Ex-Rank Awakening: My Attacks Make Me Stronger

Chapter 427: EX 427. Welcome To Zion

"As long as there’s a way," Darian said, his voice firm, "you can count on us."

Selena reached out, resting her hand lightly on Leon’s arm.

"Just make sure it doesn’t destroy you."

Leon nodded.

Bringing Valeria back would not be simple. In truth, it bordered on the impossible. His path demanded power beyond death itself, power over life.

It was an idea that would have sounded insane to anyone else.

But Selena and Darian knew their son, they knew how he thought.

And as they stood there, the same thought crossed both their minds.

He planned to become stronger. Strong enough that even Life would have to listen.

Leon recalled every creature he had released, drawing them back into his death space one by one. A faint trace of irritation lingered in him. Not a single demon had appeared in his absence. Seven minutes, it seemed, was not long enough for fate to test his preparations.

Valeria followed next. Her body dissolved into shadow and vanished from the living world. Leaving her here for too long would only invite decay, and even the smallest complication was something Leon refused to allow when he would eventually revive her.

Selena and Darian exchanged uneasy looks, but they understood. This was not abandonment. It was preservation.

When it was done, Leon turned to them. "Let’s head back to Zion."

No one questioned how he knew the way. After all, he had found Gordon’s base without guidance. A hidden stronghold like Zion was no different.

Energy wrapped around them, gentle but absolute.

"Don’t worry," Leon said calmly. "I’ll take us there."

Eden’s talent activated. Time slowed to a crawl as Leon lifted his parents, the governor, and every member of Unit Alpha with careful precision.

To Leon, the journey took moments of quiet motion. To anyone watching from the outside, they vanished in an instant, as if the world itself had blinked and lost them.

****

After the shutdown, when the surviving members of the other races fled to the Blue Planet, chaos followed close behind. The Federation had fallen, its cities reduced to scars and ghosts, and with its collapse came a simple truth. They needed a new bastion. A place to gather, to endure, to plan. Somewhere the demons would not look.

So they chose the one place that made sense.

A domain long since written off.

At the very edge of the ruined Federation lay a land devastated well before the shutdown, crushed under a relentless demon assault and abandoned to history. A place no demon bothered to revisit, convinced there was nothing left to claim. The Dreisiphane Domain.

It was there, among wreckage and silence, that Selena had once found her son Leon.

And it was there that the trial races, rebuilt.

Hidden in plain sight, Dreisiphane became their sanctuary.

Not a fortress of towering walls, but a shadow tucked beneath neglect and assumption.

Entry and exit were governed by ruthless protocols. Routes shifted. Signals were masked. Even allies were screened, all to ensure the demons never realized the truth. The prey they hunted was living right beneath their noses.

What made it possible was not chance, but power.

A vast working of ancient magic blanketed the domain, bending perception and smothering intent. Magic born not of mortals, but of something far older and greater.

A sapling of the Great Tree, Yggdrasil that the elves had managed to secure before their home world was destroyed.

Its influence ran deep through the land, veiling Dreisiphane from hostile eyes, twisting fate just enough to keep it overlooked.

To demons, it was a graveyard of the past. To the survivors, it was hope given form.

And for now, it remained unseen.

Yet Leon found the place without effort. With Rachel’s talent active, nothing truly hid from him. Thoughts, locations, intent. All of it lay bare, even if faint limits still existed at the edge of his perception. Those limits mattered little now.

They called this place Zion. A name chosen out of stubborn hope. A declaration that this would be their last stand against the demons.

From the outside, the Dreisiphane Domain looked exactly as it always had. A dead land. A shattered city drowned in ruins and neglect.

No illusion masked that decay. The destruction was real. Buildings broken. Streets collapsed. Silence thick enough to choke on.

Any demon passing through would see nothing worth claiming.

But Zion was not the city.

Zion was a dome. Small. So small it did not even span a full city block. It drifted through the domain like a ghost, never staying in one place for long.

Waves of distortion rolled endlessly from its surface, bending perception, dulling awareness, nudging senses away from its presence.

Even demons searching actively would slide past it without realizing what they had missed.

Normally, entry required precision and planning. Zion would shift to the edge of the domain for only moments at a time, long enough for carefully timed arrivals or evacuations before vanishing again.

Every movement was controlled. Every mistake could mean discovery.

Leon ignored all of that.

One moment, the floor stood empty.

The next, space folded.

Leon appeared at the very center of Zion, carrying Unit Alpha, Luke, the Governor, and his parents with him as if distance had never existed at all. No alarms. No warning. No concern.

He had no need for protocol.

Leon took in the interior of the bastion, Zion, and a quiet thought crossed his mind.

’It is more fascinating in person.’

Through Racheal’s talent, he had already seen Zion laid bare, every layer exposed, every hidden structure mapped. Still, standing here was different. The effects of the Great Tree’s sapling was unmistakable.

This place did not reflect the despair the trial races faced outside. Instead, it radiated an immaculate beauty that felt almost defiant.

The buildings were simple yet refined, their lines clean and deliberate. Water flowed through the bastion in gentle arcs and mirror-like pools, reflecting a sky that felt too perfect to be real.

It was as if nature itself had conspired with a divine architect and this was the result of their union. Leon felt a faint stir of awe. Even the space was expanded. An elegant, absurdly complex spell.

He had seen spatial expansion before, but it never stopped fascinating him. For a brief moment, the thought of learning spells himself surfaced, only to be pushed aside.

Not yet. As a warrior, that path was currently closed to him; however, once he reached Rank Eight and acquired essence through Pandora’s power system, everything would change.

The moment stretched only a second before reality pressed back in.

Zion’s guards surrounded them, weapons half-raised, expressions tight with shock. The members of Unit Alpha were still trying to process how they had gone from a demon-infested wasteland to the heart of humanity’s last refuge in the blink of an eye.

Then one man stepped forward from the formation. He carried himself with practiced authority, eyes sharp as they swept over the group. Surprise flickered across his face as he recognized the Governor, Luke, Selena, Darian, and several members of Unit Alpha.

How did they get here?

His gaze shifted, locking onto Leon.

"And who," the man asked slowly, "is the one they arrived with?"

Leon smiled.

Recognition sparked in his eyes as he met the man’s stare. He knew him. Very well. Ignatius Sol Tarhim. Elizabeth’s father. His future father-in-law.

Leon’s smile was calm, almost friendly.

But Ignatius felt a chill crawl up his spine.

’Why does that smile scare me?’