Chapter 134: Grand Revelation

[You have reached the bottleneck for Tier 42 Lifeforms]

[You have reached the bottleneck for Tier 43 Lifeforms]

[You have reached the bottleneck for Tier 44 Lifeforms]

[You have reached the bottleneck for Tier 45 Lifeforms]

[You have reached the bottleneck for Tier 46 Lifeforms]

[You have reached the bottleneck for Tier 47 Lifeforms]

[You have reached the bottleneck for Tier 48 Lifeforms]

[You have reached the bottleneck for Tier 49 Lifeforms]

[You have reached the bottleneck for Tier 50 Lifeforms]

[Do you wish to Ascend?]

"Ascend!"

Snap—

"Infinite Mana... Supreme Flame."

Kaelen burnt 90% of his evolution points reserve in that instant, upgrading his evolution attributes and surpassing eight evolution realms in an instant.

A pitch-black compressed fireball flickered to life at his fingertips, with enough force to rival a hurricane raging across the vast facility.

Everyone’s eyes widened in surprise, and their heads snapped behind Felix’s back, where Kaelen now stood as his previous body slowly dispersed into shadows.

Even Yelena, who was mostly aware of all this, was stunned by the sheer amount of power behind the black flame, barely the size of a tennis ball.

"Kaelen, what are you doing?" Felix questioned with a frown. "Don’t you understand anything? Your mother is using you, and Yelena just confirmed that. Your mother knew you’d do this; she’s manipulating you."

"That’s something you fail to understand, Felix," Kaelen calmly said. "My enemy was never the one behind the beast waves. For a fact, I already had my suspicions after encountering them in the wasteland some time ago. You might be right about my mother, but tell me, Felix, her actions have nothing to do with what happened in Stronghold 2 ten years ago, does it?

It’s just like you’ve said. My mother went back in time only after the disaster to trigger the first wave that killed 80% of humanity. If that’s true, then who was responsible for it in the first timeline before she went back in time to do it herself?"

Kaelen asked sharply.

No matter how complicated it sounded, at some point in time, his mother was truly just a child who grew up to witness the first wave and survive it. Then she simply went back in time to maybe do the exact same thing, but most importantly, met with her past self to tell her about the future.

The question wasn’t if she did it or not; it was what she saw in the future that made her want to inform her past self. She didn’t let Stronghold 2 die for nothing. She let it happen to avoid creating a time variant, because saving the stronghold wasn’t her priority.

If that were to be the case, then who actually triggered the first wave before his mother went back in time?

Again, it was like Felix said. The name that always popped up in every mystery surrounding the universe.

Evolution Online.

Felix stared at Kaelen for a long moment. "So are we going to do this right now? Are you going to let all these people die?" He asked as he waved his hands to break the ice imprisoning the two Akkadian women.

As soon as Aria was free, she was immediately stunned at the scene before her eyes. One moment she was charging at the human, and the next, Kaelen was at the brink of destroying everything.

What the hell is going on?

"Since when did you start caring about the so-called devils? Let me ask you a question, Felix. Why did you come back? Did they send you here after me, or as a replacement for the Emperor and your father?"

Black Rose’s eyes widened in surprise.

Was that truly it?

She already had concrete proof Stronghold 3 was strongly connected with the mystery of Evolution Online. If that were to be the case, it made much sense Felix only woke up after her father disappeared.

It could be the Emperor wasn’t in hiding. There was the possibility that whoever he answered to wasn’t happy with his failure and replaced him with Felix.

Which was also why, as soon as she began campaigning for her father’s position, everything concerning the movements of Evolution Online, including the points from the bank, were transferred to Stronghold 3.

Back then, she couldn’t do anything and could only watch and wait. Then after she became Empress, she was denied everything and only given access to state affairs. That was the moment she realized that position of power was only an illusion. The seven Stronghold Lords refused to answer to her if it wasn’t state and public affairs, while every military and external threat was handled and controlled by Stronghold 3.

That was also the exact reason she had issued a warrant for Kaelen Cross’s arrest.

That’s right.

She was fully aware at that point that Kaelen Cross was fighting against these people, and locking up her uncle wasn’t to punish him, but to lure Kaelen out to finally meet him in person and exchange information about the common enemy.

She was never against Kaelen. Her plan all along was to work together to neutralize the threat, because she truly believed with Kaelen on her side, she was safe on that throne of power, and every other Stronghold would think twice before crossing the line.

It was unfortunate she had gone along with Felix’s plot and met Kaelen Cross under such circumstances.

Felix smiled in amusement. "You’re smarter than I gave you credit for. Is this part of the effects of the serum your mother gave you?" He asked.

Kaelen’s eyes widened slightly before he frowned.

"What do you mean by that?"

Felix paused to stare at Kaelen for a moment. "Ah, I don’t know if you’re genuinely clueless or bluffing. But we can both agree on one thing, Kaelen..." He trailed as his lips slowly curled up in a malicious smile. "You’re nothing without that mysterious entity inside you."

Kaelen’s eyes spread further in shock and disbelief.

’Is he referring to... my system?’

"Oh, it turns out you have no idea," Felix said in amusement.

Kaelen forced himself to calm down. "Idea about what?"

"You’ve probably heard someone refer to your mother as the Founder. Ever wondered how she got that title?"

"That strange thing that gives you explosive strength... your mother actually created it. As much as I don’t want to break up your little happy family reunion, I need to bring her in because she holds the formula... and only someone from her bloodline could create it."