Ex-Rank Awakening: My Attacks Make Me Stronger - Chapter 281

Chapter 281: EX 281. Carelessnes
Outside the void, silence reigned.

Where Leon once stood, a perfect sphere of darkness had taken his place, it was a black dome that pulsed faintly, swallowing the light around it like a living shadow. The floor beneath it hummed, with faint ripples spreading through the marble as though the dome itself had weight beyond the physical.

Emperor Alexander Arman, ruler of the human domain, conqueror of a thousand battles found himself stunned. His expression, usually unreadable, flickered with something rare: confusion.

‘What in the world… is happening?’

He knew what the process was supposed to look like. When someone bonded with Nigg’erite, the ore would instantly adapt to its wielder, its structure reshaping into whatever weapon best suited them. The process was clean, quiet and almost graceful. The material was prized precisely because it required no forging or manipulation, only will.

But what he saw now was something else entirely. The orb hadn’t transformed. It had devoured the air around Leon, creating a dome so black that it looked like a tear in space itself.

‘This has never been recorded before,’ Alexander thought, eyes narrowing. He had witnessed countless weapon bondings, some even with powerful beings, but nothing even remotely like this. His mind raced through possibilities: interference, corruption, resonance instability, but none fit.

A dangerous thought crossed his mind. ‘Should I intervene?’

If this phenomenon was unstable, Leon could be in danger. Yet… even the emperor couldn’t sense what kind of power he was dealing with. The energy radiating from the dome wasn’t chaotic or violent, it was ancient. Dense and Alive.

One wrong move could shatter the process or even tear Leon apart.

He clenched his fists, gaze hardening. ‘No. Not yet. If I act blindly, I might do more harm than good.’

Behind him, Commander Markus watched in tense silence, his face pale but disciplined. To his left, Racheal and Adrian exchanged uncertain glances. Their confusion was written plainly on their faces, but beneath that confusion lingered worry, especially in Racheal’s eyes.

She couldn’t tell what exactly was happening, but she could feel it wasn’t right. The air was heavy, thick enough to breathe. Even Adrian, usually calm under pressure, found himself inching closer to the emperor, as though proximity could offer clarity.

Alexander’s expression didn’t soften. He could see the questions in their eyes, the fear that something had gone wrong. For a brief moment, he almost explained, but then he caught himself. He didn’t know enough to give answers.

Instead, he watched.

Minutes dragged on like hours, the dome flickering faintly with faint, smoky ripples of light that seemed to crawl along its surface.

Finally, the emperor exhaled. His voice, low and steady, broke the silence.

“I can still sense the boy’s presence within,” he said. “His life force remains intact.”

The relief that washed through the room was quiet but visible. Still, Alexander’s gaze sharpened, emerald eyes glinting with resolve.

“But at the first sign of harm,” he murmured, “I will intervene, no matter what it takes.”

And so, an emperor, a commander, an elf, and a soldier stood together in the presence of that impossible black dome, waiting in tense silence for whatever would emerge from it.

****

Inside the dome, agony tore through Leon like lightning through flesh. His body convulsed under invisible pressure, veins of molten light crawling up his skin as if the ore itself was burrowing into his soul. Every nerve screamed. Every heartbeat felt like a hammer against steel.

His thoughts fractured under the weight of the pain. He couldn’t form words, only half-formed fragments flickered in his mind.

‘What… is happening…?’

Above him, the ancient voice of Originus trembled. Its presence, once calm and boundless like the stars, now quivered with confusion.

‘This isn’t right.’

The dragon’s voice echoed within the void, its planetary pupils expanding in alarm. ‘The process should be seamless. The bond must never cause pain… So why is it hurting him?’

It searched through the endless sea of memories it carried, millennia of bonds, of wielders, of chosen ones and found nothing like this. The fusion between Nigg’erite and a being’s essence was supposed to be pure, harmonious. But with Leon… the ore was fighting him.

Then, realization struck. Originus’s vast eyes dilated in shock.

‘How could I have overlooked such a thing…?’

Leon wasn’t simply human anymore. Nor was he merely a primordial. What now stood within the dome was something entirely new a being whose very existence defied the order of Pandora. In its eagerness to connect with someone of such boundless potential, the dragon had ignored a crucial truth.

‘He is no longer bound to this world’s essence…’

Originus’s voice dropped to a whisper that shook the void. ‘Could it be… because deep down, he no longer belongs to this realm?’

Leon’s existence was an enigma, part mortal, part something unrecorded. A reincarnated soul, carrying the essence of another world within him. The bond wasn’t merely connecting to a spirit, it was colliding with two realities at once.

The ancient dragon’s tail coiled, its vast form trembling. ‘If this continues… ‘ it thought bitterly, ‘I will be responsible for ending a life that could have reshaped creation itself. I cannot bear such a sin.’

It prepared to intervene, to sever the bond before the boy’s life burned away.

But then, through the haze of pain, Leon’s voice broke through, raw and defiant.

“Don’t… do anything!”

Originus froze. The boy’s aura, though flickering, blazed with willpower so intense it silenced even the ancient.

‘Such… will?’ the dragon thought, its tone shifting from alarm to awe. ‘He’s being torn apart and yet he resists?’

“Stop!” Originus thundered, its divine voice shaking the dome. “If we continue, it will kill you!”

Leon gritted his teeth, forcing the words out between ragged breaths. “Then I’ll die either way.”

The dragon’s gaze widened, those enormous eyes reflecting the image of the boy standing amid agony, unbroken.

‘What… have I done?’ Originus whispered.

For the first time in countless eras, the Ancient Dragon of Creation felt fear,