CHAPTER 180: SAVING AND REGROUPING

[: Daniel’s POV :]

"Hold tight," I warned.

Before either my mother or Maiya could respond, the world around us twisted, space bending like rippling water as I teleported all three of us toward the next location.

The moment we reappeared, the stench of burned soil and holy radiance slapped into my senses.

Blinding golden light clashed violently against pitch-black shadows in the distance.

Mother narrowed her eyes.

"Where’s Victor?"

"Over there," I answered.

Victor, Captain of the Silent Night, was in the center of the chaos, wrapped in an ever-shifting haze of darkness, his body flickering like living shadow.

He moved with swift, serpentine grace as he fought what looked like an entire legion of Holy Knights.

"God damn you coward bastards!"

Victor yelled as a barrage of holy spears rained down on him.

"Cowards!? You dare call us that when you hide behind that filthy darkness!?" one knight retorted.

Even as they mocked him, Victor kept dodging barely.

His movements were sharp but desperate, and every second, the knights’ assaults pressed harder.

His shadows cracked under the radiance.

I clicked my tongue.

"He won’t last long at this pace."

Without a moment’s hesitation, I stepped forward.

"Mother, Maiya, help the others. Leave Victor to me. I’ll finish this in seconds."

Their eyes widened, but they said nothing.

They trusted me and that was enough.

I teleported.

In an instant, I was standing between Victor and the incoming holy barrage.

The knights’ eyes widened.

Victor froze mid-movement.

But before they could react, I used a skill.

[: Cataclysmic Repulsion :]

A black-crimson aura erupted from my body, twisting violently before snapping outward like a tidal wave.

Their holy attacks, light spears, smiting blades, burning arrows, were reflected back at them with twice the destructive force.

*BOOOOOOOOM!*

"W-WHAT IS THIS!?"

"A-A REFLECTION!?"

"H-HOW CAN A MORTAL POSSESSED SUCH POWER!!"

Why does all of them love to say the same thing?

The knights crashed into the ground with explosive force.

Their armor cracked, their faces smeared with blood.

They weren’t dead, but they were incapable of continuing.

Victor nearly dropped to his knees.

"P-Prince!? W-What are you doing here!?"

"No time," I said firmly.

"Victor, I have full authority. Order your men to retreat. Leave everything to me."

The look in his eyes said everything, shock, confusion, disbelief.

But beneath all that...was rrust.

"I understand!" he barked immediately.

"ALL UNITS! RETREAT! NOW!"

His shadow soldiers quickly fell back, joining Mother and Maiya in the distance.

I could hear my mother giving Victor rapid instructions, but her voice faded behind me.

Now, only the broken holy knights remained.

One of them trembled, coughing blood.

"Wh-Who... are you...?"

I looked down at him.

"I have no interest in answering."

Then I raised my hand.

[: Oblivion Pulse :]

A wave of annihilation tore through the battlefield, silent yet absolute.

The air rippled and reality compressed.

And everything within range disintegrated into ash.

Thousands of enemies vanished.

Their armor, their divine blessings, their bodies were gone without a trace.

Their gates shattered like fragile glass.

But as the smoke cleared, I looked up.

There were still thousands more gates across the sky, dotting the horizon like stars of doom.

And below, countless cities burned.

I could hear their scream as the invaders ravaged the streets.

Looking at them I exhaled slowly and thought that was enough.

It was time to eliminate them around this city.

I raised my hand again.

[: Sword of Final Rule :]

A golden sword manifested in my grip, its blade etched with symbols of law none should command.

Its presence alone silenced the world.

I slashed the air.

*SHRRAAAAAK*

A sword mark appeared behind every gate and every invader across the continent.

And then I swung.

*BOOOOOOOOOOM*

The heavens split.

The earth trembled.

Every marked target, invader or gate, was cleaved cleanly in half and erased from existence.

There was no resistance, no immunity and no authority could stop it.

Within a single breath...all gates and invaders within this city had ended.

Silence settled over the ruins.

Smoke drifted across the battered city.

Cries that once echoed with despair now shifted into... disbelief.

And then, I could hear voices as I descended onto the city.

