But what did bother him, what made his hands tighten slightly, was the pace.
Marcus had already evolved. Had entered the Second Sanctuary. Had caught the attention of an Ascender as a potential disciple.
anwhile, Moon was still level 25, still an Awakener, still hunting for his final requirents before he could even attempt his first evolution.
He was behind their group. And Moon hated being behind.
But the feeling didn't linger long.
'Sword Saint? So what.'
'Disciple of an Ascender? So what.'
'I completed the World's Flaw's inheritance.' Moon's hand tightened into a fist, 'Evolver, Surpasser, Ascender, with my talent, and class... I'll achieve all of that. And I'll go even further.'
Moon took a breath, released his fist, and prepared to rejoin his companions.
Selene and Yara had realized Moon was lagging behind and turned back with concerned expressions.
"Hey? Are you okay?" Selene asked, her perceptive eyes clearly noting his montary silence. "Why did you suddenly stop?"
Moon shook his head, a smile forming on his lips, "Nothing. I just rembered sothing insignificant. Let's keep going."
He paused, changing the topic, "Also, did you hear anything back from the people you contacted regarding S-rank beast locations?"
Selene's expression changed to sothing more serious. "Ah, yes. Actually, sothing significant happened while we were…with Yara."
She gestured for them to keep walking as she explained.
Moon hurriedly caught up as Selene began explaining, "An S-rank gate suddenly appeared in Zone C. Multiple Evolvers were imdiately dispatched to secure the area and prevent any powerful beasts from erging unchecked. After establishing a periter, they assembled an elite team, ten powerful awakeners consisting of six A-rankers and four S-rankers and sent them inside to clear it."
Moon's eyebrows rose in shock. But Selene's next words tempered his excitent with concern.
"They entered four days ago. None has co out since. The Evolvers are still maintaining the periter waiting. Worries of the entire zone being cleared began to surface too. After all, if the awakeners that entered failed…and another team isn't able to enter or not willing…once the rift breaks out…it will destroy the entire zone."
Moon nodded solemnly. It was terrifying when even First Order rifts break out, not because of the beasts inside of them, but because of the energy released that render most living things in the vicinity of hundreds of kiloter dead. "An S-rank gate? There's never been such a thing before. The highest classification I've heard of was A rank, and even those are extrely rare." Moon muttered thoughtfully.
'If I could gain access to this realm…It will help with my task!'
Selene nodded solemnly. "I know. It's unprecedented. That's why everyone is waiting anxiously for the team to erge victorious. It will be a great win for humanity, the first S-Rank portal…it's terrifying just to think about."
"Yeah, I won-"
"BREAKING NEWS!"
The announcent blared from every nearby speaker and screen, the ergency broadcast tone cutting through Moon's words midway.
"THE FIRST S-RANK PORTAL..."
Moon, Selene, and Yara all stopped walking, their attention captured by the urgent announcent. Around them, other people on the street had frozen as well, everyone turning toward the nearest screens to see what had happened.
The newsagent's face appeared on the displays, her expression grave as she prepared to deliver the news.
"THE FIRST S-RANK PORTAL HAS CLAID THE LIVES OF ALL TEN AWAKENERS WHO ENTERED IT. A HUGE LOSS TO THE UNITED TERRAN ALLIANCE, A TRAGEDY TO HUMANITY."
A collective gasp rippled through the gathered crowd.
Ten elite awakeners—six peak A-rankers and four S-rankers—all dead. An entire team of powerful Awakener combatants was wiped out.
The newsagent continued, delivering the catastrophic news:
"TENS OF BEASTS AT A-RANK ARE CURRENTLY SWARMING OUT OF THE GATE. FORTUNATELY, THE EVOLVERS MAINTAINING THE PERITER ARE DEALING WITH THEM WITHOUT SIGNIFICANT DIFFICULTY. THE AWAKENER'S ASSOCIATION HAS ONCE AGAIN SAVED THE LIVES OF THOUSANDS OF NEARBY CIVILIANS BY THEIR TICULOUS PLANNING."
She paused for a mont, receiving more information.
"TALKS ABOUT MASS EVACUATION ARE CURRENTLY BEING STUDIED BY ERGENCY MANAGENT. TO ALL AWAKENERS OF SUFFICIENT STRENGTH—PLEASE STEP FORWARD AND HELP PROTECT THE LIVES AND HOS OF MILLIONS. THE ALLIANCE NEEDS YOU."
With that, the ergency broadcast continued to replay.
Selene turned toward Moon, understanding exactly what was going through his mind.
"You are planning to join them, aren't you?"
Moon nodded without hesitation. "Yes. I have to. There's no better opportunity than this to complete my evolution task."
An S-rank gate ant S-rank beasts. Potentially dozens of them. If he could gain access to the clearance operation, he could complete his requirent of killing fifty S-rank creatures in a fraction of the ti it would take to hunt them individually across different territories.
Ring-ring!
His phone rang. Moon pulled the device from his pocket and glanced at the caller ID. His eyebrows rose slightly with recognition and mild surprise.
He'd actually been aning to call this number himself. When he'd checked his phone when arriving on earth, it appeared he'd received two calls from this contact over the span of two days while he'd been in the First Sanctuary, then nothing.
Moon swiped right, accepting the call, curious about the identity of the person calling, not many knew his phone number, "Hello?"
"Moon?" A confident, familiar voice rang from the other end.
"Yes, Kael?" Moon responded, confirming the caller's identity.
"An opportunity has risen," Kael said without preamble. "Care to join?"
"You an the S-rank gate?" Moon's smile was audible in his voice.
"Yes."
"I was planning on heading to the Awakener's Association headquarters to register myself for entry into the gate team."
"Forget about that," Kael said calmly, his tone suggesting he had better options available. "Let's et up directly at Zone C. I'll sort out the registration and clearance issues. My father's new Ascender status carries... considerable weight with the Association."
Moon's smile widened. Having connections to soone whose father had just reached the Third Sanctuary and achieved Ascender rank definitely had its advantages when it ca to cutting through bureaucratic red tape.
"Bet," Moon agreed simply, then hung up.
A text ssage arrived almost imdiately with coordinates and eting location details.
**
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