Starting With an SSS-Rank Goddess Summon!

From the depths beneath the arena, a massive containment pedestal forged from solid null-iron rose into the light.

Resting in the center of the pedestal, suspended within a humming gravitational stasis field, was a colossal multifaceted crystalline orb roughly the size of a warhorse’s skull.

The moment the protective dampening field was lowered by a fraction of an inch, an immense suffocating atmospheric pressure detonated outward from the stage.

BOOOOOOOOM!

The air throughout the entire colosseum turned instantly heavy and charged with static electricity.

The light in the room dimmed as thick, jagged arcs of deep-crimson lightning crackled violently across the surface of the crystalline sphere.

A terrifying aura... the lingering spiritual residue of a catastrophic apex predator rolled across the stone tiers, forcing hundreds of lower-tier Awakened to instinctively grip their armrests to resist the crushing weight.

"Lot Number Thirty-Nine!" the auctioneer shouted over the low crackle of red electricity. "The Core of the Crimson-Thunder Behemoth! Harvested from the corpse of a genuine Tier-5 Calamity Beast slain within the uncharted depths of an Unknown Zone in the Sovereign Realm by one of the premier Awakened Sovereigns of our era who is at Level 86!"

A wave of gasps erupted across every VIP suite and spectator balcony.

A Tier-5 monster was a walking apocalypse... a creature capable of wiping entire cities off the map, requiring coordinated strikes from multiple high-tier Lords and military legions to suppress.

To hold the unrefined core of such an entity was to possess the raw energetic equivalent of a miniature star.

"While the conscious spiritual will of the beast was eradicated during the slaying," the auctioneer continued with his eyes gleaming behind his mask, "the energetic utility of this Tier-5 core is beyond calculation! If integrated into a territory’s defensive array, its passive energy field is capable of generating an impenetrable multi-layered elemental barrier! Alternatively, if connected to a grid in the Human world, this single core possesses sufficient energetic power to continuously power a metropolis the size of Valoria City for an entire decade or perhaps even more!"

He raised his hand, pointing dramatically at the crackling red lightning dancing across the orb.

"And furthermore... for those walking the path of elements... Assimilating even a microscopic fraction of this core’s refined essence into your internal mana conduits grants a permanent irreversible mutation... imbuing your elemental reserves with the devastating armor-shattering properties of Dragon’s Lightning!"

The auctioneer brought his gavel down with a sharp crack.

BANG!

"We open bidding for this Tier-5 Calamity Core at an entry baseline of One Billion Spirit Credits! Increments of one hundred million! The floor is open!"

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

The scoreboard exploded into a chaotic blur of flashing lights.

=========================================

[CURRENT BID: 1,500,000,000 SC - VIP SUITE FOUR]

[CURRENT BID: 2,200,000,000 SC - VIP SUITE NINE]

[CURRENT BID: 3,500,000,000 SC - VIP SUITE THREE]

[CURRENT BID: 5,000,000,000 SC - FLOOR TIER 1]

=========================================

Across the amphitheater, every major syndicate, foreign merchant consortium, and high-noble proxy began throwing their full weight into the ring.

Five billion, six billion, eight billion... the numbers climbed with terrifying momentum.

Yet, amidst the frantic bidding, every eye in the room kept darting nervously toward the dark silent glass of VIP Suite Seven.

The terrifying titan that had spent billions across the evening, effortlessly crushing every rival bidder, had not touched their terminal.

Inside Suite Seven, Silas, Harper, and Seraphina were simply watching the spectacle unfold.

Silas leaned back into the sofa, Seraphina resting peacefully against his chest with her eyes closed, while Harper casually sipped a glass of chilled celestial nectar.

"Not interested?" Silas asked Harper, nodding toward the crackling red core. "Dragon’s Lightning sounds like it matches your exact elemental profile."

Harper shook her head, offering a confident dismissive smirk.

"My lightning comes directly from the lineage of my Mother. It’s pure, focused, and perfectly synchronized with my core. Corrupting my mana pathways with the violent untamed residue of a Tier-5 beast would do more harm than good to my advancement. Besides... my eyes are on the final prize."

Across the amphitheater in VIP Suite Twelve, Cedric Blackwood saw Suite Seven’s silence and felt a sudden intoxicating rush of adrenaline flood his chest.

