Chapter 1012

’Town Kiten... why Kiten?!’ Grey wondered inwardly, his body moving with a velocity that defied the laws of the physical world.

Being a Stage Nine warrior and channeling such advanced Ki was sufficient to make a person faster than a lightning strike itself.

Now, by layering his literal lightning and wind affinities over his movements, his pace was far beyond anything humanly possible.

He was blistering across towns, cities, and rugged terrains with such momentum that he barely left a discernible blur in his wake.

The only evidence of his passage was the path of destruction left behind: shattered terrain, overturned market stalls, fractured windows, and crumpled earth.

All the passers-by felt was a sudden, violent rumbling of the ground, followed by a blitzing gale that rushed past them, sending bystanders sprawling.

He didn’t care about these people right now.

In the grand scale of the coming apocalypse, these momentary inconveniences were totally insignificant.

His mind was solely fixed on a single objective.

He had to reach his hometown in time.

He still couldn’t fathom why Kiten had been precisely chosen as their arrival point, but he needed to be there before the first drop of blood was shed.

Even though he didn’t possess many fond memories of the place—even though he had been relentlessly bullied there for being weak and useless, and no one had cared for him until he emerged as a multi-elementalist—it was still his home.

That was the soil where he was born.

It was the place where he had been raised by his parents, the ground where his mother had drawn her final breath.

And most especially, it was the exact coordinate where his story had truly begun.

’... Hang on! This isn’t starting to seem like a coincidence anymore.’

His mind churned as he surged forward.

His estimated arrival at Town Kiten was now less than two minutes away.

He could have simply utilized his spatial magic to bridge the distance instantly, but doing so would consume a chunk of his mana—even if only a small margin.

For what was coming, he required every single drop of essence he possessed.

He wasn’t about to squander his mana as if he held an infinite supply.

Traveling this way was strategically sound, as his core wasn’t being depleted as rapidly.

’Why choose to attack today, on my birthday? And why choose Town Kiten as the theater for this war? Something feels fundamentally wrong here.’

His brows furrowed as the familiar outer walls of Town Kiten finally appeared on the horizon.

Snapping his gaze upward, he saw it as clear as day in the heavens, even though he hadn’t reached the town gates yet.

A massive tear in space, looking akin to a gigantic, pulsing wormhole, sat anchored in the sky as if it had always belonged there.

But instead of drawing objects in, it was spewing something gargantuan out into their world.

Bolting over the town walls, which stood incredibly high, Grey continued his relentless dash.

Sparks of lightning crackled off his frame, striking the cobblestones as he moved with blistering intensity.

The townspeople had all paused, glancing upward in sheer confusion at the celestial anomaly.

They had been going about their mundane lives when the sudden rupture in space rippled open, causing them to halt in their tracks.

Coming to a skidding halt that sent a loud screech echoing out from his feet striking the earth, the lightning finally fizzled off.

Grey stood there, his breathing steady despite the exertion.

The townspeople glanced at him, their eyes narrowing in profound shock at the figure who had just manifested before them.

The crimson hair, the fierce brown eyes, and the unmistakable scent of ozone from his lightning—it was Grey!

They were in utter disbelief at the sight, having been present when he was forcefully teleported away on that fateful day along with his mother’s killer.

Most had presumed him dead, as he hadn’t been seen in the town for two years.

And now?

He was suddenly standing among them just as a massive tear opened in the firmament?

Something didn’t add up.

The first object to emerge from the wormhole was a humongous flying vessel.

It appeared large enough to house five thousand soldiers with ease, letting out a mechanical roar that vibrated through the air like a primitive airplane.

The flying ship resembled a traditional seafaring galleon, but instead of floating on water, it hovered in the air, kept aloft by strange, glowing propellers fixed to its sides.

High above, a dark flag flapped ominously on the mast.

Two obsidian eyes looking over a crimson world.

It wasn’t only the primary ship that emerged; a second vessel followed, then a third.

Each of them expertly maneuvered to grant space for the next to exit, as they began to hover in a patient, circular formation around the pulsing wormhole.

Every single ship shared the same menacing design and bore identical flags upon their masts.

— Is this an attack? But from who?

— Which Kingdom would dare to assault us so suddenly?

— What in the world is happening?

— Mu-Mum, I’m scared. What is going on?

Hearing the frantic, worried voices rising all around him, Grey snapped his head around in a momentary surge of panic.

The ships were still exiting the portal one by one, and it didn’t appear as though the procession would conclude anytime soon; more and more kept pouring through the breach.

"Do you all require a formal invitation?! Fucking evacuate this TOWN! RUN!"

The townspeople simply stared at him as if he had lost his mind.

Why should they flee?

Even though ten titanic ships had now manifested in the sky above them, they struggled to comprehend why this should be a cause for immediate alarm.

Grey’s jaws were tightly clenched in a silent fury as no one moved to obey his command.

Lightning began to arc violently around his clenched hands.

He could leave them all to perish if he truly desired; after all, they had been nothing but useless and cruel during his formative years in this town.

However, he could not afford the liability of civilians being present when the true slaughter began.

They would only serve as obstacles between attacks and confuse the combatants on the field.

There needed to be a definitive, clear line.

Allies versus foes.

Nobody in between.

Acting on instinct, he allowed the lightning to surge around his body, crackling with tremendous, unrestrained energy.

He lifted a foot high above the ground and then slammed it back down with a thunderous force.

The impact triggered a mini-quake that rippled through the cobblestones, physically jolting the townspeople out of their stupor.

"I SAID NOW!"

They didn’t need to be told a second time.

The crowd broke into a panicked sprint, dashing away from the town gates while the aerial armada continued to swell in the sky.

The townspeople ran, screaming in terror as they abandoned the only home many of them had ever known.

This was the same sanctuary where they had lived for decades.

Some had been born here, and others had raised their own children within these walls, and now they were being forced to desert it all in a heartbeat.

Their properties, their houses, and the remnants of their quiet lives were being left behind as the entire population fled in dreaded panic, leaving Grey standing solitary as he watched their retreating figures disappear into the distance.