Chapter 113: Leaving the Front Line...
A heavy, suffocating silence filled the command tent. The lingering scent of burnt Void ash and ozone was like a reminder of the S-Rank assassins that had just appeared in the centre of their sanctuary.
Zen gently lowered Maya onto the edge of the cot, ensuring she was sitting comfortably before turning to face the rest of the room.
He stood directly before her, keeping a comforting hand on her shoulder. The heat of his Low A-Rank core seeped through her thin clothes, instantly soothing her lingering tremors.
Valeria’s broadsword slowly rested against the floor, though her hands remained on the hilt. Her crimson eyes darted from the dissolving remains of the monsters to Maya.
"What do you mean, Zen?" Valeria asked in a low voice. "We just held the perimeter. The horde is dead. We can protect you here."
"You didn’t protect me, Valeria," Zen said in an ice-cold tone. "You were three hundred yards away, fighting a distraction. If Lyra hadn’t cast the Absolute Void ward, Maya would be dead. And if Maya dies..."
He didn’t have to finish the sentence.
Aurelia stepped forward with a mix of terror and frustration in her amber eyes. "Then we move you to the Crown Domain! I will lock down the entire inner palace. I will double the guards, seal the gates, and personally verify every drop of water that enters the room. You will be safe there, Zen. I can control the environment."
"You control nothing, Aurelia," Zen countered.
He waved his hand, and thanks to Nyx’s tech, which he can now control, a blue holographic display of the continent materialised in the air, glowing with violent red tears.
"Look at the data," Zen commanded. "The moment I siphoned Lyra’s Aether fragment, the global seal degraded by fourteen point two per cent. The planetary anchor is failing. The earth is literally bleeding."
He pointed to the coordinates of the command tent on the map.
"The S-Rank assassins didn’t walk through your perimeter. They spawned directly at the coordinates of the broken seal because the local space could no longer hold the dimension together. If the five of us remain in one place, our combined mana signatures act as a massive beacon for the Void. We are practically inviting the singularity to tear a hole right through us."
Selene dropped to her knees, her silver robes stained with mud. She reached out, her hands trembling as she looked up at him with wide, desperate eyes. "Then let us surrender our fragments now! Zen, please. If you reclaim all five pieces of your soul, you will be a god again. You can seal the Void permanently."
"If I absorb another fragment right now, the local space will violently implode," Zen said, shooting her down without hesitation. "My core is stabilised at Low A-Rank, but the physical world cannot handle the sudden shift in gravity and spatial pressure. I would be an Emperor of a dead planet."
Lyra, who had remained quiet near the edge of the table, smoothed her dress. Her violet eyes were clear, processing the data with her usual cold logic.
"The Emperor’s calculation is correct," Lyra stated softly. "The Anchor Paradox dictates that subsequent extractions must be met with equal spatial stabilisation. We cannot rush the reclamation. But... what is the alternative?"
"I am leaving the front lines," Zen announced. "And I am returning to civil society. I will resume my identity as the low-rank student of Ares Academy."
"Absolutely not!" Aurelia shrieked, her regal composure shattering completely.
She took a step toward him, her hands clawing the air as if trying to physically hold him in place. "I will not let you go back to that run-down school! You are the Emperor! You belong at the head of the empire, beside me! I will not let you live like a commoner while some D-Rank trash treats you like an underdog!"
"I am not asking for your permission, Aurelia," Zen’s voice dropped an octave.
The weight of his First Mortal Ruler’s authority flooded the room, instantly silencing the Empress.
"I’ve been thinking about a workaround. To stabilise the Void degradation, I must physically remove Void energy from the world. And to do that, I’ll have to travel from domain to domain, entering Fracture Zones and closing each void dungeon manually."
"But if you enter those dungeons as the Emperor, the Void will lock onto your signature instantly," Nyx noted. "The Singularity is keyed to your original soul. The moment you release your full power, the seal will rupture."
"Which is why I won’t be using it," Zen said. "I will enter them under a D-Rank cover. The ’Ghost Scrapper’ persona. If I clear them as a low-rank student streaming for the public, it keeps the high council and the media off my back. They’ll just see an eccentric student, not the First Mortal Ruler."
"A D-Rank cover?" Valeria stepped forward, tightening her hand around the hilt of her broadsword. "Are you insane? You’ll be completely defenceless! If you go back to that academy, I’m coming with you. I won’t let you out of my sight."
