Ex-Rank Awakening: My Attacks Make Me Stronger - Chapter 396

Chapter 396: EX 396. Strange Proposition
High above the newly liberated skies, sunlight spilled through the cracks of the shattered Hallow for the first time in three years, bathing the void-ravaged land in gold.

Leon drifted in that light, the hum of power still faintly resonating around him.

The war was over, but his work wasn’t, not yet.

Something soft suddenly slammed into his side, nearly knocking him from the air. Leon steadied himself instinctively, glancing down to see a familiar elf clinging to his arm.

Racheal, pressed herself against him with a deliberately pitiful expression.

“Leon,” she said in a tone that balanced sorrow and playfulness,

“I didn’t get to do anything during the campaign. My rewards might be… compromised.”

She gave a theatrical sniff, resting her head against his shoulder.

“It would be really bad if I didn’t get anything at all. Unless,” her eyes shimmered with mischief, “someone decided to make it up to me with, say, a shared bath toge—”

Before she could finish, a hand shot out and yanked her clean off Leon’s arm. Racheal spun through the air, catching herself with a quick pulse of rank 7 power, only to find Nikko hovering between her and Leon, arms folded, expression flat but voice sharp.

“Stop trying to emotionally blackmail him,” Nikko said, her tone calm but edged with heat.

“He won’t fall for it. Trust me, I’ve tried.”

Racheal straightened, brushing invisible dust from her robe as her brow twitched. “Who says that’s what I was doing? And even if it was, don’t lump me in with an oldie like you.”

Nikko froze. Her eyes twitched.

“What… Did you just call me?”

A pulse of raw primal energy erupted around her, rattling the air as Racheal grinned like a cat that had just kicked over a hornet’s nest.

Meanwhile, across the skies of Pandora, the scene played out on massive viewing orbs, the same ones that had broadcast the fall of the Hallow.

The rulers, their armies, and the entire population of the domains watched in a silence that was part disbelief, part secondhand embarrassment.

On the imperial platform, Francis let out a low whisper.

“Xander, I think you should… cut the feed.”

Alexander, eyes glued to the orb, muttered under his breath,

“I’m trying, but the control seems to be… malfunctioning.”

He didn’t know it, but the malfunction was Racheal’s doing, her mood directly warping the resonance of the orb she’d been linked to earlier.

Then, amid the awkward spectacle, a voice rolled across the Hallow like silk over steel.

“I’m tempted to keep him for myself.”

Silence devoured the world.

Racheal and Nikko froze midair, heads snapping toward the speaker.

Eden and Adrian exchanged deadpan looks, both silently wishing they could write a letter to the universe about the unfairness of the whole situation.

Elizabeth blinked, momentarily stunned, while Malachi only sighed, as if this level of absurdity was exactly what he’d expected.

Leon turned toward the source, his gaze steady.

And across Pandora, through every screen, every projection, the people saw her.

The Dowager stood tall, eyes calm, her tone regal and faintly amused.

She hadn’t even flinched when she spoke those words.

But on the imperial platform, Alexander and Genevieve looked as if their souls had just been sucked out.

They stared at the image in stunned silence, realization dawning like a storm.

The Dowager, their mother had just openly declared that.

And Pandora, after years of dread and despair, now found itself facing a new kind of chaos.

****

The shift happened so fast that even the air seemed to fall quiet.

It hadn’t taken long for every gaze in Pandora to drift toward Leon, waiting to see what the young savior would do in the face of the Dowager’s offer.

Even the distant spectators across the kingdom held their breath.

Far above, the emperor clenched his fists, shoulders taut.

He fought the instinct to rush straight to the Hallow and demand an explanation from his mother.

He managed to keep himself in place only because the world was watching and he had an image to maintain.

Still, the question burned in his eyes: ‘Mother, why would you even try something like that?’

Leon stood silent.

On the surface he looked calm. But in truth, his mind wasn’t here; he was seeking council from a dragon.

‘How should I deal with this?’

Originus responded with the unhelpful tone of someone fed up with their friends’ active relationship status as opposed to theirs. ‘Honestly? I don’t know. I feel like you’re screwed either way.’

Leon resisted the urge to swear at him. Instead, he exhaled and said out loud, “Thank you for the compliment.”

The world froze.

Nikko and Racheal turned toward him at the same time, eyes narrowing with the exact same expression.

​”That was the best he could come up with?” they both thought at the same time.

Elizabeth, on the other hand, lifted her hand halfway toward her face before forcing herself to lower it.

‘My stars… Just when I think he’s improving, he does this.’

Back in the Empire, the Emperor became relieved yet bewildered.

In all of Pandora’s history, he wasn’t sure anyone had ever rejected a ruler; let alone their mother, with such blunt honesty.

As for the Dowager…

For a heartbeat, she simply stared at Leon.

Before finally saying,

“It’s understandable. I can see you already have your hands full.”

Her gaze flicked toward Racheal and Nikko.

Her attempt hadn’t come from infatuation. It was desperation wrapped in poor planning.

She could tell he wouldn’t stay here long; offering herself had been a clumsy effort to give him a reason.

And it had gone exactly how she expected.

Still, the worry crept back as her thoughts turned to the Hallow.

‘What if something worse appears next time? What if Pandora truly isn’t prepared?’

Her mind spiraled down that path, until a shadow flickered.

Before anyone could react, Leon appeared directly in front of her, so close she could see the faint glow in his eyes.

Gasps rippled across Pandora as bodies froze mid-motion.

He held her gaze, steady and unblinking.

“And as thanks for the compliment,” he said, his voice low enough to stir the air between them,

“I have something for you.”