Max turned sharply, his breath hitching as his gaze locked onto a scene he would never forget for the rest of his life.
The sky—once blue, once infinite—had been torn apart.
A massive rift of pure darkness stretched across the heavens, a gaping wound in reality itself.
It wasn't just one clean break.
No.
The rupture branched outward like fractured glass, jagged veins of void extending from one end of the horizon to the other.
Revealing the darkness from the other side.
It wasn't just an unnatural phenonon.
It was as if sothing—or soone—had ripped open the very fabric of existence itself.
Max's eyes narrowed, his heartbeat steady but sharp.
"What is this?"
His voice was low, asured—but deep inside, his instincts scread.
Kate, standing nearby, her face grave, her body tense, muttered a single sentence—
"They are here."
Her tone was solemn. Heavy.
"Who?"
Kate's expression remained grave, but there was sothing else beneath her calm deanor—sothing rare.
Uncertainty.
She t Max's eyes and spoke with asured weight.
"A group of mysterious people who call themselves… Ascendants."
Max's breath hitched.
A single word.
But it echoed through his mind like a phantom.
"Ascendants."
A whisper from the ruptured sky.
A na from the depths of his past.
'The Ascendants… are coming?'
For the first ti in a long while, a faint flicker of unease surfaced within him.
He had not expected to hear that na—not like this.
The first ti he had ever heard of them was after his return from the Thorne Family.
A woman—who t him in the restaurant—had approached him.
She had handed him a letter.
An invitation.
To join their ranks.
It ntioned a team would contact him.
At the ti, Max had laughed it off.
Thinking—
Just another secret organization trying to recruit young talents.
But then…
Things changed.
On the day he left the temple, Five had also warned him.
"Never join the Ascendants."
No explanation.
No details.
Just that one warning.
And now—
Now, the sky had been torn apart.
A rift of darkness.
A wound in reality itself.
And from within that abyss…
The Ascendants had co.
Kate's sharp gaze flickered toward Max, catching the brief mont of shock on his face.
It was only an instant.
But it was there.
And for soone like Kate, that was enough.
"Do you know them?"
Her voice was calm, but beneath it, there was suspicion.
The mont she asked, everyone's attention shifted.
The leaders of the great families turned toward Max, their expressions unreadable.
Even Envoy Lucas, who had remained mostly silent, narrowed his eyes slightly.
The weight of their gazes pressed down on him, but Max remained composed.
He exhaled slowly before shifting his focus back to them.
Then, he nodded.
A single motion—and the murmurs began.
"About a month ago," Max started, his voice steady but edged with sothing unspoken, "a woman ca to with a letter."
The murmurs stilled.
His words carried weight—the kind that demanded attention.
"It was an invitation. She wanted to join the Ascendants. The letter ntioned that a team would contact soon… regarding my initiation."
Silence.
Not a single person spoke.
Even Kate's expression faltered for the first ti.
Max let out a dry chuckle, shaking his head.
"At the ti, I thought nothing of it."
His lips curled, but the smile was humorless.
"I assud they were just another group—like the many guilds trying to recruit ."
A wave of murmurs erupted through the crowd.
But this ti—it wasn't just surprise.
It was caution. Wariness. Fear.
The Ascendants.
A na few dared to speak aloud.
A force that existed only in rumors, whispers in the dark.
Yet here they were—tearing apart the sky itself.
And they had tried to recruit Max.
The air grew still.
Then, Envoy Lucas spoke.
His voice carried an authority that could not be ignored, his usual relaxed deanor completely erased, replaced by sothing cold and absolute.
"Max, you must never—never—join the Ascendants."
The weight of his words hung heavy in the air, a warning far deeper than re caution.
For the first ti, the unshakable envoy looked truly grave.
"Across all of Acaris, the Ascendants are known as a group cloaked in secrecy. No one knows their goals. No one knows if they are allies or enemies."
His voice lowered slightly, but the tension only thickened.
"But what we do know—what even the Lower Domain cannot deny—is that they have deep ties with the Nulls."
The re ntion of that na sent a shudder through many of the gathered warriors and leaders.
Even those who did not fully understand the depths of that word—
Nulls.
A force spoken of only in whispers and ancient records.
A power so unknown, so unnatural, that even the most powerful factions of the world kept their distance.
"If they are reaching out to you, Max, it is not for anything good."
Lucas's gaze locked onto Max, his expression carrying a warning that transcended words.
"And I hope they aren't here for that thing...."
He added with uncertainty in his tone.
Max exhaled, his eyes steady.
"I had no intention of joining them anyway."
His voice was calm, but his mind wasn't.
Sothing about this situation felt off.
It wasn't just a simple recruitnt attempt.
After all who would send such large numbers of people just to recruit soone?
But before anyone could react—
Kate's breath hitched.
Her eyes widened.
She turned sharply toward the crack in the sky—the rift of pure darkness still hanging over them.
And then—
"They're here."
Kate's voice was low. Almost breathless.
Max followed her stare—
And his eyes widened.
From the endless abyss of darkness, figures began to erge—hundreds of them, if not more.
They stepped through the massive tear in the sky, unbothered by the chaotic void around them.
Human.
They all looked human.
Yet—they weren't.
Sothing about them felt off, as though they existed just outside of normal perception. Their very presence warped the air, bending the world around them with an aura that was both indescribable and absolute.
They hovered before the rupture in reality, their silhouettes stark against the endless black void behind them.
Their expressions were unreadable.
Not emotionless, but rather... detached.
As if they were above everything.
Each one wore a different color, their robes and garnts unique, yet sothing about them was uniform—
Undeniable authority.
An aura of absolute power.
A presence that made even the Young Monarch's storm seem distant.
As the hundreds of Ascendants floated effortlessly in the sky, their presence looming over the area, the leaders of the four great families and the five major guilds did not hesitate.
They moved.
Envoy Lucas ascended first, his movents smooth, effortless, yet imposing. His usual calm expression remained, but his posture was firm—one that commanded respect.
Behind him, the strongest figures of the East Region followed, positioning themselves beside him, forming a wall of power that faced the unknown.
For a mont, the area beca a silent warzone.
Two forces—one shrouded in mystery, the other carrying the weight of the East's might—stood before each other, neither making the first move.
The very sky trembled between them. Experience more tales on My Virtual Library Empire
Then—
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