"T-That... that slash... was that...?"

"The gates...they’re all gone..."

"A-Am I dreaming...?"

A trembling old man stumbled forward, supported by his daughter.

"P-Prince Daniel...you saved all of us..."

A mother holding her newborn dropped to her knees, tears pouring down her face.

"Thank you... thank you... Thank you for saving my child..."

A soldier with a shattered breastplate saluted weakly.

"Prince Daniel...! We owe you our lives!"

More survivors gathered, injured, exhausted, burned, bloodied, and yet their eyes shined with gratitude.

"Prince Daniel!"

"Thank you!!"

"You saved our families!"

"You saved our city!"

I simply nodded at them.

"You’re safe now. Tend to your wounds and regroup. More help will arrive soon."

Little by little, the despair faded from their expressions.

Hope replaced it, fragile, but real.

Behind me, Mother and Maiya approached.

The moment they reached me, Maiya bowed deeply.

"Prince... your power... it’s beyond what we imagined."

My mother’s eyes softened, not with worry, but pride.

"Son... I knew you possessed powers beyond my imagination... but to witness it with my own eyes... It’s overwhelming."

I shrugged lightly.

"This is only the beginning. We still need to regroup with the others."

They both smiled.

In that moment, I could tell at least for Maiya that she no longer saw me as just a prince.

She saw me as the one who would lead her and the rest.

A king in the making.

I turned toward the horizon.

"Let’s go. We still have a world to save."

The world fractured into a thousand shimmering shards as my teleport activated, the fabric of space bending to my will.

Mother’s hand rested lightly on my shoulder, Maiya and Victor standing just behind me, silent, tense, and ready.

None of them spoke, yet all shared the same unspoken truth.

The moment reality snapped back together, we arrived in a battlefield soaked in smoke and blood.

The first thing I saw was Caesar, captain of the golden warriors, towering, bleeding, yet unbowed, shield raised against a horde of abyssal beasts pouring from a Gate tearing itself open behind him.

His eyes widened.

"P–Prince Daniel?! Your Majesty?! Maiya!? Victor!?*

He never expected us.

He shouldn’t have needed to.

I stepped forward.

"Stand down, Captain. I’ll handle this."

[: Devour Domain :]

A black ripple burst from me, devouring the abilities of every enemy in range.

They screeched as their powers vanished, collapsing like puppets with their strings cut.

"This is insane..." Caesar whispered.

[: Rupture of Breaker :]

Every creature sharing my level or weaker exploded into black mist, ruptured out of existence.

I walked through the falling ash and grabbed Caesar by the arm.

"Gather yourself. We’re saving the others."

He swallowed, nodded once, and followed behind us.

Space folded, and we jumped again.

We arrived atop a ruined barracks tower. Ragnar, the captain of the 12 Wings Blade, stood alone, blades shattered, one arm limp, surrounded by celestial invaders who radiated divine light.

He grinned despite the blood dripping down his chin.

"Well... if this isn’t a hallucination. Prince Daniel?"

I lifted my hand.

[: Authority Over All :]

Every being within a kilometer froze, divinity sealed, wings locked mid-beat, light extinguishing like candles in rain.

Ragnar blinked.

"I must have grown old to think that a kid like you could possessed such power"

"But it reliefs that you are our prince"

"Don’t talk like you’re going to die here Ragnar"

I strode past him.

[: Sword of Final Rule :]

A blade of pure dominion manifested, humming with the weight of a world.

One swing tore through the sky itself.

The celestial invaders evaporated, erased at their origin points.

When the last faded, I turned.

"Can you walk?"

"My Prince...I can fly."

"Good thentay close."

Mother glanced at Ragnar, nodding approvingly as he knelt before her, trembling.

Maiya, Victor and Caesar said nothing as though they were used to scenes like this by now.

I teleported us again.

The next location was a storm of collapsing magic, spells detonating, elemental forces clashing violently.

Selindra, the archmage, stood at its center, desperately stabilizing an explosion that could erase half the region.

"SELINDRA!" Mother shouted.

She barely turned. "Your Majesty?! This is not safe—"

"I’ll handle it," I said.

