Ascenders Rift

As Alan, Nelly, Angeline, and Cline entered the MSS to begin their session of accelerated training; the day had slowly climbed towards its peak hours as the night had already fallen. Now, Joe and the others had gathered in a living room; they sat around a sofa while speaking about various things as the TV showed a popular fantasy fiction movie.

It was a scene of a world under attack by an unparalleled demon god, but he was currently fighting a fierce battle against a hero and his party. The demon god was strong, but the hero party was well prepared to clash against his ultimate power with the use of holy weapons.

Joe looked at the show with bright eyes as if he envisioned himself as the protagonist, his fat figure superimposing with the form of the fictional character causing him to smile as he spoke, "That's what I'll look like when I save the world..."

When Joe said this, Breya, who was watching the movie with bored eyes, showed a surprised look before she glanced at him smugly from the corner of her eyes. She raised her slender legs and hugged them with her arms, hiding her face between them as she created an alluring posture. If one looked at her now hidden face, they would see that she had a sneering look as if she knew how this movie ended.

Much like her, Rick, who was seated in a different sofa drinking tea as he read the news on a tablet, glanced at Joe and smirked.

Emilia, didn't seem to know what was going on; she only smiled and cheered him on, "Brother, I'm sure you will be just as good, if not better than he is..."

"Haha, that's right, Evan can do what he wants, but I'll definitely rise to be the greatest in the end!" Joe said a bit more excited than before, forgetting that he might even be deployed as the lead.

As if his call summoned the enemy, a calm voiced sounded from the direction of the hallway, "Oh, that's good, Fatty, but you might just need to be careful so that you don't end up like that hero."

When Joe heard this, his face changed as he shouted while pointing on the screen, "What are you saying, Evan? Can't you see that he's defeating the demon?"

As if he didn't hear those words, Evan casually made his way into the room and sat within the nearby kitchen as he replied, "I think it should just about be time; why not check out your hero now?"

Upon listening to Evan's words, Joe rolled his eyes and stared at the TV; there, he saw that the hero was the only one left standing in his party as everyone else had fallen.

The hero's eyes ran with tears as he raised his sword and said a classic line calling upon the power of friendship. Soon, the sword's light shone upon the earth, as he made a heroic shout and slashed a beam towards the demon, but right at this very moment, the demon didn't show fear, but excitement.

Instantly, countless black lights appeared from everywhere, impaling the hero from all angles. The demon god then looked at the dying hero and spoke a few resonant words, "Even if you borrow the power of few, I control the collective sin of many, your battle ended the very moment it started..."

Joe and Emilia seeing this result was shocked, as Joe's face turned dark, he turned and glanced at Breya who was still in her tempting posture but soon noticed that she was trembling.

As if she couldn't bear it, a wave of laughter sounded from her, causing Joe to felt embarrassed; he clicked his teeth and spoke, "Well, it's not like he's me, I'll never end up like that, ever!"

"Brother, don't worry, they're only teasing you," Emilia said as she patted Joe's shoulder.

While Emilia consoled Joe, Evan, who heard his words, showed an in-depth look as if he remembered a similar scene. The expression made by Joe when he fought against the Orc Emperor.

Evan shook his head, removing his bad memories, he turned and noticed that Layla was staring at her phone. As he walked over to her, she didn't even notice his presence, he leaned his head to see the screen and saw that it's the caller ID Father.

Evan sighed as he saw her somewhat distant look, he used a finger to pinch her nose, causing her to jump in shock before she cursed, "Ouch! Evan! Why did you pinch my nose? It hurts, you know!"

Layla said with a cute look on her face, her nose tip now had a trace of red, Evan smiled seeing that before he turned away and spoke, "No reason, I only wanted to torment the princess..."

Layla hearing this soon had watery eyes as if she was about to break down mentally, she looked at him and spoke, "Is this how you're going to treat me from now? Like a tool to be bullied as you wish?"

Evan seeing this change, knew full well that it was one of her ploys; he wasn't going to fall for it after experiencing her antics for years. He smirked and spoke, "That's right, from this moment, you are my slave..."

Layla hearing his words knew he didn't buy her fake tears, she gripped her slender fists tightly and glared at him before she snorted and replied while walking over to Emilia and the others, "Hmph! I'll pay you back for this later..."

Evan seeing this smiled, he didn't care about the payback, all he wanted to see was her not looking at that phone. He was about to head over and join her, but suddenly, the TV show changed as a big line of text saying 'Breaking News' appeared.

"This... what's going on?" Joe asked in shock.

Rick, Breya and Emilia also looked on the screen with surprise on their faces, Evan looked on in silence as he knitted his brows.

