Inside a bar, it was mostly empty except for a few regulars scattered around the room. The bartender wiped the counter while one custor drank his sorrows away.
"One more..." Rafael raised his whiskey cup.
"You've drank enough." The bartender said. "You're leaving for the frontlines tomorrow. You should go get so sleep."
"What are you, my mom?" Rafael slamd the cup down. "Give one more drink!"
"Sigh." The bartender poured him one more drink and said, "That's the last one. You better leave after this."
Rafael gulped down the drink and then slamd the cup down on the counter.
"Fine, fine. The drinks here stink either way."
The chair toppled over as Rafuel stood up, and he stumbled out of the bar, cursing under his breath.
However, when he walked down the street, he saw that everyone was staring towards the sky. It seed like they were frozen in ti.
"Huh?"
Rafael raised his gaze to the sky, and to his shock, there was holographic ssage- imnsely big-hovering in the sky.
"World Announcent..." Rafael read what it was about, and slowly his eyes widened in shock.
He quickly took off his coat and checked the symbol on the back. It was a Nightshade symbol, as he was one of the foot soldiers of the Nightshade faction!
Their faction had just lost one of their most valuable assets!
Across the village, the mood dipped to all-ti low numbers.
After joining the Nightshade faction, most of them held arrogance and pride about their strong faction. They believed that Ambrose had strong chances of becoming the next king.
However, losing one of their most valuable assets this early in the war was extrely detrintal to their chances of success.
'The big guys must be furious,' Rafael gulped.
...
Shock, disbelief, and panic spread throughout the Nightshade faction as they realized the impact of their loss.
They could barely believe their eyes.
By the center of the village, a large tent had been set up, serving as a center of headquarters for the Nightshade faction.
Currently, at the entrance of the tent, everyone was staring up at the skies.
The first-ever world announcent was already shocking enough, but why it happened was even more shocking.
"Send a raven to Mauricio!" Ambrose scread and stord inside the tent, where he took his seat at the fur-covered throne.
The Raven Master headed out to deliver the ssage.
Inside the tent, the strong mbers of the faction and strategists had gathered. It was a solemn mood within them.
'How sad.' Akuji Dark crossed his arms. 'Calamity wasn't that strong, but in a couple of years, with his talent, he would've surpassed easily. Oh well, I guess there is soone more talented than him~'
Persephone didn't look at anyone. She had her eyes closed. It was unclear what she was feeling, but everyone could sense the tension in the air.
The flap of the tent opened, and a man stepped inside, his presence commanding attention from everyone in the room.
He wore a heavy, black cloak that seed to be drenched from rain. However, strangely enough, it hadn't been raining near the village for the last week.
"Nishimura!" Ambrose said sternly. "You've co at last!"
Nishimura took off his hood, revealing black hair that seed to swallow the surrounding darkness.
"Now that all my Hands have gathered here, we've got serious decisions to make." Ambrose pointed to the ceiling of the tent. "The world announcent."
"Whenever S-ranker is killed, a world announcent will happen." Nishimura, the First Hand of the Ambrose, said.
"Are you sure it's only that?" Akuji asked with a grin. "What if it only happens when S-ranker kills another S-ranker?"
"That's fine for us either way." Ambrose said. "We need to get our revenge. We can't let our enemies think we're weak. We must make Mauricio kill Adam to restore the honor of our
faction!"
'Will that bring honor to Nightshade or Death?' Persephone sighed and rolled her eyes.
...
The cheers erupted in a certain village, the rcenaries laughing and raising their cups in celebration.
While dancing like drunken fools, they pointed the glasses towards the sky at the world announcent and laughed at the absurdity of it all.
"Haha, the war's first proper victory is ours!"
On the garden roof, Morial kicked his legs up to a table and laughed. "Atta boy! Haha, what a fucking crazy guy!"
Lucette giggled and spread her arms wide. "How the hell he managed to do that?!"
Digby sat on the railing, enjoying his drink while looking towards the world announcent. However, even he cracked a smile, and shook his head because this felt absurd.
It had only been one year since he ca to the New World!
One year!
In one year, he crossed the three year gap between him and Calamity.
Calamity was also S-ranker, and considered one of the most talented ones to have ever stepped on the New World's soil!
Yet, it only took Adam one year to cross the gap.
While the S-rank was the highest level of talent anyone could achieve, sothing like this made Digby wonder whether there should be an even higher rank.
Only reserved for those with god-given talent.
So far, he'd only thought that only King Moriarty could be on a completely different level of
talent, but now perhaps even Adam could be considered for that rank.
A few floors below then, Knoxx, Hana, and Alan stood at the balcony, looking towards the world announcent with their eyes full of wonder.
This was an absolute shock to them!
'In only a year.' Knoxx wryly smiled. 'I thought I maybe could keep up with him, but who am I kidding? S-rankers are different from common people like us.'
...
Zephyr poured himself a drink. He filled the cup only half-way and then closed the bottle,
placing it back on the shelf.
He returned to the cup, took it into his hand, and sat on top of the table, looking out of the window towards the sight in the sky.
After raising his cup, he gulped it down and let out a soft sigh of contentnt.
"First done, many left to go..."
...
A wheelhouse rolled down the dirt, bumpy road, its creaking wheels echoing in the silence of
the night.
The knights of the Imperial Order rode on horseback beside it, their armor glinting in the
moonlight.
However, their attention was on the sky as the holographic image created a light bright enough that made it very visible in the darkness of the night.
'So, killing S-rankers will create a world announcent.' King Moriarty sat inside the wheelhouse, looking out of the window towards the light in the sky.
'Botherso news.
'Calamity dead, huh. I expected him to co challenge one day, but for his journey to end
like this is quite a disappointnt.
'Adam, however, in just a year has reached this level. A dangerous young man.'
...
Mauricio sat on top of a hill, his lifeless gaze looking up to the announcent.
At that mont, a dark raven landed on his shoulder, a note tied to its leg.
However, without doing anything, the raven gasped for air before dying right on top of his
shoulder. It looked like the life got sucked out of it.
"Calamity..."
A cold voice.
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