Ex-Rank Awakening: My Attacks Make Me Stronger - Chapter 290

Chapter 290: EX 290. Void Blade
As the word left his lips, the night changed.

The darkness above seemed to ripple, and then, light bloomed. One after another, countless stars appeared out of nowhere, dotting the sky in a quiet, chilling brilliance. They hung there, suspended like predators in the stillness, their soft glow washing over the ruined barricade.

The guards could only stare. Their weapons lowered without thought, their eyes reflecting the strange beauty above them. None of them could speak, not from fear, but awe. For a moment, their minds forgot the blood, the screams, and the corruption that plagued this land.

Then, the first star fell.

It drifted gently at first, a slow descent that almost seemed harmless. But the moment it touched the earth, the illusion shattered.

The abomination holding the captain by the face screamed, a piercing, guttural cry that tore through the night. Its massive hand fell away, severed cleanly at the wrist. The captain dropped to the ground, gasping for air, his eyes wide as the creature writhed above him.

The abomination’s wounds never healed. Its regeneration, its most terrifying trait had simply stopped working. Instead, it felt something new, something it had never known before.

Pain.

It screamed again, shaking the ground beneath it. But its agony was short-lived. Another star descended, this one faster and merciless.

Pwsh.

The light pierced through its skull, splitting the head like glass before the body dissolved into black mist, vanishing as though it had never existed.

The guards stood frozen. Even the remaining abominations staggered back in disbelief. They were creatures born from corruption, unkillable and unending. Yet one of them had just died… like nothing more than a beast.

Then the stars fell again.

Not one. Not two. Dozens.

They rained down like divine punishment. Each one was a streak of light, a spear of judgment tearing through the night.

The abominations roared and flailed, but their screams were drowned by the storm. Bodies were torn apart, some dismembered, others skewered a dozen times over. It was as if the stars themselves enjoyed their torment, dragging it out before granting death as a final mercy.

In seconds, the field became a graveyard of fading black mist. The towering monsters that had moments ago surrounded the guards were gone, erased from existence. Only the swirling fog that replaced them remained, hovering in silence as proof that they had ever lived at all.

The captain stared at the lights above, breath trembling. It was only now, in the eerie calm that followed, that he noticed their true form.

‘They aren’t stars,’ he realized. ‘They’re shards.’

Tiny crystal fragments of light, each one humming softly as they hovered in place.

Then, movement.

The shards lifted, drew upward in streams of light, gathering above the field. They spiraled together, converging into a single radiant core that pulsed like a heartbeat. Slowly, the light shaped itself, forming the curve of a blade, the shimmer of steel, the hilt of a sword.

Finally revealing it’s true form a katana.

And in the next instant, it was grasped by a figure descending from the sky.

The guards’ eyes widened as they saw him clearly, white hair catching the moonlight, shirt fluttering in the wind, eyes cold yet alive with power.

Leon.

He hovered there, surrounded by the soft remnants of the light that had slaughtered the abominations. Behind him, his team, Lancelot, Adrian, and Rachel, stood like celestial soldiers descending to cleanse the world.

But it was Leon who held their gaze.

Suspended above the battlefield, katana in hand, framed by the glow of the vanished stars, he looked less like a man and more like something divine.

A deity of war, born from the ruin below.

****

Leon hovered in silence, his gaze sweeping over the dissipating mist below. The bodies, if they could even be called that were gone, reduced to nothing. Only the faint hum of energy lingered in the air.

He glanced at his blade, its black edge faintly gleaming with traces of starlight.

“Void Blade,” he whispered, feeling the residual vibration running through his arm. The efficiency of it was astounding, each strike was pure, clean and without waste.

In his mind, Originus rumbled in satisfaction.

‘Hmph. Mere creatures. They are nothing compared to what I once faced.’

Leon let out a quiet breath, shaking his head. “You just had to say something, huh?”

But the dragon wasn’t entirely wrong. The precision, the way the blade cut through reality itself, it was exhilarating. He hadn’t even drawn on his aura or stamina. No effort or drain. The only cost was the strain on his mind, and even that was dulled with Originus carrying part of the burden.

Still, the result was something he couldn’t ignore.

Just then, he felt it. A pulse, it was faint, yet distinct, as it slid through his chest, seeping deep into his body. It was like a whisper of power embedding itself within him. Leon’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“So, killing them makes me stronger too,” he murmured, realization settling in.

He’d assumed only absorbing tethers increased his strength, but this felt different. He thought back to Shantel, to the moment he’d slain the abomination that was once the City Lord. Back then, he hadn’t been able to absorb the corruption. It was only after the tether tried to infect him that he’d adapted, his body mutating into something that could feed on it instead of being consumed.

‘But that means…’

He frowned, piecing it together. He’d killed corrupted beings before becoming a void spawn. That ability wasn’t new, it was something innate, buried deep within him. The race change had only refined it.

Before he could think further, a voice cut through the quiet.

“We should head in.”

Leon turned his head toward the golden-haired lieutenant. Lancelot hovered nearby, the remnants of his earlier binding pressure dissipating. The man had done his part, locking down the abominations long enough for Leon to finish the job.

Behind him, Adrian and Rachel stood watching silently. They hadn’t acted, but that would change once they reached the heart of the city.

Leon nodded, his tone calm. “Alright.”

Lancelot lifted a hand, conjuring a golden current of energy that enveloped them. The next instant, they rose higher, crossing the weakened barrier that surrounded Harlot’s Paradise. The faint hum of the seal parted around them as they vanished into the desolate skyline of the city.

Below, the guards stood still, staring up at the fading streaks of light. None of them spoke for a long while.

The captain’s voice finally broke the silence, trembling with something that sounded like hope.

“Is… the Empire finally going to be saved?”

His men heard him, and none disagreed.

For the first time in 3 years, their hearts felt lighter.

A new era had begun.

And at its center… stood Leon.

****

A/N: I need Inspiration T-T