’They aren’t bidding!’ Cedric realized, his eyes widening with wild hope. ’Suite Seven spent their reserves on that stupid pirate sword! They’re tapped out!’

Cedric’s heart hammered against his ribs like a war drum.

If he could secure a genuine Tier-5 Calamity Core... an artifact capable of powering an entire city or shielding House Blackwood’s primary sovereign estate for generations... his father and Lord Valerius would completely overlook his earlier reckless spending.

He would return home as a triumphant conqueror who secured a generational family treasure.

Cedric lunged toward the terminal, his eyes blazing with desperate ambition as he keyed in an astronomical figure.

BZZZZT-CHUNK!

=====================================================

[BID: VIP SUITE TWELVE]

CURRENT BID: 12,000,000,000 SPIRIT CREDITS

=====================================================

Twelve Billion Spirit Credits.

The entire colosseum fell into a breathless stunned hush.

The middle-tier suites and merchant consortia immediately went dark, their hands lowering as the twelve-billion-credit barrier proved insurmountable for all but the wealthiest oligarchs on the continent.

Cedric threw his head back, letting out a breathless triumphant laugh.

"Twelve billion!" Cedric roared, wiping sweat from his brow as he looked down at the silent stage. "Let them try to match that! The core is mine! House Blackwood reigns supreme!"

Down on the floor, the maid stared at the glowing twelve-billion figure with pure horror.

She knew that House Thorne’s entire emergency liquidity line had just been completely exhausted in a single keystroke.

On the circular stage, the Chief Auctioneer raised his gavel, scanning the quiet arena.

"Twelve billion credits from VIP Suite Twelve!" the auctioneer announced, his voice echoing through the chamber. "Going once..."

"Going twice..."

Cedric leaned forward, gripping the brass railing of his suite, his face split into a wide victorious grin.

’Yes... yes! It’s mine!’

BZZZZT-CHUNK!

A low chime echoed from the highest, most secluded corner of the colosseum.

High above the northern mezzanine, perched directly above the auctioneer’s platform in a fortified box that had remained dark and silent for the entire evening, the display of VIP Suite One suddenly flared with an icy silver light.

=====================================================

[BID: VIP SUITE ONE]

CURRENT BID: 25,000,000,000 SPIRIT CREDITS

=====================================================

Twenty-Five Billion Spirit Credits.

A dead suffocating silence gripped the colosseum.

Down on the lower tiers, several masked merchants actually stood up from their stone benches, staring up at VIP Suite One with terror.

’Suite One?!’

’Who’s there?!’

’There was another monster hiding in the room this entire time?!’

Inside Suite Twelve, Cedric Blackwood froze as if struck by divine lightning.

His face drained of all color, turning an ashen ghostly white.

The triumphant grin on his face twisted into a grotesque mask of disbelief.

"T-Twenty-five... billion...? Who... who is in Suite One?!"

The Chief Auctioneer cleared his throat, his amplified voice breaking through the trembling quiet.

"Twenty-five billion Spirit Credits from VIP Suite One," the auctioneer declared. "Going once..."

"Going twice..."

Cedric’s mind snapped.

The humiliation of losing repeatedly, combined with the terrifying prospect of returning home empty-handed after exhausting his authority, completely shattered his remaining restraint.

"NO!" Cedric screamed hysterically. "I WILL NOT LOSE TO ANOTHER SHADOW!"

He threw himself across the sofa, frantically slamming his hands onto the terminal and putting another big number.

BZZZZT-CHUNK!

=====================================================

[BID : VIP SUITE TWELVE]

CURRENT BID: 28,000,000,000 SPIRIT CREDITS

=====================================================

Twenty-Eight Billion Spirit Credits.

Cedric collapsed against the table, panting heavily, his eyes bloodshot and wide with manic desperation.

"I have it... I have it now..."

BZZZZT-CHUNK!

The response from VIP Suite One was instantaneous. There was not a single second of hesitation or a fraction of a doubt either.

=====================================================

[BID: VIP SUITE ONE]

CURRENT BID: 40,000,000,000 SPIRIT CREDITS

=====================================================

Forty Billion Spirit Credits.

The entire colosseum seemed to physically shudder beneath the sheer, incomprehensible weight of the number.

It was not a competitive counter-bid... It was a casual disdainful swat like an omnipotent titan swatting aside an annoying insect without even glancing in its direction.

