Ex-Rank Awakening: My Attacks Make Me Stronger - Chapter 445

Chapter 445: EX 445. Brothers and a Sister
Leon felt the roar before he heard it.

When the Demon God opened its mouth, the sound that poured out was not meant for worlds. It was a force vast enough to shatter the Blue Planet a million times over, enough to grind every trial taker present into nothing more than drifting dust. Space itself buckled under it.

Leon moved.

He did not shout. He did not strain. He simply reached out, and the roar bent away from Zion as if it had never been aimed there at all. The destructive wave was diverted, hurled into the furthest reaches of space where it could scream itself empty. Even then, the aftershock made the entire planet tremble, mountains groaning and oceans convulsing in distant agony.

This was no longer a battle of mortals. It never had been.

A world like the Blue Planet was never meant to host a clash between beings that stood beyond the mortal plane. That was why the Demon God had waited, why the Demon Emperors had stayed their hands and sent only lesser demons before. A true descent would have shattered reality itself.

But Leon’s awakening had changed that.

The world that bore witness to his birth into true authority could now endure forces it once could not. Even so, it was still not enough.

Leon tapped into the laws of reality, space, and matter.

The battlefield warped.

Space stretched and folded outward, expanding until distance lost meaning. The terrain twisted and reshaped itself, layers of reality peeling back as the area grew closer to infinity than any finite measure. What had once been sky and ground became a vast, abstract expanse fit for entities that could unmake worlds by accident.

The trial takers watched in stunned silence.

To them, this was a miracle. A godlike feat beyond comprehension.

To Leon, it felt no different than scratching an itch.

From the torn void, the Demon God smiled.

In the next instant, swarms of demons poured forth. Billions upon billions, a living tide of corruption flooding the expanded battlefield, their collective presence enough to drown stars.

Leon merely watched them approach.

Void Blade.

Originus was gone, lost when he entered the primordial space. The copy no longer existed. For a brief moment, Leon wore a solemn expression at the irony.

“So much talk about staying with me to the end,” he muttered quietly. “And you’re not even here.”

There was no bitterness in his voice. Only acceptance.

He raised a hand and shattered the void blade he had summoned into countless calm, floating shards. They hovered beside him, unmoving, impossibly still amid the chaos.

“Formless.”

At his command, the corrupted creatures stored within his death space dissolved into mist. The haze surged outward, wrapping around the shards like a living shroud. The world shook as power gathered, laws aligning themselves without resistance.

Then the shards moved.

They crossed the distance in an instant.

The collision was not loud. It was final.

The demon horde ceased to exist.

Not a body remained. Not ash. Not dust. Billions erased as though they had never been born, the space they occupied left pristine and empty.

Leon stood at the center of it all, unmoved, eyes fixed on the tear in reality.

He knew there were still more demons waiting beyond that torn stretch of space. The silence that followed the slaughter felt rehearsed, like a held breath.

Right on cue, the rift pulsed, and another surge poured out.

Demons spilled forth like an endless tide, their numbers so vast they swallowed the horizon. Leon did not move this time. He simply stood there, calm, unmoved, as if the swarm was beneath his notice.

Behind him, the Brightest Star stood in silence, her presence steady and watchful. And behind her stood the rest.

Elizabeth. Nikko. Racheal. Eden. Adrian.

They were positioned at the forefront, no longer just squadmates but generals. Leon’s generals. The ones who would lead his forces when he could not afford to look away.

The demons numbered in the billions.

It did not deter them.

Primal energy erupted from Nikko, raw and overwhelming. Blessing ignited as Eden’s power fused seamlessly with hers. Adrian stepped forward, shield already raised, its surface humming with fate repelling force. At Elizabeth’s side, countless undead clawed their way into existence, ranks forming with unnatural discipline. Racheal’s eyes glowed faintly as her gaze pierced through illusion, distance, and deceit, seeing every weakness laid bare.

Nikko did not waste time.

Leon had handled the first wave.

Now it was their turn.

Her voice tore through the battlefield. “Charge!”

The world answered.

Trial takers surged forward as one, a living tide crashing headlong into the demonic swarm. Weapons flared. Auras ignited. War cries echoed across warped space as mortals hurled themselves at beings meant to erase them.

Leon watched them go, his expression unreadable.

He knew better than anyone that the Demon God’s power would shield its followers. Left unchecked, that protection would turn the battlefield into a slaughter. Which meant there was only one thing Leon could do.

Keep it occupied.

He turned away from the charging armies and looked at the Brightest Star.

“Let’s go.”

She nodded once, no hesitation, no questions.

In the next moment, they vanished.

