CHAPTER 182: CALM BEFORE THE STORM

[: Daniel’s POV :]

After saving the Dwarf Continent, I barely had a moment to breathe before next teleportation began.

Well, in the end, it was me that decided to go and before we were wrapped to the next location.

Mother’s hand wrapped around my sleeve and Maiya clinging to my back like a startled kitten, and Victor cracking his knuckles as if he wanted to punch a continent next.

Saving a single world was easy, saving it repeatedly, in minutes, was something else at least for me.

But in the end, I still moved.

That was all that mattered.

And with every teleport, with every breach, with every gate I shattered, an entire continent was pulled back from the brink.

When we arrived above the Demon Throne Citadel, the sky was already burning.

A crimson sunlight bled across the clouds.

The ground quaked with shockwaves of demonic sorcery.

Thousands of invaders poured from the sky like locusts.

And standing alone at the center, towering horns, wings of molten obsidian, and a sword forged from starfire, it was the Demon King, Xerath.

He was usually funny and nice to hang out with, the kind of person you expect from a cool uncle.

Yet right now, he was practically dismembering armies by blinking.

"BY ALL THE NINE HELLS—WHO DARES—"

He stopped mid-roar.

His burning eyes widened.

"...Prince Daniel?"

I lifted my hand in greeting.

"Yo."

He stared at me as if he was hallucinating.

Mother stepped forward.

"We’re here to assist."

"Assist!?" Xerath sputtered.

"Assist?! The prince of humanity teleports into MY continent in the middle of a war and simply says yo?!?"

Behind him, Queen Lilith appeared, elegant and deadly, with Kiel behind looking worn out from battling.

"Xerath, calm yourself," she chided.

"They’re here to assist"

"Daniel!? How did you get here!? Aren’t you supposed to be at the Academy!?" Kiel, my sworn brother questioned with concern.

"Well, things change and here I am" I simply said with a smirk.

"What do you mean you’re here now!?" Xerath said in a loud tone and he was simply concerned from me.

"I wanted to say that I will handle the gates but it seems like I’m already done with it" I declared proudly.

[: Thronefall :]

All of a sudden, a shockwave spread throughout the entire continent.

It shocked Kiel and even his parents as although they weren’t affected, they could feel how powerful the shockwave is.

"What kind of absurd power is this...?" Xerath said.

On the other hand, every invader below beneath my level or to the total overall prowess were slammed into the ground.

They shrieked and every single invader had felt it and they trembled as their stats fell by 90% with their bodies twitching under Will Suppression.

But that wasn’t the end.

[: Sword of Final Rule :]

I raised the sword and with one swing, a sight that the Demon King had never seen before happened, making his jaw drop.

A conceptual scar opened the skies, erasing every kneeling invader at the level of their origin point.

It took only a single heartbeat and the screams of the invaders became silent a second later.

Even Xerath seemed afraid to breathe.

"...Prince Daniel," he whispered. "If I ever doubted your power, consider that doubt burned."

"Thanks," I replied.

"Holy shit! This is more than just unbelievable!" Kiel was shocked and also excited.

"Thank you very much, but now, we’ll need to move*

Mother, Maiya, Victor, the Dwarf Royal Family and the Demon Royal Family followed.

One continent saved.

Many more to go.

Eventually, I teleported us to the Spirit Continent and it waslike a kaleidoscope with crystal trees, floating rivers, shimmering beasts.

And yet each color was tainted by a blood bleeding from the gates.

Spirit Empress Sylvene unleashed a blizzard of shimmering illusions, her ethereal form darting gracefully between armies of shadow creatures.

Then she froze when she saw me.

"Daniel?"

Her voice trembled like windchimes.

"Short explanation," I said, already channeling mana.

"I’m here to clean up."

Maiya waved.

"Hiii Empress Sylvene!"

Sylvene blinked. "Why... why are you all casually teleporting into Spirit Continent like this is a family field trip?"

"Because it basically is," Victor muttered.

"Beats me" Xerath shrugged his shoulder off.

"Well, nice to see you again Sylvene" Lilith said.

"I never expected this to happen. One second my continent was attacked and the next thing I knew was having a field trip in each Continent" King Thrain joked.

[: Authority Over All :]

Without waiting for their discussion, a domain spread across the Spirit Continent with every invader attacks being halted.

Their powers were immidiately shut off.

Sylvene though have once seen what I was capable of, she still gasped.

"They’re... powerless...?"

I stepped forward, raised my hand, and whispered.

"Split into Half"

[: Irrefutable Order :]

The world bent to the word and the invaders bodies were split into half by the force of my order and they were unable to resist the command carved directly into their conceptual form.

Sylvene placed a hand over her mouth.

"This is unbelievable...you’re truly a force to be mess with, I’m truly glad that you’re on our side"

Now that the Spirit Continent was cleared, we moved again.

Now, it was the Dragon Continent and they were battling against beasts of gold, crimson, sapphire, and emerald battling a horde of divine-ranked invaders.

At their center floated the Dragon Empress Sylthara, her wings spanning kilometers, her roar shaking mountains.

She noticed our sudden appearance.

Then she froze.

"Melira!? Xerath!? Thrain!? Sylvene!?" Each time she called out to their names, her voice alone caused avalanches.

Mother crossed her arms.

"Surprise that we"re here?" Mother said.

Sylthara narrowed her eyes.

"I didn’t expect all of you to be here and I’m guessing that the situation in your own continent don’t allow you to do so" She said.

"Well, it’s because of my son that we’re here now to assist you" Mother explained.

"Whatever it is, I think I might need some assistance" The Dragon Empress didn’t hide her true intentions.

But I was already using my skills.

