The blinding pillar that connected heaven and earth gradually began to lose its brilliance.

The overwhelming pressure blanketing the Ashard Estate receded little by little until the air finally became breathable again.

One by one, the countless glowing feathers dissolved into pink motes of light before disappearing into the atmosphere.

Inside the gym, silence reigned as Silas slowly descended from the air. His eyes were closed, his breathing slow and steady. His shirt had long since been reduced to scraps during the evolution, leaving his toned upper body completely exposed. The only thing covering him was the enormous wing extending from the left side of his back.

It was breathtaking.

Each feather shimmered with a soft pink radiance, as though woven from moonlight and silk. Delicate thread-like runes flowed across every feather, constantly changing shape before fading and reforming.

The wing alone stretched nearly twenty feet from base to tip. It filled almost half the gym. Silas’s feet finally touched the ground.

Then his knees buckled. Before he could fall, a pair of enormous green arms caught him. Gromda.

"My mate."

She lifted him as effortlessly as someone would pick up a pillow. Silas opened one eye.

"I suddenly understand..."

"What?"

"Why princesses don’t walk after transformations."

Chloe burst into laughter. Even Anna couldn’t suppress a smile.

"You still have the energy to joke."

"It hurts less..." Silas muttered. "than before."

The system answered.

[The evolution has concluded. Your body is currently adapting.]

[Estimated recovery time: Several hours.]

Silas sighed.

"I’ll take it."

He noticed everyone staring.

"What?"

Nobody answered. Instead, they kept looking at him. Or more specifically at the wing. Silas awkwardly glanced backward.

"Oh. It grew."

Alpha blinked.

"It grew? It looks big enough to cover a basketball court!"

Silas scratched his cheek. Almost as if responding to his thoughts, the wing twitched. It began shrinking. The feathers folded inward gracefully, until it finally settled at roughly six feet long.

It was still enormous and magnificent, but now manageable. Everyone watched with fascination.

"Can it do that whenever it wants?" Raymond asked.

"I... think so." Silas experimentally flexed it.

The feathers spread slightly before folding again.

"That’s convenient."

Anna stepped closer.

"Can you stand?"

Silas tried and his legs immediately betrayed him.

"Nope." He leaned sideways.

Gromda caught him again.

"I carry."

Silas didn’t even protest. "Please."

The giantess smiled happily before lifting him bridal style.

"I’ve never seen a prince rescued by his queen before," Alpha commented with a blank expression.

Silas pointed weakly.

"Don’t... start."

"I’m absolutely starting."

Chloe walked behind Gromda before gently supporting Silas’s wing. It was surprisingly warm, almost comforting. Anna joined her, carefully lifting the wing so it wouldn’t scrape against the walls.

"It’s hot," Chloe murmured.

Anna nodded. "Very."

Silas himself felt like a furnace.

"I feel... really warm."

[Residual divine energy. It is temporary.]

As they slowly walked toward the mansion, something became apparent. Anna stopped walking.

"What?"

She looked toward Chloe and asked, "You feel it too?"

Chloe nodded slowly.

"Yes."

Alpha frowned.

"What?"

Anna clenched her fist experimentally. "I’m stronger." Gromda looked down at her own hand before squeezing it. The air cracked.

"Me too."

Everyone looked toward Silas.

"What?"

Anna smiled knowingly.

"This Resonance thing, I think."

The realization spread through the group. Silas’s evolution hadn’t only strengthened him. It had strengthened every woman marked by him. Chloe quietly examined her palm. Tiny frost crystals formed instinctively before melting again.

"My mana... it’s denser."

Gromda nodded.

"Body stronger."

Anna looked at Silas with a mixture of amazement and disbelief.

"You really are becoming something else."

Raymond, however, looked completely lost.

"Excuse me."

Everyone turned toward him.

"I believe someone called Mr. Ashard an SSS-Rank."

Silence.

Raymond continued.

"I’ve worked with awakened for over thirty years. The highest rank in recorded history is S."

"So..." He looked directly at Anna. "What exactly is an SSS-Rank?"

Nobody answered immediately. It wasn’t because they didn’t know. It was because... How exactly were they supposed to explain that?

Anna looked toward Silas. Silas looked toward Alpha.

Alpha sighed. "Fine."

He stepped forward.

"An SSS-Rank..." He paused dramatically. "Is stronger than an S-Rank."

Raymond waited, but he didn’t continue.

"That’s it?"

"Pretty much."

"That explains nothing."

"It explains enough."

"It absolutely does not."

Alpha shrugged.

"I don’t know the details either."

"Neither do we," Chloe admitted.

Silas raised a weak hand. "I’ll explain... later."

Raymond looked from one person to another. Then at Silas, then at the six-foot wing, then at the gym’s roof.

"I suppose... later is acceptable."

Nobody noticed him quietly adding another impossible event to the growing list labeled "Things That Only Happen Around Mr. Ashard."

Gromda carefully carried Silas into the mansion.

Anna opened every door ahead of them while Chloe continued making sure the wing didn’t brush against the walls.

Alpha just followed behind.

"You know..."

"What?"

"We’re literally escorting an angel."

Silas sighed. "I’m not an angel."

"No." Alpha grinned. "You’re worse."

Outside the Ashard Estate...

Meanwhile, absolute chaos had erupted.

"What do you mean you lost it?!"

Inside New Liberty’s Emergency Response Headquarters, dozens of holographic screens filled the command center. Satellite feeds, military drones, mana detectors, long-range scanners, and every single one had recorded the pillar.

None could explain it. An officer shook his head.

"It vanished."

"No." A scientist corrected him. "It didn’t vanish."

"It..." He hesitated. "Ceased to exist."

"Meaning?"

"The energy simply disappeared."

Another technician interrupted.

"Sir! We’ve triangulated the approximate origin!"

Everyone turned.

"Where?"

The technician zoomed into a district map.

"Northwest New Liberty."

Another scientist frowned.

"That’s impossible."

"Why?"

"Because we’ve already searched there."

Every awakened guild nearby had been dispatched immediately after the pillar disappeared. Military helicopters circled overhead. Hunter associations scanned every street. Government investigators questioned witnesses.

But there was nothing, no crater, no battlefield, no mana residue. Nothing.

One elderly researcher slowly removed his glasses.

"Someone erased the evidence. But who could possibly erase something on this scale?"

Nobody answered.

Across social media, videos flooded every platform. Millions of uploads and millions of theories.

"Second Apocalypse?"

"New God Descends?"

"A New Rank Evolution?"

"Alien Invasion?"

Conspiracy forums exploded overnight. Religious groups declared it a divine revelation, which wasn’t far from the truth. Several cults were reportedly founded before sunset. Even international news refused to stop broadcasting.

"The mysterious pink pillar observed across multiple continents remains unexplained."

"Authorities have yet to identify its source."

"Experts remain divided."

In a research laboratory overseas, a middle-aged man replayed satellite footage for what felt like the hundredth time.

"Increase the resolution."

"We already did."

"Enhance it again."

"There isn’t anything left to enhance."

The image sharpened. There, for less than a tenth of a second, hidden inside the center of the pillar was a silhouette with one wing.

The image vanished. The scientist slowly leaned back.

"Find that person."

Thousands of miles away, completely unaware of the storm he had created, Silas Ashard had already fallen asleep the moment Gromda laid him on his bed, his single pink wing wrapped around him like a warm blanket.

Outside, the world searched desperately for the owner of the heavenly light. Inside the Ashard Estate, the person responsible was snoring softly.

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