In VIP Suite Twelve, Cedric’s terminal let out a sharp, descending error tone as his terminal began glitching for some reason.

Cedric slowly sank to his knees on the emerald carpet.

His hands hung limply at his sides, his eyes staring blankly at the floorboards in shattered defeat.

He had been made into a complete laughingstock...

He had pushed his family’s credit lines to the brink of catastrophe, only to be effortlessly crushed by a single tap of a finger from an entity who didn’t even view him as a worthy opponent.

Beside him, the kneeling maid lowered her forehead to the carpet once more, a quiet sense of relief washing over her.

BANG!

"Forty Billion Spirit Credits!" the Chief Auctioneer roared, bringing his gavel down with finality. "Sold! To the sovereign patron of VIP Suite One!"

The massive Tier-5 Calamity Core was smoothly lowered into the bedrock, its crackling crimson lightning fading into the dark depths below.

CLANG... CLANG... CLANG!

The heavy bronze bell tolled three times, its deep sound vibrating straight through the stone foundations of the amphitheater.

The lights across the entire colosseum extinguished completely.

HUMMMMM.

Around the perimeter of the circular stage, twenty-four massive adamantine defense pillars rose from the floor, locking together to form an impenetrable multi-layered spatial containment cage glowing with blinding golden runes.

Every single spectator in the room... from the wealthiest oligarchs in the elevated VIP suites to the lowliest masked mercenaries on the floor stood up from their seats.

The entire atmosphere in the room turned taut and suffocating.

The preliminary rounds were over and the intermediate treasures had been claimed.

The time had arrived for the main highlight of the evening!

The Chief Auctioneer stepped into the center of a singular, brilliant pillar of white light.

His posture was straight, his demon mask gleamed under the spotlight, and his amplified voice dropped into a low tone that held the thousands of spectators completely spellbound.

"Honored Lords, sovereign delegates, and masters of the shadows," the auctioneer began, his words echoing off the ceiling. "We have reached the final lot of the Obsidian Sanhedrin... The artifact you are about to witness was not salvaged from an ordinary rift zone, nor was it forged by contemporary hands. It is a relic of sovereign antiquity, smuggled across continental borders directly from the ancestral sands of the Old Khemet Dominion!"

Inside VIP Suite Seven, Silas blinked as his interest instantly piqued.

’The Old Khemet Dominion?’ Silas thought, his mind racing.

Through his studies of this world’s fragmented geopolitical history, Silas knew that the Khemet Dominion was this world’s historical equivalent of Earth’s Egypt... a legendary sun-drenched civilization famous for its colossal golden pyramids, divine sun cults, and sovereign pharaohs known as the Per-aa.

The Dominion had fractured centuries ago, but its bloodlines still survived, scattered across the deserts of this world.

’And they have a royal family too... I wouldn’t mind going on vacation there to be honest.’

"Centuries ago," the auctioneer continued, his voice carrying the immense weight of historical legend, "during the chaotic dawn of the First Era, dimensional rifts to the Sovereign Realm began tearing across the surface of the real world for the very first time... In our modern era, advanced dimensional containment arrays and runic suppression barriers allow humanity to regulate and seal these gates but in that ancient time... humanity had no technology. They had only their newly awakened Lord Cores and raw steel."

The auctioneer raised his right hand toward the ceiling with his tone rising to a fever pitch.

"When the first great rift tore through the heart of the desert, threatening to submerge the continent beneath a tide of nightmares, the legendary First Per-aa of the Khemet Dominion took up arms! Utilizing his newly awakened sovereign might and a single god-forged blade, the First Per-aa single-handedly held the breach... personally slaughtering over One Million Sovereign Realm Monsters and cementing the eternal legacy of the desert kings!"

Inside Suite Seven, Harper drew in a sharp trembling breath.

Her violet eyes dilated with an intense burning fire as she gripped the brass railing of the suite with white-knuckled force.

’This is it...’ Harper thought, her heart pounding violently against her ribs. ’This is the weapon we need to secure... With this relic, our authority will be undisputed.’

Harper didn’t want to be like her father and limit herself to this city... There were other cities as well. She wanted to be a prominent figure in the world as a whole!

And this was going to be the first step...

Beside her, Seraphina sat up straight on Silas’s lap, her crimson eyes wide with genuine fascination as she stared through the glass.

CREAK... CHUNK!

The center of the stage parted.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!