[: Anomaly Manifestation :]

My stats multiplied yet the invaders’ stats were divided.

In an instant, I outscaled every creature on the continent.

In the first place, I already outclassed every single one of them.

[: Rupture of Breaker :]

The sky lit crimson as every enemy weaker than me or equal in stats was shredded by invisible force.

There were no corpses, no screams, just purely erasure.

The dragons stared in awe.

Sylthara bowed her massive head.

"...Melira. Your child terrifies even dragons."

Mother smirked proudly.

We moved again but this time as I saw the sight of the Elf Continent burning, there was a hint of anger within me.

The Sacred Canopy, an ancient tree said to breathe life into the land, was withering under an invading army of invaders.

This was a land that...ruled by the one who had raised me when I became a slave and to see with my own eyes fules me nothing more than rage.

I could see Caelira trying her everything to protect her home.

"Hold! Protect the roots!"

Then she turned and her breath caught.

"Daniel...?"

She called out to me...and even though there was blood dripping from her lips, I stood there.

Even my mother and the rest of them remained silent as they watched my reaction.

"Shouldn’t you be at the academy!? Are you alright!? Is there any injuries on you!?" Caelira went towards me and that was the first thing she did.

Even though her land was burning, she was still concerned about me.

"I’m fine now..." I answered in a low voice.

As I stared against every single invader and gates, I believed they deserved something else.

[: Final Judgement + Oblivion Pulse + Conceptual Collapse + End of Epoch + Eternal Collapse :]

With these combination of skills, something bizzare happened throughout the entire continent.

For a moment, the crimson light that shone upon the world was blackened and everything became white and black.

As if, the colour of reality was sucked away, leaving behind nothing but death.

And at the sky above, a huge eye had been manifested, gazing upon this continent, waiting for each invaders and gates to be judged, and when the eyes closed, every single invader and gates were pulled by chains.

That’s right, chains had appeared out from the eyeball as it dragged them into its pupils, and the moment the eyeball opened once again, within its pupils, circlish sharp razors appeared like a mouth.

As all of the Invaders and spatial gates were dragged onto it, the mouth of the eyeball bite it.

It ended every single invaders and gates, severed its connections and had also erased its very concept.

They didn’t face end as the concept of end for them no longer exist as their existence within the universe and reality had been unwritten.

As soon as it ended when colour had returned, Caelira smiled as she hugged me.

"You didn’t have to worry about me and this is nothing but small for me" She comforted.

I wasn’t sad as I knew that Caelira was a strong woman and someone that’s capable of defending herself.

But I didn’t like to see her bleed.

But eventually, we teleported again.

We teleported into the Demi-Human Continent and Kaelgor, King of the demi human, was fighting against a chimera when we appeared.

He snapped the creature’s neck, tossed it aside, and shouted.

"WHO DARES INFILTRATE—oh gods, it’s you guys."

He stared at me as if I were a hallucination.

"Why are you here!?"

"I’m cleaning," I answered.

"Cleaning!? Does this looks like some house chores to you my dear prince!?" Kaelgor said.

"Dad! Relax a bit would you" Rika who was beside him said.

Kaelgor looked around.

"Well, I’m just a bit surprise that we have visitors"

Before he could say another word, I began cleaning the entire continent.

[: Chrono Manipulation :]

I slowed time around the invaders.

Then I cleaved through them with Sword of Final Rule, each strike severing their lives.

When time resumed they fell like broken puppets.

Kaelgor howled a laugh.

"My prince... you fight like a god!"

"Thanks... I think?" I muttered.

Soon, all Kings, Queens, Emperors, and Empresses gathered with us at the Human Continent.

The sky above us churned.

Gates appeared endlessly.

But no invaders emerged.

Xerath growled, pacing. "No matter how many gates the boy clears, they keep appearing."

Kaelgor crossed his arms. "This is unnatural."

Sylthara narrowed her gaze.

"This is like the calm before a storm."

Even Kiel looked pale.

"Daniel... got any bright ideas?"

Actually...I do.

But I didn’t like it.

"They’re regrouping," I said.

"Gathering forces. They didn’t expect us to resist so completely."

Mother placed a hand on my shoulder.

"I believe my son is right."

"There’s no way those bastards would just remain silent"

"Then what do we dO?" Rika asked.

I sighed.

"Destroying these is meaningless. They’ll just spawn again until we kill their true source."

Caelira spoke softly.

"Then this is a war beyond mortal scale."

Queen Lilith suddenly pointed up.

"Wait! What’s happening!? Look!"

"What the hell is this..." Xerath muttered in disbelief.

The gates...were somehow shattering on their own.

This is weird.

’System, talk to me. What’s happening?’

[: The Invaders have realized mob armies are useless. They are deploying elite units :]

My blood ran cold.

’You mean... Apostles?’

[: Correct. And their ’Lords’ may attempt descent into them :]

’System... you’re making my anxiety multiply.’

[: Anxiety is a stat you lack :]

’...Did you just insult me?’

[: Statistical observation :]

Mother glanced at me. "Son?"

"Nothing, just thinking about something."

’System, what do you mean by descent?’

[: It’s exactly as it sounds. A Sovereign or any Beings could descent onto lower beings with a certain price to be paid :]

’And I guess that you can’t tell me about this price?’

[: That’s right but regardless, victory is still within your hands :]

’You sure?’

[: Even if you knew everything, it would not change the outcome. Because in the end, you’d win :]

’...That’s oddly comforting.’

[: That’s why I’m here for you :]

’System, are you developing emotions?’

[: Error. Reformatting emotional suspicion :]

I snorted a laugh.

I raised my gaze toward the sky.

Whatever comes next... they’ll face the same fate as every invader before.