Time slowed as I invoked Chrono Manipulation and the raging explosion freezing mid-detonation.

Selindra gasped.

"Y-Your Highness... you stopped a supernova-class mana rupture."

"Surprise?" I said.

[: Essence Reclamation :]

I swallowed the unstable core, converting its monumental energy into strength.

The explosion vanished like a breath extinguished.

Elemental invaders lunged from the Gate behind her.

[: Thronefall :]

Every single one fell to their knees, their wills crushed under absolute dominion.

Selindra stared at me, hands trembling.

"Prince Daniel...that’s amazing!" She said.

"I appreciate your words but we have to move, so let’s go"

I reached for her.

She grabbed my hand without hesitation.

The next location was cruel with corpses of soldiers lying all over the city and groud.

Darius, commander of the Eternal Guardians, stood alone, holding the line with a shattered shield against an army of invaders.

He didn’t even look back when we teleported behind him.

"Leave. This place can’t be saved."

I stepped beside him.

"That’s why I came."

He jolted. "...Prince Daniel?!"

"Watch."

[: Anomaly Manifestation :]

My stats multiplied thousands of times as the enemies’ stats divided to nothing.

And I whispered a single word:

[: Irrefutable Order :]

"Fall."

Every invaders collapsed with their bodies shutting down, souls extinguishing and gates destabilizing.

Darius stared in quiet awe.

"My Prince...you’re truly something else"

"Glad that you said that "

I said as I raised my hand.

[: Conqueror of Authority :]

Both matters and elements obeyed me and then, all of the Gates shattered into pure fragments.

"Join the others," I told him.

Darius bowed deeply.

"As you command."

In the next location where the city was drowning in violet poison.

Isolde, captain of the daughter of rose, danced through it, cutting down foes even as her lungs filled with toxin.

Her beauty was almost ghostly beneath the haze.

She staggered when she saw me.

"P...Prince Daniel? I must be hallucinating..."

"You’re not."

I waved a hand.

[: Conqueror of Authority :]

Every toxin and poison molecule disintegrated.

Isolde collapsed to her knees, coughing.

"I had already accepted death..."

"Don’t. You still serve my mother."

Maiya knelt beside her, helping her stand.

Victor scouted the surroundings, impressed despite himself.

I grabbed Isolde’s wrist gently.

"Come. Two more."

We teleported again.

The world around Kaelen, captain of the Fangs of Herald, twisted unnaturally, reality itself warping like liquid.

Kaelen fought alone, half-phased into a different layer of existence.

When we appeared, he froze.

"...Prince Daniel?"

I nodded.

"Etay still."

I expanded my will.

[: Kingbreaker :]

The anti-divine force tore through the warped reality, stripping the invaders and the Gates of all authority, nullifying their unnatural laws.

Kaelen blinked, astonished.

"I can’t believe you’re able to solve something that I couldn’t" He smiled softly.

"Glad that I could help"

With a single stomp, I invoked Sword of Final Rule, driving the conceptual blade into the fractured dimension.

Every warped monster, every bending of reality, every overlapping Gate were erased.

"Your Highness... thank you"

"You’re one of us. I protect what’s precious to me"

Eventually, sven captains stood behind me now—bruised, battered, disbelieving.

Mother stood at my side, watching me with a mixture of pride and awe.

Maiya’s eyes glimmered. Victor remained stoic, but I felt the tension in him, admiration and respect.

I looked at all of them.

"We’re done here," I said.

"All of the Gates in this Empire had been annihilated."

Caesar exhaled shakily.

"I never thought... the Prince would be the one to save us."

Ragnar laughed weakly.

"Boy’s outclassing gods now."

Selindra stared at me like she was seeing a new star born.

Darius saluted sharply.

"My life is yours, Prince Daniel."

Isolde smiled faintly.

"You arrived like fate."

Kaelen smirked.

"And cleaned up the mess no one else could."

I breathed out.

"We move to the next continent. There are more to save."

Mother placed her hand on mine.

"Lead the way, my son."

I stepped forward as space folded once more.

And we vanished into the next war.