Ex-Rank Awakening: My Attacks Make Me Stronger - Chapter 406

Chapter 406: EX 406. Death Notice
Darian and Luke cut through the demon ranks with the practiced ease of men who had lived far too long on the edge.

Each movement carried the weight of SS-rank mastery. Even if they couldn’t advance further, the power they had forged was more than enough for the S-rank demons closing in around them.

Darian moved first. His axe carved sweeping arcs, far too nimble for a weapon its size.

Every shift of his stance sent cracks running through the ground, every strike a blur of weight and precision. Beside him, Luke fought in a harsher rhythm. His rapier no longer looked elegant, it tore through demon flesh like a butcher’s blade, each thrust backed by an aggression that forced the monsters to recoil.

They worked in silent understanding, cutting down demon after demon until the last one fell with a guttering hiss.

There was no celebration or pause.

Darian slammed his palm against the barrier core, shutting it down in an instant. Luke was already pulling out a teleportation talisman.

A flash of light swallowed them both, erasing their presence from the battlefield before any trace could be followed.

They reappeared miles away at the rendezvous point, a stretch of broken plain hidden between collapsed ridges.

Only then did they let their talents drop, the power peeling away from their skin like steam.

A voice rose behind them.

“How did the mission go?”

Luke glanced at the woman standing there, gave a brief nod, and walked past her without a word. That left Darian alone to meet her calm crimson eyes.

He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her.

“It went well,” he said, his voice low.

Selena held his gaze for a moment longer, unreadable.

“Good,” she replied. “Because we just received another update.”

****

Ever since the shutdown, the world carried a quiet dread. Trial takers had started calling it that, the moment the trial world went dark, its portals silent, its rewards gone.

And from that moment on, the demons pushed harder. Their assaults grew reckless, almost rabid, as if some unseen hand drove them forward.

Resources vanished fast. Everything the trial races had relied on, potions, energy orbs, reforged gear, had always come from the trial world’s steady stream of rewards.

Without it, they were stripped bare in a matter of months. Humans held out longer, crafting weapons and supplies by hand, their ingenuity buying them time.

But the other races weren’t so fortunate.

Dragons fell first, their vast hoards empty of anything that could be replenished. Elves collapsed soon after, their crafted relics losing power without trial world crystals to feed them. Beastmen followed, overwhelmed when their frontline tribes ran out of healing tonics and reinforcement seals.

One after another, their realms buckled under demonic pressure.

Those who survived fled toward the human world, slipping through what remained of the trial-world-linked teleportations before they fully went dead. Now, only that final line remained, the last stretch of resistance between the trial races and the demons pressing hard behind them. The air itself felt coiled, like the breath before a storm breaks.

****

Darian followed a step behind Selena, noting the way her shoulders no longer held their old light. The corridor was dim, lit only by strips of tired blue panels humming along the walls, but it was enough for him to see how much she had changed.

Selena moved without the spark she once carried.

Each step looked measured, drained, as if the weight she carried pressed deeper with every passing day.

The shutdown had taken more than a path forward. It had carved into her life, stripping away the two people she loved most. Their children. Their Leon and Valeria.

Leon had entered a trial before the shutdown, and when the collapse hit, trial takers tackling trials were spat out like broken pieces thrown back by a machine. But not Leon. Not his squad. Not a single one of them.

There was only one explanation left, and it was one no one wanted to voice.

A D-rank trial shouldn’t have been enough to bury the boy who had shaken the world, but as days passed, hope thinned.

As the trial world’s power bled toward zero, as teleportation pads dimmed and the remaining trial takers scrambled back to their home realms to avoid being sealed inside forever, that quiet fear hardened into a truth people didn’t want to accept.

Leon Kael, the brightest prodigy of their generation, had likely died in a trial.

Selena didn’t say a word as they approached the control room. She didn’t have to. The silence around her said enough.

****

The moment Darian and Selena stepped into the control room, the low hum of activity washed over them.

Humans, elves, beast-men, even a few dragons in their humanoid forms moved between flickering screens and tables littered with maps.

Voices overlapped as they traced patrol paths, rerouted scouts, and sifted through intercepted messages. It wasn’t chaos, but it had the restless edge of people who knew the walls were closing in.

As soon as the room noticed them, every figure straightened. Chairs scraped back. Arms rose in a unified salute.

“We greet the Silver Marshals.”

Darian returned a steady nod.

“At ease.”

The room exhaled and returned to motion, though several still glanced their way with a mix of respect and worry.

Unit Alpha wasn’t just another squad; it was the line of misdirection keeping the demon horde staring at the wrong corners of the world.

Every strike they made had to look genuine. Every retreat had to leave no tracks leading home.

Zion couldn’t afford discovery. It was the last shelter for their people, the command center buried under layers of secrecy and parted hopes.

Darian walked beside Selena through the rows of consoles. He watched her out of the corner of his eye.

Her steps used to carry a quiet edge of force, a controlled fire that matched her crimson gaze. Now her movements were measured, almost hollow, as if she were holding herself together one breath at a time.

They reached the central monitor. A technician gave a nervous nod and connected the incoming feed. Static rippled for a moment before clearing into the unmistakable figure of Governor Yamamoto.

Darian and Selena saluted at once.

“At ease,” the Governor said, his voice firm as ever. Then he paused, and something softened in his expression.

“I bring good news.”

For a heartbeat, neither of them breathed. They had come expecting another mission, another order to keep running, keep hiding, keep sacrificing. Good news didn’t exist anymore.

The Governor met their gaze.

“Leon is alive.”