Ex-Rank Awakening: My Attacks Make Me Stronger - Chapter 332

Chapter 332: EX 332. Shine Bright Like A Diamond
The palace trembled.

Walls groaned, pillars cracked, and the once-serene air of the Imperial Capital was swallowed by panic.

Guards flooded the marble corridors, servants screamed as chandeliers shook loose from the ceiling.

But just as quickly as the chaos had started—it stopped.

A voice had spoken, it was Calm and Commanding.

It was the Emperor’s voice.

Within moments, order returned.

Now, deep within the heart of the palace, Emperor Alexander sat in his throne room, eyes fixed on the great viewing orb that hovered before him.

Its surface rippled like liquid glass, revealing the image of Leon Kael in his chamber, surrounded by blinding waves.

Alexander’s jaw tightened.

He hadn’t meant to pry into the boy’s privacy, but when the tremors had erupted from within the palace itself, he had no choice.

Yet what he was seeing now… even in his wildest dreams, he would never have believed it possible.

At his side stood Genevieve, her expression caught between awe and disbelief. The light from the orb painted her face pale as she whispered absently,

“Brother… is this an illusion?”

Alexander didn’t answer. His throat was dry, his mind torn between reason and the impossible truth before his eyes.

“I… don’t know,” he admitted softly.

What Leon was doing defied every known law of power, every recorded limit of ascension. Even for someone like Alexander, whose empire had stood for centuries on the foundation of divine arts, it was unthinkable.

Yet the orb didn’t lie.

Across the realm, within the depths of Leon’s mind, Originus, the Primordial Dragon, hovered in a realm of pure consciousness.

The dragon’s golden eyes, vast as twin suns, stared unblinking at the scene unfolding inside Leon’s body.

For a long moment, even the ancient being was silent. Then, slowly, his deep voice rumbled through Leon’s soul.

“I thought I’d grown used to your monstrous talent, boy… but it seems you’ve done it again.”

A low growl of disbelief followed, half amusement, half awe.

“Achieving something only we Primordials could touch. If this isn’t cheating, then I don’t know what is.”

The dragon’s laughter faded into stunned silence as Leon continued his impossible feat.

****

Far from the palace, deep within the shimmering Elven Forest, Elaine, the Queen of the elves, stood before her disciple.

The emerald canopy above them swayed softly, and a faint glow surrounded them, the prelude to awakening Rachel’s full potential.

Just as Elaine raised her hand, Rachel suddenly spoke, her voice soft but firm.

“Master.”

Elaine paused.

“What is it, Rachel?”

The young elf hesitated, her fingers tightening around her robes. But she found her courage and looked up.

“The True Beast God… why was he different from the others? How did he surpass the peak?”

For a moment, the Queen was silent. Her blind folded eyes studied the girl carefully before she exhaled and gave a faint, knowing smile.

“I see. You won’t rest until you understand.”

Rachel nodded quickly, afraid her curiosity might be mistaken for disrespect.

But Elaine wasn’t angry. Her tone softened, touched with reverence and something far older than pride.

“The reason,” she said slowly, “is because while every beast was born with a core, the Beast God possessed something far greater.”

Her gaze lifted toward the sky, as if looking beyond the stars themselves.

“The Beast God carried within him an Origin—the very essence from which all power was born.”

“Compared to Origin,” Elaine said quietly, her voice echoing through the sacred grove, “the cores of the other beasts, and even we professionals are nothing but trash.”

Rachel’s eyes widened, but she stayed silent.

The Queen’s tone softened, a faint longing threading through her words.

“When one receives Origin, they no longer possess a limit. What we call the peak… for them, it is only the beginning.”

Her gaze drifted upward, past the canopy of the great tree, as though she could see that ancient being who once surpassed all creation.

****

Meanwhile, in the heart of the Imperial Palace, Leon floated inches above the floor of his chamber, legs crossed, eyes closed. His body shimmered with an ethereal glow, veins pulsing with blinding essence that warped the air itself.

Beside him, Elizabeth lay motionless on the bed, untouched by the violent surge of energy.

He’d finally done it.

The spark of enlightenment he had sought for so long, he’d grasped it.

And he refused to let go.

The instant the spark ignited, he dove straight into core formation.

But before he could begin, his consciousness was abruptly pulled away—

into a place beyond space and time.

When his vision cleared, he found himself suspended in a cosmic sea of light.

Around him floated countless stars, connected by radiant threads that stretched endlessly into the distance.

Each star pulsed faintly, resonating with a rhythm older than creation itself.

Leon recognized this place instantly.

He had read about it, in the library in shantel.

When Emperor Julius created his core, he was transported to a realm of stars just like this one. But the record had stopped there, the rest of the text had dissolved into meaningless scribbles and incomplete words.

No historian ever discovered what the Emperor had seen.

Leon was going to find out.

He moved forward.

Every step drew him deeper into the stellar network. The deeper he went, the heavier his body became, as though gravity itself sought to drag him back.

Then, the voices began.

Not his own.

Not human.

Memories. Countless memories.

Each star was a core, it was alive, aware, and whispering the experiences of those who bore them.

Images flashed through his mind: beasts roaring under blood-red moons, elves weaving laws from nature’s threads, gods shaping worlds with a breath.

The flood of knowledge battered him relentlessly.

Leon clenched his teeth and kept going.

The cores grew larger, the light brighter, the hum louder.

The smallest orbs orbited the massive ones, each acting as a node feeding power to a greater star.

The weight of existence pressed on him like a mountain.

He understood now why the Emperor’s writing had turned to gibberish, this place wasn’t meant for mortal comprehension.

The deeper one went, the more truth they were forced to bear, and every truth carried madness.

But Leon didn’t stop.

He couldn’t.

To stop was to settle for less, and Leon Kael never settled.

Not now. Not ever.

The pressure tore at his mind, a thousand worlds screaming at once, but amid that storm, something inside him held firm—[Attack].

His EX-rank talent wrapped around his consciousness like armor, shielding him from being devoured by the flood of knowledge.

And so he pressed on, until, at last, he saw it.

The threads of every star converged ahead, folding into a single, radiant point.

A blinding sphere pulsed at the center of the cosmic web, its light too pure for words.

The Origin.

All the voices fell silent.

For the first time since entering that realm, Leon felt no pain, no fear, no confusion, only awe.

What he saw before him stripped away every doubt, every boundary.

It was creation itself.

The heartbeat of all existence.

The source of every core, every art, every soul.

And Leon, trembling in that divine light, understood.

This was what even gods feared to touch—

and what he now reached for.