"What's that look? Fear?" Jeremy said calmly. "Let me try something new."
A strange glint flickered in his eyes, then—
The skeletal rats swarmed toward the two remaining monsters, tearing chunks of flesh from their bodies.
The monsters roared in fury, trying to shake off the small skeletons, but they were bound tightly. In this domain, Jeremy had no weaknesses.
The tiny skeletal rats couldn't do much — only rip away small portions of flesh. The monsters' resilience was simply too high. But all Jeremy wanted was to expose a little bit of their bones, allowing him better control.
He had tried to detonate their bones directly from within their bodies, but the resilience of a Rank S was no joke. Jeremy simply couldn't manage it.
Still, the plan worked — though not quite as he had hoped.
With a wave of his hand, the bones in the long-legged humanoid monster's legs exploded, making the creature scream in agony. But the area affected was very small.
The effort wasn't worth it.
"Well, it was a test..." Jeremy pouted. "I've had enough of you two. You can die now."
And so, two more Bone Spears formed from the sea of bones and shot toward the monsters.
The same scene unfolded again. The rats swarmed the corpses, cleaning the battlefield.
In no time at all, three Rank S monsters had been brutally slain. They never stood a chance from the beginning.
Then—
A tremor shook the entire space, not just the city but the surrounding area as well.
---
"Uh?" A woman suddenly bolted upright from her bed. She was lying on a mattress inside an intact building — well, more or less intact. "Where am I? Where are the monsters?"
There was a hole in her armor, blood everywhere, and immense pain wracking her body. But her first thought was about the monsters that had defeated her earlier.
"Calm down, Headmistress, you're safe—" Volter's voice came from beside her. "Jeremy is taking care of it. That boy saved all of us, you know?"
Hearing these words, Rose calmed down. She had sensed everything clearly before. The city, once overrun by monsters, had been completely cleared. Now there were only skeletons everywhere...
"I have to go help him, he can't do it alone."
"No, Headmistress, you must rest. You can't fight monsters in your current state," the man argued. "Jeremy will manage. He was very confident, after all."
"Yes, but—"
Just as Rose tried to protest further, a powerful tremor rocked the entire city and its surroundings.
"Shit, it's coming," Rose said suddenly. "I have to help him. He can't win alone."
This time, Volter said nothing. He knew — or rather, he could feel it.
Whatever Gate was forming now, it was on a level entirely beyond that of a Rank S.
---
Elsewhere, far from the North Capital.
A group of individuals had gathered inside a building with a futuristic appearance. White walls, workbenches, empty vials, others containing strange liquids.
Everything about the place screamed "research laboratory."
But research into what, exactly?
"Everything is proceeding according to plan, sir," a woman clad in black armor reported, standing before a mysterious figure. Every inch of the figure's body was wrapped in a black robe. Nothing of him could be seen.
"Every major human city is currently under attack. Rank S monsters continue to pour out of the Gates," she added.
"Good. Continue as planned," the robed figure replied with a nod. "You may go. Report back if anything changes. Nothing must go wrong."
After a confirming sound, the three figures clad in black armor exited the room.
The cloaked figure muttered under her breath, "Soon, we will have control over this planet. Will that be enough? Of course not."
Her hood couldn't hide the regret on her face. She was the daughter of an important galactic figure, born to dominate and destroy, and yet here she was, in this weak world, scheming for its conquest.
Unacceptable.
But there was nothing she could do. After everything that had happened, it was already a miracle she was still alive.
Yet her survival was nothing more than a joke to the truly powerful beings ruling this galaxy.
She knew that.
But what else could she do if not fight?
While she was lost in thought, the door to her room swung open abruptly.
"Sir—" the woman from earlier shouted. "Something big is happening! A strong spatial ripple has been detected, and the Gate formed exceeds Rank S. What do we do?"
The cloaked figure looked at the woman with a smile. "Finally, something big is emerging. Plans never follow a linear path, after all. I've been waiting for something like this. Go investigate and report back to me."
"But sir, we—"
"Yes, you're right." The figure raised her hand and tossed a strange-looking object at the woman. It looked like a cube. "Take this. I don't want any failures."
With a serious look on her face, the woman caught the object and made it disappear into her inventory.
After all, once you reached Rank S, many things that once seemed strange or impossible became commonplace.
The woman then left through the door.
"Let's hope it's nothing too troublesome, but I fully expect a challenge. Worlds, after all, aren't so easy to conquer," the figure whispered, lifting her hood slightly, revealing a beautiful pair of horns.
Meanwhile, the trio in black armor—one woman and two men—headed towards the location indicated by the radar.
North Capital.
However, the spatial ripple had destabilized space so much that the signal they received was delayed by several minutes.
In that place, the Gate wasn't just forming—it was already open, clearly visible to everyone, and what emerged from it was beyond anyone's expectations.
---
"Finally, things are getting interesting... what's coming out, a demon?" a grin crept onto Jeremy's face.
Even though he kept telling himself not to become arrogant, he really couldn't help but view everything else with a hint of disdain.
After deactivating his dominion ability, Jeremy descended into the city.
"The city from up here is so... beautiful!" the boy exclaimed as he descended from the sky. The sight of his Bone Legion, impeccably organized, along with the splattered blood and exploded flesh of monsters, thrilled the young man's heart.
It was actually horrifying, but oh well.
His Bone Legion was positioned right in front of the ever-evolving spatial ripple. The skeletons created from monsters stood at the front lines, while the human skeletons were behind them—they were stronger and more versatile, after all. They couldn't be used as cannon fodder. That was the beasts' job.
Behind them all stood a colossal Aberration, SuperCannon, the magical general.
"Jeremy, over here!"
"Huh? Oh, coming."
From the crowd below, a woman's voice was calling his name. At first, Jeremy looked a bit stunned by the call, still mesmerized by the sight of his army.
But he quickly snapped out of it and approached Rose.
"You seem fine, Headmistress," Jeremy said, looking at her. The wound she had earlier had vanished, and her armor had been replaced. It was no longer red and gold like her hair.
Now, it shone a brilliant blue and looked even more reinforced than before. Perhaps she had realized she needed to protect herself, not just deal damage.
"Yes, thanks to you," Rose replied with gratitude. "I knew I wasn't wrong about you—you've really become stronger than me in... two days?"
Jeremy smiled. He knew it was all thanks to the strange legacy he had inherited along with the memories of a boy from another world—John.
"But we have more important things to discuss." Rose's face turned serious. Too serious. She seemed to be contemplating something. "You must escape, Jeremy. Use your army to save as many people as you can and run. I'll hold that thing off."
Jeremy's mouth fell open. What the hell was Rose talking about? Escape?
"Before you refuse—" she added, "Just know this. I understand how strong you are, and I know you didn't even play all your cards against those Rank S opponents earlier. But understand one thing: power beyond Rank S is not as simple as you think. Emperor Ydra was at that level, and his power was deemed divine."
Jeremy remained silent, listening. He didn't want to be arrogant, but the idea of running away still felt wrong.
To reach Rank S and elevate yourself as a superior being—no longer bound by numerical stats—you had to comprehend a law.
Likewise, to reach Rank EX, you had to elevate that law into a concept.
A concept—something abstract yet real, capable of defining a creature.
If a law governed the workings of the world, then a concept was the symbolic origin of that very law.