Global Awakening: Apocalypse Ender's Chronicle

The remaining members of the Silver Crest Clan finally managed to force their way through the opening. The moment the last few Survivors crossed the barrier, the man holding the disruptor immediately pulled the device away, and the small gap began closing almost instantly.

”Move!”

Rain didn’t need to say anything else. The surviving members of the clan immediately activated the escape abilities they had prepared beforehand.

One of the Survivors with an Epic Grade staff released a powerful wind skill that wrapped around the group, accelerating their movement as they rushed away from the Eclipse Domain. Another Survivor activated a spatial movement skill, causing the surrounding air to distort as their figures blurred.

They didn’t dare stop as they felt that the Turrets were targeting their location...

Even after escaping the shelter’s barrier, they continued running until they had traveled several kilometers away from the Eclipse Domain. Only then did the group finally slow down, with several members collapsing onto the ground from exhaustion.

Rain turned around and stared at the distant shelter.

The enormous walls of the Eclipse Domain were still clearly visible despite the distance and they could see a group starting to chase after them...

They could not celebrate at all.

Rain failed to achieve his goal of having better talent and furthermore, nearly thirty members had accompanied him from Little Rock Shelter, yet only a handful were standing beside him now. The rest had been left behind inside the Eclipse Domain, and Rain knew that most of them would never return.

For a moment, he felt a strange heaviness in his chest.

However, his expression quickly returned to normal... then to despair as he realized that his mana responded differently.

The amount of Mana he could control lessened and the process itself felt strangely unfamiliar. His Mana moved through his body more slowly and naturally, almost as if it were following a completely different set of rules.

Rain’s expression became even uglier.

”It’s real...”

He had sacrificed too much and lost too many people... but all of it was wasted.

***

Meanwhile, the situation inside the Eclipse Domain had already begun to settle down.

The arena had been completely surrounded. Several Super Soldiers stood around Merlin while multiple Warden Units formed another defensive layer around him, ensuring that nobody could approach the old mage without being detected.

The young Mages who had been attending Merlin’s lecture had already been moved away from the area, while additional security forces searched the surrounding streets for any remaining intruders.

Merlin himself remained standing in the center of the arena.

He wasn’t injured... However, his expression was unusually strange.

He slowly raised one hand and stared at it.

”What exactly happened?”

Merlin could still remember the strange sensation that had passed through his body earlier. At first, he had assumed that someone had attacked him with some kind of curse or binding spell, but after carefully examining himself, he realized that something far more fundamental had changed.

His Mana felt different.

Merlin slowly closed his eyes and began circulating Mana through his body.

The moment he did so, his expression changed... as his Mana responded almost immediately.

The amount of energy he could control had increased, and his spells seemed to become more stable almost without any additional effort. Even the amount of Mana required to construct certain spells appeared to have decreased.

Merlin remained silent for several seconds.

Then he opened his eyes.

”...What happened to me?”

He genuinely couldn’t understand it.

Merlin had spent most of his life cultivating magic, and he knew his own body better than almost anyone else. He had always been aware of the limitations imposed by his Talent.

His natural affinity for Mana had never been impressive. His spiritual root was mediocre, and compared to true magical geniuses, his Talent had always been considered inferior...

”This is incredible...”

Merlin had simply refused to accept that his Talent would determine his future.

While others relied on their natural abilities, he had spent countless years studying magic. He experimented with spells, analyzed Mana circulation, developed new methods of training, and repeatedly pushed his body beyond what others believed possible.

Whenever someone told him that a certain realm was impossible for someone with his Talent, Merlin simply treated it as another problem that needed to be solved.

That persistence had eventually allowed him to reach a level that even those born with extraordinary Talents struggled to achieve.

Yet now, someone had apparently blessed him, or perhaps someone had actually stolen his Talent away...

Merlin stared at his hand again.

Then he felt the new power flowing through his body.

”...And replaced it with something better.”

A strange expression appeared on his face. Merlin genuinely didn’t know whether he should laugh or become angry.

Someone had attacked him with a strange ability that he couldn’t detect or resist. That person probably intended to steal his Talent, yet somehow, the result had been completely different from what they had expected.

”Hahaha...”

Several of the nearby Super Soldiers turned their heads toward him.

Merlin noticed their reactions and quickly stopped laughing.

He cleared his throat.

”Nothing.”

The old mage then raised his staff.

He wanted to test his new Talent properly.

With a simple thought, Mana gathered around the tip of his staff, and a small flame appeared above it.

It was an extremely simple spell that Merlin had cast countless times throughout his life. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t have even needed to think about it.

Yet this time, the flame behaved differently.

Its shape was noticeably more stable, its temperature was higher, and the amount of Mana required to maintain it was lower.

The flame immediately expanded, transforming from something no larger than a candle flame into a blazing sphere several times larger than a human head. The surrounding air began to distort from the intense heat.

Merlin immediately canceled the spell.

The flames disappeared.

For several seconds, he simply stared at the empty space in front of him.

”Interesting... I guess I can help Shane and the others now on that Floating Island...”