The Reticent Blade - Chapter 231 - Strength to Hold the Heavens

Ten years ago, Joseph Cassian was thrown into a maximum-security prison for crimes he didn’t commit framed by the very family whose blood runs through his veins.Now, at twenty-eight, he walks free into a world where the city’s mafia empires have mysteriously crumbled. Their leaders, slaughtered. Their empires, burned.All while Joseph sat in silence behind bars... no one can prove he did anything and yet it all happened as if he planned it.Was he just a wrongfully imprisoned scapegoat, a man who survived injustice?Or is he a mastermind a Don who orchestrated revenge so flawlessly that not even he had to lift a finger?Now that he’s free, Joseph stands at a crossroads.He can leave the blood behind, walk away from the ashes of an empire that once owned the city.Or he can claim what’s left of his legacy and become the very Don the world has feared all along.

Damien Julian is an 18-year-old loser, who has been bullied and mistreated his entire life, at home, he has to deal with his abusive father, and at school, he is constantly been bullied by delinquents, and to make things worse he is always looked down upon by his peers, till one day a mysterious screen appear before him as it said.

[The world has seen the lingering evil in your heart]

[Would you like to be one of the nine demon kings of this world]

[If so what are you willing to sacrifice?]

In the heat of the moment, Damien made a deal with the world, that he would give up everything he owns, or do anything it wants, and in exchange, he shall be reborn as a new Demon King, and what the world required from him as payment was.

[In exchange for power, become a slave of the world, and act as an anti-body for all eternity]

At that moment, Damien agreed, but little did Damien know, that becoming a slave to the world meant he has to be its immune system, what that entail is, that anything that threaten the world must be destroyed even if he has to wipe out humanity, to save it, or assassinate historical figures to bring fort balance or even manipulating events that can potentially end the world, to save the world, this is the story of a necessary evil, not the story of a hero who cares for others.

Veyne came from the life of sewer rats.The world saw him as a failure. He called it belief. Others called it stupidity. Either way, it was the only thing he had left.Even at rock bottom, Veyne never stopped believing in himself.Betrayed by his lover and brother, treated as a burden, and forced to slave endlessly in the game to chase his dream—he endured it all.Though late, his obsession was finally rewarded with an opportunity. But the sewer rat in him was too weak to hold onto it. He had fought the world and lost.Actions have consequences. And when he failed in the game, those consequences caught up to him, leading to his death.But the universe wasn’t done with him yet.Given a second chance, he returned to a time when the game had already been out for two years. This time, he rushed to obtain the Template Wilder class—the very class that led to his downfall.One of the game’s rarest hidden classes, the Wilder class, allowed him to switch into different forms based on the monster templates he possessed. An overpowered ability—but it came with a fatal catch.A hidden template forced him into the form of an ancient baby creature, one so cursed that players, monsters, and even NPCs would hunt him down. If he died in that form, his character would be permanently deleted.In his past life, he underestimated the class’s dangers. And the world tore him apart for it.This time, it wouldn’t be just hollow belief.This time, he’s not here to survive—he’s here to dominate.No emotional ties.No second chances.The entire game is his enemy, and he will crush anyone who stands in his way.He failed once. He suffered. He died. He was erased.Not this time.This is the beginning of his legend. The era of Veyne Draven.

I became a staff officer of an empire whose defeat was certain.The only way to escape from the empire with an 8-year mandatory service was through dishonorable discharge.But then…“You can be glad, Lieutenant. Thanks to your accurate instinct, our military could prevent damage in advance.”The more I struggled to be discharged, the higher my performance evaluation became.