"You are the Vanguard of the Ares Domain, Valeria. If you walk into the academy in your official capacity, my cover is blown in seconds," Zen said firmly. "None of you can follow me. Your S-Rank signatures are too conspicuous."
"I don’t care about the cover!" Valeria protested, her chest heaving as she glared at him with desperate possessiveness. "Then I’ll follow you as Val. We’ve done this before."
"If she’s going, then I’m also going!" Aurelia snapped with jealousy flashing in her amber eyes. "I will not let a crude vanguard stay close to you while I am relegated to managing logistics from a distance!"
"I... I can transfer as a Saintess-in-training!" Selene added quickly, her hands trembling as she clutched her silver staff. "I must be by your side to purify your core, Zen!"
"Silence," Zen commanded. His aura filled the room again, instantly shutting them all down. "None of you are going. That is an imperial decree. You will remain here and hold the perimeter."
Valeria flinched as the weight of his command forced her to yield. Her crimson eyes flared with a mix of submissive frustration and possessive fury, and she crossed her arms, turning her face away in silent rebellion.
The other Goddesses bowed their heads in tense, reluctant submission, though their minds were already racing with desperate counter-plots.
Zen turned to Nyx. "I need a suppression device. Something that can compress my Low A-Rank core without triggering the academy’s sensors."
Nyx smirked, her purple eyes flashing. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a simple, matte-black iron ring.
"I figured you’d ask," Nyx said. "I forged this logic-suppression ring with Lyra’s help. It uses shadow and Aether runes to compress your mana signature down to a weak D-Rank. It’s completely passive... no sensor on the continent will detect the bypass unless you actively break the seal."
Zen took the ring, slipping it onto his finger.
Instantly, the heavy, oppressive indigo aura around him vanished. The crushing pressure in the tent lifted, and his presence faded until he seemed like nothing more than a quiet, talented student.
"Perfect," Zen murmured. He looked at Maya, who was holding her staff, watching him quietly. "We leave for the Ares Academy tomorrow morning."
Selene looked as though she was about to cry, her fingers digging into the dirt floor. "Emperor... please don’t leave us behind. Let us serve you."
"Your service is to hold the perimeter here," Zen replied. "Ensure the Abyssal Trench does not expand. I will handle the dungeons."
Without another word, Zen took Maya’s hand and strode out of the ruined pavilion to prepare for their departure.
The moment he was gone, the atmosphere in the command tent shifted.
The Goddesses’ submissive expressions vanished instantly. They didn’t look or even speak to each other. The temporary truce that had held them together during the battle dissolved into a tense, icy silence.
Valeria was the first to leave, storming out of the tent without a word.
In her mind, a single, obsessive thought burned: He thinks he can order me around. I’m the Vanguard. I’ll put on my disguise and return to the academy as ’Val’. I’ll be beside him, whether he likes it or not.
Aurelia watched her go with a look of supreme aristocratic disdain before turning toward the opposite exit. ’Let the brute play soldier,’ the Empress thought, her fingers scrolling through her private communication channels. I will buy the academy’s board of directors by noon, register as ’Aria,’ an elite transfer student, and make myself the shadow advisor of the Student Council. I’ll control his entire school life from the top.
Selene rose from her knees, her silver eyes glowing with a quiet, manic intensity.
She walked out of the tent, clutching her silver staff. ’He needs purification. He needs my holy light to keep him safe from that healer girl. I will transfer as ’Selena,’ a Saintess-in-training, and set up a healing club on campus. I will build him a private chapel.’
Lyra watched them leave without a world. She smoothed her dress and murmured to herself: The Anchor Paradox dictates that Zen’s spatial coordinates must remain stable. The most optimal way to ensure this is close proximity. I will register as ’Lyna,’ a spatial scholar from the Aether Domain. I will sit behind him in every class.
Only Nyx remained in the shadows of the empty tent. She giggled softly, her fingers flying across her tablet as she bypassed the Ares Academy’s main security databases. ’They all think they’re so clever,’ Nyx purred. ’I’ll register myself as ’Nora’ from the Omni Domain and take a job as the student assistant in the security room. I’ll control the cameras, monitor his streams, and auto-ban anyone who tries to get close to him. He belongs to me.
Unbeknownst to each other, the five S-Rank Goddesses had all come to the exact same conclusion.
They were no longer coordinating; they were competing, secretly preparing a massive schoolwide trap for their Emperor.