At this time, a female reporter had appeared on the screen with a grieving look as she spoke in a sad tone, "It's with great sadness I come before you all, to close off the day with a tragic event. It has been recently confirmed that King Erickson III, of our Morning Star Empire, has passed away in bed. It's said that he had recently been suffering from an unknown illness, and even with the best doctors at his side, there was simply no way to actively treat it. Sources say that about yesterday afternoon, the illness had suddenly seen a spike in activity. After fighting a harsh battle with the disease, the king had finally succumbed at 12:15 am. We are all saddened by the loss of this great man and would love to offer a moment of silence for his passing."

When the female reporter said this, she made a slight bow to the camera doing a noble salute. Joe and the others looked at this in surprise, as they did not think something like this could happen out of the blue.

As they promptly made a similar salute, their faces turned pale as they recalled yesterday's discussion about the palace and its conspiracy, they turned to look at Rick and notice that his usually calm face was now one of anger and hatred. He looked at the TV with cold eyes as the words his father said resounded at the depths of his mind.

"Ivan... I want you to remember these words, no matter what you see or hear in the future, always remember to act with the utmost care. For there are eyes that not only exists in these walls but the world itself. You must also know that where there are eyes, there are naturally arms…" The voice of the king said as it continuously sounded in his mind.

Rick's hands clenched as he said nothing, his now reddish eyes running with streams of tears. Evan looked at this and sighed as he thought to himself, 'So, here we have yet another butterfly effect, to think they went ahead and killed him even earlier than the last time.'

"This is horrible; if it's like this, then the palace is no different from a hell ground. If Rick were to dare and return..." Joe muttered, not finishing his statement as his eyes shifted back to the screen.

Emilia, who heard his words, couldn't help but lower her head in silence, she glanced at Rick with a thoughtful look on her face as she gripped her palms tightly.

Breya looked at the screen as she pondered, 'We were right to change up our approach, with the palace now fallen, they can be a bit more open in the way they act.'

As everyone pondered to themselves, the reporter finally returned to normal posture, as she spoke, "Thank you all for joining us in sending off the soul of his majesty. We hope that wherever his soul rests will be a place of eternal peace. Despite this recent bit of bad news, however, as the saying goes, all clouds have a silver lining. We have finally heard an official appointment to the next king of our empire, and the Crowned Prince Elumar shall rise to the throne in the not too distant future."

Rick, hearing this suddenly rose to his feet in anger, he shouted, "That bastard!"

He gritted his teeth in anger showing a look of rage he had never shown before; everyone seeing his look where alarmed except for Evan.

Rick seeing how everyone was looking at him, tried to calm his state of mind but after hearing this news he couldn't suppress it, he turned around and left the room while speaking, "I need some time to clear my head, please continue without me."

Not long after, Rick left the room leaving behind Evan and the others, Joe glanced at Evan and spoke, "Evan, is he going to be alright...?"

Evan, hearing this shook his head and replied, "Although he is a strong and prideful fellow, he is still a human. He will still feel when his parents die, and it will hurt even more so when it was done because of the act of betrayal. He might not be the same as he once was, but I am sure that he'll be able to overcome it."

Though Evan said this, he was only basing it on his previous memories. He didn't know if the last Rick had met with his father before he passed on, causing his personality to take on a darker and colder tone.

This event could have also not been prevented; even with his current strength Evan wasn't foolish enough to think that he could raid the palace to rescue the king. Modern weapons weren't to be taken lightly, especially those of this world's standard. To make things even more troubling was the influence of RADA itself in the palace. He didn't know if any special forces belonging to the RADA group were lying in wait in the castle.

As he heard Evan's words, Joe shook his head, he was about to watch the TV, but suddenly, Emilia stood up and spoke, "I... I want to go out for a little bit, I'll come back soon."

When Emilia said this, she didn't wait on anyone's reply as she rapidly went out of the room. Joe seeing this had a dark look in his eyes, he wanted to do something, but after thinking for a bit, he didn't.

He knew that right now, the best thing that could probably heal that guy's mind is the sight of the thing he cares about the most. Despite not liking him, Joe being a businessman's son knew how to read the air, he was wise enough to know when he should compromise for the sake of a broader picture.

Evan seeing this smiled as he thought, 'Truly, a hero's consciousness...'

While everyone had their thoughts, the news reporter began to speak again, "Also, more and more powers have confirmed their attendance at the World Briefing conference, which shall be carried out at the Isle of Harmony. The meeting set to commence at early noon tomorrow, and all citizens are expected to watch its proceedings; we will be streaming the feed live on our ESN Channel, so please stay tuned until then, everyone."

Joe and the others seeing this show various expressions on their faces, as Evan narrowed his eyes as he thought, 'Finally time for this meeting, I wonder, will things also be the same?'

As Evan thought here, he shifted his eyes to the window, gazing at the moon in the starry sky in silence as his thoughts became unknown.