Child of Destiny

While everyone from the side of the Black-Markert Organization and the Black Serpent Mafia were currently doing their best to deal with their respective situation, the main culprits of this incident seemed to be quite relaxed.

They seemed to be planning to sit back and enjoy the show.

General Howard was currently standing on the deck of the warship, looking at the array of pirate ships in the distance, which were also facing toward their direction.

He smirked, realizing that those from the Coralara Archipelago were not that dense.

Crack! Crack!

Swoosh!

A moment later, a spatial rift suddenly appeared behind him, followed by a trio walking out of it.

The first to appear was a handsome young man with a crew cut, who seemed to be in his early to mid-twenties. He was wearing a standard military plain black shirt and camouflage pants, which highlighted his fit build.

Behind him, Black Cat walked out of the spatial rift as well while still carrying Lawrence like a sack of grain. The latter was feeling quite nervous, not knowing where the spatial rift would take him.

He heard that the Martial Artist at Void Manifestation Stage of the Ascension Realm could manipulate spatial energies, while some people with special abilities related to space could do something even more stunning.

This was his first time witnessing something like this, so he was quite afraid to step into the void rift at first.

However, he was powerless in front of Black Cat and the handsome older brother, so he was helplessly carried by Black Cat before he could even complain or do anything.

The two saluted General Howard, reporting that they had accomplished their mission.

The general casually waved his hand, acknowledging their accomplishments, before dismissing them. “Very good. You two can proceed according to the plan.”

The two then turned and went inside.

After a while, General Howard removed the barrier enfolding the entire warship, revealing himself and the deck for the others to see.

A smug look appeared on his face, seemingly mocking the eyes that were trying to spy on them from a distance.

…

In the meantime, high up in the sky, Nathan and Scar were currently standing before someone.

Nathan squinted his eyes before mumbling. “I do expect that a big fish will be coming here, but who would think that we will be having such a massive whale instead?”

He then signaled to Scar to step back for a moment before saying. “Let me handle this first.”

****

In the meantime, while all these were happening in the far Dark Continent, the ones who initiated this operation were still trapped in the same dungeon.

Pssh!

Arthur climbed out of his gaming cabin, sighing. “Tsk! Tsk! This inheritance dungeon is much harder than we thought.”

He pursed his mouth a little, thinking that he had been delaying his other quest for quite a long time already.

Fortunately, he had already reached a place where he could finally get proper experience points when hunting those jiangshi.

Looking at the time, he realized that he was already late for his morning routine. He swiftly jumped out of the gaming cabin and went straight to the shower before starting the day.

…

It was already late at noon when he finished with everything that he needed to deal with.

“Ah~! Reviewing those legacies is getting harder the more I learn about them. I guess the ancient methods that those experts used sure are too mysterious and profound,” he mumbled after walking out of the meditation room.

Beep! Beep!

While he was stretching his body, his advanced watch suddenly vibrated, signifying that he had just gotten a message from someone.

“Eh!? From the military?” he mumbled after realizing that it came from a secure line and was sent as a coded message.

He furrowed his brows a little when he opened the message and looked into its contents. The more he read through it, the deeper his frown became.

However, when he reached the final details of the message, his expression immediately turned into joy and excitement. “Uncle Nathan and the others have successfully rescued Lawrence! This is good!”

He was about to run toward Shin and the others to share the news when he suddenly paused his steps.

Recalling the other details of the message, he realized that the rescue mission had only become much smoother due to them finding some excuse to trouble the Black-Markert Organization.

However, the situation became a bit more complicated since the Black Serpent Mafia had gotten involved.

From the initial summary that he had gotten, it seemed like the war had broken out. It had even become a three-way battle due to some accidents that occurred during the process.

“Uncle Nathan has yet to reveal himself, so it should still be fine,” he mumbled before disregarding the idea of sharing the news with everyone for the time being.

He felt that he had to give his grandfather a call first instead. He felt that the situation was much more serious than what was said in the message. He wanted to know the details more, so it was better to hear it from his grandfather.

He knew that he could not do anything to change the situation, but he would be aware of the overall situation at the very least.

***

Meanwhile, somewhere within the secret realm of the Springfield Household, Evangeline had just returned after accompanying and catching up with her old friends.

She was planning to do a little research on the strange heart that her son had brought back from the Sun-Moon Continent.

From what she had heard, it was something that was dropped by an Unforgiven One after they had perished.

From what she had heard from Shin, it seemed to be a strange relic that was formed after a series of devouring of its previous owner and underwent some special mutations.

It also felt like it was based on the Devouring Divine Ability, similar to what her son possessed.

“This thing is quite amusing. An artificial talent forming an ability relic? Don’t tell me those guys have tapped on another taboo?” she mumbled while looking at the black heart sealed with her Mental Energy.

She was observing it when she suddenly sensed something coming from somewhere. “Hmm!?”

She swiftly rushed out of the spiritual realm and turned toward the direction from which the sensation was coming. “This karmic line of destiny-… is it from Nathan?”

She then quickly took out an item out of nowhere, which looked like an ancient compass or time dial.

There was a series of mysterious runes engraved on it, which were constantly changing. These runes seemed to be shapeshifting into different forms. At times, they were forming a series of beastly images. Sometimes, they were turning into humanoid figures. Other times, they were like ghostly and eerie.

Evangeline swiftly injected a hint of her Mental Energy into this treasure, making its hands rapidly spin along with the ever-changing images that it had.

She watched it for quite a while before the hands stopped and pointed to a certain rune while the ever-changing images stopped on an image of a majestic dragon soaring toward the heavens.

Seeing this, Evangeline could not help but smile wildly before mumbling. “Divine Dragon soaring through the Heaven’s Gate?”

“It seems like he has also opened that door and taken a step into it,” she added, along with a mysterious tone, before turning around and returning to the spiritual realm.

***

Somewhere above the vast ocean, a figure was silently sitting in the air and floating right above the water.

This person remained unmoved despite the violent storm and raging waves in his surroundings.

“Hmm?”

Not long after, he seemed to have sensed something, making him open his eyes.

Boom!

He only opened his eyes, yet the surroundings suddenly changed. These simple actions seemed to have summoned an invisible pressure that dominated the heaven and earth, affecting the natural flow of nature.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

The weather suddenly calmed down, making the heavy rain, violent wind, and raging waves stop.

Tranquility seemed to have returned in the ocean, making the waters under this man look like a flat surface.

He then slowly raised his eyes and gazed in a certain direction. His gaze seemed to have pierced through the space and traveled an extremely vast distance just to look into something.

“Nathan?” he mumbled before nodding his head. “That’s right. Given his stubborn nature, there is no way he will give up. That stupid door is nothing to him.”

***

Somewhere in the depths of the Silver Wing Continent, one of the main bases of the World Government was currently located.

Deep within the majestic castle, there was an extremely huge hall that was as big as a stadium.

There was nothing within this hall aside from the person sitting right at its center.

This person seemed to be playing Go by himself, calmly placing pieces of black and white stones one after another.

“Hmm!?”

While he was in the middle of placing a black piece on the board, a sudden sensation overwhelmed his body, making him pause his action.

He then raised his head and looked at the starry sky, seemingly calculating something through the trajectory of the stars.

After a while, he focused on a particular star, which seemed to be blazing with life and shining extremely bright.

“Another star has been ignited,” he mumbled, making his enigmatic and profound voice resonate with the surroundings.

He then took back the piece that he was about to place, looking at the board once again, contemplating the next move once again.

……