Leon and the Brightest Star shot forward, cutting through the battlefield like streaks of divinity before plunging straight into the torn rift itself, disappearing into the domain of the Demon God.

The moment Leon and the Brightest Star stepped into the void, there was no resistance, no barrier or backlash. Instead, the space itself seemed to invite him in. It was quiet, eerily so, yet beneath that silence, something vast and ancient breathed.

The darkness wasn’t empty; it pulsed faintly, like a heartbeat buried beneath eternity.

Leon’s gaze flicked over his shoulder. Through the faint shimmer of the tear, he could see the chaos raging behind, the trial takers clashing with the endless tide of demons. But what unsettled him wasn’t the battle itself, it was the fact that the demons pouring from the rift weren’t coming from this space. They were materializing out of the rift itself, like a projection given flesh.

“Overlapping space,” Leon muttered. The void wasn’t one dimension—it was layered, connected to countless others brimming with demonic essence. The tear was a conduit, a bridge between realities twisted together.

His thoughts were interrupted by a deep, resonant voice that rolled through the darkness like thunder in a tomb.

“It amuses me,” it said, each word echoing with sardonic grace, “how you think you can afford the time to look away from me.”

Leon turned slowly. The Brightest Star tensed beside him, her divine eyes fixed on the figure emerging from the void. It wasn’t colossal like before but its presence was suffocating. It didn’t need size to inspire terror; every shadow, every flicker of darkness was it.

The Demon God’s silhouette solidified, wearing an armor of obsidian so dark it devoured light. The air bent around it, reality itself straining to contain its existence. Then, to Leon’s surprise, the being smiled.

“Don’t look at me like that,” the Demon God said softly, almost mockingly. “After all, we are family.”

Leon’s eyes narrowed, his expression unreadable.

“Submit.”

The single word hung in the air, heavy and absolute. The laws responded to it, rippling through space like a divine decree, but the Demon God didn’t flinch. Instead, it raised one hand, and a faint glow ignited in its palm.

Leon’s breath hitched.

That glow… it wasn’t energy. It was a soul.

The moment recognition struck, the void seemed to collapse in on itself. The faint, golden shimmer of that soul was something he could never forget.

The Demon God’s grin widened, its teeth like carved obsidian.

“It is you who should submit, brother.”

And in its grasp, flickering and fragile yet radiant as ever—

was Valeria’s soul.

Chapter 445: EX 445. Brothers and a Sister
Leon felt the roar before he heard it.

When the Demon God opened its mouth, the sound that poured out was not meant for worlds. It was a force vast enough to shatter the Blue Planet a million times over, enough to grind every trial taker present into nothing more than drifting dust. Space itself buckled under it.

Leon moved.

He did not shout. He did not strain. He simply reached out, and the roar bent away from Zion as if it had never been aimed there at all. The destructive wave was diverted, hurled into the furthest reaches of space where it could scream itself empty. Even then, the aftershock made the entire planet tremble, mountains groaning and oceans convulsing in distant agony.

This was no longer a battle of mortals. It never had been.

A world like the Blue Planet was never meant to host a clash between beings that stood beyond the mortal plane. That was why the Demon God had waited, why the Demon Emperors had stayed their hands and sent only lesser demons before. A true descent would have shattered reality itself.

But Leon’s awakening had changed that.

The world that bore witness to his birth into true authority could now endure forces it once could not. Even so, it was still not enough.

Leon tapped into the laws of reality, space, and matter.

The battlefield warped.

Space stretched and folded outward, expanding until distance lost meaning. The terrain twisted and reshaped itself, layers of reality peeling back as the area grew closer to infinity than any finite measure. What had once been sky and ground became a vast, abstract expanse fit for entities that could unmake worlds by accident.

The trial takers watched in stunned silence.

To them, this was a miracle. A godlike feat beyond comprehension.

To Leon, it felt no different than scratching an itch.

From the torn void, the Demon God smiled.

In the next instant, swarms of demons poured forth. Billions upon billions, a living tide of corruption flooding the expanded battlefield, their collective presence enough to drown stars.

Leon merely watched them approach.

Void Blade.

Originus was gone, lost when he entered the primordial space. The copy no longer existed. For a brief moment, Leon wore a solemn expression at the irony.

“So much talk about staying with me to the end,” he muttered quietly. “And you’re not even here.”

There was no bitterness in his voice. Only acceptance.

He raised a hand and shattered the void blade he had summoned into countless calm, floating shards. They hovered beside him, unmoving, impossibly still amid the chaos.

“Formless.”

