Julius Xander looked at Demon King and snorted. His powerful, sonorous voice, imbued with prana resounded throughout the planetoid.
"I am the guardian of Earth. With me here, your paws won't reach Earth's cadets." He raised his deep voice and disappeared amidst the chaotic space.
He appeared in front of the Demon King the next moment and punched him in the gut.
Creak!!
As the space broke, the Demon King's figure was blasted into the asteroids. He broke them one by one and was thrown tens of thousands of miles away.
Demon King recovered the next moment and kicked out at the Julius that just appeared in front.
Boom!
Their kicks connected and the space shook.
Cobweb like cracks appeared in the space as it fluctuated violently.
The shockwaves from their clash destroyed the meteors and the chaos from their fight disabled any functioning technology within a few hundred thousand miles.
Thankfully, they were far enough so that the planetoid wasn't affected by their fight.
"Y-You, how did you come?" Demon King gritted his teeth as he punched at Julius with disgust.
It appeared overboard for him to personally take action. But only the insiders knew his reasons.
Demon Abyss was the only Abyss to have its holy altar broken. They also failed to catch the culprit, Enigma.
Demon King was also the one that gave the most reassurance to the Abyss Emperor on the previous mission to capture Ghost Ship.
In the end, even the clone of their emperor was used. But the mission was still a failure.
He considered himself to be the one that failed the most.
Killing off the geniuses wasn't important enough for him to take action. The Abyss Emperor only asked relevant people to assassinate Varian, not himself.
However, another crucial factor prompted him to appear.
Recently, there were rumors that humans had found a secret medicine that allows a quick advancement for higher awakeners.
For instance, allow a Level 7 to advance to Level 8 or level 8 to level 9 and so on. The source of the said medicine was apparently Ruins.
He didn't know if it was true or not, but just the rumor was alarming. Of course, such a medicine could not be mass produced.
But using them on the right geniuses would spell Abyssals endless trouble.
The longer humans developed, the more dangerous they became. Despite their internal differences, they were bridging the gap with Abyssals real fast.
If an extra Sovereign was born…then it would put them in a dangerous situation.
If that medicine was used properly, then the new Sovereign would very well come out of these geniuses.
It might very well be Charles Xander.
But he didn't expect to be countered midway. It annoyed him to no end.
"Humans are the worms we can kill whenever we want. I even despise to fight the likes of you." Demon King spat as he continued the fight.
Julius Xander's eyes squinted and he increased his offense.
His huge body of ten meters had great agility. Golden Titan was one of the strongest creatures in the history of mankind.
As a Sovereign, Julius Xander could stay in the form of Golden Titan for a long time.
"Mark my words, Demon King. One day, you will be thrown out of the Solar System. We will take back every inch of land you occupied!"
As their punches turned to after images, going at many times the speed of sound, Julius gradually pushed Demon King away from the planetoid.
Soon, the people on Rena could only see flashes in the sky. Even the sound and shockwaves stopped reaching them.
Varian peered through the dust all around which resulted due to the shockwaves.
The hills around them were long gone, and the plain they were in turned into a crater.
So much dust and debris flew the moment Julius and Demon King clashed that had he not put up the Space Armor, he would have been buried under it.
Shaking his head, Varian sighed after seeing the dazed Sarah in her water armor.
She was looking at the sky at the moment. The flashes in the sky were fading, signaling the end of the conflict.
Varian recalled the few seconds that were straight out of an apocalypse and clutched his chest as he muttered. "There is one guy stronger than Sovereign. How strong will he be? Can he destroy a planet with a punch?"
Sarah shuddered and glanced at him. She was about to ask him about this 'Emperor' when she noticed Varian suddenly wink at her.
She stopped herself and the next moment, a figure descended from the sky. Before they could even react, he quickly grabbed Varian's shoulder.
Sarah was about to attack instinctively but the familiar aura caused her to stop herself once again.
It was Evander in his military uniform. He was checking Varian's situation and heaved a sigh of relief after realizing he was fine.
Then he quietly turned to Sarah and was about to catch her wrist to check her condition.
Sarah stepped back and glared at him. "Thank you, but no thank you. I'm fine."
'Is she jealous?' Varian wondered from the side, but didn't butt in.
Evander shook his head and turned to Varian. With a solemn expression, he said. "I won't ask how you did it, but you saved the lives of everyone on this planetoid."
