Chapter 101
Geneva walked slowly, her steps heavy. Even her usual professional demeanor had crumbled, leaving a flicker of hesitation in her eyes.
She reached tremblingly for the door but seemed unable to summon the strength to open it.
Still, in the end, she twisted the knob and stepped inside.
“What’s wrong, Geneva?”
Inside, Rolf sat in his business chair, studying a set of files with a thoughtful frown.
“Sir,” Geneva began. Though her face appeared composed, her hand trembled violently. “Eryke is dead.”
Rolf froze, his eyes still fixed on the paper in front of him. For a long moment, he didn’t move at all. Then, he took a deep, steadying breath.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. The gate has already opened,” Geneva replied. “An anomaly gate only opens when there’s no Awakener inside.”
“I… I see.” Rolf’s voice was hoarse, and his eyes were bloodshot.
His gaze remained locked on the paperwork.
With trembling hands, he reached for his pen, signed the final document, then slowly stood, his legs unsteady.
“Where are you going?” Geneva asked, watching the man who had always seemed as solid as steel now appear hollow, like a shell of himself.
“To plead guilty.”
He left those words behind as he walked out.
Only silence remained.
Geneva stood still, her eyes drifting to the desk cluttered with files.
“Father,” she whispered.
A single tear slipped down her cheek.
***
The world had already descended into chaos.
Once news of Eryke’s confirmed death spread, all hell broke loose.
The President appeared on stage, delivering the announcement with a heavy heart. He offered his condolences and swore vengeance on those responsible.
Meanwhile, in a luxurious mansion, a man’s laughter echoed through the halls:
“Haha, that bastard is dead. Good, good.” He sipped his beer with some walnuts at the table.
“Master, wouldn’t it be more trouble now that the SSS-Rank Awakener has died?”
“No, you fool. Although they are making an outrage out of it, in the end, the living are more valuable than the dead. They will find a scapegoat, but they will not kill the son of an S-Rank Awakener.” The Water Emperor was clearly in a good mood as he sipped his beer with a wider smile.
“That would be…”
“The world works on power. If you have power, then everything will align with you. If you do not have power, then you are nothing more than a speck of dust that they will crush at will. Do you understand now?”
“I-I understand.”
“If that SSS-Rank Awakener had come out of the gate, then it might have been the end of my son, and I myself would have gotten into trouble. But now, nobody can do anything.”
***
A spark of light streaked across the sky.
A curious child pointed upward, tugging at his mother’s sleeve.
“Mom, look!”
“What is it, my child?” she asked, offering a sweet but tired smile. Then she followed his gaze—and her eyes widened in shock.
“What’s that?”
“Is it a bird?”
“No… it’s a man.”
People across the city turned their eyes to the sky. The spark grew larger and brighter until the figure of a man slowly came into view, his descent gradually slowing.
He was a towering, muscular figure, seven feet tall, with spiky golden hair.
He wore only a pair of shorts and a white vest.
Some people recognized him instantly.
“It’s the SSS-Rank Awakener!” someone cried out, their voice trembling with fanaticism.
“The Lord of Light!”
“Kya! He’s my idol!”
“The first SSS-Rank Awakener in the world, the very hope that ignited our nation to fight back!”
Tears streamed down faces as people dropped to their knees, overwhelmed.
Others snapped photos, voices choked with emotion.
Of course, not everyone reacted.
Some continued with their daily routines, indifferent. But for the die-hard fans, this was a miracle.
As the Lord of Light touched down, his golden hair glinting in the sun, a team of professionals rushed forward to greet him with rigid formality.
He spoke in a cold, commanding tone:
“Tell me everything. How did he die? Damn it, an SSS-Rank Awakener is dead, I want every last one of those responsible to pay. We’ll make an example out of them.”
His voice carried killing intent: sharp, undeniable, and brimming with power.
“Yes, sir.” The people bowed quickly and scattered, rushing to begin their investigation.
Once they were gone, the Lord of Light stood silently, lost in thought.
“There are rumors that Russia already has another SSS-Rank Awakener. With the onset of the Second Awakening, the global balance of power is shifting… and if our own Awakeners begin turning on each other, things will spiral fast.”
He clenched his fist. A blinding light burst from it.
“I swear, I’ll kill every last one of them,” he snarled.
The chaos stirred beneath the surface, quietly brewing in a once-peaceful world. With the Second Awakening, power had already begun to shift. This was merely the calm before the storm.
But no one, not a single soul, bothered to check inside the gate.
Inside the gate, the world was already in turmoil.
Everything had been utterly devastated, with not a single patch of land untouched. Countless serpents slithered across the cracked earth, and fissures appeared in the fabric of space, threatening to tear it apart.
Above it all, Leviathan’s face still loomed in the clouds, its roar filled with seething rage.
“I have sacrificed so much for this,” it bellowed in rage.
“But where did that human go?”
“Where did he go?”
The voice echoed through the chaos, heavy with helplessness.
At this moment, Eryke was truly no more in this world!
But instead, in another world~
“Sigh, the sky is truly beautiful,” Eryke mumbled, arms folded behind his head as he lay on the ground, his pupils reflecting the twinkling stars in the sky.
Fascinating him.
He took a moment to breathe the fresh air.
It wasn’t like the polluted air of modern times.
Refreshing and mind-calming.
He felt his mind calm down considerably.
“I wonder how long I should stay in this Martial World for,” he mumbled with a distant gaze.