Emma frowned, trying to follow. "What does 'artificially accelerated' mean?" Silas walked over, gently moving Coalball aside before crouching beside her. His tone softened. "It started with the Chitinids," he said. "They found a way to artificially trigger evolution on the outer battlefield. Later, some therians tried the same—when they were desperate to survive. "The process can raise a therian's rank in a very short time. But the backlash is brutal. Most can't endure it—their mental power collapses, and they explode on the spot. "Even if they survive, they'll never advance again. The strength they gain isn't real—it's unstable. Against a true equal, they're easily crushed. "The method spread through the Empire for a while, but no one dared try it anymore. The cost was too high." He paused, his eyes darkening. "But some clans still wanted power at any price. They started capturing therians for experiments, trying to find a way to enhance them without the backlash. "The Empire's leaders eventually intervened. They wiped out several clans over it. Since then, no one's dared to experiment on other therians…" His lips curled into a grim smile. "But they wouldn't give up. Since they couldn't capture other therians, they started experimenting on their own." Corvin nodded. "The Empire turns a blind eye when it's the clans' own affairs, Ms. Tibarn. But after all these years, no one's ever found a safe way. That's why people abandoned the practice." Edric's jaw tightened as he looked at what was left of Thalion—a pit of blood and fragments. "The Violet Obsidians never stopped," he said bitterly. "Their fertility makes them reckless. They've always had more bodies to spare."When I left the clan, they hadn't succeeded yet. I never thought that in just a few years, they'd manage to create two Rank 10s." He didn't tell Emma that he had fled because he'd nearly become one of their test subjects. Silas chuckled coldly and pointed at the monitor. "Who said there were only two? Look—there are more coming out." Emma's stomach turned. "Such a waste," Silas added, almost casually. "If only their mental powers hadn't collapsed. They could've been sent to the battlefield instead." Beside him, Coalball bobbed his head in agreement. Even though those artificially evolved Rank 10s weren't as strong as the real ones, the moment their mental power collapsed, their explosions could still wipe out entire swarms of Rank 7 and Rank 8 Chitinids. Dying here, for nothing, was just a pointless, miserable waste.