Varian hurriedly said. "I bought an object in the black market. It turned out to be a product of Ruins. That's why I can contact you."
Evander was taken aback but soon shook his head. "I'll tell everyone that I gave the treasure to you. It'll be more believable."
Sarah's mouth twitched at their dialogue.
Varian coughed and nodded. Then, he said with a strange expression. "I expected you to send a Level 8 or Level 9. In the best case, you would come by yourself. I didn't expect you to call a Sovereign."
Evander gave him a deep look. "You are carrying too much hope for me to not try my best."
Varian stiffened for a moment before he gave a forced smile. Sarah fell silent.
Varian was burdened by the existence of an entity stronger than the Sovereigns. The hope to survival was defeating such an entity. It was too heavy, even for him.
Sarah, on the other hand, was afraid that Evander's hopes would never be fulfilled since Varian was a Dual Awakener.
Evander noticed the strange atmosphere and thought they were still affected by the battle of Sovereigns.
"I'll take you to the base first." He grabbed their shoulders and in a second, they appeared in the base.
Due to the technological superiority, all bases were able to withstand the shockwaves and earthquakes.
At most, some minor facilities were damaged.
They appeared directly at the space station.
Varian and Sarah saw their fellow cadets with the academy's teachers.
Every few seconds, a teacher would appear carrying a few cadets.
After a few minutes, the last teacher arrived carrying a coffin and placed them beside another five.
The cadets fell silent as they stared at the coffins. The people they were laughing and talking to a few hours ago were now gone.
They too had been through a hellish experience.
Every cadet standing was more or less injured. Some even lost a limb or two.
With the current technology, limbs could be regrown in a few days. But the six deaths couldn't be reversed.
Evander stepped into the middle, shifting the gazes of the cadets and the teacher onto him.
With a deep voice, he said. "This is a regrettable event. But accidents don't occur when you expect them. Since you are a soldier, be prepared for such accidents.
From our side, the academy will weed out the moles and try to prevent another event like this one. Almost everyone that leaked this news is identified and will be hanged in public."
The cadets nodded absentmindedly.
They were all members of the faction. Thus, their mental fortitude was one of the best.
However, they were trying their best to not let their minds wander and were failing miserably.
Varian could see the mix of emotions on each cadet's face like they were performing at an audition.
The assassinations didn't faze them much. But the fight between Sovereigns did.
The sheer power of a Sovereign was enough to shock them to the core. In fact, what they felt was not the power, but only the aftermath.
But that only went onto show how strong a Sovereign truly was.
It lit up a fire in the cadets. Their goal was not level 8 or level 9.
It was the Sovereign state!
Evander didn't mind their expressions and continued. "This time, two cadets' performance requires praise."
The attention of the cadets, including teachers was immediately drawn.
Two individuals popped up in everyone's mind.
The first was the injured but aloof Charles standing in the distance. He alone took down a dozen level 6s.
Then he helped out the nearby cadets. Later, he planned to go to the battle field to help out the army, but his plan was thwarted by the Demon King's arrival.
The cadets heard from the Abyssals that Charles strength forced them to compromise the strength of their assassination team.
In a sense, Charles saved many lives.
Then there was Williamson. After clearing the Abyssals and Astor Clan remnants, he headed straight to the army and saved many lives.
Everyone else, including Dhruv and Sarah were entangled by their assassins.
So these two must be the heroes of this missio—
"Charles and Varian. These two saved your lives." Evander's announcement caused a stir.
Williamson's smile stiffened as he stared at Varian in shock. 'Junior Brother, why are you snatching my praise?'
Evander said calmly. "Charles' strength eased everyone's burden."
He looked at Charles with approval to which the latter simply snorted. He didn't forget Evander's actions during the meeting.
Moreover, why the heck was that Varian given an equal praise as him?
Everyone was also curious.
Evander answered. "Varian had a special one-time use treasure. He informed me about the situation and said there was a good chance a high awakener could attack.
Then I contacted Sovereign Julius. He agreed immediately and you all know the rest."
"Hiss!" Everyone took a deep breath as they stared at Varian with a complicated gaze.
"Simple praise is of no use. So Varian and Charles will be awarded 10,000 merit points each." Evander said and concluded. "The mission is over. Back to the academy."
Soon, they boarded the space shuttles and under the protection of the teachers and Evander himself, they return to the Academy.
All along the way, Varian stared at his merit points like a mad man as his laughter reverberated across the space shuttle.