Ex-Rank Awakening: My Attacks Make Me Stronger

Chapter 416: EX 416. The Inspector

Countless demons burst apart as Leon’s killing intent rolled outward like a collapsing star. He did not restrain it. There was no reason to.

Though his current rank sat at S rank, equivalent to a Rank Seven professional, the truth was far uglier.

Leon stood at the threshold of a true Level Six Origin Stage existence.

The gap was not something numbers could explain. It was the difference between being caught in a storm and being crushed by the planet that birthed it.

Just his presence warped the battlefield. S rank demons died without ever understanding why. SS ranks shattered mid scream.

Even a handful of SSS ranks collapsed, their bodies unable to bear the pressure of existing near him.

Leon did not look at them. He did not care.

He wanted one person.

The first number left his lips, calm and flat.

"Ten."

More demons detonated into mist. Limbs, armor, cores. Gone.

"Nine."

The demonic base beneath them groaned as if alive, then tore itself free from the ground. Entire structures folded inward as bodies rained from the sky like ash.

"Eight."

A desperate counterattack followed. Spells, blades, roars. None of it reached him. Everything dissolved before touching his skin, erased as if countered by fate.

"Seven."

Panic spread. The demons turned to flee, only to slam into invisible walls. Space itself had been sealed. There was nowhere to run.

"Six."

Some dropped to their knees. Others screamed prayers to gods that did not answer.

"Five."

A voice finally broke through the carnage.

"Wait!"

Leon stopped counting.

His violet eyes lifted, cold and distant, settling on the source. Gordon stood there, pale and rigid, staring as though at a nightmare that had stepped out of the grave. Beside him stood a female elf, frozen in place. Leon spared her a single glance. Then his attention returned to Gordon.

The air grew heavier.

Leon tilted his head slightly, almost curious, and spoke again.

"I thought I was clear," he said. "You were supposed to crawl."

****

Gordon felt as though he had fallen into a malformed nightmare, one that refused to end no matter how wide his eyes opened.

The boy standing before him was supposed to be dead.

If Leon Kael had truly stayed dead, Gordon might have laughed. He might have celebrated. He had imagined that moment more than once, imagined a world where his humiliation was erased simply because its source no longer existed.

But this... this was worse. The dead had stood back up and came looking for him.

If Leon had only been alive, Gordon could have coped. He would have raged, plotted, schemed.

He had always wanted another chance to put the boy in his place. Not just Leon, but that governor’s bitch of a daughter too. Nikko.

Both of them had ruined him.

After that incident with Leon and Nikko, Gordon’s life had collapsed in slow, grinding pieces. His arms had been restored, yes, but the scars remained. Not just on his flesh, but buried deeper, etched into his mind.

The price of that restoration had drained his savings dry. And unlike those pampered attack-branch elites, Gordon belonged to the Defense Branch. Resources were scarce, especially compared to the Attack Branch, and respect was even scarcer.

Then his mind began to fray.

He skipped duties. Abused his authority. Took out his bitterness on junior staff.

It escalated until the day he assaulted a newly enlisted cadet, young, fragile, and noble born.

That mistake sealed everything. She took her own life soon after. Gordon was arrested, stripped of rank, stripped of honor that had already been threadbare and locked away.

He never reflected.

Not once.

It was Leon’s fault. Everything was Leon’s fault.

At first, Gordon’s hatred had been for nobles as a whole. But over time, it sharpened, narrowed, until it pointed at one name and one name alone.

Leon Kael.

When the shutdown came and the world slipped into chaos, Gordon’s cell opened. Freedom was handed to him alongside an offer. Power. A contract. Ascension.

A Lord.

He accepted without hesitation. With that power, he would finally have his revenge.

Then he learned Leon was dead.

The news was pleasant, but hollow. Gordon had wanted to be the one to crush him, to watch the light die in his eyes. Death without his involvement felt like theft.

Still, he moved on. If Leon was gone, then his family would suffice.

Valeria had been easy to find.

He poured everything into that mission. Every ounce of rage, every broken fragment of pride. When it was over, Gordon had felt... calm.

Now, that calm shattered.

Leon stood there, alive. Changed, but unmistakable.

Gordon would recognize that expression anywhere. That cold, distant gaze that made it feel like the world itself was weighing you and finding you lacking.

Only then did Gordon truly feel it.

The pressure. The suffocating presence bearing down on his soul.

The words slipped from his mouth before he realized he had spoken.

"His power... it’s like that of a duke."

His tone suddenly became casual, as if they were exchanging pleasantries.

"So you’re alive. I thought you had—"

His sentence never finished.

His right hand fell to the ground, severed cleanly, the sound arriving a heartbeat after the fact. Leon had not even looked like he moved.

"I won’t repeat myself," Leon said calmly. "Crawl."

For a split second, fear flooded Gordon’s face. Then rage drowned it.

How dare he. How dare Leon look down on him. How dare a boy who was supposed to be dead command him like filth.

Everything Gordon had sacrificed, the lives he had offered, the price he had paid for this power, none of it could end with him crawling.

Demonic aura exploded outward as Gordon’s presence swelled violently.

"I am no longer the weak inspector you could oppress," Gordon roared.

"I am changed. I am redefined. I am a Lord!"

He charged.

His left fist drew back and slammed into Leon’s face. The impact triggered a cataclysmic explosion, the ground behind Leon tearing apart as dust and debris swallowed everything.

A smile spread across Gordon’s face.

"I told you not to—"

Something grabbed him.

A hand shot out of the dust and clamped over Gordon’s face. Leon stepped forward, unscathed, eyes cold, grip absolute.

"I told you," Leon said quietly, "I won’t repeat myself."

Gordon’s eyes widened in horror, his scream trapped beneath Leon’s palm.

***

-Authors Note-

19-Day Challenge: If we stay in the Top 50 of the Golden Ticket rankings until the 19th of this month, I will do a mass release on that day.

To make the conditions easier: If the book receives one thousand or more power stones before the 19th, the mass release is guaranteed. I believe we can pull this off, let’s go!

Thank you For Reading ^^.