Apocalypse: becoming the hidden Ruler[English]

He never finished. Axel moved. A violent surge of primal force erupted. The world blurred.

BOOM.

The ground shook violently. When everyone’s vision cleared, they saw the result—

Axel kneeling in a two-meter crater. One hand pressed firmly down on Quinlan’s head. Quinlan was on his knees, forced down into the shattered earth.

“Such speed…”

“Such strength…” The commanders were stunned.

Quinlan might not specialize in close combat, but he was still a genuine Level Six Awakened.

“Commander Quinlan,” Axel said softly, the smile never leaving his face as he lowered his head slightly. “I told you not to talk recklessly. Aren’t you the one sowing discord here? We could’ve been working together to solve this, but instead you chose to stir up panic. That’s not exactly helpful, is it?”

He slowed his speech deliberately, emphasizing the last few words. Then—

Bang.

Bang.

Bang!

Four dull, sickening thuds echoed through the tent. Each one was Axel slamming Quinlan’s head back into the ground. By the third strike, blood had already smeared across the fractured earth.

The entire tent fell into dead silence.

Shock. Rage. Humiliation. And beneath it all—fear. Quinlan’s thoughts were a chaotic storm. He had known Yehuda wasn’t weak. But he’d assumed that surrounded by every major commander in the City of Sin, the man wouldn’t dare to act.

He’d been wrong. Not only had Axel dared—he’d done it effortlessly.

Axel’s strength crushed him completely. One hand pinned down his skull, thumb pressing into the side of his neck, the other fingers resting precisely over key Force meridians. Dense Force fluctuations radiated from those fingertips, sealing Quinlan’s flow.

He couldn’t gather power. He couldn’t activate his awakened technique. He could only endure. “Yehuda!” Quinlan spat blood. “Either kill me or let me up. We can start over—”

His words cut off abruptly. Axel lifted his hand, and brought his boot down instead. He stomped Quinlan’s head into the ground.

“I hate people who try to posture in front of me,” Axel said lightly. “Letting you live is already generous.”

He twisted his ankle slightly. A sharp cracking sound followed, sending an involuntary chill down everyone’s spine.

If Quinlan hadn’t been a Level Six Awakened with a reinforced physique, his neck would’ve snapped clean.

The commanders finally saw it clearly. Yehuda—the man who was always smiling—was ruthless to the core.

Of course, none of them felt personally threatened. It wasn’t their skull under his boot.

“Yehuda,” Isos said coldly, Force energy beginning to surge around him. “Have you finally dropped the act? Are you declaring yourself an enemy of the native forces of the City of Sin?”

With a single sentence, he tried to frame Axel as an outsider, opposed to the entire faction.

Axel didn’t even glance at him. “This idiot represents the City of Sin?” he said, increasing the pressure slightly under his foot. “Don’t make me laugh.”

“And what City of Sin are we even talking about now? There’s only one City of Sin Legion.”

“Right now, we’re surrounded by mutated beasts, and you’re busy turning on each other. Are you all in such a hurry to die?”

“If you’re courting death, don’t drag me down with you.”

The commanders exchanged uneasy glances.

Isos’s face darkened.

Axel had hit the nail on the head. The City of Sin had never been truly united. Without Morris, it was a loose coalition of self-interested wolves. There was no real “native alliance” to rally around.

And Axel knew it. “In a situation like this,” Axel continued calmly, “instead of standing together, this man tries to pin blame on us and fracture the legion from within.”

He tilted his head slightly. “To be honest… for the greater good, maybe I should just kill him.”

The tent temperature seemed to drop.

“He’s not particularly strong. Not particularly smart. And he’s already causing internal instability.”

“If he dies, his forces get redistributed. Whether you push forward or retreat back toward Krythos, that’s one less share to divide.”

“More profit for everyone.”

Valentino’s eyes flickered. Penny’s expression shifted almost imperceptibly. The temptation was obvious.

Lilith, still wearing Saka’s identity, felt a faint chill crawl up her spine. This guy…

He was planting seeds of division with surgical precision. If Morris were still in control, such words wouldn’t have mattered. But now?

They’d abandoned the City of Sin. The power structure was unstable. The territory was up for grabs. These people didn’t have high moral standards to begin with. In this environment, loyalty meant nothing.

“Enough.” Caroline finally spoke, her tone calm but firm. “Commander Quinlan acted rashly. I apologize on his behalf. But this isn’t a capital offense.”

“Yehuda. That’s enough.” Her words carried dual meaning: stop the violence—and stop the manipulation.

Axel chuckled softly. He had achieved what he wanted.

With a flick of his foot, he kicked Quinlan free. The man shot out of the crater like a broken doll, rolling several meters before crashing at Caroline’s feet.

Face covered in blood, eyes blazing red, Quinlan instinctively began gathering Force to retaliate.

Caroline placed a steady hand on his shoulder. He froze. After a long second, he dispersed the power.

“Yehuda,” Saka cut in smoothly, seizing the moment. “Let’s return to the real issue. What do you think about the current situation?”

Axel nodded slightly. “First, you’ve underestimated the mutated beasts.”

“Underestimated?” Penny frowned.

“Yes.” Axel’s tone turned measured and deliberate. “The moment you discovered the return route was blocked, your first instinct was to accuse me.”

“That means you don’t believe this was a natural movement of the beasts. You assumed someone orchestrated it.”

He looked slowly around the tent. “The real question is… why couldn’t it be them?”

A cold silence spread. “You mean…” Valentino swallowed. “You mean they set a trap? Lured us in?” His face had gone pale.

“I don’t know,” Axel admitted calmly. “The weak point might not have been intentional.”

“But after we broke through, they absolutely noticed us. And then they responded. Fast.”

“They reinforced the breach immediately. Sent in a larger horde. To encircle us.”

“In short… that blockade didn’t form on its own,” Axel said flatly. “The fact that you idiots thought breaking through one weak point would solve everything just proves how blinded you were by greed.”

Several commanders flushed red, but none of them could refute him.

Caroline cut through the tension. “Enough. What do you propose we do now?”

Axel didn’t hesitate. “Simple. We move faster. We head straight for Northern Spiritual Town.” He tapped the edge of the tactical table. “Geographically speaking, Krythos is unlikely to abandon that pass. If we link up with their garrison, the threat of the mutated beast tide drops dramatically.”

The commanders exchanged looks. It was straightforward. They had simply been too busy calculating profit and loss to think that far ahead.

“Move immediately,” Saka decided. “Increase the output of Star Guide. Boost overall marching speed.”

He added coolly, “If the mutated beasts are intelligent enough to coordinate an encirclement, they’ll need time to mobilize. They won’t seal us in overnight. There’s no need to abandon civilians.”

A few commanders stiffened. More than one of them had considered exactly that—cutting loose non-combatants to lighten the column.

Now that Saka had said it aloud, none of them could push the idea. Not when they were planning to attach themselves to Krythos’ authority afterward. A stain like that would cost them dearly in the coming power struggle.

Still, what bothered them more was something else. Increase the output of Star Guide. That meant more Primal Orbs. More resources burned. Real sacrifice. But they had no alternative.

“Move,” Saka ordered. “No more delays.”

......

“Holy shit, Axel,” Nigel muttered later, leaning in close. “You didn’t actually lure those mutated beasts here, did you?”

Kenneth and Terrence stayed silent, but both were clearly listening.

“Are you out of your minds?” Axel rolled his eyes. “You’re basically accusing me of treason. Want to drag me back to the Enforcement Bureau again?”

The three of them broke into cold sweat. Judging by his tone, it sounded like the Enforcement Bureau was somewhere he could stroll in and out of at will.