[Lufen Portal Entrance]
Hundreds of millions of people across the Federation watched their screens, the live feed coming from dozens of news cameras positioned around the portal entrance.
The dimensional barrier rippled one final time.
Then a figure emerged, crawling through on hands and stumps.
A woman, her military uniform soaked in blood, her legs gone from the knees down.
She dragged herself forward, leaving a trail of crimson across the snow.
Her face was pale from blood loss, her hands shaking, but her eyes blazed with desperate intensity.
"HELP!"
Her scream tore across the field, raw and broken.
"There are more survivors! Commander Reeves is still inside, still fighting! He’s holding off the young chief of the Ironjaw tribe but he can’t last much longer!"
Soldiers rushed forward with a stretcher, but she waved them away violently.
"We tried to save the families that were left behind! Dozens of them, children and elderly, people who couldn’t evacuate in time!"
Her hands clawed at the snow, pulling herself forward.
"Their lives are at stake! You have to send reinforcements! You have to help them!"
Major General Kane appeared beside her, a healing potion already in hand.
"Soldier, drink this. Your wounds need–"
"NO!"
She slapped the potion away, the vial shattering against stone.
"I don’t need healing! I need you to send soldiers into that portal! Commander Reeves and the others are dying while you stand here!"
Kane’s expression remained controlled, but his hands clenched.
"Soldier, I understand your distress, but we have to consider that this could be a deliberately constructed trap. The Giants could be using survivors as bait to–"
"It’s not a trap!"
Her voice cracked, tears streaming down her blood-covered face.
"We were late getting out because we were protecting civilians! We were fighting for hours to create an escape route! There are dozens of people still in there waiting for rescue!"
She looked around desperately, her eyes finding the cameras, the assembled military personnel, the barriers holding back the press.
"Please! Someone! Anyone!"
Kane remained silent, his jaw working.
His hands opened and closed behind his back.
"Why?!"
The woman’s scream carried across the entire field.
"Why isn’t anyone helping?! Why won’t you save them?!"
"I’m sorry, Soldier."
Kane’s voice came out quiet but carrying clearly.
"Even if everything you say is true, even if there are survivors waiting for rescue..."
He paused, the words clearly costing him.
"I can’t risk the lives of my soldiers for rescuing dozens when this war has just begun. It’s not... worth it."
Silence crashed down like a physical weight.
Across the Federation, hundreds of millions of people sat frozen, watching through their screens.
The woman stared up at Kane, her expression shifting from desperation to disbelief to something broken.
"Worth?"
The word came out as barely a whisper.
Then she started laughing, the sound wet and helpless.
"Hehehehe... hahaha... HAHAHAHA!"
The laughter cut off abruptly.
She tilted her head back, looking at the sky.
"Bloodworth God!"
Her voice rang out, carrying across the field.
"After all these years, the worth of your people’s lives is being questioned again!"
Her head snapped around, eyes tracking across the assembled military forces.
"IS THERE NO ONE AMONG THE LOT OF YOU WHO WILL SAVE THEM?!"
Her hands trembled, fingers digging into frozen earth.
"Has everyone in the military lost their spines?! Has the Federation become so cowardly that we abandon our own people to die?!"
Nobody answered, dozens of faces turning away, unable to meet her eyes.
Cameras captured it all, broadcasting the moment across every screen in human territory.
The woman’s head dropped, her body sagging.
’Bloodworth God...’
Her thoughts came as prayer, desperate and fading.
’If you’re really watching from wherever you are... If any part of your legacy remains...’
Her vision was blurring, consciousness slipping.
’Please... Let someone have the courage you once showed...’
Then, cutting through the absolute silence–
Tap Tap Tap Tap
Footsteps began to ring out, clear and steady against stone.
Every head turned, every camera swiveled.
And a figure walked forward through the crowd of military personnel.
A man in a black Military Police uniform, the red armband stark against his sleeve.
He moved with purpose, his hands reaching up to remove his visor cap.
The cap disappeared into his spatial ring.
His coat followed, black fabric vanishing, leaving him in just the uniform shirt.
His tie came off next, the knot loosening with practiced ease.
He rolled his sleeves up past his elbows as he walked, revealing muscular forearms.
Major General Kane stepped forward, his hand rising.
"Stop right there, Inquisitor! That’s an order!"
His voice carried authority honed over decades of command.
"I am the commanding officer of this operation, and I will not allow–"
The man’s voice cut through the command like a blade.
"You’re standing in my way."
His crimson eyes found the Major General’s face.
"Move."
The words carried weight that made the air itself feel heavier, pressure radiating outward.
The Major General’s feet stepped backward before his mind processed the movement, his body reacting to something primal.
’What–’
But as the man continued toward the portal entrance, Kane’s voice emerged again.
"You– do you even understand what you’re walking into?!"
The desperation in his tone was clear.
"It’s one of the fourteen young chiefs we’re talking about! The genius from the Ironjaw tribe! He butchered an entire battalion alone! It would take an army to rescue those people!"
The man paused mid-step, then he looked back over his shoulder.
Black metal erupted across his skin, spreading from his hands to cover his entire body in gleaming obsidian armor.
A helmet formed over his face, sealing completely, two massive curved horns growing from the top.
Pressure exploded outward, making everyone stumble backward.
An axe materialized in his hand, the blade gleaming with power that made reality bend.
And his voice emerged from behind the helmet, distorted but carrying absolute conviction.
"I alone am enough."
Whoosh
He vanished into the portal, the dimensional barrier rippling as he passed through.
Silence fell across the entire area like the world itself had stopped breathing.
Then whispers exploded like a dam breaking.
"Who was that?!"
"Did you see the armor?! What kind of skill–"
"Wait, that face before the helmet formed!"
"I seem to have seen him somewhere..."
"That was Damian Valcor!"
"Impossible! He should be at Stormhold Academy!"
"How is he A+ rank already?! Wasn’t he only at B rank a month ago?!"
"He’s seventeen years old! That makes him the youngest A+ rank in Federation history!"
At a distance away, Squad Ten stood frozen, staring at the portal entrance where their leader had disappeared.
Helena’s mouth hung open, her hands trembling.
"Did he just... Why would he..."
Regulus’s confident expression had shattered completely, his black eyes wide.
"That absolute lunatic... There’s a young chief on the other side..."
Sicar’s pink eyes tracked the portal, his mind racing.
’He didn’t hesitate even for a second... Just walked straight in...’
The Sword Demon’s smile had returned, wider than ever.
"Now that’s the kind of warrior I wanted to see."
Across the Federation, on every screen, in every home–
The reporters were screaming into their microphones.
"Breaking news! Damian Valcor, the youngest A+ rank in Federation history, has just entered Lufen Portal alone to rescue survivors!"
"The prodigy who killed a demon-contracted human in Tranquil City is now facing one of the Giant race’s fourteen young chiefs!"
"He declared he alone was enough! The entire Federation is watching!"
And in living rooms, in bars, in military bases and government buildings–
People sat frozen, their eyes locked on screens showing the portal entrance where a seventeen-year-old had just walked into a nightmare.
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