Chapter 139: The Dark Order
It started with one officer.
A young man stumbled through the tower’s entrance, green-tinged face slick with rain, his legs buckling beneath him. Two more followed. Then five. Then twelve.
They collapsed in the reception area — Neophytes and Early Core Realm officers who’d been stationed outside, now retching, trembling, eyes unfocused. Green veins spread visibly beneath the skin of their necks and forearms, branching like roots.
The healers in the tower — three of them, Mid Core Realm at best — rushed forward. They pressed hands to the officers’ skin, chanted healing spells, pumped restoration mana into their bodies.
Nothing worked.
The green veins kept spreading. The officers kept deteriorating. One of the healers looked up with a pale face.
"I can’t find a cure. I can’t even identify what this is — it’s not reacting to any standard poison cleansing. It’s not a normal toxin. It might be a virus, but none of the known mana-viruses match these symptoms."
More poisoned people came in. Civilians this time — a family dragged in by a Task Force officer, two children among them, all of them green-veined and gasping. Then another group. Then another.
The communication device on the reception desk started ringing. Hospitals across the city, reporting the same thing. Civilians collapsing in the streets. No known cure. No known treatment. The green-veined victims filling emergency wards faster than healers could process them.
The officer behind the desk finally stopped looking at Lucian with contempt. His face was grey now.
Iris stepped forward, her dark hair pulled back, her expression focused. "Why don’t we get a sample of the rain and check for a cure? Ryan and I could probably analyze it."
Ryan nodded, pushing his glasses up. "We could probably do it. The rain was definitely engineered by somebody — this level of sophistication doesn’t occur naturally. And it seems to also agitate the beasts, driving them to attack the city in a coordinated horde like this." He paused, thinking. "This was likely a planned operation. The poison seems to take longer to affect people with higher cultivation — their mana actively resists it to some degree — but civilians who were affected are probably already dying. And we’re not sure whether it’s even a virus or a poison."
Iris added, "Right. It seems more like a plague."
Lucian crossed his arms. "Who are the rogue awakeners outside?"
The officer swallowed. "They call themselves the Dark Order. A terrorist organization that’s been active for about two years. They target government facilities, weapon caches, and research installations. Mostly small-scale operations until now."
Liang Feng spoke from the back of the group, her arms folded. "They’re likely the ones behind the attack on the city. And probably the ones behind the poisoned rain."
Arthur’s eyes narrowed. "Why don’t we capture one of them and interrogate them?"
Sarah Mitchell of American Apex stepped forward, arms crossed, her scarred face unreadable. "It’s a good idea."
The words barely left her mouth before the tower’s main entrance exploded inward.
CRASH.
Multiple figures surged through the shattered doorway — Late Core Realm and Peak Core Realm cultivators, wearing black masks marked with a white handprint. They moved with precision, spreading through the reception area in a coordinated assault pattern.
They started killing.
An officer near the entrance took a blade through the chest — shluk — and dropped. Another was decapitated by a wind slash before he could raise his hands. A third was impaled against the wall by an earth spike.
The remaining officers drew weapons and fought back. Mana flashed. Bam. Crack. Boom. Blood sprayed across the ancient stone floor.
Arthur shoved the nearest students backward. "Anyone at Early Core Realm or below, or anyone with a low mana reserve — find a safe place and hide! Now!"
Students scattered. Rose grabbed Nadia’s arm and pulled her toward a side corridor. Mickey and Carlos ran for the stairs. Julian was already gone.
Arthur turned back to the officer at the reception desk. The man was crouched behind the desk, face white, hands shaking.
"What do you think is valuable enough for them to stage this level of attack on New Geneva?"
The officer’s voice cracked. "Th-there are a lot of valuable things in the tower. S-Rank weapons. A few Special Grade weapons. The Silent Star Pool — but I don’t think they can take the whole pool away—"
Wei Chen grabbed the officer by the collar and yanked him forward. "Think faster, you moron."
The officer stammered. "Th-there are even greater treasures on the ninth floor of the tower. Especially the treasure that’s rumored to be one of the most dangerous weapons on Earth." His voice dropped to a whisper. "It’s rumored to be a weapon that can grant the powers of a God."
Lucian stared at him. "A god. What a joke."
One of the Late Core Realm rogues broke through the officer defensive line and lunged toward the group. Wei Chen drew his blade in a single fluid motion and slashed forward. Shiiiing. The man was launched backward, crashing through a stone pillar — crack — and sliding to a stop, unconscious.
Clara stepped forward, her silver hair swaying, her slit-pupil eyes fixed on the ninth floor staircase. "Then the goal is simple. Find a cure to the disease, plague, virus, poison, or whatever it is. Then stop the bad guys from reaching the ninth floor."
Arthur nodded. "Then we better act fast."
Lucian turned away. "Count me out."
A hand caught his wrist.
Clara. She looked up at him with a soft expression and a sweet smile.
"Come on, Lucian. I’m sure you don’t care about anyone, but at least do it for my sake."
Then she put on a baby-cute expression — pouted lips, wide eyes, head tilted slightly.
She leaned close and whispered into his ear: "If you do it, you get to have a threesome."
Lucian’s eyes widened.
He nodded like an idiot.
Arthur looked between them with a flat expression.
"Alright." Arthur clapped his hands once. "Clara, Wei Chen, Lucian, Bruno, Liang Feng, and Ryu — you go and inform the Grand Core Masters about the poison. You guys have the highest mana reserves in the group. Move fast, don’t engage unless necessary."
He turned to the second group. "Ryan, Iris, Sarah, Jake Vanguard, Bao Lei, and Ethan — find a cure for this whatever it is. Work together."
He looked at the remaining students — Mickey, Carlos, Rose, Nadia, Amira, the others.
"Myself and the rest will stay here and guard this place along with the officers. Is that taken?"
Nobody argued.
Clara turned to Rose with a small smile. "Damn, your brother is so good at this."
Rose smiled back. "I guess he does have the qualities of a leader."
The three teams separated.