SYSTEM'S POV

Zero hour.

That was the code word marking the moment when the Tier-7 and Tier-8 Gates opened.

So far, neither the Military nor the Cygni Coalition had discovered a Tier-9 Gate, ominously known as the Genocide Level Gate. But, everyone felt like it was only a matter of time.

Little did they know, Athena’s powerful satellite images from space had confirmed that there was one Genocide Level Gate located at the easternmost regions of the Cygni Continent.

No one else had found it so far since it wasn’t located above land or under the sea.

The Tier-9 Gate was located over two thousand meters underground, in a spacious cavern away from everyone’s sight.

This meant that Rank 9 Monsters or higher would appear without fail the moment Zero Hour began.

Thirteen kept this a secret for the time being. Spreading its existence now wouldn’t help with anything.

In fact, once the armies stationed to protect the Cygni Continent from a full-blown invasion discovered that a Genocide Level Gate existed, their morale might drop.

The only saving grace was that the gate would only open two weeks after the Tier 7 and Tier 8 Gate fully activated.

This gave the allied armies enough buffer time to annihilate the Rank 7 and Rank 8 Sovereigns who would pose a serious threat if they were to join hands with a Rank 9 Sovereign.

“Be careful out there,” Alessia said as she hugged her son. “Prioritize your safety above all else.”

“Understood,” Zion replied. “Take care as well, mother. Also, try not to watch too many live broadcasts about the invasion. It might be bad for your heart.”

“Even if you say that, I will still watch the news,” Alessia answered. “The two of you should also take care of yourselves. Prioritize your safety. I still want to hold my grandchildren soon.”

Erica and Sherry blushed. Not to mention, Alessia had been asking them when they wished for the marriage ceremony to be held.

However, the two always answered that it was up to Zion to set the date.

Whenever Alessia asked her son when he wanted to have the marriage, he would only reply with “within ten years.”

That meant anywhere within a ten-year period, which made Alessia sigh helplessly.

“Pops, you take care of everyone here,” Thirteen stated.

“I will ask the engineers to build a one-way teleportation gate for your production line to be sent to our base in the Cygni Continent. You better not slack off when our orders start coming, okay?”

“You really are a slave driver.” Gerald snorted. “I’ve been working non-stop for your sake, and you dare to add more workload to my workload? Are you even human?”

“Actually, I’m not—not interested in your excuses.” Thirteen coughed lightly. “Just send the goods, and we are good. Okay?”

Gerald clicked his tongue but no longer argued with his son.

Although he was indeed busy, he knew that Zion wouldn’t ask him for help if he could handle things by himself.

“Take care of my no-good son, okay?” Gerald said to the two girls, who had just finished exchanging hugs with Alessia, Remi, and Rhia.

“Yes, Father,” Erica replied. “We will take care of our no-good future husband.”

Sherry giggled after hearing Erica’s response, but she still nodded to acknowledge her father-in-law’s request.

“Both of you are good girls, so always listen to Mother’s words, okay?” Thirteen hugged Remi and Rhia together. “I’ll try my best to always appear on TV, so you can both see me.”

“Un!” Rhia happily hugged and kissed her brother.

“Take care, Brother,” Remi said as she, too, hugged and kissed Zion.

The teenage boy returned their kisses before finally bidding everyone goodbye.

Hans was already there to pick him up from the residence, and from there, they would travel to the Leventis Family’s private airport.

Arthur had decided to come with Zion to the Sirius Continent because he needed to personally meet Lawrence and Tristan to do their confidential transaction.

Along the way to the Leventis Family’s airport, Hans looked at the rearview mirror, only to find Erica and Sherry leaning on Zion with their eyes closed.

The old butler couldn’t help but smile. He never thought that his Young Master would be engaged to not one, not two, but three beautiful ladies.

He often thought that Zion never had any romantic bones in his body and would probably be single all his life.

But it seemed that his guess was way off.

However, he was also very happy that the cold and standoffish teenage boy now had people who loved him very much.

“Stop grinning, Hans. And watch the road,” Thirteen said.

“Yes, Young Master,” Hans replied respectfully before shifting his attention back to the road.

However, the grin on the old butler’s face didn’t disappear until they arrived at the airport.

“You’re finally here,” Arthur said. “You’ve made me wait long enough.”

“Then you should have gone ahead, Gramps,” Thirteen replied. “We could have taken grandma’s private jet instead.”

“You always have a comeback for everything.” Arthur clicked his tongue. “Board the plane, so we can leave. Let Hans handle your baggage.”

“Okay,” Thirteen replied and then led Erica and Sherry to the Private Jet.

He knew that the two were still intimidated by his Grandfather, so he stood in front of them when he was talking with his old man.

A few minutes later, the plane finally took off from the runway and headed toward the Sirius Continent.

It would take them two hours to reach their destination, which was already considered very fast.

The plane was imbued with Zion’s Rune Magic because it was one of the planes he always used to travel.

“Gramps, are you going to follow us to the Cygni Continent as well?” Thirteen asked.

“Yes,” Arthur answered. “I need to know how the people there will treat me. That way, I can gauge whether they are friend or foe.”

Thirteen nodded in approval of his grandfather’s decision.

Although they were currently helping the Cygni Coalition, no one would be able to predict if they would still be allies after the Jinn invasion ended.

Thirteen had dealings with Douglas Griffin, and so far, the man had shown his sincerity.

But that could change if the Cygni Continent fell and his Clan moved to the Sirius Continent, living alongside the Ashford and Stallard Clan.

And even if they were to emerge victorious in battle, there was still a chance that Douglas would fold under the combined pressure by the Ashford and Stallard Clans, who might persuade him to cooperate in their crusade against their political rivals.

Humanity would always unite against a common enemy. But without this enemy, they would return to fighting amongst themselves.

That was what being human was all about, and Thirteen had seen the many faces of humanity for the past thousands of years.

But regardless of what Aaron Ashford had planned for him, Thirteen wouldn’t let him have his way.

After all, the Monarch was on the very top of his Kill List.

His only problem was whether his former host, the Death Lord Erasmus, would kill Aaron first before Thirteen could even make his move.

The Death Lord had just returned from Solterra because he also wanted to see the result of the Jinn Invasion.

Depending on the results, he might move independently and deal with his killer on his own terms.

‘The only thing preventing Erasmus from having his way is the Ashford Clan’s trump card,’ Thirteen thought. ‘Project Exodia is in its final stages. Maybe they will finish before the Genocide Level Gate opens.’

He had been paying close attention to the Ashford Clan’s secret weapon, but Aaron had hidden it well.

Despite using a few tricks here and there, Thirteen was unable to track its whereabouts.

Perhaps, Project Exodia had started years ago, and all the individuals involved in the project were living in some kind of underground facility that restricted them from going out.

The only one who knew about its location was Aaron, and Thirteen couldn’t ask him to casually take him to where Exodia was so that he could take a selfie with it.

Still, he was very curious about what kind of trump card it was.

‘Will they bring it out during the Jinn invasion or after it?’ Thirteen mused. ‘Either way, I need to see it first before I can think of a plan to counter it.’

Thirteen was confident, but he didn’t look down on his enemies.

Since Aaron had been accumulating his strength for the past three hundred years, he would definitely have some trump cards here and there.

In the end, it would be a battle on who had more trump cards between the two of them, and Thirteen believed that in terms of quality, he wouldn’t lose to anything that Aaron could throw at him.

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