The White Knight Order—one of the special units established by the Saviors to defeat otherworldly threats (such as monsters and other world-ending crises)—was also tasked with maintaining world order.
Within the command center for handling the current invasion by a destructive weapon from another world, a black-haired young man appeared to be suffering from an unimaginable torment, his face twisted in pain.
"AAAHHHHHH—!"
He finally couldn't help but scream in agony. Around him, others desperately applied various healing and pain-relieving abilities, but they had little to no effect.
"Deputy Director Suruga!"
"How is it even possible for something of this level to exist?! Everyone stay alert, stay extremely alert—uhk!"
The man's voice trembled with pain, blood spilling from his mouth before he could finish his sentence. He coughed up a mouthful of blood and then collapsed unconscious, causing the surrounding people to panic as though the sky itself were falling.
Just then, another figure entered the room and quickly approached.
After a brief exchange, her tightly furrowed brows and forced calm couldn't hide her growing unease.
"Big Sis~"
Beside the woman who just entered came a timid voice—a young girl who looked around ten years old. She tightly clutched the hem of the woman's clothes.
"Don't worry, it'll be alright, Maya."
The woman's gentle voice calmed the little girl. This golden-haired beauty was Mari Shimon, principal of the Savior Academy's Akane Academy.
The current crisis had forced almost all A- and B-rank Saviors from Akane Academy to deploy. However, the situation had clearly gone far beyond what anyone expected.
The sixteen-year-old boy who had collapsed—Andou Suruga—was once her student. Now, however, he had become one of the six leaders of the White Knight Order, someone far beyond her reach.
Andou possessed a unique ability—to detect the presence of any otherworldly threat across the world. The stronger the enemy, the more pain he experienced.
Even when a demon god–class being appeared before, he had never looked this bad—meaning that the being inside the sky's gaping hole was unimaginably terrifying.
Generally, the size of a creature in this world correlated with its strength.
Based on that, the White Knight Order had established several threat classifications:
Normal Class: No special abilities. Usually a few meters tall. Handled easily by D-rank Saviors.
Ballista Class: Has special abilities, around 10 meters tall. Takes dozens of D-ranks or five to ten C-ranks.
Super Ballista Class: Enhanced abilities, far larger than 10 meters. Takes many C-ranks in waves to bring down.
Fortress Class: Over 100 meters long, city-destroying scale. Requires around 100 B-ranks, or three to four A-ranks.
Strategic Class: National-level threats. Needs 50+ A-ranks or at least one S-rank Savior.
Demon God Class: As the name implies, beings equivalent to gods of myth. Capable of destroying modern civilization. Anything below S-rank is useless against them. Only S-ranks and above can even hope to confront them.
This was the standard classification for monsters invading this world.
Of course, there were exceptions—like the twenty-meter-long evil dragons emerging from the sky's gaping hole, which were all no less than Fortress-class, or the humanoid mechanical Fallen Angels, which were similar.
The one commanding these monsters, a super dragon named Icarus, was at least Demon God class.
Within that class, there were further divisions: S, S+, SS, SS+, SSS, and even sss+.
So what level was the Icarus that nearly destroyed the otherworld? Mari guessed it was probably SS-class.
She recalled just a few days ago, when another giant dragon appeared. Andou had classified it as Demon God-class S, and alongside it came a being suspected to be a Demon King—rated S+.
Back then, Andou had bled from the nose and suffered greatly, but didn't faint.
DUN DUN DUN—!
A blaring alarm echoed.
"W-We've detected a massive energy reaction from within the rift! The readings—have already exceeded our maximum detection threshold!"
The panicked voice from the monitoring crew confirmed Mari's worst fear: the instruments could only measure up to S+, anything beyond that was completely off the charts.
"Relay the order to the front line immediately—evacuate the battlefield at once!"
A monster of that level wasn't something even S-rank front liners could handle.
The hidden S-rank Saviors and heroes scattered across the world would now have to act. Anyone caught in the middle of that fight could be killed instantly.
As a witch herself, Mari prepared for extraction support operations.
All they could hope for now was that Andou would wake up soon. Perhaps only he, an SS-rank, could deal with this.
"Order relayed...!"
The final announcement came with a hoarse voice—because the final boss from the sky's rift had arrived.
It was undoubtedly an apocalyptic beast, one destined to bring disaster or even total destruction to the world. Its presence made the air thick as lead, suffocating all who breathed it.
In a certain direction, an overwhelming surge of magical energy erupted—as if ready to swallow the heavens and the earth.
"So... it's finally starting, Thunder Empress."
[Slaughter, slaughter, slaughter, slaughter.
This lightness, this dance, this freedom... all shall be shared with the world.
Oh... how sweet is death!
Tonight... marks the millennial banquet of slaughter!]
The one known as the Thunder Empress, S-rank Savior Vasilisa Yulievna Mostovoya, spoke in a sweet, seductive, yet dangerous voice that echoed in the air.
As she chanted a forbidden spell, she also traced ancient symbols in midair.
The sky darkened with churning clouds like a witch stirring a cauldron. The center swirled into a vortex, forming what resembled a black hole, within which countless lightning serpents writhed like in a nest.
Then, an explosion of terrifying magical power burst forth from the depths of the vortex.
The radiance it emitted seemed enough to incinerate the earth itself. That light then merged with the storm to form a giant being of lightning.
Just how massive was it?
It matched the size of the super dragon that emerged from the rift—a colossal titan of thunder standing tall enough to touch the sky.
"Go, and proclaim my mighty name to the world—I am the Thunder Empress!"
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T/N:
Right, if Savior Academy don't ring a bell, then this chapter might as well be a siren.
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T/N:
So like, I've made my decision.
I will still update the fic but only one chapter throughout the week. It'll stay like this until the story pick up the pace and I find it enjoyable.
Xiao~