Chapter 101: How to Move Forward 2

Chapter 101: Chapter 101: How to Move Forward 2

A senior director sitting near the president cleared his throat. He had silver hair, a sharp, lined face, and cold eyes that had been locked on Felix the entire morning.

"Mr. Valerius, your rehabilitation program at Acheron Deep has shown some unusual results lately."

Felix raised an eyebrow. "Unusual?"

"Seraphina Veyr’s Lightning proficiency jumped from Low I to High III in a matter of months. For a patient who spent seven years completely mute and unstable, that is an alarming leap."

Another official tapped his tablet. "And Liora Morven advanced from B-rank to A-rank. Her Darkness affinity was classified as one of the most volatile abilities we’ve ever locked up. Both of these women entered your care on the verge of total collapse. Now they’re advancing faster than active duty heroes."

Felix leaned back in his chair, letting them speak.

"We know your methods get results," the silver-haired director continued. "But fast progress brings fast risks. How do we know these women won’t lose control again?"

"Seraphina killed thirty-seven people during her awakening," another council member added. "And Liora’s darkness used to eat through suppression gear. We can’t just ignore their pasts because their numbers look good on paper."

"You shouldn’t ignore it," Felix replied smoothly.

The quick answer caught the room off guard.

"I know what they did," Felix said, resting both forearms on the table. "I’ve read every page of their files. But right now, both of them have far better control over their power than they ever did before."

"Control can slip," the silver-haired director countered. "A rapid jump in rank usually means a fragile foundation."

"That’s true if you force it," Felix said. "I don’t force anything. I monitor their veins, their cores, and their mental state every single day. Seraphina isn’t just throwing bigger lightning bolts; she finally stopped fighting her own magic. Liora broke through because she learned how to guide her darkness instead of letting it consume her. They aren’t just getting stronger. They’re learning how to live with the strength they already had."

"The pace is still dangerous," the official insisted.

"It is," Felix agreed without hesitation.

"Which is why I check them constantly. If either of them shows a single crack, I step in."

The president leaned forward. "And if one of them snaps, Mr. Valerius? If one of them turns violent again?"

"Then I put them down," Felix said.

His voice was dead level. No hesitation. The direct answer hung heavy in the room, making several officials shift uncomfortably.

"I know the risk," Felix added, placing his palms flat on the table. "They’re dangerous. But if we’re actually trying to fix broken awakeners instead of just leaving them in cages until they rot, we have to let them grow. I take full responsibility for both of them."

Silence settled over the table.

The president leaned back in his leather chair. "Your position is clear, Mr. Valerius. The Association will not interfere with your program for now. But we expect weekly reports on their stability and rank metrics. Any sign of regression, and the council steps in."

"Fair enough," Felix nodded.

The president swept a hand over the console, zooming out the holographic map until the entire globe hovered in glowing blue and red above the table. Red casualty spikes dotted every major continent.

"Now, back to the real threat," the president said. "Yesterday’s disaster wasn’t a local freak accident. Dungeons don’t coordinate rank spikes across five continents on their own."

"Agreed," a field commander said. "Every branch needs to dig into their logs. Unexplained mana spikes, strange monster behavior, gates mutating mid-raid, we need all of it pulled."

"Check the dead cores too," another director added. "Any core with foreign chemical traces needs to be matched against the dark elf samples Doctor Valerius provided."

The president turned to his chief of communications. "Draft an emergency directive to every Association branch worldwide. Continental, national, regional. Full transparency. No branch hides data behind jurisdictional walls."

The aide’s fingers flew across his screen as the president laid down the orders.

"Every sector will run checks on active gates for artificial tampering. They will investigate any signs of manufactured booster pills, abnormal monster strength, or outside mana interference. And they will review past incidents that were written off as natural anomalies."

The president paused, his sharp eyes scanning the room. "We need to know who is behind this, how they’re poisoning the rifts, and where they’ll hit next."

"And what if the tampering is still happening right now?" an officer asked from the end of the table.

"Then we fight with our eyes open," the president answered coldly. "Every strike team carries detection gear into the gates. If a rift shows the slightest sign of an artificial spike, they pull out immediately."

He looked back at the aide. "Send the directive. Mark it highest priority."

"Yes, Mr. President."

A soft chime signaled the transmission going out. Within seconds, the order beamed across global networks, landing on the consoles of command centers responsible for protecting billions of civilians.

The room fell quiet. There was no victory here, no guarantee that the next raid wouldn’t end in another bloodbath. But the blind panic from yesterday was gone, replaced by grim focus.

"If there is nothing else, we are adjourned," the president announced, standing up. "Get your departments moving. We meet again the moment the first global reports come in."

Chairs slid back against the floor. Holograms blinked out. Officials gathered their tablets and hurried toward the exits, barking orders into their communicators.

Elena slid her files into her leather case and stood up. Felix rose beside her, stretching his shoulders with a quiet breath.

As they walked out into the busy corridor, aides and couriers were already sprinting past with fresh casualty lists and satellite scans.

Humanity had spent five hundred years convinced that the nightmare was confined to the rifts. Now, the chilling truth was setting in: the true enemy was orchestrating everything from far beyond the fractures, operating from a realm still hidden in total darkness.

The doors hissed shut behind them.

The hunt was officially on.

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