Online Game: Starting With SSS-Ranked Summons

A nearby player who had been quietly observing their conversation stepped forward with the confidence of someone who possessed superior knowledge.

"Think about it logically," he said, his voice carrying the authority of someone who had reached Level 16 through careful planning rather than mere reckless aggression. "If there are Second Order creatures, that implies the existence of classification systems we haven't discovered yet."

The implications sent chills through the assembled players. They had been struggling against epic-rank creatures that represented the pinnacle of their current ability, but now someone had eliminated something that transcended those categories entirely.

"Whoever did this," whispered a Level 12 assassin whose stealth abilities had made her confident in most situations, "they're operating on a completely different level than the rest of us. This isn't just about being stronger—this is about accessing content that most players don't even know exists."

In the Academy of Mera's training grounds, elite players who had become students paused their sparring sessions as the announcement created ripples of shock through their minds.

US Military Command Centres

In the Pentagon's classified Armageddon monitoring facility. One of the leading generals stared at the announcement with growing unease that reflected the military's deteriorating confidence in their dimensional strategy.

"Second Order Beast," he muttered to his assembled staff of awakened military personnel. "Does anyone have intelligence on what that classification means? It's not part of the ranks, so it shouldn't relate to the classification of elite, epic and superior. It's something else, something we haven't heard about. Yet, someone had managed to defeat it."

One of the colonels, whose A-rank talent made him one of their most capable players, shook his head with obvious frustration.

"Sir, our intelligence networks have never encountered references to creature classifications beyond the standard ranking system. With our large base in multiple villages and Caldera, none of our players have heard of that classification. Which means it's not something simple, at all."

The general's expression hardened as he contemplated the announcement.. "If there is a player that's accessing threats of this magnitude, our current threat assessments are absolutely inadequate. We need to recalibrate our entire approach."

Major Stevens, monitoring communications from multiple field operations, looked up from his displays with growing concern. "Sir, if someone can eliminate Second Order creatures, what does that say about their overall power level? Are we dealing with individuals who could potentially threaten national security?"

The room fell silent as the assembled military leadership contemplated scenarios where single individuals possessed capabilities that exceeded entire military units combined effectiveness.

That reminded them of a person they wished to forget. The military's greatest fear and worst nightmare.

The madman, Arthur Fate.

Luckily, that madman is dead. The general thought, feeling some relief.

James's Reaction

Captain James stood in his private quarters within a large hotel that had become abandoned. James was on the highest floor, and the room was relatively clean except for a few things that had probably fallen during the tenant's escapes.

James did not care about the luxury next to him, his eyes tracing through every letter in the announcement.

His first instinct was immediate recognition—the achievement's magnitude and unprecedented nature suggested capabilities that matched only one individual he had encountered.

Arthur Fate.

But before the thought could fully form, James shut it down with brute force. The logic was absolute. There was no room for doubt, no space for fantasy.

Arthur Fate was dead. He had been eliminated.

James had watched with his own eyes as Arthur disintegrated during the MOAB strike that reduced their previous base to ash and rubble. There were no survivors. There couldn't have been.

"No," James whispered to himself, his voice thin but hard, filled with desperation. He clenched his fists, as if squeezing the thought out of existence. The very idea that Arthur was still alive gnawed at the edges of his mind, dragging him into something that felt more like a nightmare than a memory.

It wasn't just the possibility that Arthur had survived. It was the fact that he wasn't injured, and he was clearly completing impossible feats that nobody else could do.

James's mind wandered back to the base. James had tried to play the good guy. He had extended a hand, hoping to win Arthur over, to gain his loyalty with subtle kindness and quiet influence.

He hadn't done it out of empathy. It was a strategy. Arthur looked harmless, quiet, passive, the kind of person people overlooked. The bullied kid who could be tamed, folded, and controlled.

James never saw any hint of power in him that would make him feel this type of way.

He had miscalculated.

He had tried to take Arthur under his wing, but Arthur slipped away and before he knew it. He became his rival, his goal. James wanted nothing but to destroy Arthur Fate.

He was the golden child of the military, the golden child of Earth. The one with the strongest combat talent, the one with the most potential. The one that would rule with a fist of fire, but Arthur Fate took all of that away.

"He's dead. I saw the footage myself, complete obliteration, there was no possible survival."

Yet the announcement's implications made him question everything he thought he understood about power scaling in both worlds. The player who had achieved this feat possessed power that exceeded James's experience with awakened individuals.

James paced his quarters with growing agitation, his mind cycling between rational analysis and paranoid speculation. "Second Order Beast," he muttered repeatedly, as if the words might reveal their secrets through repetition.

"It must be something completely new. For the announcement to appear, it means that it's not a feat that has ever been done. This isn't just any announcement, this is an announcement about a player that has power beyond others!"

But even as he attempted to rationalise the achievement as the work of some unknown prodigy, a cold certainty settled in his consciousness. The military's intelligence networks monitored most known high-level players, tracking their progression.

No one on their watchlists possessed capabilities approaching this level of achievement, except one. But he was dead.