At his command, the corrupted creatures stored within his death space dissolved into mist. The haze surged outward, wrapping around the shards like a living shroud. The world shook as power gathered, laws aligning themselves without resistance.

Then the shards moved.

They crossed the distance in an instant.

The collision was not loud. It was final.

The demon horde ceased to exist.

Not a body remained. Not ash. Not dust. Billions erased as though they had never been born, the space they occupied left pristine and empty.

Leon stood at the center of it all, unmoved, eyes fixed on the tear in reality.

He knew there were still more demons waiting beyond that torn stretch of space. The silence that followed the slaughter felt rehearsed, like a held breath.

Right on cue, the rift pulsed, and another surge poured out.

Demons spilled forth like an endless tide, their numbers so vast they swallowed the horizon. Leon did not move this time. He simply stood there, calm, unmoved, as if the swarm was beneath his notice.

Behind him, the Brightest Star stood in silence, her presence steady and watchful. And behind her stood the rest.

Elizabeth. Nikko. Racheal. Eden. Adrian.

They were positioned at the forefront, no longer just squadmates but generals. Leon’s generals. The ones who would lead his forces when he could not afford to look away.

The demons numbered in the billions.

It did not deter them.

Primal energy erupted from Nikko, raw and overwhelming. Blessing ignited as Eden’s power fused seamlessly with hers. Adrian stepped forward, shield already raised, its surface humming with fate repelling force. At Elizabeth’s side, countless undead clawed their way into existence, ranks forming with unnatural discipline. Racheal’s eyes glowed faintly as her gaze pierced through illusion, distance, and deceit, seeing every weakness laid bare.

Nikko did not waste time.

Leon had handled the first wave.

Now it was their turn.

Her voice tore through the battlefield. “Charge!”

The world answered.

Trial takers surged forward as one, a living tide crashing headlong into the demonic swarm. Weapons flared. Auras ignited. War cries echoed across warped space as mortals hurled themselves at beings meant to erase them.

Leon watched them go, his expression unreadable.

He knew better than anyone that the Demon God’s power would shield its followers. Left unchecked, that protection would turn the battlefield into a slaughter. Which meant there was only one thing Leon could do.

Keep it occupied.

He turned away from the charging armies and looked at the Brightest Star.

“Let’s go.”

She nodded once, no hesitation, no questions.

In the next moment, they vanished.

Leon and the Brightest Star shot forward, cutting through the battlefield like streaks of divinity before plunging straight into the torn rift itself, disappearing into the domain of the Demon God.

The moment Leon and the Brightest Star stepped into the void, there was no resistance, no barrier or backlash. Instead, the space itself seemed to invite him in. It was quiet, eerily so, yet beneath that silence, something vast and ancient breathed.

The darkness wasn’t empty; it pulsed faintly, like a heartbeat buried beneath eternity.

Leon’s gaze flicked over his shoulder. Through the faint shimmer of the tear, he could see the chaos raging behind, the trial takers clashing with the endless tide of demons. But what unsettled him wasn’t the battle itself, it was the fact that the demons pouring from the rift weren’t coming from this space. They were materializing out of the rift itself, like a projection given flesh.

“Overlapping space,” Leon muttered. The void wasn’t one dimension—it was layered, connected to countless others brimming with demonic essence. The tear was a conduit, a bridge between realities twisted together.

His thoughts were interrupted by a deep, resonant voice that rolled through the darkness like thunder in a tomb.

“It amuses me,” it said, each word echoing with sardonic grace, “how you think you can afford the time to look away from me.”

Leon turned slowly. The Brightest Star tensed beside him, her divine eyes fixed on the figure emerging from the void. It wasn’t colossal like before but its presence was suffocating. It didn’t need size to inspire terror; every shadow, every flicker of darkness was it.

The Demon God’s silhouette solidified, wearing an armor of obsidian so dark it devoured light. The air bent around it, reality itself straining to contain its existence. Then, to Leon’s surprise, the being smiled.

“Don’t look at me like that,” the Demon God said softly, almost mockingly. “After all, we are family.”

Leon’s eyes narrowed, his expression unreadable.

“Submit.”

The single word hung in the air, heavy and absolute. The laws responded to it, rippling through space like a divine decree, but the Demon God didn’t flinch. Instead, it raised one hand, and a faint glow ignited in its palm.

Leon’s breath hitched.

That glow… it wasn’t energy. It was a soul.

The moment recognition struck, the void seemed to collapse in on itself. The faint, golden shimmer of that soul was something he could never forget.

The Demon God’s grin widened, its teeth like carved obsidian.

“It is you who should submit, brother.”

And in its grasp, flickering and fragile yet radiant as ever—

was Valeria’s soul.